If you had to guess....How many gold coins are lost in the ground right now in the US?
DNADave
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Flat out lost individual coins, stolen and buried and forgot, buried in the back yard, mason jars, treasure chests?
Enough volume to fill up a swimming pool?
Enough volume to fill up a... what?
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Not counting all the sunken vessels in bodies of water...I would wager that there is enough for every detectorists to find at least one in their lifetime. Peace Roy
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I have no idea how to estimate that quantity.... No doubt it is substantial....Lost, stolen and hidden, buried in the backyard for safekeeping.... and the ocean has far more IMO.... I would just like to find one - or two
Cheers, RickO
I have always wondered if I left one behind, hope not!!!! I have hunted thousands of sites, mostly old homes. Lots of great finds, but no gold coins yet. But maybe that next swing🙂
Just waiting for Spring
Happy Thanksgiving everyone
They have to be out there somewhere. I came close to finding gold once; it was a wedding band found near the swingset at a park....It was silver
So far, just silver for me.
I mostly hunt old house yards. I have found a number of good rings but still waiting for a gold coin. I once found the remains of a coin purse with 26 Indian heads. That probably was my best chance. Not too many gold coins found in Iowa but hope springs eternal.
Wild speculation. Maybe 10% of US gold minted. Still a lot. Out west the Native Americans knew the immigrants lust for Gold. Stage coaches were robbed , adults killed. Children were taken into the tribe and Gold buried as they had no use for it as it belonged to the earth. I still dream of looking for that chest full of $50 gold slugs in the Panamint Range in CA.
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Still looking for my first gold coin.... have found silver - coins and rings...even found a gold wedding band once...and I think I know where there may be more... thought about it a while ago. We have a nice park here.. and there is a lovely lane with two benches at the end, quite secluded. They always called it 'Lovers Lane'..... I am thinking maybe some relationships that did not work out may have resulted in an upset individual throwing the ring into the bushes there...Well, it could happen....
Cheers, RickO
Unfortunately not one, I could find so far
but I had the luck of finding some small but very nice nuggets with my gold dredge. My biggest nugget weighs 1.52 grams what is not too bad for Colorado placer gold.
@GoldcoinCrazy....Welcome aboard ..... I used to pan out west when I lived there... AZ, CA, WA and I did some panning in New Zealand. Always fun...Cheers, RickO
no clue here
Percentage is far far far too high. The old timers and our forebearers were NOT silly ninnies. They would have looked for even a single lost gold coin for a long time.
Do you work in sales/marketing for a metal detector company?
That would be fun! But no, I have been in the Construction Engineering industry for 36 years including College. I sure like using the detectors. I use them also for locating property corners and rebar in walls and floors.
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My gut tells me that the SRH was a decent percentage of total in-ground gold coins. But who knows...
Collector, occasional seller
The entire Saddle Ridge Hoard didn't represent that much when you try to wrap your head around the big coinage numbers.
Supposedly 165 million Double Eagles were made between 1850 and 1933. If one Double Eagle coin in 5,000 were buried or lost in the ground, that would be 33,000 lost coins. If one Double Eagle in 3,000 were buried or lost in the ground, that would be 55,000 lost coins.
The Saddle Ridge Hoard had 1,427 coins. There were 1,373 Double Eagles, 50 Eagles and 4 five dollar golds.
Although not a part of this argument, the latest dated coin in the Saddle Ridge Hoard was 1894.
One needs to assume that nobody lost valuable gold coins without consequences. So the lost coin percentages can be very low. But so many gold coins were made that there are some coins out there.
I just want to find ONE of those gold coins...
I am not greedy... 
much.... Cheers, RickO
My guess would be a whole lot !!!
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All of my collection is in a safe deposit box!
I did find one gold coin in 2006. It is an 1887-S five dollar gold coin. It was found in a modern city park. It actually cost me money to find it. Reason: I Bought a gold bezel to fit the coin along with a nice 14K gold chain and gave it to my wife and she wears it as a necklace. The bezel and chain cost me $180.00, but well worth it to please my wife because she actually bought my first detector for me. I also have found seven gold rings over the years. Happy hunting and Merry Christmas to everyone.
@metaldetectinghound ... .You are doing very well in the gold area....I am still looking for my first gold coin... Cheers, RickO
Actually lost? All of them.
My guess is that there are not as one might think as far as being lost like coins are. With as many silver and old coins as PCGS and Bayard1908 find you would think they would come up with one if there were lots of them.
I would venture to say that most would be found in ship wreaks and most of us don't detect down there.
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Finds such as the Saddle Ridge Hoard and the rumored (and supposed find/removal by authorities) Confederate hoard....would account for the major 'lost' gold coins... Over the years, on other forums, I have heard of the occasional 'dug' gold coin... but they are very rare. Cheers, RickO
You could never really know how many or much , but one thing is for sure with all the people that came thru the USA is once man started venturing forth in search of riches or a better life , to establish himself in the new world, there were millions and millions upon millions of of immigrants trying to scratch and toil their place in life. They ALL hid valuables / money to keep it. Some were in banks but most were back yards stone walls or fences ,crook of trees , under the floorboards , chimneys etc, etc,.... All in all there are UNTOLD AMOUNTS of gold , silver , coins and items of antiquety! Just finding them is the trick , that's why it is usually found by mistake or by chance. Happy hunting!
@Will_i_am.... Welcome aboard.... and I agree with your premise.... treasure is there for the finding. Now, I need to find some...
Cheers, RickO
an average of 3.2 per city in the U.S. 😂😂
I was one of the lucky ones. I actually found a 1887=S five dollar gold coin in a park in Colorado in 2010. I believe it was simply just lost by a young person who my had taken it out of Grandpa's collection and just lost it while playing in the park that day. It was laying on top of the ground in about 3 inches of grass. Condition wise, it is almost AU. My wife wears it as a necklace now and then. Generally to church where she feels safe wearing it. I was offered $710.00 for it at the time by a coin dealer. I kept it. MDH
I was on Reddit and I read a post of somebody who found a 1 oz gold Eagle laying on the street: https://www.reddit.com/r/coins/comments/bkdgqv/found_this_on_a_street_its_heavy_for_a_coin_never/
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if you melted all the gold coins on earth right now it would be enough to fill up a Olympic size swimming pool, so the answer wouldn't be a swimming pool
Wow... a double eagle found on the street?? I doubt it... but certainly possible... just not likely. Cheers, RickO