Ouch! Lawnmower Coins!

[Cool Hand Fluke]

Every once in a while you will find one of these cliped silver coins damaged by a lawnmower. That 1879 is a Morgan Silver Dollar! Ouch!

 

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[Cool Hand Fluke]

[Ouch is right! If I found a Merc or Morgan like that I'd die. I found my first Merc a couple of weeks ago and it was Number 1 on my list of things to find, it would have been brutal to see one come out of the ground like that!.

[/quote]

Yes, it sure is a disappointment to retrieve a silver coin out of the ground only to have half of it missing! But its even more brutal to scratch or gouge a nice silver coin while digging it up! I destroyed a 1916 merc dime that would have graded XF, and several others as well

 

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[ivan salis]

on newer mowers the blade speed is "limited" --they didn't used to be in the past --in the 70's when I cut grass --if the blades on the mower were sharp almost nothing was shear proof -- it was like putting stuff into a wood chipper --MMMRRRZZZZ -can slaw ,ect ,ect -- the stuff slung out from under those higher horsepower fast blade speed riding mowers was "deadly"-- I cut lots of yards in the summer to earn "spending" money ( in the winter it was shoveling snow frt $ ) I lived in mad river (near dayton) , ohio in those days =-pops said you can use the mower to "earn" your spending cash once you do our yard -- you must buy your own gas and keep the oil filled too * (pop did not give a "allowance" for doing home chores --you did them because you eat and sleep here and dad / mom said to. -- and pop said -- no ones going to just give you stuff , learn that right now --want sumpin --YOU gotta earn it -- pops bought "el lamo" basic clothing for dvhool clothing said you want to be "high fashion" fine -- he said I will provide the cash for the basic gear --(WHAT YOU NEED ) ---however if you "WANT" THE HIGH DOLLAR STUFF you work and cover the differance to be "in fashion" -- I'M not going to let you break my back like that for "high dollar" in fashion clothing.
thus I cut a lot of yards and shovelled much snow --yrp I was a teen age "slave" to my wants and desires -- had to "buy" my own first car too -- dad said --you BUY IT -- it will last since you will respect it --we buy it you will just dog it to death --look at the other kids who folks buy them cars and how they treat them. (pop had a point)

 

[philipjfry]

folks --lots of people are killed yearly by sharp metal shards and rocks slung from the blades of lawn mowers -- never stand around a area where mowers are working -- stuff gets flung out at a rapid speed turning into deadly missiles -- you been warned .

You have just given me another excuse not to mow my yard.

 

[extractor]

 

[montepollock]

In 33 years of detecting I have never found a coin completely dismembered by mower,With clad coins the metal has been hardened by the stamping(cold forge copper, and it hardens ;"Tempers"the metal.
But the evidence seems overwhelming.But as was said the right combinations could make it possible.
but taking into account the lawnmowers used in old days...
I would like to search the sight where OLD coins would be shallow enough to be damaged by a mower..Chopped silver is a dern sight better than chopped cans..
Happy Hunting,Mont

Oh I don,t know when modern safety laws took affect, but Popular mechanics,or mechanics illustrated published an article c,1964-69 entitled"Tiger in Your Toolshed" showing the hazards of lawnmower shrapnel,and calling for safety laws..

 

[Native1858]

A lawnmower could do it.

I was mowing once, and hit one of those old cast iron sprinkler heads. I saw it fly half way down the street and land there-couldnt beleive it.

 

[RigDean]

Seems to me there are a number of ways coins could be sliced, cut, chopped or otherwise dismembered.

Lawnmower: possible, but that cleanly cut without any other apparent damage? Seems like the "pinball effect" would ding the sides, warp the shape and show other signs of impact? Still...possible...

Intentional: Seems more likely to me. People have been known to deface or otherwise alter coins out of spite or just plain amusement. Perhaps there is a more practical reason such as mentioned before. halving a coin or "piecing" it to have a smaller denomination. This seems more likely with the "silver" coins because everything was calculated by weight. We know the Romans and other civilizations stamped coins in such a way so they could be intentionally "broken" to create change.

Anyone heard from Mythbusters yet?

 

[TORRERO]

Seems to me there are a number of ways coins could be sliced, cut, chopped or otherwise dismembered.

Lawnmower: possible, but that cleanly cut without any other apparent damage? Seems like the "pinball effect" would ding the sides, warp the shape and show other signs of impact? Still...possible...

Intentional: Seems more likely to me. People have been known to deface or otherwise alter coins out of spite or just plain amusement. Perhaps there is a more practical reason such as mentioned before. halving a coin or "piecing" it to have a smaller denomination. This seems more likely with the "silver" coins because everything was calculated by weight. We know the Romans and other civilizations stamped coins in such a way so they could be intentionally "broken" to create change.

Anyone heard from Mythbusters yet?

You see ... this is what I said... my point exactly !! and these coins that look like pie cuts ?? and no other damage ?? Hard for me to swollow....

 

[TORRERO]

Hard for me to swollow....

Part of my point being....
that you would have us believe that in a machine as powerful and violent as a lawnmower
these could be done like this with no other outward sign...
those blades rotate at what 30 - 40 RPS ?? Rounds per second ?
If it hit a coin once then it would hit it 2 - 3 times before ejecting it out the side...
Even worse, from those old "MONSTER MOWERS" of yesteryear...

 

[Captn SE]

If it hit a coin once then it would hit it 2 - 3 times before ejecting it out the side...
Even worse, from those old "MONSTER MOWERS" of yesteryear...

Man, some of you guys are really hard-headed....I think some of you would argue that 1+1 does not equal 2. I guess some just won't believe unless they see it with their own two eyes!!

Guys, I, along with another N. Cal hunter have shown you proof that coins, both old and new, are getting chopped by the mowers. Look at my picture closely again...take a real good look...some of those coins have been chopped more than once, while some have been cut clean, while others have been cut, and partly mangled by a duller blade.....look closely...you can see the blade marks on some of them ....it's all random as to how many blades, and at what angle it will get hit before the mower has passed it by. And these mowers just don't have one chopper/cutter....there's at least 10-12 rotary blades on each side of the driver...all aligned in rows...something like 3-4 rows on each side....lots of potential for coins to get chopped/mangled more than once.

The theory that someone is at the park and cutting up coins is completely ridiculous. If the coins were all perfectly cut in an octagon shape or in some other perfect pattern, then I would agree, but just look at those coins....it's random damage.....it's the blades!!

You've got to come to CA to see it yourself. Although I know it happens in other states too...I've seen other posts of common silvers, wheats, and clad (not Reales...that I know is man-made) cut in pieces.

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[TORRERO]

If it hit a coin once then it would hit it 2 - 3 times before ejecting it out the side...
Even worse, from those old "MONSTER MOWERS" of yesteryear...

Man, some of you guys are really hard-headed....I think some of you would argue that 1+1 does not equal 2.

Guys, I, along with another N. Cal hunter have shown you proof that coins, both old and new, are getting chopped by the mowers. Look at my picture closely again...take a real good look...some of those coins have been chopped more than once....it's all random as to how many blades, and at what angle it will get hit before the mower has pass it by.

The theory that someone is at the park and cutting up coins is completely ridiculous. If the coins were all perfectly cut in an octagon shape or in some other perfect pattern, then I would agree, but just look at those coins....it's random damage.....it's the blades!!

You've got to come to CA to see it yourself. Although I know it happens in other states too...I've seen other posts of common silvers, wheats, and clad (not Reales...that I know is man-made) cut in pieces.

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

I am not disagreeing with you...
I have indeed dug Lawnmower coins in my 25+ years of metal detecting, I have dug 20 - 30 of these coins that are obviously cut by a mower...

My point is, all the coins I have dug that I can attribute to lawnmower damage seem to be
much more damaged than some of the coins you picture.
Lawnmowers are very powerful and very violent machines with solid steel blades rotating at horendous speeds
and coins that are bent and twisted and half cut certainly appear to be from mower damage.....

But those coins that look like they were cut with a knife and a hammer, on a hard serface, well they seem to be too clean for lawnmower fodder...
And yes, I have dug several slivers of Silver Coins, cut like this... not many but a few...
and all I'm saying is, maybe there is a differant explanation for some of these, other than lawnmower fodder....

 

[TORRERO]

The theory that someone is at the park and cutting up coins is completely ridiculous.

I agree with this completely....
Nobody in the park cutting coins.... that's for sure...
but how about a little fairy tale...

I have a jeweler friend of mine, he has 3 kids who are young 8, 10, and 12
and their father as a jeweler uses silver and gold to to repair chains, rings, medals etc....
If he buys supplies from a metal house supply company then he gets charged one fee....
But he has found he can save money on buying silver by using scrap silver...
He takes a silver dime, and with a blade and mallet, cuts a slice of silver coin enough silver
to repair the ring he is working on..
he heats it up, melts it down, makes the repair and sets his working items aside...
His 10 year old walks by Daddy's workshop and see a strange looking half coin and picks it up
in delight to play with this weird money.... he sticks it in his pocket and him and his brothers run off to the park where they play and tussle in the grass...
Oops.. it falls out and is lost to time.... 30 years later.... you dig this strange coin up and say...
Lawnmower must have been here last week... and this is what you think because its the most likely
scenario.... for me sometimes its ok to think outside the box ... just a little...

 

[steve from ohio]

I often think out of the box. But that scenario is a bit farther than that!

Not that it could not happen. But with all the reports of cut coins all around the country, I doubt that it happens all that much if it happened at all.

Here is really out of the box with all seriousness aside.

Moles. Moles chewed through the coins. They did that to play a joke on detectorists. They got sick and tired of people walking all over them and digging up their homes. So they decided to get even. So they chew through the coins. They knew we would sit at our computers for hours and hours and ask each other how those coins were cut and who put them there.

Darn moles. Smarter than we thought. It worked.

 

[DavyJonesLocker]

Hey! Hey! i figured it out somebody was tossing coins up in air and target practicing with their lazer guns. 8)

 

[montepollock]

Some of the coins shown,were,in all probability cut by a mower,but some of the cuts look too clean,and were probably cut by either EMT scissors or Hammer&chisel.
oh and I do find a lot of "chewed"coins,seems the gophers like nibbling on Zinc pennies.
Happy Hunting,Mont

PS isn,t it illegal to deface american coins, Now?
Book Him,Danno.
How do You handcuff a Gopher?.

 

[aaaaaaa]

Not sure if someone already asked this.. but have you found any parts that match up? I'd think you would if they were mower victims or something like that, and not cut on purpose..

 

[Captn SE]

Not sure if someone already asked this.. but have you found any parts that match up? I'd think you would if they were mower victims or something like that, and not cut on purpose..

Yes, I have. I've been able to recover at least 4 matching silver and a small handful of matching wheat pennies. Most were no more than 10 ft away from the other piece. I remember one silver Washington was chopped in 3 different pieces, but I was only able to find 2 of the pieces detecting the area in back to back days. Lots of chopped up and mangled silver rings also.

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[EE THr]

As a couple of people have pointed out already, not all lawn mowers are the same.

Specifically, there are the type with one stationary blade, plus several moving blades which spin on a cylindircal assembly, and these pass and rub the fixed blade, in a nearly parallel position to it, they cut the grass in a shearing action, like scissors.

The other type has a blade which spins like a propeller.

I've found some cut coins, but always in parks, where they are more likely to use a series of the shearing type units, pulled behind a small tractor. I don't think there is any doubt that these shearing types can cut a coin in two, or only partially in two if caught at the end of a blade, with part of the coin not caught between the moving and the fixed blade.

I have detected only a few private lawns, so it isn't a good scientific comparison for me, but I don't think I have found any cut coins on them. Now days most home mowers are the propeller type, but they were all the shear type years ago, so if it is these types which are doing the cutting, some cut coins could be found on home lawns, also.

Also, on the pictures of the cut coins, notice that at least one side seems to always have an angled edge. I have used metal shears, both the scissor types and the bench types where you stick a piece of steal strap or angle in it and pull a long handle down to snip it in two. Both types leave an angled edge cut on at least one side. This strengthens the theory that the cut coins were done by a shear cutting mower.

It does seem to me that a propeller type blade would cause a bend. Especially since most people don't sharpen these types of movers.

 

[Captn SE]

Thanks, EE THr, for that explanation on the lawn mower types.

The shearing type mower is definitely the one I saw at the park where a lot of my cut coins have come from.

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[fathead]

Let's face it. This is another reason to not like California.

They make strong mowers and weak coins.

I will say I can't see taking the time to cut through a coin with shears and then lose the pieces in a public park.

-FH