In 1976, when bicentennial quarters were produced by the US Mint, my brothers and I began collecting them. It didn’t end well, because being so young, we were not very organized about it, and for some strange reason, we kept them in the top drawer of the dresser in our bedroom which we all shared. We saw it as a joint venture, but we thought we’d at least keep track of who collected what. The pile of quarters grew and grew, with each of us under the mistaken impression that we’d independently keep track of how many belonged to whom, and every now and then we’d get together to count them all. In short order, though, the arguments began as we each accused the other two of miscounting. In anger, we decided we’d maintain separate stashes, so we divided the total by three. That didn’t work either, because we each thought we were shortchanged somehow. Once we all had our own “hiding places”, albeit in the same dresser but in three different drawers, the mistrust ensued as we each suspected the other two of fingers-in-the-cookie-jar tactics.
I can’t remember how it all ended, though.
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I’m referring to the rivalry when I say I can’t remember how it ended. Heck, we were little kids and that was a zillion years ago. Who remembers details of every childhood squabble they had with their siblings? [Thanks, you’ve just inspired a new question, which I will post posthaste.]
As for the bicentennial quarters, I still collect them, I have a slew of them.
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