unexpected find coming off the beach

[tvr]

Forgot to pack the camera for this trip, so will have to post picture when I get home.

1899 dime (and looks like an O mint mark) out of the dry sand as I'm walking towards the beach exit on the way to calling it a day. Not great condition, but has not been in the salt sand for too long. I've got to wonder how it made it's way to the sand. Beach replenishment happened in the area I'm visiting not too long ago; but I don't think this came from the depths where they pumped sand from. Too pretty for that!
Cheers,
tvr

 

[Goldstrike]

This is one of the reasons I love to detect the beach because the sand captures almost all that people drop and sometimes it's very surprising what it can give up to a dedicated detectorist!. Looking forward to seeing your Dime!!!

 

[tvr]

Pictures!

 

[doc holiday232]

Nice!!

 

[OldBeechnut]

Boy that is a Nice silver!! WTG TVR!! And a Good sign of the age of the place..

 

[sdesic]

That is great find!
Where was that sand before?

 

[tvr]

Was in the general Myrtle Beach area. Not too long ago, the sand was pumped from off shore back up to the beaches.

Looking at a brief history of the area, development really didn't get underway until the the mid-1930's when the intracoastal waterway open in the area, finding an old US coin where I found this one was unexpected.

I don't think this one had been in the sand for long or pumped from the deep. Any silver that I've found from these beaches gets very black and brittle if it has been there for a while.

 

[pasttom]

No way to really tell a recent drop of an old coin to a coin that has been there forever. I know often there are hints and some VERY clear in terms of incrustation or abraded by sand and movement. Still, some finds seem to have been wrapped in a time warp and almost certainly have been decades resting untouched and most of us have been amazed at how deep and crappy a 2016 (or near) penny turns up! A couple years ago I found a pristine steel penny (1943) in 18 inches of the Pacific just off the pier. This was about a month after the Minelab Day hunt 60 miles South where lots of old coins were planted and recovered. My best guess was someone found it there and threw it off the pier- but who would do that??? I love a mystery! I love detecting!

 

[Dancer]

Oldest penny I ever found. Was a Indian Head laying on top of fresh bark mulch, in a tot lot. Some toddler lost during show & tell day maybe ? On the beach, our newest pennies seem to corrode before their luster is gone. Recently, I was lucky enough to pull a thin 10k band from the bottom of a 3foot cut in slapping surf. Looked as new as the day it was lost. Down here on the Gulf, buddy found a antique looking silver ring (1st day with his X Cal ) black as coal. Found it on a well hunted, sanded in beach. Not especially deep.
Go figure.

 

[doc holiday232]

Dancer keep us informed about the Gulf beaches--I live about 100 miles inland,but have always wanted to hunt the beach. Thanks.

 

[Champ Ferguson]

pasttom, if it was anyone but you or a very few others, I never would have believed a find of a nice steel penny. steel just starts rusting immediately in a salt environment. but your theory on how it got there is probably right imo.

Dancer, once I also found an old coin shallow in a school totlot. 35 Buffalo nickel about an inch down in wood chips in a heavily hunted area. Had to be a recent drop from show and tell or something.

 

[pasttom]

Thanks for the compliment, Champ! I try to maintain the illusion of credibility. So many finds just defy logic others send you in a vortex of theories many of whom are plausible. I've found a single handcuff (half a pair) and a 42 inch broadsword in very near the same spot but years apart. I'd sure love to know the back story! So many finds, so little info. Sigh. Well, back to the beach!