I almost never find silver in corn fields/bean fields

[jabbo]

99.5% of the coins I dig up in crop fields are pennies. Mostly King Georges followed by U.S large pennies and only occasionally an IH. Problem is copper coins get pitted real bad and most are barely identifiable/not identifiable. Today I got a solid dime signal at the edge of a corn field, thought I had a nice older dime. It was the 1837 large penny in the top row. One of the two in the bottom row is a King George, I can see the head facing right when held up to the light just right. The other one in the bottom row is not identifable at all. I think farmers lost more coins when horses were used to plow the fields and lost less coins when tractors became popular because I should be finding more Indian Head pennies than large pennies. I find a lot more silver in the woods, its about 50/50 silver/copper coins. Maybe farmers 150 years ago were too poor to have silver and were lucky to have a few pennies in their pockets. Are you having the same experience in crop fields?

 

[bootyhoundpa]

yes i can relate to that.... in the crop fields i find more large cents than indian heads.... mostly king georges and US large cents followed by the occasional new jersey or conneticut and those that i only have one of such as -vermont large cent,irish large cent with harp on back and a hard time token with pres van buren on it.... total of 4 spanish silver-all half reales except one is a 1 reale.... i did recently find a 1934 walking libery in a farm field but much like the first guy that owned it i lost it ........ one reason i dont belive i find much silver in farm fields is that most of the farm fields i hunt have also been prime arrowhead hunting fields and if the silver ever made it to the surface while someone was hunting for arrowheads they would be able see it quite easily where as a crusty large cent tends to blend in with the soil... i was acually in middlesex nj yesterday doing repair work at an acme store....

 

[jabbo]

Booty, thanks for the input, your finds are like mine. NJ colonial pennies, British colonial pennies and U.S. large pennies might be mostly it at farms in NJ that go back to the 1700's. Like you, the silver I did find are old. I started searching farm crop fields a few years ago and dug a Barber half a few months ago, silver 3 cent piece two years ago, and a seated quarter two years ago. For me, various large pennies and musket balls is what I can be sure of, and if I'm really lucky I might find an old silver coin. I tried searching in the yard of a 1700's farm 2 times, was digging loads and loads of scrap metal and no coins, I quit after one hour. I too found an Irish large cent with the harp on it in a crop field a few years ago. Also in woods and at other places 4 half reals, 2 seated half dimes, and several seated dimes. As I said, I find more silver in the woods. I live only one mile from the store you were at. Jabbo

 

[Porschephile]

Never hunted crop fields, but those are some great finds!!!

Congrats!!

 

[Elton]

Air Conditioned luxery tractors of today.. Future guys will find nothing in the fields........

 

[bootyhoundpa]

jabbo,you do much better on the early US silver than i do.... ive only ever found one seated coin and that was a 1876 quarter in my backyard.....other than that and the ocasional barber dime pops up... but the early US silver eludes me..... when i found the 1934 walking half it was night time by the light of the moon and was very near a part of the field where i had found plenty of flat buttons and some early 1800s coppers so i thought for a moment i had finally scored early silver but it was not -boo hoo... oh well maybe some day... booty..

 

[jabbo]

Booty, silver is not that easy to find today, I'm thrilled when I find it.

 

[firstring]

Maybe farmers 150 years ago were too poor to have silver and were lucky to have a few pennies in their pockets. Are you having the same experience in crop fields?

Now you know where the expression "Dirt Poor" originated.

 

[jabbo]

I heard Dirt Poor was those people who had dirt floors in their house.

 

[Larry (IL)]

I suppose a lot depends on what was in the field years gone by. If it was a farm house, you were lucky to have much more than some pennies in your pocket and a lot of goods were bartered for. BUT if the field was a small town or a business with commerce traffic, you should be luckier with the silver.

 

[jabbo]

n/t

 

[kschae4]

Dave, very nice finds there. Glad you're able to save some pennies and cents from further erosion.

 

[jabbo]

Some of these held up well. The pile top left are are probably King Georges, no visible detail so don't know for sure. Seven King Georges in this photo with very good visible detail and dates and as far back as 1718, including the KG half penny. Three 1787 NJ coppers, an 1836 hard times token next to the pile (can barely see the eagle here) , then the Irish penny with harp & crown, gotta look hard. One of the silver 3 cent pieces was found in a corn field, the other in the woods. I'm not ready to give up on crop fields yet, finding just one old copper coin with good detail is enough to make the search worth while. Jabbo

 

[jabbo]

Ken, saved some decent ones. Some should have stayed buried.

 

[broadestpower]

Nice old finds congratulations!

 

[bootyhoundpa]

wow, wish my soil treated the coppers that good.... details pretty good on most of those....

 

[kschae4]

Great collection,Dave. Both NJ Copper and 3 cent piece are on my wish list. HH

 

[GunnarMN]

I like to hunt farm feilds, and the copper is always coroded, must be the fertilizers, because in the woods the penys come out in mint condition,n

 

[MikeO]

Nice old large coppers for sure.

 

[mclucky]

Nice finds for sure...wish we had a little bit of those colonial coins here........and some softer dirt...bout 30 days of winter left..will be thawing out soon!!