best coin you ever lost...

kaiser613

Jr. Member
Aug 23, 2013
63
8
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
a place to tell the worst story of a coin collectors life, the one that got away. I felt like starting this after todays horror story that happened to me, so I walk 3 miles to the bank to pick up a couple boxes of pennies, on the way back I stop by the coin shop next door to pick up some more 2x2s and I wound up with an extra $10 in my pocket, as im standing there perusing the coin bins I see it, an 1832 large cent in good, almost very good condition. and what luck they only wanted $10 for it, it was the first one ive ever come across in person and the price was right. I buy it and drag it along with $50 in pennies the rest of the way home and start unpacking the boxes, when my dad got home I show him the large cent, he carries it inside, in the 5 minutes it takes him to get from the truck to the kitchen the coin disappears, he doesn't know where he put it and I cant find it, I have since torn the house apart and the garage, and the truck, as well as gone over the yard with a fine tooth comb, ive just about given up hope, I'll get back to yall tomorrow if I find it but I don't think so. it isn't a particularly valuable coin but its the oldest one ive ever had in my collection and the only large cent ive ever came across :BangHead:
 

cudamark

Gold Member
Top Banner Poster
Mar 16, 2011
13,198
14,506
San Diego
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Decades ago I had the chance to buy a 1916D merc in XF45 condition for $200 and I passed on it. Not that I couldn't have scraped it up but I was concentrating on Lincoln cents at the time and used all my spare money on that set. It's about a $6000 coin right now. :censored:
 

SCDigginWithAK

Bronze Member
Mar 31, 2012
1,489
357
South Carolina
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Garrett Ace 350, Garrett Pro Pointer, Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I lost a 1900 O Morgan dollar :(. Still can't find it!
 

OP
OP
kaiser613

kaiser613

Jr. Member
Aug 23, 2013
63
8
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
oh jeez that's terrible, hope you find it, may your hammer be mighty
 

BC1969

Banned
Sep 4, 2013
5,827
10,449
Somewhere directly above the center of the Earth.
Primary Interest:
Other
Well I once lost a 1909s vdb wheatie and it was my own fault to boot, had a few of my favorite finds on my desk, ( I guess if I had actually bothered to buy coin holders it never would have happened ) anyway wifey wanted to go to grocery store, well to make a long story short she was rounding up change from around the house to, dump into the coinstar machine, and along with my nice finds that I had left carelessly sitting on my desk with a bunch of pocket change nearby, well when we got back home and I went into my computer room, I was like call the cops we have been robbed!!!, wife comes running, What! where!, I said my coins were missing....right at that point all the color drained out of her face, then I remembered the coinstar! GAH@#!$!$!$! :BangHead:
 

McKinney_5900

Bronze Member
Jul 30, 2010
1,139
929
My oldest and first Seated dime, an 1887. I found it when hunting with friends so it's a fact I did find it. I thought I would slip it into a sleeve in my wallet so there was zero chance it would get scraped up or lost. The first place I stopped about an hour later to show it off to a detecting friend...it was gone. There was a slice in the webbing in the bottom of the pocket. Oh well. Spilled milk. martin
 

SCDigginWithAK

Bronze Member
Mar 31, 2012
1,489
357
South Carolina
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Garrett Ace 350, Garrett Pro Pointer, Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I lost a 1900 O Morgan dollar :(. Still can't find it!
I JUST FOUND IT!!!!! I'm so happy lol. I made that post about losing it 69 days ago! image-1475274005.jpg image-4045018762.jpg
 

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Army of 1

Hero Member
Jun 22, 2013
663
347
Dundee Northern Australia
Detector(s) used
Whites MXT Pro , Tesora Bandito 2 , Minelab GPX 4000
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I lost a $20 Golden Eagle , can't remember what year it was or in which State i lost it , but if you find it PM me and i will gladly pay postage . :happysmiley: .. cheers Mick
 

sharpshooter#1

Greenie
Oct 24, 2013
14
2
hurst tx
Detector(s) used
Bounty hunter tracker IV
I lost a $20 Golden Eagle , can't remember what year it was or in which State i lost it , but if you find it PM me and i will gladly pay postage . :happysmiley: .. cheers Mick

Yea that's like the 1943 copper penny I lost if you find it I really need it back....Thanx
 

smittyman

Full Member
Jun 6, 2012
215
323
Charlotte NC
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have two losses - I lost the oldest piece of silver that I've found MDing - it was only a worn 1917 Merc. While I don't normally send a text of my finds to my wife for some reason this time I decided to. I was in my truck - placed the dime on my knee - took the pic and hit send. That's the last that I saw of that coin. I must have left it there on my knee - got out and it slid off my knee at my next stop, tho I went back I couldn't find it again.
The other loss hurt worse. It was a 1881S $5 gold piece. Paid $40 for it around 1980. We had a relative staying with us that I was sure would steal the coin at the first chance. I took into my garage which had been insulated and had a clear plastic vapor barrier but no sheetrock. I slit the vapor barrier and slid the coin and its plastic holder behind the insulation. Some months later after the relative was gone I went back for the coin. The vapor barrier wasn't even slit! 15 years later I still haven't figured out if he somehow took down the vapor barrier and replaced the whole thing or if I lost my memory and maybe my mind - I guess that makes it four losses!
 

cudamark

Gold Member
Top Banner Poster
Mar 16, 2011
13,198
14,506
San Diego
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

BigWaveDave

Gold Member
Nov 22, 2013
9,321
16,995
Mountain Maryland
🥇 Banner finds
2
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
4
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, AT Max, Minelab
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
There is a family story that my great grandmother paid the paper boy w/ a roll of 55 doubled dies, but you know how stories go, probably bs. But truth is in 1988 my house got robbed, lost everything valuable, I was a senior in HS., anyways my entire coin and stamp collections are a memory, the 1808 half dollar that my favorite Uncle Bill gave me haunts me to this day. Now that I have gotten older, I find myself not dwelling on the value of coins, but the joy in being the "favorite Uncle" to the young ones in my extended family.
 

SCDigginWithAK

Bronze Member
Mar 31, 2012
1,489
357
South Carolina
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Garrett Ace 350, Garrett Pro Pointer, Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I found it in a box that we used during a move from houses haha! It was there with a 1996 proof set and 1963 red seal $2 bill. Thanks!
 

Msbeepbeep

Gold Member
Jun 24, 2012
15,787
24,131
MA
Detector(s) used
M-6, pro pointer, pistol probe
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
1945 wheat before I could check it out. Have no clue where it went.

BWD. I've also lost 2 gold replica coins and a lighter in the shape of a small gold ingot marked as such taken in a break in.
 

smittyman

Full Member
Jun 6, 2012
215
323
Charlotte NC
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Msbeepbeep-at least maybe you can take pleasure imagining the disappointment of the thieves when they discovered the gold wasn't real.
 

Mackaydon

Gold Member
Oct 26, 2004
24,077
22,848
N. San Diego Pic of my 2 best 'finds'; son & g/son
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer
Primary Interest:
Shipwrecks
Lost is one thing; stolen is another. I had a three-legged buf and two US $2.50 gold ripped off of me.
Even more upsetting since they were gifts over years from my parents. So much for storing stuff in a hall safe.
As for being 'lost'...when I was a kid, I dropped a BU 46 Rosy behind a desk area that was totally inaccessible. If if happened today, I wouldn't think much of it, but then--it was a big deal.
Don...
 

roaddust66

Hero Member
Sep 22, 2013
608
342
Chattanooga Tennessee
Detector(s) used
Impact , Tejon . Fisher F75, Vaquero, uMaxSilver, Cibola , Delta 4000, F2, Ace350 , original Bandido
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
About 1978 or so I was coin hunting the old historic courthouse in Kingston Tennessee. I found a 1922 wheat penny. that night I threw it in a box with other coins found detecting. A month later i was looking thru a coin price guide for another coin when I decided to look up the wheat penny. I fell out of my chair ! It was worth a hundred bucks ! I rushed to the coin box , it was no where to be found. Today its worth $200 bucks and I still have never seen it !
 

xrunndonex

Hero Member
Dec 4, 2013
768
137
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I lost 50 cents to a pop machine on break. That was a devastating
 

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