stanbrown wrote:
Why would a shop owner used a marked dime to start up his jukebox, and then later take that particular dime back from the coin box? Why does it matter which dime he took back?




Because the shop/bar/diner owner usually didn't own the jukebox. The usual circumstance was the establishment owner rented the juke from a vendor, and the owner and the vendor would split the profits under a percentage arrangement.


Moreover, the juke was usually emptied by the vendor on a weekly schedule---or possibly, semi-weekly, if it was a popular machine. Therefore, the vendor and the owner had to know which coins had been deposited in the machine by the house ("feeding" the jukebox in order to sway the patrons into continuing the music with their own coins). By marking the coins with nail polish, the vendor and the owner knew which coins were "house coins" and not part of the proceeds to be divvied up.


Even if the establishment owner did own the machine outright, he would want to mark the coins he had fed into it in order to maintain an accurate record of the proceeds taken in.


A few dimes or quarters doesn't sound like much to fret over, now. But fifty or sixty years ago, it was a bit more substantial.


Hope this helps.

Last Edited By: Commander Benson Oct 18 13 10:39 AM. Edited 1 times.