Okay, look. I loves me some little promotional trinkety knick knacks. You know it, I know it, and the person who’s seen me inexplicably freak out in public over something most would consider inconsequential probably knows it now, too. Pins/buttons, keychains (especially keychains), those little plastic pocket things typically used to hold sewing supplies (I don’t know what they’re called, but that doesn’t change the fact I got way more excited for one advertising Sweet Sue Fried Chicken than an ostensible adult should have), nickels/tokens, and though they probably wouldn’t really be considered trinkets, my love of those little plastic footballs seemingly everyone has used to advertise at one time or another should probably be cause for concern.
So yes, that’s the sort of thing I enjoy collecting, and addition to all the other dumb stuff you’ve seen here on the blog. But, while I may get excited over something, or more specifically what something is advertising, very rarely does a find give me a “wait, say what” reaction.
Well, today’s subject gave me just such a reaction. It was something so random, yet so genuinely retro and just plain neat, that it wound up being the surprise winner of the lot I found it in.
Behold!
Under normal circumstances, the mere thought of collecting World’s Fair memorabilia would cause my eyes to figuratively glaze over, though I’d be hard pressed to tell you why exactly. That doesn’t matter in this case though, because my love of space/atomic age (read: 1950s & 1960s) memorabilia overrules that admittedly arbitrary notion. In fact, it threatens to destroy that admittedly arbitrary notion altogether. Dig this: from the 1964 New York World’s Fair, it’s a plastic-encased dime – a radioactive plastic-encased dime, that is.
Maaan, this thing is straight up far out. The living end? Sure, why not!
Though I admit that I was a little apprehensive once I realized just what I was holding in my hand. I mean, could something that’s been “neutron irradiated” even possibly be safe to handle? Are those radiation burns on Roosevelt there? Hey, where’d that seventh toe come from?! Don’t forget, this comes from a time when seat belts were considered to be for sissies (I think), doctors recommended cigarettes as health food (right?), and people, I don’t know, placed hot lard in their eyes to ward off the communist threat or something like that. Things were generally less safe back then, is what I’m sayin’.
(Of course I kid, though I fully expect a comment filled to the brim with unnecessary indignation any moment now.)
Anyway, I needn’t have worried; there’s actually quite a bit of info on these things out there. You can read all about ’em here and here, but the gist of it is this: yes, these things were radioactive – initially. Once irradiated at the appropriate exhibit in the appropriate doohickey, the dime would be dropped by a Geiger Counter, thus showing the recipient that it was indeed now atomic coinage. However, if I’m understanding this correctly (and I may very well not be), said radioactivity was pretty mild from the start, and it quickly began dissipating from there besides. Supposedly some of the properties of the dime have changed with the irradiation, but I lack the equipment to test for such things, and I’m not really sure what I’d do with the info even if I did.
And those “burns” on Roosevelt? That’s probably just normal wear; people could apparently use their own dimes, if so desired. (And this particular dime was struck in 1946, after all.)
Here’s the back of the casing. This thing is just such a cool example of atomic-era mid-1960s. I love how the dime is placed in the center of a neutron on the front, and you get the whole neutron here on the back. (Wait, IS that a neutron? Or is it an atom? Whatever it is, the, uh, dime’s in it.) That, coupled with the fact this is from the ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION, it just screams 60s. Well, more the atomic-powered-future 1960s, not so much the hippy groovy 1960s or Vietnam 1960s. Aw you know what I mean!
So where’d I find this dandy little item? In a bag of similar knick knacks at a thrift store. Mostly the bag contained old pins, and while collectively they weren’t a home run, they were a solid stand up double. Well, except for this radioactive dime – that was a triple all by itself. Maybe that makes the whole bag a home run after all, or maybe my dumb baseball analogy is just mucking things up right now. Either way, I didn’t even really see the dime in there until I got home and started duly rummaging through the loot. I mean, I did see the dime, or plastic casing rather, floating around in the bag before purchasing, but I didn’t really take stock of it – it was just sort of ‘there’. It wasn’t the catalyst for buying the whole bag, but boy did it make the whole thing extra worthwhile. And I was coming home with the whole lot anyway!
And there you have it, a neutron irradiated dime from the 1964 World’s Fair. It’s not something I was expecting to find, and in fact it’s not something I even knew existed beforehand, but this was a case where as soon as I saw it, I knew it was something mega cool. These coins aren’t particularly rare, technically, but when out and about hunting for the cool winnins, it’s not like I’m constantly tripping over them, either. Heck, if I’ve ever seen one before, it didn’t register enough for me to retain the memory. I sure won’t be forgetting about them now, though!
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