gold coin

[dusty1530]

what do you think the chances are that somebody would lose the five dollar gold piece or even a 10 dollar gold piece back in the day.
considering the five dollar gold piece at today's value of $5 with inflation is $220 don't you think that they would hold on to it pretty tight make sure they don't lose it .
so I guess my question is how many people have found a $5 or even a 10 dollar gold piece

 

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[VERDE]

Hey dusty!! I found one in my grandparent's back yard by a grape vinyard my grandfather had planted!! Also found a gold wedding band hanging on the trellis above it!! Still have them!! Go Figure?? Anyway GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

 

[doc-d]

People loose many things of value for many reasons..........

 

[mercury1]

I think you are correct Dusty, that people were/are more careful with extra valuable stuff. Myself, when I've got a big wad of crh cash in my pocket, I'm definitely more careful. But some people get careless. It happens.

 

[luvsdux]

It does happen, but not often. Friend of mine found a $20 gold piece while using the outhouse at an old mining camp in the Sierras. While sitting doing his business, he noticed something shiny through the cracks in the floor. He retrieved it and it turned out to be a real find. We treasure hunters always hope that next trip out will turn up something in gold, that's one of the things that keeps us going.
luvsdux

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I've found 13 gold coins so far. Of which most are $5's.

A miner's pay in the 1880's was possibly only $20 p/month+ room & board . So to loose a $5 piece was a weeks wage.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I think it was pretty rare for people to actually carry them and even rarer to lose one. Like Tom said, that little $5 gold coin was a LOT of money back then. Would YOU carry around an entire weeks pay while going to the park or fair or anywhere but directly to the bank?

 

[dusty1530]

I agree $5 then is now worth $220

 

[VERDE]

Hey dusty!! Fully understand the value, but wouldn't trade it for $2,200 strictly due to the sentimental value and the fact it was my first BIG FIND!! GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

 

[Ronzie]

Still something I haven't crossed of my list.

 

[dusty1530]

I hope one day I can cross a gold coin off of my list also

 

[VERDE]

Hey Jas!! Can you only Imagine!! Why Not!! You have what you're worth in your pocket and donot have to worry about the Bank confiscating your savings!! The one I have makes me respect the inability to own Gold, Thanks to the President's Decree at that time!! GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

 

[Arizona Bob]

what do you think the chances are that somebody would lose the five dollar gold piece or even a 10 dollar gold piece back in the day. considering the five dollar gold piece at today's value of $5 with inflation is $220 don't you think that they would hold on to it pretty tight make sure they don't lose it . so I guess my question is how many people have found a $5 or even a 10 dollar gold piece

People who steal stuff aren't quite as careful with their loot when they are on-the-run. Losing some of their ill-gotten gains is not a big problem for thieves. Now let's modernize this. My brother works for a very large police department. One main way that modern thieves stash their stolen goodies is by using storage lockers. Being hidden in a storage locker allows "the heat" to die down so thieves can fence their goodies more easily in the future. Some thieves get arrested & prison, some killed, etc, and are unable to pay their storage fees. Now we can see why Storage Wars, etc, are so popular. YMMV

 

[justdon]

The way my hunting goes.Finding a gold coin would put me in cardiac arrest.

 

[uglymailman]

People been gettin drunk for a long long time.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

more info.

Hey guys, the issue of "someone holding on tighter to something of more value", isn't really holding water. Since when does the value of something, affect its ability to become fumble finger losses? Even a dime in the old days would buy a beer at a bar. So that might be equivalent to $2 or $3 today? Since when does any of us not stop to pick up the $2 or $3 we just dropped? Or how about all the gold rings that are found routinely on the beach by us md'rs: Do you think anyone "didn't care" or "didn't go look for" that gold ring when he/she lost it? When anyone looses something, it's never "on purpose", or were they ever calculating value to determine when it's time to loose something.

Here's the deal with gold coins: Yes, they represented a day's or a weeks pay. Thus they were not carried like regular pocket change would be. It would be analogous to any of us getting paid today, and making a deposit at the bank. You might take back out $10 and some change to carry, but no, it's not normal for any of us to "carry around $200 to $300 in cash" (although it's possible). Those larger denominations, just like now, were for when you were getting ready to make a big purchase: Like a downpayment on a house. Or buying a horse or buggy, etc.... Thus yes, people *would* have need to carry them at times, but no, not like dimes and pennies, etc...

Also if they got ready to travel, they would often carry their wealth with them, d/t those were in the days before banks and ATMs were as readily around (although "wiring" was in infancy in bigger cities, or at travel hubs).

The type sites I've found mine in were the following: travel locations (stage stops and emigrant type spots), sidewalk tearout, beach (after storm erosion is getting us down to old coins), old-town urban demolition tearouts, and one at a park.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Also: for some reason they are found more frequently on the west coast, than the east coast states. There's some hard core good east coast hunters, who have found scores of large cents, busts, colonials, seateds, etc.... Yet never found a gold coin (or found only 1, etc..). Yet on the west coast, I know of lots of guys who've found gold coins. Sometimes multiple ones.

 

[VERDE]

Hey Tom in Ca!! Excellent Point!! Years ago you could carry your '' wealth" on you!! Who could trust any one or any thing!! Plenty of reasons to lose a pittance!! In any event Great Point!! GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

 

[Keppy]

My bud found a $5 1935 gold coin in a field he was detecting .... here in southern ashtabula county ohio ... it was a corn field......

 

[Tom_in_CA]

1935 ?

My bud found a $5 1935 gold coin in a field he was detecting .... here in southern ashtabula county ohio ... it was a corn field......

Are you sure about the 1935 date on that? I thought 1929 was the last year of $5's ?