Posted on Wednesday, December 4, 2024
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by Outside Contributor
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By: Merle Haggard
Memories of My Grandfather and His Silver Coin Gifts
When I think of the late Naomi Judd it brings back memories of my grandfather, due to hers and her daughter, Wynonna’s, Grammy award-winning song, “Grandpa, Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Days.”
In 2017, my wife, Karen, and I heard Wynonna at one of her fine Christmas shows, where her “Grandpa” song got me thinking about my first interest in rare coins, sparked by my own grandfather, nicknamed “Red” Lievens for the color of his hair. When I was growing up in Louisiana, by the time I was 7, “Red” began giving me an uncirculated silver dollar every time I scored an “A” on my report card – and also for every birthday and holiday. (He got uncirculated silver dollars at face value from the bank until 1965.)
Before that, my parents and my grandfather put a silver quarter (now worth over $5) under my pillow for each tooth I lost.
From my childhood, I was intrigued by the design on Grandpa’s old Morgan dollars, so I set out to learn more about them. This inspired me to pursue the path I’m still following – rare coins as both a hobby and a career of endless joy and satisfaction. Grandpa taught me that coins made of precious metals carry a real “heft,” which implies they would always “trump” paper money of equal face value. Sure enough, dollar bills from the 1960s are still worth $1, but uncirculated Morgan silver dollars are worth a whole lot more – over $60 apiece at the present time. The silver dollars I got from my grandfather were part of those old values – coins whose worth was real, not just symbolic like the paper dollar. Merle Haggard said the same thing in, “Are the Good Times Really Over?”
I wish a buck was still silver.
It was back when the country was strong…
…Is the best of the free life behind us now, and are the good times really over for good?
Another country singer I know, Larry Gatlin, had a hit song back in 1979 called “All the Gold in California,” when gold was rising rapidly in price. He recently said he should have followed the recommendations of his financial advisors to purchase gold when it was about $300 an ounce in 1979. Instead, he said, “I bought horses and cows and cars and guitars and a lot of other stuff … Now, gold is about $2,700 an ounce while the horses are dead, the cows are dead, the cars won’t run and the guitars are, well, just guitars. The bad news is, I didn’t buy gold. The good news is, I now own gold and I’m going to buy even more.”
In the end, the silver dollars my grandfather gave me had the desired effect: I studied diligently in order to earn more A’s – and more silver dollars. If you have children, grandchildren, or other youngsters special to you, follow my grandfather’s example by giving them something with intrinsic value when there’s a reason to celebrate. You can’t get silver dollars for $1 at the bank, but silver coins or silver rounds still make great incentives for rewarding “A” grades, teach a valuable life lesson and they might well increase in value a lot faster than today’s dollars in a bank. After all, silver is up 470% since January 1, 2000.
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