There was a coin found in the sand that just sold for approximately $808,000.
bidask
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It was all the highest graded of its series !!
Can you guess?
I manage money. I earn money. I save money .
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
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I have a hard time imagining a coin found in the sand to be gem UNC or higher, let alone the highest grade coin in the series! At least of US coins. However, since this is in the US coin forum, I will go out on a limb and say draped bust half dime.
Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
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Gold?
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Colonial gold fair to post on this forum?
Yes gold !
This Royal 1715 8 escudos MS-68 sold for 809k (buyer's fee included ):
https://www.jesusvico.com/es/lote/I170-2723-2723/1015-463-felipe-v
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
1715 and MS68! That's just wild to me. It's pretty.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Seems like something that just shouldn’t happen. But yet….
Having fun while switching things up and focusing on a next level PCGS slabbed 1950+ type set, while still looking for great examples for the 7070.
Not much "shipwreck effect" on that one.
I once owned a beautiful condition orichalcum Roman sesterius of Trajan for which I paid $3500 due to the superb style and condition. I was told that the high state of preservation was due to the fact that it had been buried in Tiber River mud. Two thousand years in shallow mud with no corrosion? Low oxygen environment? Who knows?
This one must have been packed tightly below the sand resulting in zero movement. Sand is pretty abrasive.
Amazing coin, no doubt.
Didnt that contractor guy several years back find a 1817/4 capped half that sold for 100k+ or more in excavation dirt.
The hoard of early 1840s New Orleans silver found in an excavation there a few years ago were still nice enough to straight grade. Occasionally, coins that come out of the ground aren't negatively impacted but that's usually NOT the case.
Then there is this found "on a deserted beach" $1,020,000 US privately minted coin just sold in January 2024.
It is an 1851 Schultz & Co. $5 gold piece now PCGS MS-62 originally found in 1982 and first auctioned in 1983 for $49,500 and traded a few times since then.
This might be the highest price realized for a coin originally found by a metal detector.
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As Heritage noted in the lot description:
"...discovered in December of 1982 by James Owens, of Sand City, California. Owens found the coin on Christmas Day on a deserted beach near Monterey, with the help of a metal detector (see the March 1984 issue of Lost Treasures magazine and the April 1984 edition of National Geographic for detailed accounts of this find) ".
https://coins.ha.com/itm/territorial-gold/1851-5-schultz-and-co-five-dollar-ms62-pcgs-k-1-high-r6-pcgs-10316-/a/1371-4432.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
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"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
"James Owens, of Sand City, California"
Makes it seem almost inevitable, no?
"Found on a beach" might be a cover story.
Could be. Though not sure what the advantage would be in this case. It had a lot of publicity at the time so they would not have avoided the tax man. Recall reading about it in Coin World at the time. It wasn't stolen as it was previously unknown and became the new finest known. And it was not from a hoard as no further ones have become available.
The only cover story value that comes to mind is something like if it were bought from a little old lady for cheap and finding on a beach makes them look better. Are there other possible reasons for a cover story I'm missing?
Heritage also mentions "...slightly granular surfaces retain much of their original mint luster" which fits with granular luster seen on either shipwreck or other longterm outdoor exposure. Luster sounds similar to the 1854-S $20 shipwreck coins that started appearing in the 1970's also found off of California. I suppose that could also be a possible reason to have a cover story if it had been part of a shipwreck find involving multiple other coins with the rarity needing a story while more easily sold commoner items just get quietly sold.
Could not find online the magazines Heritage mentioned as having "detailed accounts of this find". If anyone has info from those that would be interesting. Was it just out in the sand (possibly washed up from shipwreck) or a nearby ground area etc (possibly a one off dropped coin) ?
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
They may have found it on private property. It's just speculation of course.
That’s a lofty grade for any coin found in the sand. I suppose it was delicately laid in the sand, somehow, with zero pressure applied to the coin from above, such as someone stepping on the sand from above the coin. Sand is VERY abrasive. But, there it is with a story🤔
Just realized the Heritage lot description I linked above has readable images of both 1984 magazine articles.
The Lost Treasures magazine has the most info and mentions that is was found in loose sand after two days of hard rain that appears to have broken up part of a sand bank. The beach was hunted by other people metal detecting so, assuming it's truthfull, they had a right to hunt there.
Many other interesting details in the articles. Sounds like, and is also the theory of the finder, that it was a one off dropped coin rather than washed in from the ocean.
The magazine articles appear just before the slab images. I didn't notice them before:
https://coins.ha.com/itm/territorial-gold/1851-5-schultz-and-co-five-dollar-ms62-pcgs-k-1-high-r6-pcgs-10316-/a/1371-4432.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
One of the Brasher Doubloons was found in the sewer.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Must be a contender for most valuable coin found in ground or water, etc.
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From Heritage roster in lot description of the NGC MS-65 January 2021 auction.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/colonials/1787-dbln-new-york-style-brasher-doubloon-eb-on-wing-ms65-ngc-cac-w-5840-pcgs-487-/a/1326-3934.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
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Note: This coin has often been called the Philadelphia Sewer example, but that is incorrect. The description in the Jackman catalog states it was found by workmen digging a cellar for a building, not a sewer. In his article, "The Philadelphia Gold Hoard of 1872," in the April 2008, issue of The Colonial Newsletter, John Kleeberg noted that the doubloon was found along with "a nickel of 1866 or 1867"; the dirt the laborers dug up was fill that had been used to bring up the level of the street (Chapman 1918, lot 140).
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin