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Why Was It There?


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 I just returned from a trip to Oregon to watch the Solar Eclipse. I took my CTX 3030 just in case. Well, we arrived in Central Oregon a couple of days early and stayed in a U.S.F.S. Campground on the route. I checked out the empty spaces and found a few clad coins. Judging by the layout and size of the camp spaces and the lack of any old roads near by I was guessing it to be built in the 70s or 80s.  After checking all of the obvious places, I moved out between the trees where someone could have set up a tent. After a few minutes, I got a nice signal and found a 27 Lincoln in pretty nice shape. My wife was waving to me to come back to camp. She was talking to an older woman( I can say that, she is six months older than me) and she asked me if I had found any treasures and I replied that I had. I shared the 27 penny with her. She told me that her father had started her collecting pennies at a young age and she didn't have a 27 s mint. I gave her that penny, and it made us both feel good.

All night long, I kept wondering why was that penny there? The next day, I had to go back and see if there were any more old coins there. I did find one more coin in that general area. A very nice Merc. I still don't know why those coins were there.

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I had the same question when I found that peace dollar in the park a couple months ago. The logical answer is someone dropped them there a long time ago... and you were the first to get your coil over them. Simple as that :biggrin:

strick 

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10 hours ago, normmcq said:

I gave her that penny, and it made us both feel good.

All night long, I kept wondering why was that penny there? The next day, I had to go back and see if there were any more old coins there. I did find one more coin in that general area. A very nice Merc. I still don't know why those coins were there.

I wonder how much your good deed led to your next find.  No, I'm not talking about anything mystical.  But the fact that you felt good about what you did gave you a more positive/optimistic view of things, which we all know is a key component to accomplishing anything short of trivial tasks.  Also, you 'eanred' the right to take some time and hunt longer.  You deserved another chance, took it, and succeeded.

It's fun for me, too, to try and put a why? & how? on finds.  As an example, I found a Civil War button in a park that was established in 1948.  Previously the site was a stone quarry.  Was it also a training/campground for troops in the Civil War?  (AFAIK, there were no battles in Indiana, other than Morgan's Raids.)  Was there a ceremony/parade on Memorial Day some year much later where it was worn by a veteran?  Or did it arrive there because someone tossed out grandpa's old unwanted 'trash'?

That Mercury dime is in fantastic condition -- appears to me to be almost uncirculated (AU).  Although it's possible for 15-20 year old coins to be in circulation in such great shape, it's not likely.  That in itself is a clue that it was probably dropped in the second half of the 40's.  You chose to search the spot because it was somewhat open -- likely what a camper with a tent would have been thinking 65-70 years ago.  And maybe the trees weren't as big, thickly populated, or even present then....  The successful look beyond the obvious.

Nice idea to hunt that non-obvious spot; nice gesture to give that 1927-S to someone it meant a lot to; and nice Merc as a reward for both.

 

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Great find for silver.  I too found a 1913 Barber dime years ago which looked to be XF or Au.  Still remember that find.

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'...the simple answer is, no matter where you go, someone else has been there before you!

This I realised very early on in this hobby as a few places I went to were 'so isolated', and 'had promise', and the first 'thing' out of the ground was a ring pull and a modern current circulation coin!'

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FS campgrounds are often built where old hunters, fishers or loggers, etc camped...if it was a good camping spot before the Forrest Service got involved it probably still is....

There are many such spots around Quincy and Portola...

fred

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