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Have any of the metal detectorists on the Forums ever found any gold coins while detecting?

SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 11,710 ✭✭✭✭✭

If so, tell your story.

The US based, MD gold coin find story I recall is one that took place in Monterey, Cal. During a severe winter storm 20-30 years ago the ocean waves stripped the local beaches of most of the sand (the sand was washed out to sea, only later to be redeposited). During a break in the stormy weather a metal dectectorist went to the shoreline and swung a coil around. By doing so he got a signal and dug up a $20.00 Liberty gold coin from the 1800s that had been buried excessively deep.

Cool story, as I have walked along the beaches in Monterey many times, wondering what was buried under the sand beneath my feet.

Comments

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Gold coins are in the dreams of most metal detectors and treasure hunters. I have entertained the dream of finding gold coins in every cave I have explored. The dreams remain, no actual gold coins found so far.... Cheers, RickO

  • metalmeistermetalmeister Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I wish. Only $ilver so far. Still looking. Great story finding a double eagle in California too!

    email: ccacollectibles@yahoo.com

    100% Positive BST transactions
  • No HeadlightsNo Headlights Posts: 2,038 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Nope. Several nice gold rings and almost 1500 silver coins (hunting since 1974). I live in Iowa where it seems gold coins circulated very little. Hope springs eternal though!!

  • Namvet69Namvet69 Posts: 8,670 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I loves me some beach detecting after a storm. No gold coins for me but I have dug assorted gold jewelry, especially at low tide. Peace Roy

    BST: endeavor1967, synchr, kliao, Outhaul, Donttellthewife, U1Chicago, ajaan, mCarney1173, SurfinHi, MWallace, Sandman70gt, mustanggt, Pittstate03, Lazybones, Walkerguy21D, coinandcurrency242 , thebigeng, Collectorcoins, JimTyler, USMarine6, Elkevvo, Coll3ctor, Yorkshireman, CUKevin, ranshdow, CoinHunter4, bennybravo, Centsearcher, braddick, Windycity, ZoidMeister, mirabela, JJM, RichURich, Bullsitter, jmski52, LukeMarshall

  • ExbritExbrit Posts: 1,248 ✭✭✭✭

    Didn’t the Duck people just find a gold button? That was the week before they found the meteorite.

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have, twice, found a gold earring in parking lots. Does not compare to a gold coin, but, at least they were gold. ;) Cheers, RickO

  • justindanjustindan Posts: 697 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Father in law has found two gold coins while detecting in TN. One is a Charlotte.

  • justindanjustindan Posts: 697 ✭✭✭✭✭

    You can see the 1848 C in this link.

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @justindan... Sounds like your father in law did some great research and hunted old civil war camps/battlegrounds. Cheers, RickO

  • justindanjustindan Posts: 697 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ricko he's been doing it since the early 1990s and spends almost everyday out there. He has several museum displays, etc. Written tons of books on the subject.

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @justindan ... Wow... a super pro.... But that is how to get the good stuff. Cheers, RickO

  • streeterstreeter Posts: 4,312 ✭✭✭✭✭

    In the winter, I have a place just outside Wickenburg, AZ. The Weaver Mining District, Rice Hill, The Potato Patch and various mines are nearby. Much interesting reading on the net.
    Out here it's horses, guns & gold mining. I do one out of three, lol. The miners normally don't let you into their club unless they know you. A man & his wife have a big patented claim nearby. Wifey showed me a nugget they found with ground penetrating radar. He dug with his back hoe, 27 ft down. They knew it was there but didn't know how far down. Just kept getting a bigger hole. And they'll process everything they dug before they fill the hole back up.
    5.5 oz gold nugget.
    Every year I hear of huge finds. Lot of new $100,000 pick up trucks out here.

    Have a nice day
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Lived in AZ for eight years. Those gold miners are usually really sensitive about property incursions.... However, there is also a lot of open land available. You won't find gold laying all over, but you can get lucky. Cheers, RickO

  • HiBuckyHiBucky Posts: 582 ✭✭✭

    Asked a farmer if I could hunt his property because in 1901 I saw a map that showed a race track on his property. SO I was telling the 81 year old farmer and showing him the old map of the race track. He told me that I was wrong, then he sat back and said I was right. He pointed to where the race track was then said to me your right, Then he pointed to another area in the field a 400 acer field and said the Fairgrounds were over there. He said when he was a kid they had a ball every year at the fair. He mentioned that the WWII troops would be let off the train and they would also attend. The troops were let off at the RR station across the field and they would walk to the fair. So here I am digging, seated, barbers some bust, some reales large cents and then the signal that I walked past then backed up and I decided to dig. And in the clump of dirt I was holding in my hand was a reeded edge of a gold $5.00 coin. It was a 1878 $5.00 gold with a tiny nick on the nose from my shovel. After 31 years I found the biggie. Now, been detecting for years here in NY and have some friends who like me were very serious detector people... One day we did an old house with my buddy I turned left after leaving the truck he went straight and dug a 1835 $5.00 gold coin. And 2 years ago another detector guy from our club found a $2,5 gold coin. Now I have been in the detector club since 1985 and the club had as many as 100 members for many years and I can attest that only 3 gold coins were found after tens of thousands of hours of detecting and 38 Years in the club. Yes they are out there but not easy to find. I was sick when my buddy dug that 1835 what a beauty it was. So two gold coins came from old cellar holes and mine from an old carnival grounds.

    I had the fair grounds all to my self for years, It sits on the edge of a major historic river here in NY and I can still and I do
    continue to find Indians, and some seated when I return to my Race Track Fair Grounds site. Its old faithful. In one day I found 7 seated dimes, numerous barbers and a 18k gold ring.

    That is my story and I am sticking to it........ In fact I was the first one to find a gold coin with the E Tract metal Detector. Did a great story for Minelab and they sent me all kinds of stuff for the story....

    Enjoy .....They are around, I hope to find another but I cant wait another 31 years ... Jim

  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,198 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 24, 2022 3:23AM

    I never did, in 20+ years of detecting, but my local MD mentor found a 1781 Spanish Mexico City escudo and a nice 1907 US $10 Liberty on the same site at the waterfront here in Brunswick, GA, many years ago.

    (By "waterfront" I mean the historic port area, not the beach.)

    As I recall him saying, both were around 6-8 inches deep in a very trashy area. He said there was a lot of lead waste in the area. I dug the same area myself years later, and found a clad quarter and a cheap kid's Spiderman digital watch. LOL

    He put both coins in the latter half of this video, though he mixed several "bought" gold coins in with the two "dug" ones.

    https://youtu.be/Da4i1fvXqdk?t=118


    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @HiBucky .... Thanks for the story of gold coins found Jim....very interesting. Cheers, RickO

  • DockwalliperDockwalliper Posts: 1,169 ✭✭✭

    Not me but one of my hunting buddies just a few years back.

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Dockwalliper... Wow... That is one AMAZING coin spill your buddy found. That is awesome... What kind of site was that? Cheers, RickO

  • AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 24,535 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Not all of us detect for coins. In fact I've never found a coin detecting. But then, I search the desert for nuggets. I'm not likely to come across a coin in a dry wash. At times I think it would be fun to search old homesteads and such but have never done so. Even gave my son my old Whites V-Sat to detect old homesteads in ND but he just uses it to find pipes and stuff for work. Oh well, in the next life.
    bob :)

    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
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