Have you ever received a gold coin in change? Or have you ever found a gold coin?

SanctionII · March 25, 2009 7:11AM

If so, tell us your tale.

When did gold coins stop being used in day to day commerce? Was it after the 1929 stock market crash, or earlier, or after FDR took office in 1933? I suspect that the use of gold coins in day to day commerce in the 1920's was limited, usually only the $2.50 and $5.00 Indian gold coins being used for (for that time period) larger transactions.

ColonialCoinUnion · March 25, 2009 7:14AM

I'm going to hold my breath while we wait for all of the people old enough to remember shopping in 1933 (or before) to post here in the forum.

SanctionII · March 25, 2009 7:18AM

You never know what response will be given. However, if you want to do so, expend the question to your parents and grandparents.

My father in law is 90 years old, born in 1919. When he was six, his aunt gave him a shiney, new 1925D $2.50 gold Indian quarter eagle. He still has it today, 84 years later. Quite a longevity record IMHO.

coinsarefun · March 25, 2009 7:21AM

I'm not old enough

But, I have had people think that the Sac's are real gold

Stefanie

rgCoinGuy · March 25, 2009 7:25AM

Yes, it happened often in my previous life as a riverboat gambler, and before that when I was the King of Egypt.

mojorizn · March 25, 2009 7:25AM

My first year as a assistant manager for a big box hardware store I received a call to come to the garden register. The woman just coming on her shift was counting out her till and found a 1/10 oz. gold piece when she cracked open a roll of dimes. I allowed her to purchase it for a dime.

Mojo

drwstr123 · March 25, 2009 7:31AM

Back around 1970, I was a fill-in bartender at a Staten Island tavern. On Saturday night an old couple would come in for a few brews. When the wife went to powder her nose, the old gent would sneak to the owner and exchange a gold eagle or double eagle for cash. He still thought possession was against the law. What a maroon.

Weiss · March 25, 2009 7:38AM

I arranged a metal detecting outing for our small club in a park that had been off-limits. Did a little research and found out who owned the farm field adjacent, got permission from them to detect, too.

Toward the end of the day I was walking up to one of the guys and noticed he had a stunned look on his face. He'd just detected a $1 gold piece. It's the holy grail for most detectorists--gold "looks" like aluminum to metal detectors, and there are thousands and thousands of pull tabs, ring tabs, foil balls, etc. for every piece of gold in the ground.

I didn't find it, but I was there and it was pretty damn cool.

I have "spent" a gold coin. Bought some good karma in a red pail in mid-December a few years back.

Coins101 · March 25, 2009 7:50AM

Heck, how many on here never spend a silver coin while they were still in circulation?

I never spent, received or found a gold coin. A friend of my dad's was demolishing an old house in the early sixties and found a "like new" gold eagle on the header of one wall. I remember seeing it but never got to touch it. Don't know what he ever did with it.

291fifth · March 25, 2009 7:55AM

Back in 1933 I went to the treasury with $200 in small bills, intending to buy ten double eagles. Unfortunately, some guy named Izzy was in line in front of me and bought all they had left.

dimples · March 25, 2009 8:58AM

My father said most people in the thirties only saw a gold coin when it was given as a birthday or christmas gift. They didn't circulate much in NY then

TwoSides2aCoin · March 25, 2009 8:58AM

No and no. But I was selling cars in Shenandoah, Iowa years ago. A lady came in with a $10 Gold Indian that was part of a sock full that she and her husband had found remodeling a farmhouse in the area. I tried to get it in change as a downpayment on a car, but she was too slick.

SaorAlba · March 25, 2009 9:02AM

I did find an 1888 British sovereign with a hole drilled through the top as though it had been looped in a parking lot when I was about 8-9 years old. Unfortunately a family member took it from me several years later and I haven't seen it since.

When I was in Germany several years ago I did spend some silver 10 DM coins once in Munich, the silver was worth less than the face value of the coin though.

Similarly in France in 2000 I got several 100FF coins from banks and saved them. They were spent very occasionally there which is how they turned up in banks.

UtahCoin · March 25, 2009 9:05AM

About 20 years ago I got a call from the manager at a local bank I did business with in Santa Maria, CA. They had a little old lady in the bank trying to deposit some gold coins. They did the honorable thing and told her they were worth far more than face value. I was only about 5 blocks away and rushed over. I paid her a fair price for them and thanked the bank manager for being so honest.

The next day I sent lunches over for the bank staff (which pretty much took care of any profit in the deal).

ambro51 · March 25, 2009 9:16AM

Not too long ago...I sat with my 92 year old aunt in her kitchen....looking out the window at the Drive in Bank. That building, and its blacktop lot, covered up the farm that her and her husband George used to farm up to probably the early 70's. I told her I remember finding a buffalo nickel out there, and she told me that once she found a coin, and after rubbing the edge on a rock, discovered it was gold.

Long gone, but from the size it sounded like it may have been a $5.

A lot of early California gold turns up in abandoned mining camps, those little coins got lodged in the miners blue jeans, which after they were good for nothing else, were burned or discarded.

BECOKA · March 25, 2009 9:17AM

Sorry, I got my first gold coin about 5 years ago and that was through a horrible bullion broker.

Oh and I know there are a couple folks on this forum old enough to remember, looking forward to the stories.

SilverEagles92 · March 25, 2009 9:27AM

My greatgrandfather told me a story about a $2 1/2 he had, that his mother had given him.

He had to pay for some groceries, and a few gallons of gas, and he asked the store clerk to hold the coin for him as collateral for the groceries until he got paid on Friday and could come back and pick the coin up.

The moral he was trying to get across to me was that the clerk really didn't have to hold the coin, and he could have lost one of his prized possessions at the time. After that, he never spent that $2 1/2 again. He's still got it, and he showed it to me.

This must have been late 40's or early 50's - in 1933 he would have only been 8 years old.

darktone · March 25, 2009 9:36AM

Yes, back in 1976 I was on a family vacation in Acapulco. At the Hotel we were staying at I saw something shiney on the bottom of the pool and I dove in and found a two peso gold coin. I was only 12 years old at the time so I gave it to my Mom to hold on to and she stuck it in her sunglass case with her money and hotel key. She the went out to the beach and fell asleep- a big wave came up and swept it into the ocean

.
My uncle was in a bank in the 60's and he was in a booth checking out his treasures in his safety deposit box when someone else dropped their box and $20 coins were rolling around. My uncle being the guy he was put his foot over one that rolled into his booth and concealed it until the commotion died down and put it in his box. He told my Dad this story right after it happened and my Dad told me the story several times over the years. When my uncle died my Dad made sure I got the coin. I still got it and it's an 11-D Saint. I had it graded by PCGS and it got a 64. I think it could be in a 65 holder if I submitted it today. Not that it really matters because I will never sell it.

SanctionII · March 25, 2009 9:59AM

I knew there were some good "gold coin" stories floating around in Forumland. Thanks for sharing.

denga · March 25, 2009 10:08AM

SanctionII March 25, 2009

If so, tell us your tale. When did gold coins stop being used in day to day commerce? Was it after the 1929 stock market crash, or earlier, or after FDR took office in 1933? I suspect that the use of gold coins in day to day commerce in the 1920's was limited, usually only the $2.50 and $5.00 Indian gold coins being used for (for that time period) larger transactions.

Sort of. In the early 1950s I had some teller friends at banks who laid aside Barber coins
and other oddities that passed by them. One day a teller said that a $2.50 gold coin (1908)
had been laid aside and she charged me $2.50. It is still in my collection.

Denga

Hawgstick · March 25, 2009 10:08AM

I am waiting to find a 1910d $10 raw indian............It was lost in my house 2 years ago and I still have hopes it will turn up.

Shortgapbob · March 25, 2009 10:15AM

<< Back around 1970, I was a fill-in bartender at a Staten Island tavern. On Saturday night an old couple would come in for a few brews. When the wife went to powder her nose, the old gent would sneak to the owner and exchange a gold eagle or double eagle for cash. He still thought possession was against the law. What a maroon. >>

Actually the limitation on gold ownership in the US wasn't repealed until 1974. However, a person could still own up to $100 in gold coins during the Gold Confiscation era.

UtahCoin · March 25, 2009 10:33AM

<< 
My uncle was in a bank in the 60's and he was in a booth checking out his treasures in his safety deposit box when someone else dropped their box and $20 coins were rolling around. My uncle being the guy he was put his foot over one that rolled into his booth and concealed it until the commotion died down and put it in his box. He told my Dad this story right after it happened and my Dad told me the story several times over the years. When my uncle died my Dad made sure I got the coin. I still got it and it's an 11-D Saint. I had it graded by PCGS and it got a 64. I think it could be in a 65 holder if I submitted it today. Not that it really matters because I will never sell it.

>>

And people call coin dealers crooks........

olmanjon · March 25, 2009 11:23AM

I have never found any gold coins but I did get two ten dollar gold certificates from a grocery store in the early 70's. One of my daughters sold them at face value for something she bought. Oh, well.
Olmanjon

kwmorgan · March 25, 2009 11:34AM

Q David Bowers "Double Eagle Gold Coins" book on page 240 gives a good description of the gold coin situation in the 1920's. Most quarter eagles were sold only at a premium by the banks, and most double eagles were exported to Europe.

I think SanctionII's father-in-law is the most common way gold coins were distributed during that time. Special occasions or gifts.

darktone · March 25, 2009 11:42AM

<< And people call coin dealers crooks........ >>

Oh yes, my uncle was a crook no dought but I guess after being on the front lines in the russian army and being in the Nazi camps he had a different perspective than most of us and siezed every opportunity he could. It was still wrong though but a true story none the less.

DaveG · March 25, 2009 12:55PM

A few years ago my wife told me that she was going to interview an elderly woman for a story she was working on, so I asked her to ask the woman about gold coins in circulation. The woman (who got married in 1914) told my wife that she remembered her parents having gold quarter and half eagles when she was a girl in Michigan. She particularly remembered seeing gold coins on her honeymoon, which was spent in California. She said that Californians at that time still distrusted paper money and preferred to use gold coins in commerce.

About ten years ago, my daughter made a habit of checking the CoinStar machine when we went to the grocery store. One day she found a small handful of change (mixed US and foreign coins). She looked through her haul and then handed me a dime-size coin, asking "what is this?".

It was a rather dirty Russian gold 5 Ruble piece - about an eighth of an ounce of gold!

frnklnlvr · March 25, 2009 6:06PM

In the Mar. 23 CoinWorld "Found In Rolls" column, a cashier found a 1856 Coronet gold $2.50 in a roll of dimes.

fiveNdime · March 26, 2009 7:14AM

my grandpa had gotten gold before as a store owner.
my dad, as a kid ~1950, got a 1909s vdb lincoln as change. left the register open(grandpa store) and ran home to add it to his collection.
still has it. maybe MS63red.

ive only gotten silver / silver certificates.

MrHalfDime · March 26, 2009 8:08AM

I have never found a gold coin myself, but I witnessed one of the most amazing finds by another person many years ago. When I was in high school in the 60's, the local Lions Club conducted an annual auction of donated items to raise funds for various charities. As all of the items were donated, many people used this as an opportunity to clean out all of the crap from their attics and garages while at the same time satisfying their charitible need to contribute. The stuff was collected for weeks and piled up at a local shopping center parking lot, waiting for the auction day. After the auction, the worst of the items, the things that nobody was willing to pay anything for, were unceremoniously trucked to the local dump and discarded. On one particular Saturday my father and I made our weekly trip to the local dump with the household trash, and witnessed the Lions Club volunteers unloading a truck full of junk that did not sell in the auction. One such item was an overstuffed chair. As they proceeded to throw it over the side of the truck, a gentleman approached and asked if they were throwing the chair away. The Lions indicated that they were indeed discarding the chair, and offered it to the gentleman. But instead of putting it in his car, he simply turned it upside down and banged it on the ground twice, and then threw it on the trash heap. We all heard the undeniable sound of coins hitting the ground, at which point the gentleman leaned over and picked up the two coins. He showed them to me, and they were what I now recognize as a $5 and a $10 Liberty gold coins. From that day on, I always checked inside any old furniture, but have never found anything worthwhile.

northcoin · March 26, 2009 8:33AM

<< If so, tell us your tale.

When did gold coins stop being used in day to day commerce? Was it after the 1929 stock market crash, or earlier, or after FDR took office in 1933? I suspect that the use of gold coins in day to day commerce in the 1920's was limited, usually only the $2.50 and $5.00 Indian gold coins being used for (for that time period) larger transactions. >>

Well I was cleaning out a junk drawer and I came across a MS62 1907 High Relief Saint Gaudens that I'd won in an auction years ago and completely forgot about.

AUandAG · March 26, 2009 8:38AM

When I was a kid, about 8 or so, I'd go from Carson City to Virginia City with my parents
and brother (he's 4 years older). It was a common trip as Mom and Dad had friends in VC
and loved to go to the Bucket of Blood, Silver Slipper, etc for a day of eating, drinking and
just plain old cheap fun.
Well, we would get very bored very quickly and soon learned that we could find openings
that would let us get UNDER the wooden sidewalks. Those sidewalks are just like the ones
you see in the movies. Yep, the boards would shrink over the years and folks would just
drop coins and down the cracks they would go.
We would spend countless hours looking for entrances and exploring the "Underworld" as
my brother would say. Of course he took great advantage of his little brother and kept all
the coins, etc that we would find. I do remember one day that I was objecting to this non
sharing with me doing half the work. We were in the car and heading back to Carson and
my father got a bit upset with my brother and stopped the car and made him empty his
pockets.
Well, as I recall we had found about $100 that day in gold and silver coin (no $20's). Dad
took it all and put it away for me.
Hmmmm, never saw that again. I guess it was used to buy food, booze, broads or whatever.
Was not in the house or the will either.
But was a kick in the arse to do! Don't remember any individual coins.
bob

northcoin · March 26, 2009 8:39AM

<< 

<< Back around 1970, I was a fill-in bartender at a Staten Island tavern. On Saturday night an old couple would come in for a few brews. When the wife went to powder her nose, the old gent would sneak to the owner and exchange a gold eagle or double eagle for cash. He still thought possession was against the law. What a maroon. >>

Actually the limitation on gold ownership in the US wasn't repealed until 1974. However, a person could still own up to $100 in gold coins during the Gold Confiscation era. >>

I think you have just helped settle the Langdford vs. U.S. case. $100.00 divided by $20 = 5 coins they get to keep.

ProofArtworkonCircs · March 26, 2009 2:55PM

I was 12 in 1947 when the local savings bank called and said somebody had turned in a $5 gold piece. They said I could have it since I was a collector. I rushed down with my bank book and it was no go because i needed my father's signature to make a withdrawal. (They never asked for that when I put money in.) On the second try I got it. It was dated 1906, 29 years before I was born and seemed so ancient. It is now 103 years old and I have owned it 62 years. It does not seem so ancient anymore.

When my father retired as band leader, he was given two twenty and a ten dollar gold piece. But he turned those in when the government requested them.

Have you ever received a gold coin in change? Or have you ever found a gold coin?

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