What's your biggest surprise in a coin find?

[D&P-OR]

This is one I'll never forget.---My wife & I almost always hunt together and on a hunt in an old fairgrounds, she found a Walking Liberty half that was her birth year (1943).---The VERY NEXT day we were driveing to ANOTHER old fairgrounds and I even made the comment about how neat of a find she had made & how I'd like to find my own birth year "Walker" sometime.----We arrived at this second fairgrounds & weren't but a few minutes into the hunt when (lo & behold) I recovered my own birth year W.L. half (1939).----What a surprise that was & what are the odds of that ever happening (especially on W.L. halves).----Two people's birth year "Walkers"--each one found in different areas & on back to back hunts.-----Definitely gifts from The Lord! ---------Del

 

[Furious T]

Del, I think my biggest surprise in a coin find was about 18 months ago when I was detecting a park where I have detected dozens of time before (as, I presume, have others). I was using my X Terra 70 and got a signal which was about the same as our (Aussie) 20c. Turned out to be a Chinese coin from the period of Emporer Sheng Tsu (1662 - 1722) It's the oldest coin I've found.

 

[Tymstamon]

I Have many examples but I'll only share 2 of them.
The first happened about 4 years ago, my wife had a dream one night that she had found 2 silver dollars, and since neither one of us had found a silver dollar up to that point we didn't think anything about it, our next time out detecting i found an 1899-O Morgan dollar, boy she was not happy with me, she said i had stolen part of her dream, that's OK though about a week later she found a peace dollar so she was happy after that, Now just imagine the look on the faces of the folks at our club when on the finds table there were two silver dollars and a husband and wife were the owners
The other event happened last spring while my wife and i were detecting an old Detroit park, It was very muddy and we were going around all the standing water pockets in a wooded area and i had already found a couple of Indian heads and a 1917 merc and a 1901 barber dime so i thought i was doing good, then my wife starts to dig a signal, i see her out of the corner of my eye and remember thinking she's down pretty deep, and she say's in a calm relaxed voice Tim i think i found a gold coin, i said what ,NO , not possible, so i walk over expecting a gold color token or anything other than a coin and she hold's in her hand a 1928 St. Gaudins 20 dollar gold piece!!!!!! I felt like i was in Quick sand, i couldn't move, i went down to my knees and kept saying OH MY GOD----- then the realization set in that we are in the worst area of Detroit and i said were leaving NOW!!!!!!!!
Now the story should end here but later i asked her if she had checked the hole and she gave me a blank look and said no,
So we go back the next weekend [ she said it felt like it took forever to get here] she checked the hole nothing she also checked it in all metal mode nothing , so I'm detecting along and i hear my wife say Tim and i look over and i can't believe my eye's she found another one 7 feet away!!!!!! needless to say we have dug everything for another 100 yards around that area a few Indian heads ,merc's and barbers have come to light but nothing like those coins.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

I guess we all have multiple ones but a 1781 Realle my oldest silver coin comes to mind.
I found a 14kt gold Claddah(Irish ring) with my wifes initials and she is of Irish heritage and yep it fit perfectly....sort of makes one wonder of the odds on this find..

 

[fyrffytr1]

Have you ever heard the saying something has your name written on it? Well, I found a well worn 1835 Half Cent several years ago that almost did. It does have my first and second initials stamped on the obverse. Now, that was a nice surprise to me!

 

[abcoin]

A few months ago, I was detecting at a certain oceanfront park for the first time. The park itself had only been established in the late 1960s, so not an old site. Initially, I tried searching the actual sandy part of the area, where an hours work gave me a few pennies and tons of pull tabs. Then, I decided to move inland to a grassy area just up from the beach. After about 20 minutes of nothing I was about to call it quits before I got a nice solid high tone. When I retrieved the coin, I brushed the dirt away to reveal a 1941 mercury dime, my first silver coin. This caught me totally off guard, and made up for digging all that junk on the beach!

 

[Roscue2]

This one happened about 2 weeks ago. I was detecting a park and was in a opening heading towards another slid when I got a solid nickel signal at about 3 inches. I was pretty sure that it was a pulltab instead of a nickel. Well, wouldn't you know it turned out to be a nickel. But not just any nickel, a 1943-P silver nickel! That was my first silver coin ever.

 

[dave5710]

2004 was my first year of metal detecting. My oldest coin find that year was an 1906 IH. The following year I also found an IH, but not as old as the 1906. Then in 2006, I found a 1901 IH, my new "oldest coin ever found". Even though I was quite happy about finding it, I remember saying to myself, "I wish my oldest coin was silver." I started detecting again and instantly got a hit. It turned out to be an 1877 Seated Dime. 22 months to find a new "oldest ever" and then 2 minutes to find something much older yet.

Another odd one is that in 6 years of detecting I have only found two Large Cents. They came on consecutive Thursdays.

Thanks D&P, Interesting topic and fun to read.

 

[wayne_etc]

I was detecting an old school-turned-community center in rural Alabama and found a 1927 Palestine coin. Not much monetary value, but it makes you wonder "how'd that get there"?

w

 

[scotrod]

i started detecting last April and after two months of modern coins and pull tabs i got mi first silver a1902 barber half it was at that point i found out what they meant by happy dance !!

 

[silversmith]

Hey fyrfytr1, I grew up with a kid named Phillip Mason. That not you is it?

Well, D & P, All I can say is; Maranatha.

 

[7centsworth]

I was hunting with a friend and he took one side of the old house with his xlt and I took the other with my x-terra 70. We found a few coins and then switched sides with each other. I had not walked a few yards on the side he had just hunted and got a good quater id and sound. I dug about four inches and hit a root and right on top of the root laid an 1877 seated liberty quarter. I started yelling like any hillbilly would have done . He could not believe he had missed it, but he was using stock coil and I was using a 6 inch coil. He now owns two small coils.

 

[revzoom]

A bunch of old Chinese coins wrapped in oilskin about 7 inches deep behind and old schoolhouse in central Wisconsin. Turned out the Chinese worked extensively on the railroads in that area in the late 1800's. Not sure the coins are worth anything but it was a great find. For a moment I thought I had hit a real cache.

 

[pennystock]

its a toss up..........2 years ago, i was detecting and old race track that used to be cars and converted to horses but now belongs to the town and in the area of where the stables used to be, around sunset with the mosquitoes biting bad, i pulled out an 1817 Large Cent wich was my first...............then, last year at the beach, i pulled out a spanish II reale coin that is badly worn that i cant get a date off of it........

 

[jim tn]

I have had several throughout my 38 years with this hobby, but a couple of years ago I was detecting a demolished housing development site that was loaded with trash of all kinds. Things such as plumbing pipes and fixtures, car parts and tons of bottle caps and tabs, to name a few trash items. I was actually hunting the sides of a ditch when I got a high silver reading and an overload signal on my F 75. Usually such an occurance resulted in the target being a piece of copper pipe. I was quite surprised when I flipped over the shallow clod and saw the head of lady Liberty laying there. It was a 1921 Morgan dollar that, unfortunately, had tangled with a lawn mower at some point. It was slightly bent with several dings along the edge. It was my first Morgan, so I still did the happy dance. HH jim tn

 

[fyrffytr1]

Hey fyrfytr1, I grew up with a kid named Phillip Mason. That not you is it?:

That depends, Does he owe you any money? Do you owe him?

 

[D&P-OR]

That be a good un!!-----You be the name of the guy that gits the money--right?? ----I always figured--You can call me by most any name as long as you call me for dinner!!!!----Hey, ya gotta have a laff once in awhile---now ain't that rite??? ---------Del

 

[BARKER]

Hi Folks; One day about 5 yers ago me and my digging partner were heading out to find some new sites to search.As is our custom we talk about what we're going to find that day.Well I rattled off a list of great finds I'd like to make and said I'd like to find a nice Massachusets Large Cent. When we found a site we started searching and about 1 hour I got a signal about 3" down out came a 1787 Massachussets Large Cent in XF condition.We both almost fell over. Kicker is some guy came over to us and told us to leave which we did. Value $ 200.00 I was very happy. We still talk about our finds wish list each time we go out. Good Luck. PEACE:RONB

 

[AgJake]

I was hunting a friends house one day after work and got a good nickel sound. Dug it and in the hole with it, I found an Arrowhead. What an unexpected find! Much appreciated, too!!!

AgJake