You may have read recently that the cost to produce a penny is now nearly 4 cents. With that in mind, pennies no longer make much sense. I sorted through a bunch the other day and contemplated what to do with them. A handful of pennies won’t even buy a Tootsie Roll today. For the most part, pennies are a useless coin. But, if you are looking for cheap entertainment — and a bit of nostalgia — read on.
I clearly remember learning alongside my elementary school classmates about the art of “coin snatching” in the 1970s. We were inspired by a 1977 episode of “Happy Days,” the must-see TV sitcom of the generation, seen every Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. central on ABC. Most all of us tuned in to learn what Richie Cunningham, Ralph Malph, Potsie Weber and the Fonz were up to. In season four, we were introduced to Fonzie’s cousin, Angelo Fonzarelli. Angie, as he was called, had an incredible skill to catch coins stacked on his elbow with his hand.
After this episode aired, kids across America were practicing “coin snatching” in an effort to see if they could break the world record. For those of you not familiar with how this works, here is a quick description: Coins are placed on the elbow, the hand of the same arm is placed on the arm’s shoulder, and the hand is swung forward to catch the coins. Easy enough, right? Check out the YouTube clip and see how Angie fared.
Well, like most things in life, the devil is in the details. While the Fonz’s cousin was attempting the world record of 40 coins on TV, those in the real world learned to do many more.
Chris Redford snatched 39 coins in 1973, only to be out-snatched by Dennis Cole with 60 in 1976, and then Andrew Gleed with 62 in 1978. Then it got complicated. Dean Gould set the world record of 328 coins in 1993 in accordance with British rules specifying that the coins must be 10 grams or heavier, that they can be arranged in multiple stacks, and that the catcher is allowed to drop some of the coins, counting only those remaining in the hand.
Well, that’s cheating. In my third-grade class, we used pennies, as none of us had that many quarters. We also required that the coins be placed in one stack on the elbow. The contestant also had to catch them all for it to count. My pal Johnny set our record at 26. But those were our rules. The official rules for coin snatching — and the world records — can be found here for those of you who wish to explore this further. In the meantime, hang on to those pennies and give it a try. Just be ready to pick up some coins.
Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707