Silver Coin Find

Some of the most interesting metal detecting stories are now documented and can be found on You Tube.  While there are plenty of finds in the ground, some of the greatest discoveries are made in water.  Check out the video below. 

This find was amazing.  Mostly consisting of larger half dollars and other silver coins from the 1800's, this is real life treasure.  The video is kind of long, so skip ahead to the end for pictures of these amazing finds.

Coin Show

I went to the local coin show and came back with some purchases.  The show was moderately sized and had about 40 or so dealer tables.

I picked up the first Lincoln cent, along with a Barber dime and Barber quarter.  See below for the pictures:

The dealer gave me a break on the quarter, looked at the coin and said I could have it for $10.  I never had a 1909 Lincoln so I decided to pick one up.  The Barber dime is a date I needed and one of the nicer coins in the dealers case.  See the photos below for the reverse sides of the coins.

The show was free to enter and was in an older VFW hall.  It was about a 25 minute drive to the location.  My 8 year old nephew was the real winner of the day.  He was the only person under the age of 30 at the show, and got some free coins and currency from dealers.  He chose some foreign coins out of a box and the dealer let him get a few extras. 

We both had a great time and hope to come back.  Next time, I will be more prepared with my list of Lincoln cents, as I would like to add some more cents from 1909 to 1940 in my blue Whitman folder.

Trip to the Philadelphia Mint

I had a great time on my trip the Philadelphia Mint last week, and wanted to share the tour experience. 

Located just steps from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, the mint tour is a self guided walk through of the largest coin making factory in the world. Built in 1969, this 4th version of the Philadelphia facility is a modern factory for the minting of billions of coins each year.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures allowed to be taken inside of the building, but that does not diminish the experience.   All told, with a quick trip to the gift shop, the tour took approximately one hour. I was lucky that only a few other people on the tour, so this allowed me to experience everything the mint had to offer.

Before picking up my 12 page handbook, I checked out the display of all the modern and special coins made by the mint. A big thrill for me was seeing the $50 gold piece, which I expected to be larger.

After a trip up two very long escalators, I began walking down a long narrow gray hallway. One side of the tour includes facts, pictures and graphics about the coin making process. One the other, clear glass allows visitors to look at the actual factory floor, where real workers engaged in the coin making process.




The art of coins and die making were at the first part of the trip.  The most interesting items here, and possibly of the whole tour, were the project coins. These are dummy coins that made to test different dies. The coins I saw had a Native American head on the obverse side, and the words nonsense arched on the back. These looked to be state quarter test dies, and were very interesting.

Glancing over to the factory, the mint installed large touch screens where visitors can understand what types of machines are on the factory floor. 

One of the interactive displays told visitors about why there is reeding on coins, and challenged the visitor to guess each coin by touch. The display allowed you to touch each coin denomination inside the display and then hit a light to reveal the coin below.

On the factory side, I saw pennies and what looked like nickels being moved on conveyor belts.  Also, there was a factory worker moving a giant box of coins on a moving hand truck. From my angle, you could see right down into the giant crate of coins. 



There was a display that talked about inspecting coins, but also mentioned that there are some mule coins that will get past mint inspectors and become highly collectible. I thought the mint took an interesting approach to quality control of its product, acknowledging on occasion that mistakes are rare but do happen.

One other display that was interesting was the empty bags of coins. They used to actually make the bags the coins go in at the Philadelphia facility. It’s not every day you can see an empty bag with the words No. 89 $5,000 Eagles 1932 on a empty cloth coin bag.

At the end of the tour, I saw large crates filled with pennies stacked about 20 feet high. The crates were probably the size of a old fashioned VW bug, and no doubt contained millions of pennies. Pennies are the only coin made by the mint that are not counted as they are placed in bags. 

After the Tour of the modern factory, visitors can go down the escalator to see other displays, including a hobo nickel display, an early coin press, and planchets of coins from the 1700s.

My last top was the gift shop,  where I could find t shirts, souvenirs and lots of coin sets for purchase. The only thing I got was I put a dollar into the machine and got 4 of the latest 2013 which commemorated Perry’s Victory in Ohio.   For the numismatic person, the trip is amazing and I highly recommend this free tour to the novice and senior collector.

My 2 cents from 1865

Besides the end of the Civil War, 1865 was the second year of mintage for a very unusual coin with a value of 2 cents. 

The 2 cent piece is unique because it is the first coin to have the motto "In God We Trust" which can be found on the ribbon above the shield and arrows.  The coin, made mostly of copper, had a very short life and and was minted from just 1864 to 1873.  The 1873 issue was made just for collectors with estimates of about 600-1100 minted. 

This 1865 specimen was coined in Philadelphia with a total mintage of 13,640,000.  Enthusiasm for this coin with an unusual cash value amount  quickly faded, and the quantities manufactured decreased sharply after this issue.  A coin of this condition was graded fine and purchased at the local coin shop for $25.  The coin is slightly smaller than the modern quarter.  The reverse side pictures a wreath that has the look of a modern Christmas wreath.  The 2 cent piece is an unsual, unique and fun coin to add to any collection. 

 

 

 

1855

The Braided Hair Large Cent, sometimes called a late date cent, was minted from 1839-1857.  These coins are about the size of a modern half dollar and were made entirely of copper.   As prices for copper rose throughout the 1850's, the government decided that a new and cheaper alternative was needed.  Even in the 19th century, the cost of materials involved in the manufacture of coins was part of the conversation.  This sounds much like the current debate about cost in keeping our modern pennies. 

Designed by Christian Gobrect, this last version of the large cent survived throughout the most of the 1850's but was last minted along with the new Flying Eagle Cent in 1857.  Below is an example of a one cent piece I picked up at the coin shop minted in 1855.

According to in the Yeomen Coin Guide book, these coins were unpopular and hardly circulated outside of larger cities.   Today, it would seem very impractical to use such a large coin for small transactions.  I would image that citizens in the 1850's felt the same way, as the smaller cents became very widely used.  Below is a scan of the reverse or tails side of the coin.

 

The 1855 had a mintage of 1,574,829 and a coin of this age and condition can be purchased for less than $30.  For a coin nearing 160 years old, it's a fun a inexpensive way to add an older piece to your collection.

America the Beautiful

Over the last few weeks, I was able to find more America the Beautiful Quarters in change.

Chaco Culture New Mexico 2012
Yosemite California 2010
Yellowstone Wyoming 2010
Denali Alaska 2012
Puerto Rico 2009

The coins are interesting and depict other images than we associate with coins, such as long ago presidents and proud eagles or monuments.  These coins are like a mini history lesson and may encourage collectors to read more about the places represented.  Most of the coins look brand new with lots of luster.  The 2009 Puerto Rico has the most wear.  Since I have been finding more of these, I will probably get an album for display, instead of having them just spread out on the dresser.  The mint issues 5 different designs per year, so I'll be on the lookout for the 2013 quarters.

For me, the Chaco was the most interesting of the finds.  The circular structures featured are called great kivas, and were used for ceremonies.

This is the fourth year of the program, and these special coins will be minted through 2021.

Gold Coin Update

In my last post, I explained how I found a gold coin worth millions of dollars.  Not so fast, as it was April first so I decided to have a little fun with the blog.  The coin was actually a copy of the famous 1933 $20 double eagle gold coin. 

Due to an act of Congress, most of the original gold coins minted in 1933 were melted down before they were released by the mint for circulation.  However, about 20 are said to have survived and may have been illegally removed from the mint by a cashier and were sold or given to a Philadelphia coin dealer.  These majority of the coins were stored in a safety deposit box and recently surfaced by a descendant of the dealer.  After a long court battle, it was found that the coins were illegally removed from the mint and confiscated by the United States government.

My coin has the word copy etched into the bottom of the eagle and above the word WE.  So, unfortunately, I won't be able to sell this for millions.    However, it is an interesting specimen and common dates of this coin contain actual gold and are now worth thousands of dollars, so it's fun just to examine the features on this type of coin.  Plus it is super shiny and is just a fun piece to have in a collection.