What city would be the best candidate for finding key date coins with a metal detector?

SanctionII · February 22, 2011 4:51PM

My guess is Denver.

It has a mint, it is younger than other cities with a mint, it has more parks [including many that have been around since before the mint opened in 1906] per capita than any other US city, it has older sections of town with large streets with grass parkways, it has residential properties in older areas of town with very large lots [with lots of grass] and the Denver mint made numerous key date coins in the last 100+ years that actually circulated. All of the above indicates that chances are good that key date coins are buried throughout the city.

Your thoughts please.

leothelyon · February 22, 2011 5:33PM

St. Augustine, Florida!

Leo

jhdfla · February 22, 2011 5:34PM

Denver's a good pick. I'd nominate Philly too, and possibly Camden on the other side of the river.

tightbudget · February 22, 2011 6:50PM

I would guess perhaps anywhere in any of the original 13 colonies since you increase the odds of finding the really old and cool stuff (colonials, early Federal coinage, etc.). If I had to pick a few potential places, I'd say Boston (for the really rare colonial coins), any parks in Central Philadelphia, and any surrounding areas near Charlotte and Dahlonega for the really rare gold coins.

For the west coast, I'd say any open land in San Francisco (or any major city along the California coast) or perhaps various ghost towns near Carson City (and surrounding areas) might yield nice things.

Hard to pick just once place.

melvin289 · February 22, 2011 7:01PM

I would think San Francisco due to the earthquake. Was there not also a fire that destroyed a large part of the city or was that in with the earthquake? A lot of buildings and stores destroyed and if a location not rebuilt on a possible source of metal detecting.

Ron

rld14 · February 22, 2011 7:41PM

The problem with SF is that the coins are in the ground... under concrete.

I've heard of a number of gold coins being dug in California, someone posted on cointalk the other day about an 1849 Moffat $5 that he dug in California!

In the northeast people have found a Half Disme and Pine Tree Shillings, but of course, these are rare finds but they do pop up. I'm told that lots of cool stuff can be found in New England and the Hudson Valley of New York.

savoyspecial · February 22, 2011 8:39PM

from CoinFacts:

The 1982 No P Dimes were originally discovered on December of 1982. Most of the coins were initially found in Sandusky Ohio, where approximately 8,000 to 10,000 coins were reportedly found. Many more 1982 No P Dimes were also handed out at the local Cedar Point Amusement Park as change, with additional examples also being found in circulation around the same area.

also, my home base of Western NC will from time to time turn up Bechtler pieces

Iampoorman2 · February 22, 2011 9:09PM

I'll go with Denver too. I grew up outside of Denver, but my dad grew up in Denver. He remembers my grandma/grandpa buring jars of coins when he was a child. He doesn't remember them digging them up, and I was too young to have any interest in finding them when I went to her old house. She died about 10 years ago at a ripe 103 yrs old. So, there might be some keepers in her old back yard. If it hasn't been paved into something new now.

ambro51 · February 22, 2011 10:02PM

years ago there was a great story in Yankee magazine about a fellow who made treasure hunting a career. His favorite stomping ground was old abandoned farms. The best place to look was a 'sunken' fencepost. Seems a lot of old farmers would bury the sack of coins under a removable fence post. When one post in the line was much lower than the rest, it was the 'good one". Most always it was a fence post that was out of view by anyone coming onto the property by the front road..since the ol farmer didnt want to be seen by the revenooers hiding his bag of gold as they came up the road.

An Off Color rock in a stone fence often signaled a hiding place.

Most old timers...if they lost a coin...just kept looking till they found it. the best finds are always ones that were hidden...and forgotten.

When we put up a large shed in the backyard, just before they lowered it into position, I ran in and got a huge plastic bag of change. Its under the shed now

Rumor has it that SOMEWHERE in Philadelphia, Robert Lovett lost one of the CSA cents......

BAJJERFAN · February 22, 2011 10:03PM

Milwau-key?

derryb · February 22, 2011 10:45PM

Charleston, SC

ricko · February 22, 2011 11:04PM

Good deductive reasoning Sanction. MD'ing is, without research, a hit/miss proposition. The coil has to get 'over' the coin(s) in order to find them. So research, done well, can at least lead one to areas with potential. I am a cache hunter, so research is critical. There are a lot of them out there, but not easy to find. Cheers, RickO

yellowkid · February 22, 2011 11:06PM

I'm not sure that having a mint in a city means that there will be more lost coins around.

Can you dig in Central Park? Or on Boston Common?

UtahCoin · February 22, 2011 11:32PM

Ghost Towns in NV & UT. Several years ago a guy came into our shop with a 1913 S Quarter he metal detected at a site in SW Utah.

Teva · February 23, 2011 12:07AM

I know but I am not telling

It seems to have more to do with the
general area rather than the geographical area.
But the older the better!

SanctionII · February 23, 2011 6:40AM

TTT.

Any other thoughts/comments from you forumites?

My reasoning for picking Denver is that its key date coinage [i.e. 1914D cent, 1916D dime, etc.] is not more than 105 years old, that key date coins probably actually circulated in Denver upon release from the mint, that those that have been lost are probably greater in number than key date coins from Philly or the other mints, that those that have been lost are probably note buried as deep below the surface as key date coins made in the 18th and 19th centuries by other mints, that Denver has large areas of land that have been parks and other meeting places for large groups of people (where coins inevitably were dropped) that existed in 1906 when the mint opened and that exist today in the same configuration with the same use (i.e. city parks, greenbelts along city streets, large front and back yards in many of the older neighborhoods in the city which have not been paved over and/or torn up and put to different uses).

The cities where other mints are located are less likely than Denver to have key date coins lying around in large numbers for various reasons, including passage of time, smaller mintages, smaller populations, previously open land being paved over [i.e. SF] and/or put to different uses over time, and large areas of open land where people congregated that has not changed its use since the mint opened.

I wonder if any metal detectorists have any opinion on this topic.

rhedden · February 23, 2011 7:01AM

VA, MD, NJ, Conn., NY (Hudson River valley), and Mass. are the best places in the US to use a metal detector, in my opinion. However, the "key dates" you will find are large cents, colonials, and Bust coins, not CC-mint gold. There are some killer sites in Utah and other western states for sure, especially near old military encampments. However, good luck finding the sites, getting permission to detect them, and spending $50 on gas every time you drive out to the site.

derryb · February 23, 2011 8:46AM

St. Augustine, FL - Oldest city in America

SeaEagleCoins · February 23, 2011 8:49AM

surprised no one has mentioned Carson City and the surrounding area, although that would be a mighty big area

demodigger · February 23, 2011 10:53AM

i live in california and have been detecting here for 25 years. most of the older coins i find are "S" mint. i've found all the s mint wheat cents and one 1914d. i've also been fortunate to find the 1901,03 and04s dimes. my best coin is an 1872cc dime. most of the coins found from the 1906 earthquake are burnt. the earthquake debris was scattered in secret locations that only a few of us know of and i'm not telling.

LotsoLuck · February 23, 2011 11:01AM

What would Lord M say?..........

Musky1011 · February 23, 2011 11:08AM

Well I can tell you it is not Milwaukee Wisconsin

BAJJERFAN · February 23, 2011 11:50AM

<< Well I can tell you it is not Milwaukee Wisconsin >>

Mostly beer bottle caps, eh?

mcarney1173 · February 23, 2011 11:52AM

is metal detecting legal in central philly parks?

SeaEagleCoins · February 23, 2011 11:52AM

<< 

<< Well I can tell you it is not Milwaukee Wisconsin >>

Mostly beer bottle caps, eh?

>>

yepper... that and some hardened cheese balls

yellowkid · February 23, 2011 12:05PM

<< i live in california and have been detecting here for 25 years. most of the older coins i find are "S" mint. i've found all the s mint wheat cents and one 1914d. i've also been fortunate to find the 1901,03 and04s dimes. my best coin is an 1872cc dime. most of the coins found from the 1906 earthquake are burnt. the earthquake debris was scattered in secret locations that only a few of us know of and i'm not telling. >>

I thought a good deal of it went to fill the area where the Pan Pac Expo was held, now the Marina district.

demodigger · February 23, 2011 12:12PM

Southern pacific made deal with sf at the time to haul away debris for free. I've located 4 sites so far. Each are rich in artifacts such as coins tokens and bottles.I suspect there are many unknown sites. Some sites are located many miles away in very odd locations.

chaze215 · February 23, 2011 12:56PM

<< Denver's a good pick. I'd nominate Philly too, and possibly Camden on the other side of the river. >>

You better be doing your metal detecting from inside a tank if you plan on looking in Camden!

coindeuce · February 26, 2011 10:23AM

I suppose most here wouldn't consider the Capped Bust / Draped Bust and Flowing Hair type that came out of the Mohawk Valley Hoard to be key date coins, but they were found by metal detecting treasure seekers, and the Mohawk Valley Hoard is the largest find of U.S. coins on land by metal detector in the 20th century. The find was made in the immediate vicinity of the Air National Guard base in Schenectady, N.Y. near the Mohawk River.
...and an added factoid - years ago, a metal detector found a 1796 quarter in the banks of the Genesee river at the mouth of the river where it flows in to Lake Ontario at Rochester, N.Y.

MacCrimmon · February 26, 2011 10:34AM

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

cupronik · February 26, 2011 11:16AM

I'll throw in Sacramento. Capitol City of California and located near GOLD country and supplied by both the hallowed mints of San Francisco & Carson City.

COALPORTER · February 26, 2011 11:56AM

<< I'll throw in Sacramento. Capitol City of California and located near GOLD country and supplied by both the hallowed mints of San Francisco & Carson City. >>

Problem is the "new" downtown is located 12 feet above the "old" downtown, so that would limit finding anything romantically linked to the gold rush, but makes for nice day dreams.

coindeuce · February 26, 2011 1:47PM

MacCrimmon, I'll give props to the Strawberry Leaf find for trumping the 1796 quarter find.

kiyote · August 6, 2011 2:12PM

I look for dug-up sidewalks in California to detect-- no luck so far. The closest I've come to a semi-key date was this:

derryb · August 6, 2011 2:28PM

Newport Beach

Tdec1000 · August 6, 2011 2:46PM

<< surprised no one has mentioned Carson City and the surrounding area, although that would be a mighty big area

>>

I agree with you but I will also say NY/NJ....many colonial key coins and hoards have been found there.

Leonidas · August 6, 2011 3:25PM

As the story goes;

In 1893 the Seminole Bank was robbed by a gang of Outlaws. Seminole, Okla. is 10 miles south of Keokuk Falls. The Outlaws got away with a chest of $20 Liberty Gold peices. The Marshall formed a posse and killed all of the robbers except for one who had the chest of gold. When the posse made it into the town of Keokuk they shot the last man. Before he died he said he had buried the chest on the south side of the falls. From 1893 to the present people have been looking for that chest of gold. Some of the wood is still present from the boardwalk. I have never looked for the chest (And it's probably a folk tale.....who knows) But you can drive out there during the day and see 5 or so people with metal detectors looking for the chest. The North Canadian River has changed so much that the falls are long gone.

Keokuk Falls, Oklahoma

This Marshal looked for the chest

Cromwell, Okla. is about 18 miles from Keokuk Falls. Tilghman was 70 years old riding horseback on the North Canadian River looking for the chest.

So the story goes.......It's always great to dream. Maybe there is some truth to this.....Maybe not.

atarian · August 6, 2011 5:57PM

<< Denver's a good pick. I'd nominate Philly too, and possibly Camden on the other side of the river. >>

Camden being the in the top 3 for worst crime and unsafe city in america. Camden is a good place for good finds cause noone goes there and makes it out alive.