Where to find old coins!!!!

free2Dtect · Apr 29, 2005

I talked (P M) someone last night and mentioned starting this thread. Purpose is to let viewers see what types of sites older coins are being found in. Not to give out exact locations! This should help others find older and more valueable coins. I wish to see people post new finds in todays finds section thru out the coming summer. After all we will never get it all, so we might as will share the wealth.
My favorite two sidewalk tearups and house demo sites.

lonewolfe · May 1, 2005

The BEST place to find old coins with the least amount of work involved- is a coin shop!

Other than that,

I focus on old properties, and demo sites for old coins, but more so-- relics.

bk · May 1, 2005

In my area, most of the towns were started in the 1850's. Searching under sidewalks, especially those in front of buildings is where you will find the coins from the 1850's. When I search a place like that you are not likely to find coins newer than 1900. Many times I have found coins older than the town itself. If conditions are right you will find more Seated Liberty coins than Barbers. I have even found a couple of Bust coins that were dated 30 years before the town was started.
Another place to find older coins are in rural churches and schoolhouses. Preferably if the church or school is gone. I have an 1874 atlas of of each county in the state. It shows were all the schools and churches were. Many of these have been long gone, but if the property is agricultural, and with permission from the land owner, there can be some nice finds made. I look for signs of a pre existing structures such as broken glass and pottery shards, pieces of red brick, and pieces of limestone. It is not uncommon to find coins laying on top of the ground after a rain. I once found a very nice 1876 Seated Liberty quarter that way.
I can usually search these areas early in the season, before the crops are planted, then when the crops are planted, I focus on the construction projects.

mtl-huntr · May 2, 2005

Great job Free all good info....much appreciated.....

stoney56 · May 2, 2005

Well I know one place but it's kind of messy. Our club has an annual members only picnic/club hunt and we have buried and scattered silver dimes and quarters in the hunt field. There is a flock of Canadian Geese that stay near the lake yearound and get up in the grass for seeds and such. We've seen them swoop in and land in the hunt field while the picnic is going on. When we get to the field and they leave, it seems that some of the silver is missing. No matter what setting we use, we can't find all the coins. I figure they are attracted to something shiney and pick it up. So now we detect around goose poop-never can tell. Guess that's why they honk so much-trying to pass a silver dime or maybe a quarter,

. I know DigginD wont believe this, but I swear it happened.

alabamadan · May 3, 2005

Very informative thread for a beginner! Thanks guys!

GabbyGEP · May 4, 2005

Thanks, Free and others, for the benefit of your experience.

Now maybe I can find something with this new MD of mine.

I have been concentrating on all the wrong places.

Thanks, again, for all of the posts.

GabbyGEP

alabamadan · May 4, 2005

As soon as I get mine, (will it never come!) I'm gonna of course start with my yard and yards of all my family members. My uncle lives in an old house from the late 1800s. My granddaddy built his house in the 1950s in the backyard of a house from the mid 1800s. He subsequently tore it down. I know where an old barn stood so I'm gonna check it out. I know where this old house from the turn of the century is that's falling down. I also thought that I'd look around the local soccer fields where I play. I figure is someone says something to me I'll just tell them I'm looking for my wedding right!

How do you suggest I approach an area. Do you seperate the area off into grids and seach each grid? Or, do you just start on one side and start going up and down like you're mowing the yard or something? Believe it or not, it's the little things that basic that a newbe like me could use help with?

Nana40 · May 4, 2005

Wow Dan...you got lots of good places to go!

Nana

mtl-huntr · May 4, 2005

How about around parking meters off the curb in grassy areas...someone told me it was illeagle to hunt around parking meters, anyone else hear of this?............

mtl-huntr · May 4, 2005

Easy Free.... pre 1900 will be a little hard to find around here then.... since Oklahoma became a state in 1906...the land run was in 1889...before that it was Indian Territory...there are probably some old coins that robbers dropped but there wasn't much of a downtown back then.....so I guess old is relative to where you are....the first parking meter was invented and installed here in Oklahoma City in 1935 and I ran across some meters in the oldest part of? Downtown with grass still around them...I just thought that may be a good place to look I just wasn't sure if it was legal....I didn't realize the criteria was pre 1900..........

AzSports · May 4, 2005

Dog pile on free! lol.
I consider pre 65 to be old enough. We're always hoping for Morgans here, but I have found a lot more 40's silver.

It's still a great thread, even if I don't get to play anymore.

AzSports · May 5, 2005

Ouch.

Thanks again, another lesson learned.

I have hunted the stage routes and military trails, assuming these paths to be the similar ones used by the Spanish. Might not be so, since they didn't necessarily avoid the locals in the same way as the great white plague. The known mining routes and areas are obvious search locations, but I have yet to find anything from the era, and would expect it to be pretty significant if anything at all was found. I never really thought they brought much 'cash' anyway.

I guess have some re-thinking to do.

Monty · May 5, 2005

mtl-hunter, I live in Ok too, near Tulsa.? You're right , there's not many old coins found around here.? Remember the book Grapes of Wrath where they dug for treasure under one corner of the house until the house fell into the hole?? That's probably what you would have to do to find any remnants of the early explorers.? They followed the rivers pretty much I think.? I have thought about checking below dams when the water is shut off as a lot of virgin land is accessable at that time.? Just watch out for rising water when they reopen the electric generators.? Three former small towns are covered by Lake Keystone, Mannford, Keystone and Prue.? You'd imagine some of the artifacts left behind would eventually wind up in the river bottom?

mtl-huntr · May 5, 2005

Wow jimmileo good point I hadn't thought of that..........It would be interesting to check out, let me know if you find anything............

Monty · May 6, 2005

The only reason I haven't been down to the river is that it is such a large area that I wouildn't even know where to begin! How do you hunt twenty miles of river bottom? I guess I could walk areas of it at a time and see if anything is showing on the surface? Just below the dam the ground is scoured almost down to bedrock by the swift water. On down toward Sand Springs and Tulsa there is a lot of sand bars. It would be a lifetime project.

Uncle Pete · May 6, 2005

For you guys in those states, why not check out Thomas P. Terry's trasure atlas the 10 vol. set, for your state. Look for the reported treasures that have been found there already. It will also give suggested locations. Libary should have it or go thru the interlibary loan system. Later Uncle Pete

MUD(S.W.A.T) · May 7, 2005

Oh great now you people are going to get newbees searching through goose poop. Well I searched through the posts. I thought you people are pro's? Not once did I see any posts about searching OLD CHURCHES I have not done it myself but I read they yield good silver. See Churches had parties, dinners, weddings and other events people misplace a lot at.

HAPPY HUNTING (HH!!)
MUD(S.W.A.T)

Mad_Dan · May 7, 2005

Hey ALL I'm from Australia but i think this would apply to the good old U S of A i Have spent a while with metal detectors and it seems to me that there are more coins in the ground than there are pieces of gold. In England some years ago the royal mint calculated that approx 100,000,000 were lost from circulation each year. 92 million were picked up, 8 million ended up in the ground. That happens each year and the coin sinks about 1.5mm a year so over a hundred years coins sink 15 cm. I can verify this as most coins i find are from around 1850s to the 1900.
Where there are people there are coins.. If people have been there coins will have been lost..

sparkymaster · May 7, 2005

Nice thread free, I've enjoyed it. I agree with you. This site is pay dirt for strange things to pop out of. I think the best place to find older coins is anywhere you can, within your means, in your area. If I remember right, when I first started out MDing most of the thrill was figuring these areas for myself. The biggest help I found on great areas to hunt was not in the library or on the computer, it was in a book by Dick Stout, Where To Find Treasure. This really got my mind working on the places in my area that were relevant to what was mentioned in the book. It should help anyone anywhere. I guess I need to re-think what I just said about not finding anything on the computer. This forum has giving me a ton of usefull information on where to hunt, it's priceless. Thanks to all on here (like you free) that are serious about the hobby.

omnicognic · May 8, 2005

Awsome finds Free, I wish they would tear up some of the sidewalks around here! Unfortunately they are all in great shape!(even though they were laid last in 1955! must be all the good weather here in Tampa!

) Have you ever tried to appraise the total value of your collection? (I'm sure to you they are priceless!) HH omnicognic 8)