From time to time we get posts from folks who find beautiful old coinage at shallow depths.We are talking 19th century coinage here. Granted I have found shallow old coins which were definitely dropped 100+ years ago as they were found at an old tavern or ghost town site and their condition confirms this.
However, I? believe that not all shallow old coin drops are old. I remember once when I was detecting around parking meters in Denver about 20 years ago I had an unusual day. This one meter area in front of a building sparkled my interest as I quickly recovered two Roosevelt dimes at 4 inches. However my interest waned a bit when the rest of the coins proved to be very shallow and clad. In front of the meter I hit a loud signal and dug expecting to find another clad. At less than 1 inch I was shocked to find a beautiful seated dime in excellent condition(which I later sold at a good price). If this dirt was fill why the seated dime at 1" and the Roosevelts at 4". This clearly was a recent coin drop. If I had found this at an old? park- folks would have believed this coin to be in the ground for +100 years. I guess folks do strange things. I remember a Denver policeman told me he was called to a site of a parking meter by a frantic woman. Apparently she tried to stuff a $1 gold coin in the meter by mistake and it got stuck(If I was there I would have given her change for the $1 gold coin).
Another time I was detecting a schoolyard. It was a pretty recent school . If memory serves me it was built in 1948? Another shallow coin find was a beautiful 18th century Spanish copper coin in excellent condition. This was a show and tell find that little Johnnie lost during recess. I imagine his parents were not thrilled.
I guess anything can pop up when detecting.
George
However, I? believe that not all shallow old coin drops are old. I remember once when I was detecting around parking meters in Denver about 20 years ago I had an unusual day. This one meter area in front of a building sparkled my interest as I quickly recovered two Roosevelt dimes at 4 inches. However my interest waned a bit when the rest of the coins proved to be very shallow and clad. In front of the meter I hit a loud signal and dug expecting to find another clad. At less than 1 inch I was shocked to find a beautiful seated dime in excellent condition(which I later sold at a good price). If this dirt was fill why the seated dime at 1" and the Roosevelts at 4". This clearly was a recent coin drop. If I had found this at an old? park- folks would have believed this coin to be in the ground for +100 years. I guess folks do strange things. I remember a Denver policeman told me he was called to a site of a parking meter by a frantic woman. Apparently she tried to stuff a $1 gold coin in the meter by mistake and it got stuck(If I was there I would have given her change for the $1 gold coin).
Another time I was detecting a schoolyard. It was a pretty recent school . If memory serves me it was built in 1948? Another shallow coin find was a beautiful 18th century Spanish copper coin in excellent condition. This was a show and tell find that little Johnnie lost during recess. I imagine his parents were not thrilled.
I guess anything can pop up when detecting.
George
Upvote
0
