What Ive done with my Metal Detecting Finds - in 2015

[Skippy SH13]

What I've done with my Metal Detecting Finds - in 2015

So... Given that I've NEVER found a single Silver coin, I was getting discouraged about a month ago... (2 months into the hobby). That being said, I DID find 3 gold rings, and a couple of silver ones, and at the time about $82 in clad...

I sold the rings and bought my son a Garrett Ace 250. That's where the first $250 in finds went. Since that point, I've taken the rest of the money, the $82 in clad, plus all the clad findings since then (about another $50), and the remainder of cash from the ring sales, and I've been purchasing from e-bay what I REALLY would have preferred to find...

Here's the list so far!


Pretty cool. In the three months that I've been doing this, JUST from Metal Detecting Clad, and selling the jewelry I've found, I now have:

1 ACE 250 Metal Detector (2015 )
3 Morgan Dollars (1921, 1885, 1881)
3 Walking Liberty Half dollars (1921, 1942, 1943)
2 Barber Quarters (1914-d, 1907)
1 Standing Liberty Quarter (blank date)
2 Washington Silver Quarters (1953, 1957)
4 Silver Half Dimes (1851,1853-Arrows, 1854, 1857 & 1858)
2 5-Cent Shield Nickels (1867, 1868)
5 Liberty V Nickels (Various dates).
12 Buffalo Nickels
3-cent Nickel (1867)
1 Silver Trime (3 cent, date not sure, not here, yet)
2 2-Cent Pieces (1864,1867)
3 Large Cents (1830, 1837, and 1858)
1 Draped Liberty Bust Large Cent 1802 (This was a KILLER score on ebay for $17... unsure how I landed it so cheap!)
1 Flying Eagle Cent (1858)
half dozen or so Indian Head Pennies (they come in some of the mixes I've bought), all 1890s, 1900s...

Writing this down, I really should lay it all out and take a picture... Some of them are still on their way in (The trime, a Morgan, and a Barber Quarter). Some of them have been SUPER fun.. The Large Cents really blew me away how "Large" they are (they're a fun coin), and the half-dimes are SO THIN and SMALL! (makes sense, though, based on silver content.). Looking forward to seeing how the silver Trime stacks up.


All of the above came from the sales of my MD'ing finds. I have to say, when I look at my "coin collection" (which I get TREMENDOUS JOY from..) it sure beats looking at the jars of clad in the garage (which oddly, I also got a lot of joy from... just not nearly as much as now!) It's also weird to think that people can actually FIND this stuff in the ground... For me, it's all clad and newer stuff. I may never find one, but that won't stop me from collecting them as a direct result of my hobby!

Somewhere along the way, I decided it would be cool to have a type set of all the US coins no longer in circulation. I still have to find a good deal on 20 cent pieces, 1/2 cents, and the various types of Large cents (those 1700's ones are PRICEY)... Oddly, I'm missing Peace Dollars, and Franklin halves from my collection (I already had some 90% and 40% silver Kennedy Halves). Peace Dollars are funny for me. I don't really have an interest in them, and I'd rather pick up a Morgan... Isn't that strange?

Anyone else here use their metal detecting to "fund" a collection or other hobby?

Skippy

 

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[BigWaveDave]

I parlay my finds into silver bullion at the end of the year, this year I hope to invest into a gold piece, it all depends how much I dig..

 

[Skippy SH13]

I parlay my finds into silver bullion at the end of the year, this year I hope to invest into a gold piece, it all depends how much I dig..

I've thought about doing that, too. Every $18-$20 dug gets turned into a silver round. What I ended up settling on is taking my lunch to work every day (I used to budget twice a week eating out), and simply buying a silver round every paycheck (bimonthly).

At the end of the year, I'll have 25 ounces in Silver. I'm excited about next week's first purchase.

I want to be one of those old guys who retires with 40 pounds of precious metals as a backup. Or simply the guy who sells 10 pounds of silver when it hits $50 again.

Also, I've been quite fortunate to find the silver quarters and halves (including the Walking Liberty) at the spot price of silver. Morgans, trimes, and half-dimes are nusmismatic, for sure.

Mostly, I just happen across bids that are low and get lucky. Basically, it's just buying bullion with a bit of numismatic value as a back-up, at the half-dollar and quarter-dollar level. 90% junk silver really is worth just about bullion. I sometimes will pay a percent or two more than spot, (such as the barber Quarter I just bought for 7 cents more than melt), but it is in-line with buying a one ounce round at $1.50 more than spot.

-Skippy

 

[Skippy SH13]

this year I hope to invest into a gold piece, it all depends how much I dig..

Given that a quarter eagle's gold value is only about $180, I'd think that shouldn't be too out of range. I keep going back and forth in my mind over whether or not silver or gold is the better choice. In the end, I've settled on not selling any more gold rings (gold is gold), and converting all my clad to old coins and bullion.

-Skippy

 

[TheHunterGT]

For 3 months worth of digging those are spectacular finds. There are many people who have not found such items in 10-20 years detecting.

In roughly one month I have found half of a Pepsi factory worth of tabs and twist offs. The other half of the factory must belong to Heineken.

My oldest coin is a 1985 penny. I will probably cry and dance when I get something older than WW2 at this rate.

 

[slink]

I keep going back and forth in my mind over whether or not silver or gold is the better choice. -Skippy

The best choice is some of each.

 

[Mudball]

Wow !!!
Congrats on the awesome finds. Looks like your doing things just fine.

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrats on a really nice haul for just three months. You some really nice coins from the proceeds of your work.

That first silver coin will arrive shortly. Mark my words. It took me three months to find the first one. GL&HH.

 

[airscapes]

Very impressive list, I am very curious as to the types of locations you are hunting.

 

[Jublain]

That's smart. I just throw my clad in a pile. I'll go thru it sometime. I haven't found enough gold to buy anything special but again, someday.

 

[frankie]

They say this hobby pays for itself. With that said. This hobby supports my buying of metal detectors.

 

[Skippy SH13]

For 3 months worth of digging those are spectacular finds. There are many people who have not found such items in 10-20 years detecting.

In roughly one month I have found half of a Pepsi factory worth of tabs and twist offs. The other half of the factory must belong to Heineken.

My oldest coin is a 1985 penny. I will probably cry and dance when I get something older than WW2 at this rate.

LOL... Go back and check my post again. I didn't actually FIND any of those things. LOL! I only used the money selling the stuff I found, and the clad I found to buy them off of ebay. The oldest coin I've found, was a 1940 Wheat penny... and it's the ONLY wheat penny I've actually found!

My son uses his clad to fill up his penny book. He's converted his change, and picked up two flying eagles, a dozen indian heads, and gobs of regular Wheats and Memorials for his books. We do penny roll hunting, mostly, though.

I love looking at the coins I've purchased with my metal detecting find money. I can only imagine how cool it would be to know I've FOUND them...

Next on my list is going to be a spanish 1873 8 Reales (America's first silver dollar). THey can be had pretty cheapyly, with the El Cazador shipwreck finds...

-Skippy

 

[Skippy SH13]

Very impressive list, I am very curious as to the types of locations you are hunting.

Well, for the coins in the list, I hunt e-bay.

For the money to spend to hunt e-bay, I've hit only 2 areas.

1) City Parks (soccer/football fields and tot-lots)
2) Snow Cone Shack grass areas. These are money mines. I typically take $20 or more in quarters from each site.

All my rings and clad have come from the above two areas. They've been so productive, I've really not branched out.

Funny thing is the tot-lots are definitely self-renewing. Saturday, I went out and did a tot-lot tour, and hit a few I'd already been to, the month before. I pulled another couple bucks of change out of them (and a few junk rings). Amazing how much gets lost at those things in the WINTER. I'm really looking forward to hitting them monthly in the summer!

SKippy

 

[TheHunterGT]

LOL... Go back and check my post again. I didn't actually FIND any of those things. LOL! I only used the money selling the stuff I found, and the clad I found to buy them off of ebay. The oldest coin I've found, was a 1940 Wheat penny... and it's the ONLY wheat penny I've actually found!

My son uses his clad to fill up his penny book. He's converted his change, and picked up two flying eagles, a dozen indian heads, and gobs of regular Wheats and Memorials for his books. We do penny roll hunting, mostly, though.

I love looking at the coins I've purchased with my metal detecting find money. I can only imagine how cool it would be to know I've FOUND them...

Next on my list is going to be a spanish 1873 8 Reales (America's first silver dollar). THey can be had pretty cheapyly, with the El Cazador shipwreck finds...

-Skippy

Yup, I totally missread your post....my apologies. I was thinking "this dude is one lucky dude"....lol....my apologies again! Read that post well past my bedtime.

 

[Skippy SH13]

Yup, I totally missread your post....my apologies. I was thinking "this dude is one lucky dude"....lol....my apologies again! Read that post well past my bedtime.

Good grief, no apologies necessary... I just didn't want to misrepresent in any way, that those were actually dug coins. That would make me the luckiest man on the forum to have pulled those out in 3 months!