Thanks guys for the awesome information so far. I'm hoping more people chime in.
I guess I'm not terribly comfortable saying what I paid for it, as I'm a Minnesotan and don't want to brag too much, but lets just say that anybody on the cabe would have paid what I paid for it (and the wives should agree after explaining that you just turned x amount of money into 12+ times that worth of bicycle). It wasn't cheap for a generic cruiser bicycle, but definitely cheap for what it is.
In the fender ornament realm of things, are there any good resources for looking at a wide variety of them? Has anybody compiled a guide? I'm not convinced that the ones talked about in the thread are what was on it. Even if it's not correct, I like the story of the guy in Wyoming who rode it around town, and that this is his bicycle. If it was changed by him at some point back in the day, it would have been a period correct accessory, and I like that. Sure, the whippet/greyhound may be correct, but the ones presented here just don't have the same base. I may pick up the correct one someday, but right now I'd like to know what was on it. I think the key is the curvature of the base and support.
The pictures were all supposed to be linked to the full size images, but using the picture as an url apparently doesn't work (worked in the preview though). I'll see about editing the posts to have the url to the full size image too.