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Comment by euroclydon | Hacker News Reader

Those silver American Eagles make a great, almost magical from the child's perspective, alternative to the lame-o paper dollar under the pillow when your kid looses a tooth, but I would recommend working your way up to them as it gets a little expensive, especially if you have more than one toddler.

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That's what my father did for my brother and I as kids. Every time one of us lost a tooth, we got a silver American Eagle. Then we'd have to put it into a protective sleeve and look up its details in a coin book we had in the house. My brother and I would spend hours looking over every detail of those coins (there's not a lot to do when you're six and living in Wyoming).

I always wondered where they came from until I grew up and found my dad's giant suitcase full of coins.

I remember one night after I lost a tooth where I tried to barricade my bedroom door in order to test if the tooth fairy was real. My parents didn't approve.

Ah, but if you do that of _course_ the fairies won't be able to find you. They come down the chimney and then listen for the sound of a recently fallen tooth. With the door closed they'd not be able to hear it.

;)

Ever the scientist!

It’d never occurred to me that you’d get a note for a tooth in the US. Would be an expensive habit in the UK to give notes away.

Isn't the smallest denomination of a U.K. note £5? In the U.S. it's $1, which is currently worth about £0.60.

Gee, I got U.S. quarters ($0.25) as a kid.

same, if I was lucky it was a half dollar.

You must always take inflation into account in these comparisons.

$0.25 in 1970 has equivalent purchasing power of 1.48$ right now.

And $0.50 in 1985 matches to pretty much exact $1 right now.

Depends on the parents. I got half dollar coins, which are rarely used in the US (making them more fun to receive).

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