Just Plain Clad Crazy...Who Is, Where Are Your Favorite Spots, & What's The Most You Got In One Day, Week, Month, & Year?

[Critterhunter]

I remember reading about a guy who enjoys collecting old coins, but instead of hunting for those hard to find old coins at public sites these days, he now just clad hunts and uses the money to buy his old coins. I also remember reading about another guy last year in a detecting magazine that made it his goal to see how many clad quarters he could find in I think a month, or maybe it was 3 months. Either way, it wasn't that much time if memory serves and it was either like over one thousand or three thousand dollars. I just remember being shocked to see he racked up that much in quarters in such a short amount of time, whatever the number was.

So, who else out there is clad crazy? What's the most you made in a day, a week, a month, or a year? What did you use the money for? And, do you tumble and then roll your clads or do you just wash them and dump them in a Coin Star to get fast paper money? I normaly just wash mine in a bucket with some soap and water and a garden hose to get the dirt and crud off them and then dump them in a Coin Star machine at the local grocery store. That way there is no time or expense tumbling them or using various cleaners to get them shiney again. Only tip I'll give you guys about using Coin Star is be sure to fish out any eat up zincs as they can jam the machine. Once I jammed a machine with two people waiting behind me. Normaly the clerk can unjam it easily but this time she couldn't, so I headed over to the next nearest grocery store and while I was dumping my clads in I see the same two people waiting behind me that were behind me at the first store. I was keeping my fingers crossed I wouldn't jam this one up to because if I was them I'd be rather mad from the first place already. Now I'm very careful to fish out any bad zincs before heading up there. In fact, when I'm hunting if I dig a zinc and it looks bad it goes right into my junk pocket on my apron now and not into the good finds pouch.

A favorite place of mine for fast clad totals is the dry beach using a long handled sand scoop. Of course I'm mainly looking for gold rings but you can really rack up some high clad totals that way fast. I'm mainly an old coin hunter but even doing that you get a fair pile of clads going that you can cash in every few months or so.

One of my other favorite spots is tot lots at schools and playgrounds that have pea gravel in them. So easy to kick the pea gravel to the side and pick up the coin. Unfortunately, I've noticed the clads are drying up at my local school tot lots. At first I thought somebody was beating me to them but then a friend mentioned that most kids use pre-paid lunch accounts these days and so aren't carrying any money around.

I'd say the places I get my most quarters are around concession stands at parks or school sporting fields. Everything seems to be rounded off to 25 cents for hotdogs and pops and such so the concession workings aren't dealing with pennies and nickles and dimes. Seems like there are quarters everywhere at those types of food stands.

What did you use your clads for too? New machine? Another coil? Pinpointer? A Trip? Share your clad crazy uses and totals and favorite spots with us.

 

[pasttom]

Many great points, Critter! I just parted with my first batch of found coins for a nice SS sand scoop. Capital reinvestment, I believe its called.
I reflected as I read your post, I know I can harvest all the clad I want, but I don't. I hunt for silver, gold or relics and just pocket the clad as a secondary goal and don't think much about its value. I don't think I ever came home and added up my take in cash terms. I tally the coins often, but that's all. I have read about guys cashing in for silver coinage and thought about that. Most of my silver comes from competition at the MD club meetings.

I think you are on to something about less coinage in circulation. The economy makes people more careful. Plastic and electronic purchasing is gaining popularity. Even bling in shifting to more 'affordable' versions in my finds. Maybe the window is closing? There will always be treasure, I think, but its is not getting any easier.
Tom

 

[Critterhunter]

By the way, before somebody gets on me for dumping stained clads into a Coin Star machine...I saw a TV show on them at their factory and they intensely run all their coins through a massive cleaning process to bring them back to luster. They also said they sort out clads that are beyond their criteria for re-circulation and exchange them with the US mint for new coins. I feel they are doing a giant service to not just us in the detecting crowd, but also to the public in general by washing/re-lustering or taking coins out of circulation to give back to the government.

Sure, they charge I think 9 cents on the dollar to use their Coin Star machines, but to me that's a fair price not to have to roll my coins, let alone to tumble them back to luster so I can use them. Just be sure to eye your clads as you find them. Ate up zincs or say other clads with dings or dents from lawmowers or something should go right into your junk pouch so there is no risk of jamming a machine. Before I would do that and eye them well, I would on occassion jam the machine, usually due to an eaten up zinc. The clerk would come over, open it up, and just have to use her hand to swipe away whatever coin on the big seperator plate was causing the problem, so it wasn't a big deal. The main thing is to wash them well in a bucket of water to get rid of any crud, and to dry them well before dumping them in the machine, and as said to eye them for any bad coins.

One time I was hunting a strip of grass outside of a fenced in sports arena. It was clad quarter heaven! Another favorite memory for fast clads was a gambler's tent at the local carnival that was set up in the grass. I found quarters and susan-b-anthony dollars laying in the grass just by sweeping the grass to the side with my hand. People would sit and play cards and such I guess and if they dropped a coin they never bothered with it or couldn't find it in the grass. My state doesn't allow gambling but they do allow it at carnivals in tents for charity purposes. Cards and those wheels you spin and bet on a number.

Also, that carnival is back around this week and I've been eyeing the fenced in beer garden. I'm sure a lot of drunks are dropping coins in there, and also that they are rounding the beers off to the nearest quarter for quick service just like sports fields or school concession stands do for quick service on food and drinks. Also, concession stands at parks do the same thing. It's quarter city around those things by my experience.

 

[JB(MS)]

For a long time, over 20 years, the clad coins,nickels and pennies I've found have been cleaned, rolled, counted and deposited in the bank. At the end of the year my wife adds to the total dollar amount I've found that year and uses it for charitable purposes. She's sent it to St Jude's much of the time, but sometimes uses it locally for buying Christmas presents for kids that wouldn't have presents if not for her and others like her. Last year was an exception, she gave most of it to our grand daughter to help pay for gas for the three 80+ mile round trips to and from college each week. I keep the silver coins, and gold and silver rings I can't return to the owner, but the newer coins are used for a far better purpose than buying something for ourselves.

 

[TheOtherLeggoHead]

I save all of my nickles as they cost the .gov more because of the metal content. Expect that to change in the near future as the money will just become more debased. They will probably substitute the nickle with steel or maybe a polymer.

I use an old RCBS vibratory case cleaner for cleaning coins. Works better than any other thing that I have tried. I do not use any Coinstar as I want to keep ALL of my hard earned $$$$. We get taxed enough as is it.

You would be surprised, coins lay in some wierd places.