Much like 2017, the year 1967 was a time of celebration for the city of Lake Charles — the 100th anniversary of its founding.
One way the city marked the occasion was by circulating 7,500 gold centennial trade coins at local stores. Residents could purchase them for 50 cents and either redeem them in another store or keep them as collectibles. An orange and blue sticker in a store window signaled that it was participating in the coin trade.
“The whole town got into it,” said resident Margaret Bass, now 73.
Bass said the year was a special year for her and that she wanted to remember it with a keepsake. But, at age 23 and strapped for cash, she didn’t have the extra money to buy one of the trade coins, she said. After all, 50 cents in 1967 was no small change.
“I really couldn’t afford it,” Bass said. “I was a stay-at-home mom — homemaker is what they called us back then — and I just went to buy some Christmas balls on discount when I saw it.”
After standing at the counter for a moment, she decided to buy the coin anyway, spur of the moment. Now, she said, it’s one of her prized possessions.
Bass said she keeps it in a jewelry box, along with her key to the city and other memorabilia from that time.
“It was like a memory trip, going through the jewelry box,” Bass said.
The trade coin was the third in a series of specialty coins the city released that year. The city also made sterling silver coins and burnished bronze coins available to collectors.
But Bass preferred the trade coins because of how they brought the city together.
“What was really neat was the participation of all the markets,” Bass said.
She said she’s curious to learn if others have kept their centennial coins as well.
“I couldn’t possibly be the only person to keep this thing,” she said, laughing.
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