A CHRISTMAS COIN CAROL

It was a cold Christmas Eve and Scrooge, had had a busy day. He had been buying Christmas coins for himself, at a Christmas Collectors’ Fair organised by his local numismatic society.

His evening meal consisted of a cheese and pickle sandwich. He had paid £2.99 with a new plastic banknote and got two a two-pound coin and a penny change. The penny was a new one. He would judge it to be GEF with some lustre. Technically it was not uncirculated as it had been in his pocket. The two-pound coin was a boring (to him) standard millennium issue. Just NVF.

Sidney read some catalogues before going to bed, including secondhand coin catalogue he had bought at a charity shop for £6.99 (paid with a twenty-pound note and got a ten pound note, two pound coins and a GF penny dated 1999 in return. He later noticed he was short changed but as it was a charity shop he did not mind so much but sent a stiff email. He then looked at a 1972 coin magazine he had found at the dentists’ and walked off with, thinking that as he was a patient he was entitled to it.

The short change incident played badly on his mind and his digestion and he settled down to a night’s insomnia. “Humbug” he said to himself and found a packet of humbug sweets. £1.20 paid with a pound coin and a twenty pence piece, which he did not check to see if it was the dateless variety.

His rest was disturbed by the poorly digested sandwich. In the small hours he gave up and turned the bedside light on to read his books. Being a simple soul he rubbed his eyes when he saw a figure in his room dressed in white. He thought at first it was the dentist claiming his magazine back. The figure explained that he was the Guardian Angel of Collectors and his role is to make sure numismatists have a Happy Christmas but only if they had been good. The angel told Sidney that he would be visited by three spirits throughout the night.

The first visit was at One O’clock. A figure appeared dressed in a three-piece tweed suit that must have dated from the 1960s. (Only about fine condition). Sidney had seen quite a few men dressed like that at the coin fair that day. The man explained he is the Ghost of Coin Collecting Past. He took him to a coin dealer. The shop was full of jolly, knowledgeable staff who were only too happy to leave him alone with trays of coins while the assistants went about their business. The whole storage room was full of catalogues and wooden cabinets and there were bags of coins on the floor. The coins cost only a few shillings. While Sidney was there letters arrived from school children with postal orders for five shillings and the staff were busy shovelling coins into return envelopes. Just as he was beginning to enjoy himself the scene changed and Sidney was back in his bed.

The next visitor was the Ghost of Coin Collecting Present who took Sidney to the local coin club celebrating their Christmas Party. The secretary had got a medallion made up to mark the 50th anniversary. He explained that they had had fifty struck and so far, sold eight. They were talking about possibly closing the society for lack of members. The society was an interesting collection of mainly more mature men, some with a few edge knocks, many had a patina of great age. The secretary was called Tiny Tim and looked in poor condition. Sidney was just about to make a comment on collecting when the scene changed again and he found himself back in his room.

He slept fitfully until disturbed by the final spirit, the Ghost of Coin Collecting Future. He was taken to what looked like a car park and he was standing in front of a ticket machine. He looked in his pocket for a coin to put in the machine to pay for his parking. There was a queue of people behind him all impatiently waiting to do same thing. Sidney had no change and asked if anyone had a hundred-pound coin for the slot. They all laughed and said no-one had coins and you had to stick your finger in the machine and it would take some of your DNA which you could have back if you did not overstay at the car park. This was a world of no coins at all, all dealers are all on line, no books, and no new collectors. Sidney wandered around the car park watching the people coming in and leaving. He reached down in the road as he thought he saw a coin on the ground. When he found it he looked at it. It was made of brown coloured plastic and commemorated King Charles, The Twentieth’s 150 years on the throne. While looking at it he did not see the hover car come around the corner and was about to hit him.

Sidney woke up on Christmas morning with a start. He was a changed man. He will from now on collect in the past present and future. He will go to coin fairs, join a local club, patronise a dealer and most importantly take out a subscription to favourite coin bulletin.

For more information about the film, see:
A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a Christmas Classic (MGM 1938) (https://crackedrearviewer.wordpress.com/2015/12/23/a-christmas-carol-mgm-1938/)

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