Best Single Coin Dug Ever?

cameron12x

Does anyone know what the best single coin ever dug was?

ChrisRx

No idea but I remember hearing of an elderly gentleman back East that was digging in the garden and found a chain cent.

Artist

A 1792 Half Disme that was found not too long ago...

Also, wasn't the unique Blake Edwards $20 that featured a coin press design a dug coin?

Alas the prize would most likely go to some ancient dug up in Europe.

MrEureka

Maybe this Coenwulf "Gold Penny"?

partagas

If I remember right. It could be that old die trials around the original mint that stacks auctioned a few years ago.

http://www.coinlink.com/News/us-coins/newly-discovered-treasures-dug-up-in-philadelphia/

STONE

<< <i>If I remember right. It could be that old die trials around the original mint that stacks auctioned a few years ago.

http://www.coinlink.com/News/us-coins/newly-discovered-treasures-dug-up-in-philadelphia/ >>


I was thinking the same thing - at least in terms of US coinage and related items.

I know that there are a couple people who have found, and are still uncovering original dies used by the US Mint.
(Almost) all are cancelled, from what I understand, but they are still the dies and they are still VERY neat items!

MrEureka

Then there was this 1817/4 half dollar...

MrEureka

The Brasher Doubloon belonging to the ANS is said to have been discovered in a sewer. Does that count?

relicsncoins

I know of a Blake and Co. Gold coin dug off of a beach in Monterey, CA.

CaptHenway

<< <i>A 1792 Half Disme that was found not too long ago...

Also, wasn't the unique Blake Edwards $20 that featured a coin press design a dug coin?

Alas the prize would most likely go to some ancient dug up in Europe. >>



Wasn't Blake Edwards the Director of the movie "10?"

collegecoincollector

<< <i>Then there was this 1817/4 half dollar... >>

AUandAG

How about all the dies alongside the Carson City mint?

bob

cameron12x

<< <i>How about all the dies alongside the Carson City mint?

bob >>

Do you have a link to this story? Sounds intriguing...

TomB

The 1817/4 Capped Bust half is the coin that immediately comes to my mind for this question.

CaptHenway

<< <i>The Brasher Doubloon belonging to the ANS is said to have been discovered in a sewer. Does that count? >>



Did they use a metal detector???

savoyspecial

someone asked for the link of the CC buried die story:



Link (scroll to almost the very bottom)

AUandAG

<< <i>

<< <i>How about all the dies alongside the Carson City mint?

bob >>

Do you have a link to this story? Sounds intriguing... >>



Link to some info

Here's an obverse from a cancelled die struck in copper:

coindeuce

One could reason that some of the $100+ million in Gold Rush shipwreck coins recovered from the S.S. Central America would qualify as "dug" from the ocean floor.

savoyspecial

coindeuce, you make a good case but it could be argued that is not a 'single coin' (although, taken individually, the Polhemus counterstamped double eagles from the SSCA brought strong money--- on went for $48k if i remember correctly)

Billet7

Interesting read! Thanks guys. The best one I can recall recently was one of the rare carson city quarters (1872 CC ?) that someone dug...then sold on ebay. I would have liked to have found that one!

coindeuce

<< <i>Interesting read! Thanks guys. The best one I can recall recently was one of the rare carson city quarters (1872 CC ?) that someone dug...then sold on ebay. I would have liked to have found that one! >>



I was the owner albeit briefly of an 1872-CC quarter that was allegedly obtained from a dig near Reno, NV. and subsequently graded VF-30 by PCGS. I returned the coin to the seller. I strongly disagreed with the opinion of the grade assigned. Search the member ID purplecuda7373 in the archives, maybe images are still available.

AuroraBorealis

"Alas the prize would most likely go to some ancient dug up in Europe."

I have to lean towards "Artist`s previous statement...I vaguely remember a program me and the wife saw on tv one evening...Think it was in Italy and at a privately owned estate they were digging up many millions of dollars worth of ancient coins...Not one coin though but many...Not sure if anyone else saw the same program? I do clearly remember it was in a very green grass area almost like a short grass field...Sod perhaps?

AB

AuroraBorealis

"Alas the prize would most likely go to some ancient dug up in Europe."

I have to lean towards "Artist`s previous statement...I vaguely remember a program me and the wife saw on tv one evening...Think it was in Italy and at a privately owned estate they were digging up many millions of dollars worth of ancient coins...Not one coin though but many...Not sure if anyone else saw the same program? I do clearly remember it was in a very green grass area almost like a short grass field...Sod perhaps?

AB

melvin289

<< <i>Wasn't Blake Edwards the Director of the movie "10?"

>>




More important, he was married to Bo Derek.

BlindedByEgo

I saw an 1874 CC Dime dug up in the desert outside of Barstow, CA.

It graded VF details, but was badly scratched by sand.

johnny9434

I remember that 1817/4 being dug up in upstate new york. That caused quite a stir.

kranky

I vaguely seem to recall a story about a Cincinnati Mining & Trading Co. gold piece that was dug somewhere.

PerryHall

There have been many extremely rare and valuable ancient Greek and Roman coins that were dug up in Europe. Many were dug up while digging trenches for constructing buried sewer, water, communications, etc lines. Many were dug up during WWI during the era of trench warfare.

savoyspecial

>>I vaguely seem to recall a story about a Cincinnati Mining & Trading Co. gold piece that was dug somewhere>>



since there are not many of these specimens extant, i'm almost certain you are confusing a story that involved a widow finding said coin in her late husband's golf shoe (not making this up)

pmac

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned our own lordmarcovan's discovery of the "Ming thing" in NC. This piece could change North American history. See his thread in the metal detecting forum here in Collectors Universe.

krueger

I'd say 25 years ago using a whites medal detector (they probably have more info on it).

A Thomas Jefferson Indian peace medal dug up in oregon. Speculation it was from lewis and Clark expedition.

Krueger

speety

<< <i>>>I vaguely seem to recall a story about a Cincinnati Mining & Trading Co. gold piece that was dug somewhere>>



since there are not many of these specimens extant, i'm almost certain you are confusing a story that involved a widow finding said coin in her late husband's golf shoe (not making this up) >>



I thought the story was that some guys wife donated his "old golf shoes" to salvation army or some charity like that. When he found out he freaked because the coin was "cleverly" hidden inside. Luckily the coin was found again...

Cool story none-the-less.

Connecticoin

<< <i>

<< <i>Wasn't Blake Edwards the Director of the movie "10?"

>>




More important, he was married to Bo Derek. >>



No, he was (and is) married to Julie Andrews.

savoyspecial

>>I thought the story was that some guys wife donated his "old golf shoes" to salvation army or some charity like that. When he found out he freaked because the coin was "cleverly" hidden inside. Luckily the coin was found again...

Cool story none-the-less>>



i was going from memory, but i believe you are correct Mark........it was a neat story........wasnt it David mcCarthy that was contacted originally regarding the coin?

zap1111

As a bust half nut, I can't imagine how cool it would have been to have dug up an 1817/14!

cameron12x

Any more amazing examples out there?

With photos?

lordmarcovan

There have been Chain cents and Massachusetts colonials and NE silvers dug.

The Coenwulf gold penny Mister E mentioned certainly would be way high up on the list, if not at the pinnacle.


This one might be MY personal best, in terms of monetary value, but then again maybe not. It doesn't come close to being my oldest or most interesting, but it is certainly in the Top Twelve list of my favorite digs. Prior to finding this, I had never owned an Oregon Trail half.

cameron12x

<< <i>This one might be MY personal best, in terms of monetary value, but then again maybe not. It doesn't come close to being my oldest or most interesting, but it is certainly in the Top Twelve list of my favorite digs. Prior to finding this, I had never owned an Oregon Trail half. >>

Where on God's Earth did you find THIS, if you don't mind me asking...

kryptonitecomics

I would think the dug pine tree shillings and oak tree shiilings would be right up their with the best.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Where on God's Earth did you find THIS, if you don't mind me asking... >>

It was Halloween of 2006, if memory serves. We were visiting my wife's childhood best friend in Atlanta, and they went out to do "girl stuff" (i.e., shopping malls and stuff like that). Which was not high on my list of desired activities. So I'd had contact with a forum member who used to post here ("BlueCole", which turns out to be his real-life name, too- cool name, huh.)

Blue lived a bit south of Atlanta in a smaller town- I think it was called Sharpsburg? We'd never met before but I decided to take my wife's car, since she and her friend were in the friend's car, and toodle on down to Blue Cole's town for the day. He was a beginning detectorist and said he knew several likely spots in town- I think his grandparents had been prominent citizens of the place, decades earlier.

Anyway, he took me to this vacant lot that stood across from an old store. Said there had been an old house on the lot once, but it had burned down in the 1950s or thereabouts. We didn't find much- I didn't dig so much as a single Wheatie, oddly enough- and I had only one very corroded old aluminum "good for" token to show for my efforts.

Then I got a really hot, shallow-sounding signal on the detector, and my meter said it was a quarter at about two inches or so. I cut a plug in the sod and out rolled that thing. Sure enough, it was only about two and a half or three inches deep.

First thing I saw was a biggish coin with a silver reeded edge, and my pulse rate shot up. There was red clay clinging to the surfaces, but I could see some of the sun rays peeking out from beneath, and for a nanosecond I thought I'd found another Walker, which would have made my day (as I've only found two of those- and nowhere near this grade). Then when I realized what it was, I was literally breathless for a moment before I could call Blue over.

When I got the coin back to Atlanta and gently washed off the red clay, I could see it was an AU. There was a little scuff on the Indian's knee from having lain in the rocky soil, but it wasn't too bad. The red clay had stained it, so I did have to clean it with toothpaste.

That was a memorable day. It was lovely, weather-wise, neat to meet a forum member, and any day I dig silver is a good day.

A day when I find something like that is one for the books, as they say.

jesbroken

As Artist previously mentioned, the 1792 Half Disme that was dug up. Here's a link to the finder's story and also in the E-sylum.
Jim

1792 Half Disme

cameron12x

<< <i>

<< <i>Where on God's Earth did you find THIS, if you don't mind me asking... >>

It was Halloween of 2006, if memory serves. We were visiting my wife's childhood best friend in Atlanta, and they went out to do "girl stuff" (i.e., shopping malls and stuff like that). Which was not high on my list of desired activities. So I'd had contact with a forum member who used to post here ("BlueCole", which turns out to be his real-life name, too- cool name, huh.)

Blue lived a bit south of Atlanta in a smaller town- I think it was called Sharpsburg? We'd never met before but I decided to take my wife's car, since she and her friend were in the friend's car, and toodle on down to Blue Cole's town for the day. He was a beginning detectorist and said he knew several likely spots in town- I think his grandparents had been prominent citizens of the place, decades earlier.

Anyway, he took me to this vacant lot that stood across from an old store. Said there had been an old house on the lot once, but it had burned down in the 1950s or thereabouts. We didn't find much- I didn't dig so much as a single Wheatie, oddly enough- and I had only one very corroded old aluminum "good for" token to show for my efforts.

Then I got a really hot, shallow-sounding signal on the detector, and my meter said it was a quarter at about two inches or so. I cut a plug in the sod and out rolled that thing. Sure enough, it was only about two and a half or three inches deep.

First thing I saw was a biggish coin with a silver reeded edge, and my pulse rate shot up. There was red clay clinging to the surfaces, but I could see some of the sun rays peeking out from beneath, and for a nanosecond I thought I'd found another Walker, which would have made my day (as I've only found two of those- and nowhere near this grade). Then when I realized what it was, I was literally breathless for a moment before I could call Blue over.

When I got the coin back to Atlanta and gently washed off the red clay, I could see it was an AU. There was a little scuff on the Indian's knee from having lain in the rocky soil, but it wasn't too bad. The red clay had stained it, so I did have to clean it with toothpaste.

That was a memorable day. It was lovely, weather-wise, neat to meet a forum member, and any day I dig silver is a good day.

A day when I find something like that is one for the books, as they say. >>



Wow, what a wonderful day that must have been! It doesn't get much better than that!

But I'm curious, though... instead of heading south from Atlanta why didn't you head a short distance NE, to a little town which starts with the letter "D"?

lordmarcovan

<< <i>I'm curious, though... instead of heading south from Atlanta why didn't you head a short distance NE, to a little town which starts with the letter "D"? >>

Actually we did go there, on a different trip to N GA, but I never dug around there. Getting permission would be difficult in most likely places. Saw the Mint museum there, though.



<< <i>I'm surprised that no one has mentioned our own lordmarcovan's discovery of the "Ming thing" in NC. This piece could change North American history. See his thread in the metal detecting forum here in Collectors Universe. >>



Aw shucks- but... well, that wasn't really a coin.

This one still ranks as one of my favorite coin finds, sentimentally speaking.

66Tbird

The thrill of the find was good, the coins themselves had little pull on me. I actually gave them away, but it was just common stuff. I've held a few examples of dug items that really did grab my fancy. . An acquaintance had just received his allotment of dug items from this farmers field place he goes to across the pond every year that requires all finds be submitted to the owner and authorities. I don't know the fine details, I was in awe of the little gold pieces they had found, coins, rings, trinkets. Of course he knew about each ones history and known pieces. Some were B.C., some little after. Plow strikes were new concept to me also and there were a few examples. Guess it's common there. All in all a neat aspect of the hobby that requires much more hands on travel and outdoors adventure that I could do.

FredWeinberg

I have an 1872-CC $20 Liberty Gold Obverse Die
that was found in the Washoe Country trash dump.

Washoe Country is where Carson City is located.

The Die is in much better shape that the vast
majority of CC Dies that were found under the
Carson City Mint - it has a "C" punched in the side
of the die....

It's also the only known Type 2 Obverse $20 Die.

It'll be in my case at the Fun show in two months....

TPRC

<< <i>Maybe this Coenwulf "Gold Penny"? >>



This one has my vote....Great article.

cameron12x

I should have broken this question into two separate topics or threads:

Best Single Coin Dug (US Coins)
Best Single Coin Dug Ever (Worldwide)

I'd personally be happy finding some wheat pennies or silver coinage.

relicsncoins

I was heavily into metal detecting for almost 10 years and have personally witnessed several great coins being dug. Here are a few that I remember.

1878 S Half Dollar
1882 CC $5 gold piece.
1876 P 20 cent piece.
1913 S Barber Quarter.

My personal best dug coin (numismatically) was an 1878 S Quarter.

MacCrimmon

Well, my granddad 'dug' this one in 1925. Betcha didn't know they had metal detectors in 1925?

The 'detector' was the business end of a horse-drawn plow.....I ID'd the coin using a Redbook in 1964.

He uncovered it in the Piedmont area of S. Carolina....which reminds me I should asked dad exactly where that was and head back with a detector which isn't quite as much work.

Oh yeah, here's the coin down below (images courtesy of MG).

coindeuce

Mac - in my opinion, you win this poll by a runaway margin.

Edited to add - oops! - thought this was a Strawberry Leaf.

JupitarCoins

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>How about all the dies alongside the Carson City mint?

bob >>

Do you have a link to this story? Sounds intriguing... >>



Link to some info

Here's an obverse from a cancelled die struck in copper:
>>




That is so COOL!!