A question for those who have found gold coins....

[JoeinMemphis]

I also posted this in the "Coins" forum... Just looking for answers / opinions.

I have been purchasing older coins lately to work up a good "old coin" pattern for my explorer, like what is shown in Andy's book, and it got me thinking. My question for you "Gold Coin Club" members is what denomination did you find, and what type of area was it found in? (Old farm house site, woods, older occupied home site etc.) This isn't a question as what to buy to add to the program, I can just run it wide open and dig everything repeatable, I am just curious as to what is the most commonly found gold coin. There were 19,534,693 one dollar coins minted in three varieties, but they are TINY and could present a detection problem due to their small size, conductivity, and possible depth. However, I would think there would be far more of these in the ground due to their smaller denomination. (People might have actually USED them, and LOST them due to their size etc) Larger gold coins would be easier targets to detect due to their size, but they might also be deeper due to their weight, and how many of them were actually USED in day to day life. Any thoughts??
HH Joe

 

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[Lowbatts]

Can only suggest that due to the fact 15% of all known gold coins in circualtion in this country at the time of Roosevelt's declaration simply disappeared there may be quite a few buried in small caches here and there.

Other side of that coin however is that at the time burying was a distant second to caches in interior hiding spots in homes.

 

[rjw4law]

I have never found a gold coin, know some lucky soles who have...maybe some day.

 

[JoeinMemphis]

I would tend to agree with the inside cache theory. Early on I can see the "bury it in the chicken coop" scenario, but as time progressed there were fewer and fewer chicken coops, and closer and closer neighbors. I did more totaling of the minted numbers, but would love to know how many were "turned in". In addition to the 19,534,693 minted gold dollars, there was 20,213,060 $2.50 coins, 77,832,951 $5 coins, and 52,684,435 $10 coins. My fingers are tired from totaling all those pages of numbers up in the 2006 coin digest, I'll post the $20 numbers tomorrow. I am just trying to get the feel for what is out there, and what would be the most common gold coin find. HH Joe

 

[oneeye]

I have found 1 gold coin. It is a $2.50 gold coin.
Dan

 

[kuger]

I have found one and it was the 1863 S mint $10,only 10,000 made,it was in mint condition(no visible bag marks even)so it is believed that it seen little circulation.If you look at the values in the book the $5 is worth more than the $10 and $20.I was told that it was because there was more of the $5 used and finding them in mint condition is rare?My great grandfather buried a can of $20 coins in the chicken coop but his son dug them up in the depression.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The most commonly found denomination for md'rs is $5's. I don't know the reason for those being the highest percentage, but it is. If you scroll through all the posts of people having found gold coins, check mag. articles of those that found them, etc... you would see this trend born out.

I have found 11 gold coins, and 6 of them are $5's, for example. Maybe $5's just had the highest mintages? I dunno. A coin-buff would know the answer for that, or you could do the math by going page by page in the red-book, adding up the different denominations mintages.

 

[kuger]

The most commonly found denomination for md'rs is $5's. I don't know the reason for those being the highest percentage, but it is. If you scroll through all the posts of people having found gold coins, check mag. articles of those that found them, etc... you would see this trend born out.

I have found 11 gold coins, and 6 of them are $5's, for example. Maybe $5's just had the highest mintages? I dunno. A coin-buff would know the answer for that, or you could do the math by going page by page in the red-book, adding up the different denominations mintages.

Good point Tom,you would know!!!I think it was Axe that explained why the $5 is worth so much more?

 

[Jim McCulloch]

Tom is right; "Half Eagles" ARE the most commonly found SINGLE COIN lost-from-circulation gold coins. When I was an editor working at "Treasure" magazine I did a great deal of research on the the subject, by perusing hundreds of TH magazines. Fully 90% of, again, SINGLE COIN lost-from-circulation US gold coins are $5.00 gold pieces. My article on the subject can probably be found on some websites. One title of that artcile, reprinted several times, was "Gold Coin Game Plan." One problem, though, Half Eagles land smack dab in the screw cap range, VDI of 50-55 on the DFX, XLT, MXT, etc. Hope this helps; HH Jim

 

[Duane B]

The most common gold coin loss/recovery will depend on what type of site you are searching, and what type of hunter is operating the detector. I have found 75 gold coins, all single finds, and all dropped from circulation. The site I was searching? An 1858 military camp located 1000 miles away from "civilization" (and it just happens to be the largest military camp of the 1850s). Here's the total number of gold coins found by me broken down by denomination:

$1 42
$2.5 15
$5 11
$10 4
$20 3

Out of all coins at this site, copper, silver, and gold, the gold dollar was the most common coin found. Gold dollars were very small and they were easy to lose. Most people don't look for gold dollars, so naturally they are not going to find them. Even if you're looking for gold dollars they are tough to find. They produce a real crummy signal, and if you're not digging everything that produces the slightest of crummy signals then you'll miss them.

Again, the numbers shown above are from one single site, and every site is different. Most sites probably will not produce any gold coins.

 

[kuger]

WOW!!!!That has to be some kind of record!?You are the man!!!Could you post some pics?A story?What other relics did you findThat is incredible!!!

 

[Duane B]

Hi Kuger,

I'm at work right now so I can't link to any photos, but I'll try to include a couple photos when I get home.

My gold coin finds, as well as several other hunters gold coin finds, and thousands of other artifacts, have all been inventoried and documented as to date found and location found. I have been writting a book on my explorations for 15 years now and the book has just recently been published (February 13, 2009). The book is called "In Search of Johnston's Army; Old Camp Floyd & West Creek; As Seen Through the Eyes of a Relic Hunter". Do a google search and you may find something on it. I have not really done any publicizing of the book yet. In fact, this is the first time I have mentioned it publicly. I'm sure you will hear about it sooner or later though.

Later, Duane

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Duane, I had heard of you & your fellow hunters, via one of your invitees to that site (I think he just hunted a time or two with you, after you guys had long since "thinned it out"). It was during an exchange where I'd asked, on some forum "has anyone got more gold coins than this?" (individual numismatic drops, so caches not included). The fellow produced the pix of your fort finds. Glad to finally hear from you here. I don't think my measily 11 will ever catch up to your count

A little story about your fort site, as it pertains to md'ing: There was an ace-hunter here in CA, who .... during the 1980s and up to the mid '90s researched, found, and detected many western state chilling historic sites (mission era sites, forts, virgin stage & pony express stops, etc...). He has, for example, over 100 reales, 6 gold coins, countless seateds, days of up to 100 silver, etc... Your fort was one of the destinations they tried to get into, back in their era (I guess.... years before you got in there?). For various reasons, they deduced they couldn't get into the place. It was too-well-watched, they got a "no", etc... So that was one of the places they never got back to, to try again to access. History dealt you a "close-call on that", eh? Because knowing these guys, they'd have parked their b*tts on the site and worked every last signal out of it, as they did to other sites during their era. Based on their research of the site, I can see how you'd get that many gold coins. The thousands of soldiers stationed there in tent cities, for the period of years, and the form of pay: "gold coin", and the historical record of the incoming payrolls to pay the soldiers, etc... It was just a "given" that some of those coins would be in the ground.

When I told your story to my friend, he lamented that they should've born down on it, and found a way in!

 

[Duane B]

Hi Tom,

Yeah, I'm probably lucky nobody cleaned out the site before me. The old timers found most of the good stuff. Here is a photo of some of my finds. You've probably seen it before. CZ-Utah (a guy that used to post on here) found one of the $20s, and a couple of the other gold coins. Many of mine are not in the photo. This photo is on the back cover of my book. Enjoy!

Duane

 

[thrillathahunt]

Holy &%^$#@*!!!!!

That is absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Duane: I HATE YOU - I HATE YOU - I HATE YOU!! You make me sick. Waaahhhhh

Seriously now, 1) what years did you start working that 2) who worked it before you (as far as you know) and what did they find? 3) how did they get in, and how did you get in?

thanx!

 

[kuger]

Yea what Tom said!!Also,do you tell about it in your book?Whats the name of your book and how do I get it??

 

[Duane B]

Hi kuger,

I don't like hi-jacking this post. I had some information that the original poster was requesting. So this will be the last time I respond with off topic remarks to the original thread. The name of the book is shown above in one of my earlier posts. And yes, I reveal the exact locations of over 100 gold goin recoveries, and a lot of other information. It's historically important information. The site is off limits now, even to me. The property owners are detecting the site (for what little is left).

Duane

 

[rmptr]

One problem, though, Half Eagles land smack dab in the screw cap range, VDI of 50-55 on the DFX, XLT, MXT, etc. Hope this helps; HH Jim

I believe this to be true.

Dig 'em all !

Tesoro rules!
rmptr


Duane, where is your book for sale?
WoW!

 

[steve from ohio]

The US gold dollars were minted from 1849 to 1854. There were over 12 million minted and the big complaint back then was that they were so small that they were being lost all the time.

Sad to say that an average man's wages back then was a dollar a day so if he lost that coin, it was a day of work for nothing.

The trick to finding anything is first research and then mindset.

I was new to metal detecting back in the 1980's and I never found a gold ring. I asked this old guy who was in the local metal detecting club how he found so many gold rings. He was always finding rings all the time and had quite a collection. He said to think you will find them and then you will.

I had never found a gold ring before and after taking his advice and concentrating on wanting to find a gold ring, I finally started finding them. But I also went to areas where people go. It is amazing how many rings are lost at ball diamonds. At the beaches and in the water.

Now as far as gold coins go, you need to research as to where people in the 1840's to the early 1930's went. Back then, gold was carried by people as money as well as silver. Figure out where they used to congregate and you will most certainly find what you are looking for. I have done that here in Ohio and have found a few dollar gold coins and a five dollar gold coin that I found near a very old building that used to be a store.