Is it even remotely common to find a silver dollar?

[madforclad]

An American SD is on my top 10 list...especially a Morgan, but I reside in Canada so I would say my chances are pretty slim of realizing that dream.

 

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[joetoilet]

Folks getting drunk...a drunk can lose anything and everything...

 

[dirtfishingdave]

A fellow metal detectorist I know has been metal detecting since 1974 he has yet to find a silver dollar. Every time we go detecting somewhere he says why couldn't that have been a silver dollar. I am like dam you just dug a barber half in extra fine condition. He says he has never dug one silver dollar. My other hunting buddies found several silver dollars, they have also been hunting since the early 70's. I guess you just never know, some of us are luckier than others or maybe its all about the location? You can't find something if its not there!!

 

[Red James Cash]

Likely most were already pulled out of the ground beginning with the guys that brought home their mine detectors after WW2

 

[Boatlode]

I think that once paper money came out, folks started hoarding silver dollars. My grandmother did, and I have them now.

 

[DiggerinVA]

I have found an Ike dollar and a sacgewea dollar but no silver dollars .....yet! But if a person can loose a $500 class ring today, they could have lost a dollar back then.

 

[bakergeol]

I found several back in the old BF days in virgin Nevada school yards but none in Ohio where I lived.
I always felt that they were more prevalent in the West.

George

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Alas, after more than 30 years of looking, I've resolved myself to finding them on Ebay......

 

[etex]

One in twenty years, 1880 Morgan at a old house demo

 

[Higgy]

Also lets not forget that there was no pavement back in the day. Many yards were nothing but dust bowls in the summer and mud in the spring. Also, as mentioned before, people rode around on horses. Even a wagon will shake your kidneys loose, especially over rutty terrain. Oh yeah!

I've never found a silver dollar, but I still dream of doing so. I'm guessing a good place to target would be any old fairgrounds or markets where people gathered. Underneath old wharves and piers.

 

[Dave Rishar]

I think that once paper money came out, folks started hoarding silver dollars. My grandmother did, and I have them now.

People were hoarding them even before then in some cases.

During the California Gold Rush, for example, the amount of gold being produced drove its price down relative to silver, particularly in the west; this eventually resulted in the silver dollar being worth more than a dollar in melt value for a time, which encouraged people to hoard them and spend gold instead. Of course, the situation didn't last forever, and when the silver mines really got going (thus driving the price of silver down), things got screwy in a number of ways.

The history of American currency and how it circulated is actually a pretty complex subject. Books have been written about it. There is an excellent (if somewhat long) thread about it but unfortunately it's on another forum. PM me if you'd like to know where.

 

[Joe hunter]

I'd think that before pavement and side walks a coin that was lost in a rainstorm with people rushing out of the weather could easily be drivin into the mud making a road or sidewalk tearout a good spot to find your first big silver .

 

[lookindown]

Remotely common?...for me extremely rare...if I get the one Im after and two more, Ill have three.

 

[Joe hunter]

Remotely common?...for me extremely rare...if I get the one Im after and two more, Ill have three.

just wishfully thinking there tearing out some roads in my town this year

 

[joncooper1986]

I actually have a congenital heart disorder and I'm not supposed to go on really big roller coasters... It's probably for the better that I never find a silver dollar because I'm pretty sure I would flip a s**t

 

[johnnycat]

Me? None. My brother with 30+ years of detecting...One.