Have you ever found any old coins buried on your property or your parents' property?

SanctionII · May 19, 2008 9:51AM

My parents bought their home in 1966. My dad continued to live there after my mom died and he still lives there. The home was built in the 1920's. When we moved in in 1966 there was a large vegatable garden in the back yard and for years my mom grew produce. She found a 1913S cent in VF/EF condition buried in the garden one day and gave it to me. The property also has clothes lines, sidewalks, a front porch it had fruit trees. I expect that since the home was built in the 1920's lots of persons have walked the property and dropped loose change.

One day I will visit my dad and buy/rent a metal detector to see what may be buried on the property.

How about you? Have you ever found old coins buried on your property or your parents' property?

BECOKA · May 19, 2008 9:53AM

None of the homes I have lived in are old enough to even consider renting a metal detector. I would not mind buying a turn of the century home and doing a little digging in the future.

CarlWohlforth · May 19, 2008 9:57AM

My home was built in 1932. When digging a garden I found all kinds of garbage but no coins.

I might have better luck if I had a metal detector...

ziggy29 · May 19, 2008 10:02AM

Define "old." Our house was built in 1944 but I think the oldest coin I've found here is a 1962 Lincoln, which we found when we remodeled and combined two small closets in one of the bedrooms into one large one. We removed the original partitioning wall and the coin came out.

Scavenger · May 19, 2008 10:03AM

I actually went with my father to the remains of the house that he grew up in. It burned down and the only thing left was the front steps and the cellar. We searched the area with a metal detector and found nothing. I mentioned that it was kind of strange not to find any change at all around an old house and he told me something that had never entered my mind. He said that when he was growing up in the 1930's, if anybody dropped change they would pick it up or look until they found it.

tombr · May 19, 2008 10:04AM

Part of my house was built in the 1840's. I redid 3 rooms upstairs last summer. Tore out the old plaster lathe, wiring etc...... I did find on the header of a window and ink bottle, and an old newspaper, April 10, 1933. No coins, BUT the next renovator will find a 2006 silver proof set.

crispy · May 19, 2008 10:10AM

I have found old coins that have been lost on family properties but not "buried" as in coin caches. I remember finding an Indian head cent lying right on top the ground under some bushes at my Grandmother's. Wish I had been metal detecting way back then. They had a home that was built in 1880's.

21Walker · May 19, 2008 10:12AM

I have a coworker that had his father die a couple of years ago. We live in Houston and his mom living in California called him and told him to come home because his dad had buried a lot of stuff in the acres of back yard. He went and found a hand drawn map by his dad and started digging. Did I say his dad was eccentric? Well what he pulled out of the ground was approximately 230-300 pounds of coins. One small duffle bag was full of walking liberty halves. Another was full of platinum one ounce coins. and the 3rd bag was full of morgans.

Now they weren't buried in these duffle bags, but rather in zip lock bags all over the place. My coworker was at his mom's house for a week working as long as it was light.

I got to see all of these coins only as a group. WOW!!!

I sold one of his plats for him on EBAY for $1100.

I asked him if there was anything wrong with his dad and he only replied "Squishy".

I haven't found chit..................Rick

sfs2002usa · May 19, 2008 10:13AM

I was hand tilling a house in Albuquerque and found this:

The second coin of my collection at age 16!

I also have to admit that I have had dreams, several times, of finding
stashes of coins in a back yard somewhere. Never been fulfilled, but
must be related to the stories I've read in newspapers.

TwoSides2aCoin · May 19, 2008 10:20AM

I haven't found any as of yet, but maybe I'm not digging deep enough

I'm gonna rent me a backhoe.

eyoung429 · May 19, 2008 10:36AM

Yup!! Will be doing more this week as I am not working right now.

couple of the finds from the virtual treasure hunt.

bigmansam88 · May 19, 2008 10:39AM

All i've ever found were some old keys, which makes sense

because the house I live in was bought from a locksmith.

Danegeld · May 19, 2008 10:42AM

Yes, lots of stuff from the 1900s and late 1800's... Here is one find from a few years ago. My back has stopped me from pursuing the hobby but have since recuperated enugh to get afield again.

ProofArtworkonCircs · May 19, 2008 3:01PM

My answer to the exact question has to be no. But I have three almost cases and all are the same date and I have all three now.
About 1890 my father plowed up a corroded 1818 cent on the family farm in Hampden, Maine. About 1947 a school chum in Bangor, Maine plowed up a corroded 1818 cent. About 1960 I was helping a friend in Townsend, MA on some foundation work on an old house. I dug up a corroded 1818 cent. I wonder if a lot of the mintage of that year was sent to New England.

mrearlygold · May 19, 2008 3:07PM

No, but I was told by a good friend of mine who is now passed that he was sure that there were coins buried beneath his parents house in Poland, hidden before the nazi's invaded and that he would help me find them if I wanted to travel there to do so. Of course I wished I had gone to do so.

Broadstruck · May 19, 2008 11:57PM

20 years ago I was given a Player Piano as long as I picked it up, but I didn't have any room for it so it went into storage for 15 years.

I found this inside when getting ready to move it again about 5 years ago... a lot of profanity occurred during it's discovery!

rhedden · May 20, 2008 2:14AM

Metal detecting my parents' house in northeastern PA, I found 1894, 1896, and 1902 Indian cents; 1913-d, 1914-p, 1919-d, and 1933-p wheats; and two silver Roosies. All of those coins were missing from my sets as a teenager living there, except the 1913-d cent. If only I had known that they were just buried out in the yard! They have tremendous sentimental value, having come from the house in which I grew up, though their monetary value is less than the time I spent typing this message.

direwolf1972 · May 20, 2008 2:19AM

<< <i>No coins, BUT the next renovator will find a 2006 silver proof set.

>>

I've redone rooms in two houses in the last few years and left little packages in the walls both times.

In the first one we left a bottle of beer, Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and a Washington all dated 1996 (the year the renovation was done). Along with a note to whoever found them on a cross beam between studs in the wall.

The other I dont remember exactly what we left but it was something similar to the first.

renomedphys · May 20, 2008 10:12AM

While rolling up an ancient leaf carpet (yes, rolling) near a 50 year old house in Florida, I found in a jar containing an 1802 dollar! It appeared to have been purposefully buried and was well preserved, being packed in cotton. It was in maybe F-VF condition, and I immediately took it down to the local coin purveyor, I think he paid me $200 - $300, which I split with the house owner. I was about 13 at the time, and never looked back!

291fifth · May 20, 2008 10:14AM

I found a wheatback cent at my parent's house. That's it, unfortunately.

originalisbest · May 20, 2008 10:17AM

Nothing ridiculously valuable, but of sentimental worth, metal detecting at my parents' house I've found 20-30 '40s-'50s wheats, and 1 1944 Merc in the front yard, and 1 1944 Merc in the back. Both about vf-xf. :-)

NumisOxide · May 20, 2008 10:25AM

I found a 1928 buffalo nickel outside my house and a 1928 lincoln in my living room radiator cover.

YaHa · May 20, 2008 11:02AM

I found a old can in my crawl space about 14 years ago when I bought my house. It had some common links and Mercs, even a few old indian pennies. I guess it might of been a Y/N.

RWB · May 20, 2008 11:18AM

I found a glass canning jar filled with Buffalo nickels when we were digging the foundation for a greenhouse at my parent’s house. It was a neat find – until I realized I had buried the jar about 10 years before and forgotten about it.

Frankcoins · May 20, 2008 12:21PM

Spent 3 weeks my last year in college with a metal detector at my grandparents home (built 1905) and a neighbors home
(built 1923). Conclusion: rare coins have always been rare....

DrPete · May 20, 2008 12:32PM

About 5 years ago I discovered an 1868 or so shield nickel in my front yard, heavily corroded. Not sure where it came from. Our house had been built in 1965 and the coin was superficially found. I think someone must have dropped it at a much later date. Not worth much in an advanced state of corrosion, but still something you don't find everyday.

tydye · May 20, 2008 12:35PM

No but I would love to get my hands on a metal detector someday and do my own and neighboring yards. My house was built in 1902. I also plan on digging out the old outhouse someday as well for old bottles.

aballein · May 20, 2008 12:36PM

found this a few weeks ago inside of a wall in my new old house

WinPitcher · May 20, 2008 12:43PM

In 1965 we lived on a street named Revolutionary Rd. My dad was digging a foundation for an extension on the house
and uncovered a coin dated in the 1700's. He also uncovered a few Indian arrow heads. Back to the coin, (I was 9 yrs old)
my father was a policeman and a fellow cop was a coin collector and he showed the coin to him and the guy brought in a book and it showed the coin.

Back then the coin was worth 50.00 (I have no idea what the coin was) But i remember my dad saying that if it had been minted here
it would have been worth 1000.00 dollars but it was minted in England and thus worth alot less.

To this day I wish we still had that coin. Yeah he got a few dollars for it from that guy. The arrow heads were left in the celler
when they sold the house.

Steve

COINB0Y · May 20, 2008 1:47PM

Man, I love this hobby!

Some of the guys do not know about this PCGS Board

DoctorPaper · May 20, 2008 1:55PM

Found this at the back of a kitchen shelf when my parents moved into a house in Wantagh, Long Island, NY, in June 1954 when I was 9. It was my first 19th century coin and I've still got it.

COINB0Y · May 20, 2008 1:56PM

nice!

oildvr · May 20, 2008 7:39PM

Found a 1789 Spanish coin on my parents property in Lancaster, Massachusetts back in the early nineties. Old stagecoach road ran next to it

mrcommem · May 21, 2008 2:07AM

About 25 years ago I was building a patio with flagstones and sand. When laying the sand I found 55 silver quarters and 3 silver half dollars. The stash must have been in the truckload of sand delivered to the house. Dates ranged from 1934 to 1964. The strange thing about it was that none of the dates or mm repeated. All, except the newer coins were heavily worn. Leads me to beleive some stole a set of Washingtons and stashed them in the sand.

oxy8890 · May 21, 2008 2:23AM

<< <i>None of the homes I have lived in are old enough to even consider renting a metal detector. I would not mind buying a turn of the century home and doing a little digging in the future.

>>

ditto

dac076 · May 21, 2008 2:55AM

My in-laws used to live in a house built in 1833, that was once a post office. If that isn't perfect, I don't know what is. I looked everywhere, including floorboards. Nothing. The only finds in the ground around the old porch were old nails and an ax head. It was so disappointing, I haven't used the metal detector since.

Blackhawk · May 21, 2008 3:03AM

When I got my metal detector about five years ago I went through our yard and found a 1942 South African penny about 2" deep. I imagine that some kids were playing with Dad's souvenirs.

BobGreene · May 21, 2008 6:35AM

The house in Oregon that I grew up in was actually two houses that were built a half-mile from each other. One half was built in the 1880's, and the other half was built in 1865-1866 by a former Union general of the Civil War for him and his new bride. Around the turn of the 20th century the newer half was put up on rolling logs and moved by a team of horses or some other type of animal down the road and attached to the older half, making one huuuggge house. Doing some minor electrical rewiring, my dad accidently discovered a hidden room off the stairway landing, which had been boarded up and wallpapered over. We were all so excited about the incredible valuable treasures we would find! Unfortunately, it contained nothing but old Mason jars. The only other thing worth noting that we discovered in that house was a newspaper glued to the inside of the benches at the kitchen table. It was from 1876 and reported the massacre of Custer's troops at Little Big Horn, describing the incident and listing the dead. A friend of my dad's visited us once and brought his metal detector, but just about all they found was a key that fit the backdoor of the house and several gunnysacks full of square nails.

TwoSides2aCoin · May 21, 2008 6:50AM

A friend moved with his wife a few months ago to take care of her ailing father. He called me and said that the old guy told them to remove a couple of screws in a board leading down into the basement. There, they found a few pounds of silver and some clad rolls (65,66,67's) in old tin, under the step. It was the old boy's way of telling his daughter "thanks".
He shipped them to me. Another hoard of widgets. Mostly silver which netted him about $5k.
One of the pieces is a 1915 Barber Half (currently on ebay at $45 ---SPAM ALERT). There were a couple CC Morgans 1890 and 1891. Other than that, nothing really great. It was exciting when he called me. It wasn't so great after the package arrived. It was a lot of work and I drove 2 hours to get the best deal on silver. Sold it at 11.2 times face when the local dealer was offering 9 times face

.

My friend was happy and paid me with a few widgets for my trouble. That's as close as it gets for me.

Have you ever found any old coins buried on your property or your parents' property?

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