I was talking to a friend today and he mentioned that he finished yesterday with .05 cents in adsense earnings. “What the hell am I supposed to do with five cents?” he asked me, joking that he can’t even buy a piece of candy with that.

Indeed you can probably find five cents just rummaging through old bags or boxes in your closet or the pocket of some pants you haven’t worn in a while. To most of us five cents is almost equivalent to zero cents. If we’re down to five cents in our wallet our wallet is essentially empty.

But once upon a time 5 cents could almost buy you the world. In an article published in 1987 and available via the New York Times website, Mildred Wohlford shared the following list of things you could buy with five cents back in the 20s and 30s:

For 5 cents one could buy a trip on the New York City subway (which is now straining to keep its fare at $1), a ride on the Manhattan-to-Staten Island ferry, a loaf of bread, a Hershey bar with nuts, a box of Cracker Jack that included a prize of a lead soldier or a penny doll with moveable arms. In old-fashioned groceries and delicatessens there were often revolving, wood cases containing a large assortment of penny candies, including licorice whips. My mother said the tasty whips were made from sweetened floor sweepings. She forbade my buying them, but I did once in a while and never was sick.

That revolving case was wonderful. It held lifelike, small sugar bananas and little tin frying pans, each containing a candy fried-egg or gum drops, among other delights. See article