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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
History Buff: Sal Falcone, owner of Falcone's Coin and Jewelry, shows off one of the patriotic medallions that he and his wife, Barbara, are giving out for Halloween this year.
Falcones distributing coins to store's Halloween visitors
Trick-or-treaters to receive special gift, history lesson
By Moryt Milo
The sign outside the door says "History for Sale." The shop's walls are lined with old photos of local history and autographed pictures of celebrities. Hidden under an endless tablecloth are boxes of old postcards, and throughout the store are rows of wooden cases shining with coins dating from antiquity to the 21st century.
Inside Falcone's Coins and Jewelry, customers journey into the past; and on Oct. 31 young visitors get to take home a special piece of current history.
Sal Falcone, 61, owner of Falcone's Coins and Jewelry, 1230 Lincoln Ave., has a passion for history, coin collecting, languages and patriotism. This Halloween he will be handing out a specially minted coin to trick-or-treaters. The coin, which was minted in Monterey, was designed to honor the country's war efforts and is named the Noble Eagle. It's a brass coin with the Statute of Liberty on one side and the American eagle on the other.
Since 1991, when Falcone and his wife Barbara, moved the store from Bascom Avenue to its current Willow Glen location, they have been dropping old coins in children's Halloween bags.
"Instead of candy, we give history," Falcone says. "Parents appreciate us putting a little historical coin in a little envelope."
For 24 years Falcone shared his three loves--history, coins and languages--as a high school language teacher in the San Jose Unified School District. Although retired since 1987, he continues to use coins as an educational tool. Besides handing coins out during Halloween, Falcone sells, and sometimes gives, high school teachers and college professors bags of coins to use in their classrooms.
One San Jose State University professor, Tom Layton, hands the historical coins out in his archaeology class. Falcone says students in Layton's class look at a particular coin and use it as the basis for a research paper.
"A little coin is like a disk of history. They pinpoint everything," Falcone says.
Teachers can also use coins to teach specific periods in history. Falcone brings out a coin with the face of King Edward IV of England and says, "A teacher asks his students to examine the coin and learn about the Edwardian period. Then he asks the students to research what happened during his reign--1902 to 1910--and what kind of king he was. It's all there in the coin."
Falcone says young children become interested in the coin's picture first. He says he often shows young people a variety of coins with animals and mythological creatures on one side. Then he turns it over and talks about the country.
"That's how they become interested," Falcone says. "Kids are naturally curious."
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Well-Minted Pair: Sal and Barbara Falcone have owned Falcone's Coin and Jewelry for 17 years.
As a young boy, Falcone says he looked at a coin, saw a country name and wondered where it was. He was constantly asking his family members--his aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents--if he could check their change.
His father, Vincenzo "Jimmy" Falcone, had a bar called the Keyes Street Club in San Jose, and Falcone used to go through all the change looking for old coins.
"What really kicked me off was a cousin from New York," Falcone says. "He was a sailor and had been around the world. He sent me a bag of coins in 1947 or 1948 when I was a little kid. I went through the bag and there was an old coin with Napoleon on it. I just flipped out."
Falcone says that since his youth, he's been interested in different cultures and languages. His family spoke Italian in the home, and he is also fluent in Spanish.
He decided to share his interest by becoming a teacher. Falcone says his interest in teaching was probably a life-saving choice.
"I had spent a year in Spain. It was 1960 and I had returned to [Santa Clara University]. I was asked to get involved in ROTC. These guys were the first ones to go over to Vietnam and get killed," Falcone says. "I opted to become a teacher."
Falcone started teaching at age 23 and incorporated his love of coins in his Italian and Spanish language classes. When he taught Italian he would bring in coins from the Renaissance period or the Roman Empire and pass them around, promoting Italian conversation and history.
When he taught Spanish, he might bring in silver coins called reales--Spanish coins minted in Mexico after the discovery of the New World. These coins date to the 1600s. They are also know as "pirate coins" and are the source of the expression "two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar, everyone stand up and holler."
Falcone says reales were the preferred coinage used in San Jose until the 1880s. Each silver coin is a different shape and weight, with two bits the equivalent of 25 cents. Some were chopped off a block of silver and are oddly shaped; others were "struck" in a machine and are round. But Falcone says every coin has a tale to tell. He wishes more people took a closer look at the old coins they think might be junk and are buried in a drawer.
For 40 years Falcone has collected rare Italian coins, especially from the Renaissance period. He is drawn to this time because of his Italian heritage and hopes his son Vince, 33, who also helps out in the store, and his grandchildren will continue adding to the collection. Falcone sees it as a link to his past.
For Falcone, his store is about passing on the fascination of coin collecting to the next generation.
"When little kids come in and I give them a pile of coins, they are not really motivated at a young age to learn something historical," Falcone says. "But show them coins with animals that include a unicorn and horse with wings called Pegasus. Now you're teaching mythology, zoology and a monetary system."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
