has anyone ever found a large cent in the Desert South West????

[chong2]

i never have, maybe some 49ers brought some with them

 

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[wildrider]

Not saying there aren't many, but most folks went west without much looking for their fortune.

I've heard most of the gold coins should come from the western us and the older silver and copper would come from the east. This would tend to make sense since most people (population wise) were always in the east and the majority of gold mining was done in the west.

Also, the westerners probably bartered more.

Burt

 

[chong2]

true

 

[stoney56]

Just a guess but I'd think they'd use whatever was available in their perspective areas including Spanish coins.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I'm not exactly in the desert southwest..... but I am in the west - central coast of CA. I've found only 1 large cent here in my ~30 yrs. It was found at a stage stop site.

I've heard of only a handful of others being found. It's actually more common to find a gold coin here, than a large cent Whenever we find the philly coins of the 1830s/40s/50s, they are always silver. I think that the reason is that people had to be selective on their cargo weight in the earlier times. Afterall, the RR didn't connect accross the USA till the 1860s. Prior to that it was wagon travel, or ship travel around the horn of S. America. Both of which was arduous & long. You could only carry so much weight with you. When you consider the size of a large cent, verses its buying power, when compared to dimes, quarters, etc..., you can see why persons coming from the east opted to carry their $$ in larger denomination coins.