Has anyone ever found a key date coin?

veryfine

I love stories about metal detector finds or stumbling upon some old coins rattling around in an old piece of furniture. But, the idea of finding an 1877 indian cent or 93-s morgan dollar without having to pay for it, must be the greatest feeling!
Has anyone ever experienced this kind of blissful discovery?

jdimmick

I found a 70-s Small date Lincoln in a "Need a penny dish " in a resturant in Virginia once?

oreville

Found 7 1972 DDO cents (5 in Gem Unc.) in August 1972.

lordmarcovan

I got a decent 1914-D cent in a bulk bag of Wheaties back in February.

I'm also an avid detectorist but have never found any key dates. I have found some semi-keys like a decent 1868 Indian cent and some interesting stuff like an AU-ish Oregon Trail half and various coins dating as far back as 1658. (That coin is a one-year type, I believe.)

Since this glorious fall weather has me thinking about goin' out and puttin' the coil to the soil once again, now that it ain't so steamy outside, I am temporarily wearing my first dug Spanish Colonial silver coin as my avatar instead of my usual picture of me wearing the Holey Gold Hat.

JRocco

I posted this before- this came out of a register and cost me 10 cents.

WaterSport

A Looong time ago, when I first got started as a kid, I found a 1924 D Lincoln in ag - G, Still got it!

WS

Veep

While I spent my childhood playing baseball, my two brothers spent hours and hours metal detecting. My older brother did indeed find an 1877 Indian Cent. Thirty years later, he found a 1909-S Indian. One of them also found a 1921 Walker, but I can't remember who.

cho10

I found an AU 1939-D Jefferson Nickel in change around 1970 when I was not seriously collecting but I always did check the dates and mints on just about any coin I would receive. I still have it.

HTubbs

I've found a 1950-D nickel, a nice VF...

BAJJERFAN

There was a post here 2 or 3 years back from a gent who found a vg-f 1893-S Morgan in a plowed field. Looked pretty decent IIRC.

ILikeDimes

I saw a wisconsin quarter in a Tucson Starbucks "tip" jar..........told the girl she could keep the change if I could have the quarter..........ha ha.....an extra leaf..........pretty banged up though, maybe an AU, if I'm lucky


edited to add, I guess that's NOT a key date though, but it could be profitable....also, I found a 1916-D merc in my mailbox................thanks Goose

roadrunner

I once "found" an 1852-0 quarter in a dealer's case for $20. The dealer didn't check the coin close enough to see that an "O" mint mark was covered by heavy toning. It was being sold as a FINE 1852 Philly coin. Essentially like getting this $250 coin for free at the time. And yes, this is a key date coin for seated quarters.

roadrunner

claychaser

When I started collecting at 10 years old in 1965 I found a 1911-S Lincoln in change - it graded VG-F. Kept me looking at dates ever since.

1jester

I found an 1860-O dime in Poland a few years ago for $175. It graded PCGS VG10 even with a full Liberty (undergraded).

mercurynut

I havn't been that lucky yet!

BigD5

I found a wonderful looking au/58 1921 SLQ in a cigar box.

Jcarney

Back in 1998 or so, about 6 months after getting back into collecting after a 20+ year hiatus, my sister stopped by to borrow some baby furniture for her soon to be born daughter. I went up into the attic to start bringing down a crib, stroller and stuff like that when I noticed a box behind the crib. I hadn't seen that box in years, but remembered it contained some of the coins I had collected as a boy. I didn't think there was anything valuable in the box, having sold off all the decent stuff when I was 16-17.

After my sister left with the baby furniture, I emptied the box and started looking through what was basically crap. No wonder I had just stuck the box in the attic. The box contained mainly darkside junk, Canadian coins and wheaties. Probably about 300 or so wheaties. I started looking at the dates and found

this

I really don't know how this wonderful coin came to be in this box. I know I never bought it. I suppose it could have come from my grandfather who was partners in a coin shop in the early 70s when I was 10-12 and collecting. Since he died in 1986, I guess I 'll never know for sure. I like to think it was his though.

oreville

Jcarney: Grandpas are known for "seeding."

A very pretty coin indeed!

Jcarney

<< <i>A very pretty coin indeed! >>



Thanks!

It's sitting in my Dansco, with about 10 or eleven holes left to be filled. I sent it to PCI (back when they were conservative), mainly for authentication, and cracked it out a few years ago. Any guesses as to the grade they assigned?

pharmer

A 1943d/d 1c rpm-1 in a roll from a coin shop, now pcgs ms65. A 1964d 10c ddo-1 in an old whitman, now pcgs ms63. Several other cherrypicker's varieties in ms, not key dates though.

19Lyds

It ain't worth much but all you lucky folks just SUCK!

Only key I ever found was my car key............ It was in the ignition............The door was locked........

carl

Not me but when I was working around a construction site and talked to some of the workers I stumbled accross a guy that had a large bag of old coins found in the ground, in jars, cans, etc buried under the ground for many years where they were doing construction. One of his biggest finds was on a lower street in the Chicago downtown area where they ripped up an area from before the big fire. He said he found large quantities of gold coins in a canvas bag.

SmallSizedGuy

In the 1960s, I found a 1922 plain cent in F-VF. Kept the coin, even though there was no spot in my blue Whitman folder for it.

About 15 years ago I bought a roll of Mercury dimes, and one of the coins was a 1921 in fine condition.

About four years ago I found a 1939-D Jefferson nickel in circulation. Besides the 1950-D, these two dates were the only ones I didn't find in my youth.

I primarily collect paper money today, but still dabble in coins. I was buying some paper money, when the seller asked if I do anything with coins. He stated he had a bunch of old silver dollars that were saved by his mother-in-law in the 1940s. One of the dollars was a 1893-S in Good, two 1893-CCs, one in Good and the other in VG, plus some other semi-key dates.

Mark

I started collecting in 1963. My father, who did not collect coins, was talking with a collector buddy of his. At the time, 1960 small date cents were semi-valuable and so my Dad was looking through his change with his friend to see if my Dad had any small date cents. My father didn't have any small date cents...he did, though, have a 32-S quarter. My Dad's friend offered him $30 for it, which at the time was a decent amount of money. My Dad, however, decided to not sell the coin but to keep it. I thought it was cool to be able to find valuable items for "free," so I was inspired to start collecting. Since then I have found nothing. But my Dad eventually gave me the 32-S quarter, which I still have.

Mark

veryfine

These are great stories. I've never found a key date or any remotely scarce coin. Maybe a typical silver washington quarter, dateless buffalo nickel or early wheat cent would turn up. Certainly nothing too exciting.

DoubleDime

I found a 1877 Indian (Fair) for 15c in a dealer's junk box.

cape

i was at an antique auction that happened to have two partial whitman albums of circulated buffalo nickels , to my surprise i won the bid for cheap money and one of the albums had an 18/7 in good 6 condition. i was able to turn around and sell that for 350.00. this was about 5 years ago

Elcontador

My story is similar to Mark's. Same year, too. In 1963, I was at a Saturday matinee with my brother when I got this "really old" quarter in change. I decided to keep it, rather than buy junk food that day. It was a 32 S in F, and I still have it.

Ten years later, I was at the El Rastro flea market in Madrid, Spain, and I came across a BN Unc. 1920 P Cent, which I bought for a dollar or two.

I don't know whether you' call it a 'find,' but an 1884 CC GSA $ I got from the mint for $45 back in 1979 or 1980 is now in a PC 6 holder.

hughesm1

<< <i>I found an AU 1939-D Jefferson Nickel in change around 1970 when I was not seriously collecting but I always did check the dates and mints on just about any coin I would receive. I still have it. >>


Same thing happened to me in 1980, found a high end AU in the dryer at home. It's the coin that got me into collecting. Still have it.

ms70

During the past year there was a 1792 Half Disme up for auction (I think ANR) that someone found with a metal detector in a farmer's field.

morgannut2

Best find in the last 5 years was a 1894-P Morgan in a roll of 1884-O's at auction. Traded it at $2,100 to get a nice MS-63 of the same date from RCNH.

RegistryNut

I am temporarily wearing my first dug Spanish Colonial silver coin as my avatar instead of my usual picture of me wearing the Holey Gold Hat. >>



Dang! I liked your picture wearing that hat. I always could find your posts by just finding that picture.

RegistryNut

Ed62

It is rumored that one of the Brasher Dubloons was found duing a sewer excavation in Phila. or NYC or someplace.

Urban legend??

pocketpiececommems

I found a 1914-D penny at an old one room school site with my metal detector.

IndianHeadMan

I found a simi-key barber dime with my detector. It was worth about $70.

doughmaking

I have found lots of coins, gold and silver. But as far as Key dates the most popular I have found is 1909-s VDB penny, I actually found 2 of these 2 years apart. The first one I gave to my dad to finish his penny collection so now he owns every lincoln penny.

originalisbest

Best find I've had came in a dealer's junk silver bag I was looking through - a 1932-D in fine, which I still have. Once found a nice fine '26-S Buffalo in a dealer junk box for a quarter, but foolishly sold it in my youth - oh well.