Cool Find!

Catcake

Jr. Member
Oct 19, 2012
73
22
Texas
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I’ve had some awful luck searching lately. Halfs, dimes, nickels, it doesn’t matter, they’ve all been tuuurrible. So I decided to hit up the banks surrounding the large retirement community north of Austin.

I started off randomly stopping by and asking for dollars, halfs, anything old or unusual. I found a few loose skunks, an SBA here and there, and generally nothing much. I was about to give up when I decided to try one last bank.

The bank was a small local bank and it was basically deserted. I walked up to the teller and asked her if she had any halfs, dollar coins, or anything old or unusual. She looked puzzled and asked me why I was asking? I told her that I’m an old and nerdy coin collector (I’m actually 30 and quite dashing) and that I try to find good coins by stopping by banks.

She said that one of her old and mean regulars had clogged up the coin machine with foreign and costume coins. (Costume coins?) She didn’t know what they were but the customer said they were dollars, quarters, and pennies and insisted the bank redeem them and put the money in his account. The manager basically gave in and accepted the coins rather than deal with the mean old man. She said that they didn’t know what they were and that some were aluminum, some were obviously fake, and some were too old to be accepted. She said the bank basically took a loss on the transaction and that the coins would be sent in to the main branch at the end of the day. I immediately made it my mission to get those coins.

I asked if I could see them so she went in the back and pulled out a small baby food jar full of coins. She poured them out and asked me if I knew what they were. I recognized several of them as old European coins, and of course I recognized the two half dollars and quarter. To top it off there was even a fools gold nugget in the jar, along with some paper clips, car wash tokens, and a generous amount of pocket lent.

I told her that the coins were interesting and that I wanted them. She said that I would need to exchange $3.27 for the dollar, two halfs, five quarters, and two pennies that way the bank wouldn’t be at a loss and I could take them. She said that she would throw in the fools gold since I was getting everything else and since no one would want it.

I’m not sure how old these things are but I’ve seen coins like this before and they were at least from the 1700’s if not earlier. I’m still searching, mainly by pictures online since there is no date on them. I’ve also weighed the fools gold and it is 2 grams. Still pretty cool. I’m definitely going to hit up the rest of the banks in Georgetown in the coming weeks!

Score1.JPG Score2.JPG
 

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Weaselbrott

Hero Member
Aug 12, 2012
521
379
Eastern Seaboard
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter- Quick Silver (I know, I am a novice, give me a break! :P)
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great post, amazing finds! get the foreign ones checked out at a local coin shop. they might be very valuable. thanks for posting with pics!
 

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Catcake

Jr. Member
Oct 19, 2012
73
22
Texas
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I've identified 3 for the older coins. Two are Gordian III coins from 230 AD, and one is Julia Maesa from 220 AD. I have no idea what the fourth is and I can't find a similar coin on the internets so i will have to keep looking. The big one is a 5 kopeck coin from 1772 which is from the reign of catherine the great. The two half dollars are from 1941 and 1964. And I took the gold piece to a friend that makes jewelry as a hobby. She tested it using special drops and says that it is at least 22k and probably 24k based on the color and density.
 

Dihren

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Jun 13, 2012
649
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North Carolina
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That is incredible if they are real, and pretty neat if they arent!
 

sagittarius98

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Jan 16, 2012
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Maryland
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I've identified 3 for the older coins. Two are Gordian III coins from 230 AD, and one is Julia Maesa from 220 AD. I have no idea what the fourth is and I can't find a similar coin on the internets so i will have to keep looking. The big one is a 5 kopeck coin from 1772 which is from the reign of catherine the great. The two half dollars are from 1941 and 1964. And I took the gold piece to a friend that makes jewelry as a hobby. She tested it using special drops and says that it is at least 22k and probably 24k based on the color and density.

Post them in the What is it? section.
 

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