Coal mining town finds

mr1931S

Most of the silver coins we're finding are Seated Liberty pieces. Halves, quarters, and dimes all found. This is just the tip of the iceberg. One detectorist found these in a few hours time. The dime is an 1877-CC. I'm thinking there is a gold coin or two waiting to be found at this location...

CharlotteDude

Great finds there! What coal mining states are you finding them in? When I think of coal mining towns, rural eastern areas of WV, KY, PA, & OH come to mind, so it’s interesting to think a ‘CC’ coin circulated there. Are you searching old mine sites, parks, or private permissions?

Bayard1908

Outstanding site. You either did some great research or got extremely lucky.

CRHer700

Excellent!

johnny9434

way cool. we'd love to see then when found

mr1931S

@Bayard1908 said:
Outstanding site. You either did some great research or got extremely lucky.

Before long it will be too cold to metal detect here in Iowa on our coal mining town permissions. I'm hoping we can work the site at least one more time this year before the ground freezes.The research is ongoing. Here's a piece I found that some here might find interesting. https://www.iowapbs.org/education/findiowa/media/9515/coal-mining-iowa

mr1931S

Next Sunday we'll be able to get in the field. It's supposed to get into the '50s temperaturewise where we'll be hunting in Iowa. I will post more pictures here of what the three of us find on the permission that has been amazing. We're all swinging Deus. Deus delivers fine performance in areas with lots of iron in the ground. I swung a White's Coinmaster when I first started doing this metal detecting hobby in 1975. I thought my Coinmaster was a great machine back in the day but......this Deus machine makes pictures on a graphical display screen of what metal one is going over while one listens closely to the sounds being made. I found this lovely piece in a heavily laden with iron junk area that had been heavily worked by others before me. My first silver coin find with my Deus. This dime's barely readable date is 1875.

Bayard1908

I can't make out the 1875; but, any Seated coin is a good find.

mr1931S

@Bayard1908 said:
I can't make out the 1875; but, any Seated coin is a good find.

You would probably be able to see it if you had the piece in hand and could get the light to hit just right. I can just barely make out the date 1875. Here's a couple more pieces that came out of the ground at the coal mining town in Iowa. These two are extra fine from a wear standpoint,1892 and 1888-S.

Will try pics later my computer is not allowing picture uploads at this time. The two pieces I'm trying to picture came out of the coal mining town ground yesterday, 11/24.

Had recent phone software update which I suspect is causing problems with my image uploads here.
Still working on the problem. My pictures are being sent to places I can't find or if I can find the image in the folder I sent it to it's an error file. Grrrrr. Anyway, here's a look at the people who lived and worked in an Iowa coal mining town https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uos3hyphxMQ

mr1931S

Bayard1908

Impressive condition for both of those coins.

mr1931S

@Bayard1908 said:
Impressive condition for both of those coins.

The 1888-S has moderate corrosion going. The Barber Quarter has pretty normal surfaces, making me suspect that it didn't actually spend north of 120 years in the ground being exposed to anyhydrous. Anhydrous ammonia (a fertilizer) is brutal on bronze pennies, silver not so much. Many of the silver coins found have "the black'. I'm working on conserving some of the silver pieces found to be more presentable,if you will, as a collectible.

Mining activity started waning around 1900 and was pretty much over with by 1920. The town had a few inhabitants into the '30's and '40's well after most of the miners left. The post office closed in 1950. Drive by there now and one sees just corn and beanfields, not a once thriving town of over 5000 people.