Editor’s Note: For nearly 70 years, the feature-rich pages of Coins magazine, Numismatic News’ venerable sister publication, have tracked the history, fun and the growth of this great hobby, while also attracting new collectors to pursue what was once deemed the “hobby of kings.” Dusting off these time-aged issues, from the early 1960s and beyond, each installment of “Past Times with Coins,” written by its former longtime editor, explores what nuggets of interest they contain.
Most are aware of the first Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Dec. 14, 1903, but few probably know of the world’s first scheduled airline flight, which occurred just over a decade later on Jan. 1, 1914, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“Just a little less than fifty years ago, the world’s first scheduled airline service began between two small Florida cities facing each other across a wide bay,” wrote the February 1964 issue of magazine, which went to press earlier than its cover date.
