Saturday marked the untimely passing of the First Man on the Moon, Neil Armstrong. I was six years old going on seven during the summer of 1969, and I like millions of people across the world was glued to the continuous television coverage. I remember my young mind racing at the thought of it. When are we going?
Being a kid at the time, I had astronaut everything – toys, beach towels, knick-knacks and this ceramic bank. I think I scored during a trip to the wondrous Columbus Farmers Market which was a wondrous place that had EVERYTHING! If you got there early and dug around their flea market, I’m pretty sure you could fine The Lost Ark of the Covenant and wreckage left over from Roswell. I was thrilled to find that Columbus as we used to call it is still operating. They are OPEN FOR BUSINESS and their website can be found HERE!
I’ve had this bank for years and never really gave it a whole lot of thought until Armstrong’s passing. It travelled from one apartment to another gathering dust and losing it’s contents of pennies, nickels and dimes as needed.
At the base of the bank it reads SAVE NOW FOR YOUR TRIP TO THE MOON. It doesn’t say anything about needing a trillion such banks.
Also in storage was this set of Apollo mission themed window curtains.
I think my Mom deemed them too ugly to hang in my room and they remained in plastic since we’ve been sending men to the moon. Of course, I still have them! Two sets in the original plastic bags, and one set still has the sales tag attached.
One dollar? Even for late ’60s/early ’70s dollars, that was cheap! I guess they were on a close-out sale.
Rest in peace, Neil.
