dahut
Hero Member
- Nov 6, 2004
- 809
- 54
- Detector(s) used
- 21 years behind a coil
Fisher F70
Bounty Hunter Lone Star
Tesoro Tiger Shark
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Well, it's finally passed. 2008 is behind us.
Some will say good riddance and if you are under 70, you will probably have real reason to dislike 2008. With some of the worst economic failures in 60 years, and more, there is good reason.
But metal detecting goes on. The older, yet-undiscovered things are still out there to tempt us. And when found, their value (especially the silver and gold items) are increased in the face of hard economic times. Meanwhile, the new items like clad coin and jewelry remain at their intrinsic trade levels. Jewelry, in fact, is now a "hot commodity."
There are no end of scrap traders looking to cash in on the precious yellow hoard stashed away in sock drawers and jewelry boxes across the land. Coins in general are up in desirability, too, as we rush to invest in tangible things in these trying times.
I mean, who would have thought that the once scorned, even laughable, Sacajawea Dollar would be at any point be called "rare" and command prices topping $200 per piece!?*
* This is what GBU MS-70 2001-S Proof Dollars have sold for in recent times
Yeah, it's a pretty good time to be a detectorist. In keeping with that, and just for fun, I snapped a few pics of some of my finds from 2008.
The Lowly Cent
First up is one of my favorite shots.
It should be noted that 2008 hasn't been a good year for everything in the detecting world. Since 1982, our common U.S. One Cent coin - the popularly mis-named "penny" - has had it rough. And the year just passed wasn't any better.
For nearly all of it's 215 years in service, the U.S. Cent has been made of various copper bronze alloys. But In 1982, the one cent coin was changed to a zinc cored blank, wash-plated with copper. This was done because copper prices had risen so much that the coin was costing more to make than it was worth. Even today, bronze-copper, pre-1982 Once Cent coins are worth 141% of their face value!
So the change was made to the Zincer Cent we now see in common circulation.
Now, that's well and good I suppose. But for those familiar with dielectric, or "galvanic" corrosion, it's well known that zinc doesn't fare well when exposed to the elements. Acids, minerals and naturally occurring salts pretty much eat it up, in the presence of even small amounts of moisture. This doesn't happen to copper cents, which often lie in the ground for decades even centuries, with little more than a green patina to show for their time in the dark.
As an example, here's what can happen to zinc One Cent coins when exposed to the elements:
Take a close look, folks. These are the culls from my Years End cent rolling efforts. These cents have just about had it and are, simply put, worthless. To be fair, not all "Zincers" end up like this. Most post-1982 cents are in fairly decent shape, although often a little ratty looking for their time spent in the ground. Yet, even in pristine condition, the Zinc Cent is only worth about 40% of it's face value. In this shape? Well, it's a shame that ANY U.S. coin should end up in the rubbish, but that will be the destination for these sorry examples.
P.S. In case you missed the news, in 2009 we will be getting five new One Cent designs from the U.S. Mint. These will commemorate Lincolns life and career, much like the State Quarter Program did for the 50 states.
The following year, 2010, a new design is slated to take over. This means the current design will be retired and, by law, will never be minted again. The venerable old Lincoln cent, 100 years after it's inception, will be a thing of the past.
Do you Clad or Dont'cha?
But make no mistake, even the cents add up, regardless of their composition. I totalled a little over 2000 of them last year - 2038 to be exact! Added to the other fractional coins found, I recovered a grand total of $109.38 in modern, "clad," U.S. coins. It might be worth mentioning that I didn't detect from late winter through fall, either. So this total represents about 5 months altogether.
Now, like most detectorists, I would prefer to find only the older silver U.S. coins. But, let's face it: that aint gonna happen anymore.
Had I owned a detector as kid, prior to 1965, it would have been that way. But that time is now more than 4 decades behind us.
So if I want to detect today, I must make a choice. I can be one of those who turns his nose up at all modern coinage.... or I can at some point reconcile and content myself with today's "clad" coins.
Here are the results of my decision:
$20 ..... One Cent coins
$30 ..... Quarters
$45 ..... Dimes
$6 ....... Nickels
Remnants (incomplete rolls)
$0.23 .... One Cent coins
$7.75 .....Quarters
$0.40 .... Dimes
$0.0 ...... Nickels
TOTAL: $109.38
This does not include the odd silver coin I found, some Liberty w/ Wings (Mercury) and Roosevelt Dimes. Nor does it include the many Wheat Ear Cents I tossed in my "Wheaties" jar. And like most of us, I snagged a few foreign coins, a mis-strike cent and various coins that for whatever reason were left out of the total.
All in all I can accept almost $110 in found money, in exchange for a bit of exercise, fresh air and an interesting hobby.
Poor Man's Gold
Since I've snuck in a few references to silver thus far, what say we take look at the the last 3.5 months worth of finds as they relate to 'Le Argent.' Silver is my favorite of the precious metals, I suppose because it is more 'approachable' than gold. Here is a pic of some of the silver recovered:
I scooped that 1965, 40% silver Kennedy Half Dollar in a local wood chip tot lot. A bit of a surprise, that.
The rest are typical silver finds for an average detectorist banging around in the dirt. Earrings, mostly and 4 rings
Total weight of all the silver items shown is 34.43 grams. When you subtract the portion of that represented by the 40% Kennedy half, the end result is 29.9 grams of silver. At $11.33/ oz., as of this writing, that makes $11.93 worth of silver in these findings. Hey, it aint a fortune, but it beats sitting on the couch!
Besides there are rumblings about silver as being a real mover this year. This is from Bloomberg.com:
“Things are going to be a lot better next year than people think,” Lars Steffensen, the founder and managing director of Ebullio Capital Management LLP, a commodity hedge fund based in Southend-on-Sea, U.K., said yesterday. “The U.S. is going to print the dollar to get out of the recession, and anything tangible, like industrial metals, is going to be worth more.”
This also includes silver which, unlike other precious metals, has many industrial uses and has already posted some large gains in the last few days.
People are getting the word, too. Silver coins of any kind are going for seemingly insane prices, well in excess of current trading price, or "spot" - and often beyond any numismatic value. It promises to be a high-water year for the "poor man's gold."
Thanks for looking and reading this far. In the next day or two I'll do a Part II follow up on the many relics, what-not's and other notable items from 2008.
See you then and Happy New Year!
Some will say good riddance and if you are under 70, you will probably have real reason to dislike 2008. With some of the worst economic failures in 60 years, and more, there is good reason.
But metal detecting goes on. The older, yet-undiscovered things are still out there to tempt us. And when found, their value (especially the silver and gold items) are increased in the face of hard economic times. Meanwhile, the new items like clad coin and jewelry remain at their intrinsic trade levels. Jewelry, in fact, is now a "hot commodity."
There are no end of scrap traders looking to cash in on the precious yellow hoard stashed away in sock drawers and jewelry boxes across the land. Coins in general are up in desirability, too, as we rush to invest in tangible things in these trying times.
I mean, who would have thought that the once scorned, even laughable, Sacajawea Dollar would be at any point be called "rare" and command prices topping $200 per piece!?*
* This is what GBU MS-70 2001-S Proof Dollars have sold for in recent times
Yeah, it's a pretty good time to be a detectorist. In keeping with that, and just for fun, I snapped a few pics of some of my finds from 2008.
The Lowly Cent
First up is one of my favorite shots.
It should be noted that 2008 hasn't been a good year for everything in the detecting world. Since 1982, our common U.S. One Cent coin - the popularly mis-named "penny" - has had it rough. And the year just passed wasn't any better.
For nearly all of it's 215 years in service, the U.S. Cent has been made of various copper bronze alloys. But In 1982, the one cent coin was changed to a zinc cored blank, wash-plated with copper. This was done because copper prices had risen so much that the coin was costing more to make than it was worth. Even today, bronze-copper, pre-1982 Once Cent coins are worth 141% of their face value!
So the change was made to the Zincer Cent we now see in common circulation.
Now, that's well and good I suppose. But for those familiar with dielectric, or "galvanic" corrosion, it's well known that zinc doesn't fare well when exposed to the elements. Acids, minerals and naturally occurring salts pretty much eat it up, in the presence of even small amounts of moisture. This doesn't happen to copper cents, which often lie in the ground for decades even centuries, with little more than a green patina to show for their time in the dark.
As an example, here's what can happen to zinc One Cent coins when exposed to the elements:
Take a close look, folks. These are the culls from my Years End cent rolling efforts. These cents have just about had it and are, simply put, worthless. To be fair, not all "Zincers" end up like this. Most post-1982 cents are in fairly decent shape, although often a little ratty looking for their time spent in the ground. Yet, even in pristine condition, the Zinc Cent is only worth about 40% of it's face value. In this shape? Well, it's a shame that ANY U.S. coin should end up in the rubbish, but that will be the destination for these sorry examples.
P.S. In case you missed the news, in 2009 we will be getting five new One Cent designs from the U.S. Mint. These will commemorate Lincolns life and career, much like the State Quarter Program did for the 50 states.
The following year, 2010, a new design is slated to take over. This means the current design will be retired and, by law, will never be minted again. The venerable old Lincoln cent, 100 years after it's inception, will be a thing of the past.
Do you Clad or Dont'cha?
But make no mistake, even the cents add up, regardless of their composition. I totalled a little over 2000 of them last year - 2038 to be exact! Added to the other fractional coins found, I recovered a grand total of $109.38 in modern, "clad," U.S. coins. It might be worth mentioning that I didn't detect from late winter through fall, either. So this total represents about 5 months altogether.
Now, like most detectorists, I would prefer to find only the older silver U.S. coins. But, let's face it: that aint gonna happen anymore.
Had I owned a detector as kid, prior to 1965, it would have been that way. But that time is now more than 4 decades behind us.
So if I want to detect today, I must make a choice. I can be one of those who turns his nose up at all modern coinage.... or I can at some point reconcile and content myself with today's "clad" coins.
Here are the results of my decision:
$20 ..... One Cent coins
$30 ..... Quarters
$45 ..... Dimes
$6 ....... Nickels
Remnants (incomplete rolls)
$0.23 .... One Cent coins
$7.75 .....Quarters
$0.40 .... Dimes
$0.0 ...... Nickels
TOTAL: $109.38
This does not include the odd silver coin I found, some Liberty w/ Wings (Mercury) and Roosevelt Dimes. Nor does it include the many Wheat Ear Cents I tossed in my "Wheaties" jar. And like most of us, I snagged a few foreign coins, a mis-strike cent and various coins that for whatever reason were left out of the total.
All in all I can accept almost $110 in found money, in exchange for a bit of exercise, fresh air and an interesting hobby.
Poor Man's Gold
Since I've snuck in a few references to silver thus far, what say we take look at the the last 3.5 months worth of finds as they relate to 'Le Argent.' Silver is my favorite of the precious metals, I suppose because it is more 'approachable' than gold. Here is a pic of some of the silver recovered:
I scooped that 1965, 40% silver Kennedy Half Dollar in a local wood chip tot lot. A bit of a surprise, that.
The rest are typical silver finds for an average detectorist banging around in the dirt. Earrings, mostly and 4 rings
Total weight of all the silver items shown is 34.43 grams. When you subtract the portion of that represented by the 40% Kennedy half, the end result is 29.9 grams of silver. At $11.33/ oz., as of this writing, that makes $11.93 worth of silver in these findings. Hey, it aint a fortune, but it beats sitting on the couch!
Besides there are rumblings about silver as being a real mover this year. This is from Bloomberg.com:
“Things are going to be a lot better next year than people think,” Lars Steffensen, the founder and managing director of Ebullio Capital Management LLP, a commodity hedge fund based in Southend-on-Sea, U.K., said yesterday. “The U.S. is going to print the dollar to get out of the recession, and anything tangible, like industrial metals, is going to be worth more.”
This also includes silver which, unlike other precious metals, has many industrial uses and has already posted some large gains in the last few days.
People are getting the word, too. Silver coins of any kind are going for seemingly insane prices, well in excess of current trading price, or "spot" - and often beyond any numismatic value. It promises to be a high-water year for the "poor man's gold."
Thanks for looking and reading this far. In the next day or two I'll do a Part II follow up on the many relics, what-not's and other notable items from 2008.
See you then and Happy New Year!
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