When Going "bust" During A Relic Hunt Is A Good Thing

[GB_Amateur]

12 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

In lower NE, I occasionally get  CC, O, and D mint marks. I rank them in order of most to least being: P, D, O, CC, S.

So you've found more -CC mintmarked coins than -S?

Since these mints had different periods of operation it's a bit hard to compare.  In particular the Denver and Carson City mints didn't overlap and Denver and New Orleans was only for a very short time (Denver's first coins were minted in 1906 and New Olrleans's last in 1909).

I don't have numbers but when I collected coins as a youngster going through bank rolls and pocket change (of my adult relatives since I didn't have much spending experience 😁) it was particularly hard to find -S mintmarked coins in general.  However, part of that is because San Francisco typically didn't mint as many coins as Philly in particular and in later years, Denver.  An added complication is that in some years not all mints even produced coins and in those cases it was typically the branch mints that didn't (compared to the main mint in Philadelphia).  So it's a complex deconvolution problem to figure out reasons for the distributions we notice.

None of that is meant to discourage your data reporting nor your wish to know what other have experienced.  My limited finds of early 20th Century coins (pre-clad era) here in my stomping grounds seems consistent with what I noticed back when I was collecting in the 1960's -- i.e. -S mintmarked coins are clearly the exception.  I've found only a couple pre-Barbers (one Shield nickel and one 2-cent piece) and only a few Barber dimes so my data are sparse, regardless, and praticallly non-existant prior to ~1900.

[schoolofhardNox]

4 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

So you've found more -CC mintmarked coins than -S?

Since these mints had different periods of operation it's a bit hard to compare.  In particular the Denver and Carson City mints didn't overlap and Denver and New Orleans was only for a very short time (Denver's first coins were minted in 1906 and New Olrleans's last in 1909).

I don't have numbers but when I collected coins as a youngster going through bank rolls and pocket change (of my adult relatives since I didn't have much spending experience 😁) it was particularly hard to find -S mintmarked coins in general.  However, part of that is because San Francisco typically didn't mint as many coins as Philly in particular and in later years, Denver.  An added complication is that in some years not all mints even produced coins and in those cases it was typically the branch mints that didn't (compared to the main mint in Philadelphia).  So it's a complex deconvolution problem to figure out reasons for the distributions we notice.

None of that is meant to discourage your data reporting nor your wish to know what other have experienced.  My limited finds of early 20th Century coins (pre-clad era) here in my stomping grounds seems consistent with what I noticed back when I was collecting in the 1960's -- i.e. -S mintmarked coins are clearly the exception.  I've found only a couple pre-Barbers (one Shield nickel and one 2-cent piece) and only a few Barber dimes so my data is sparse, regardless, and praticallly non-existant prior to ~1900.

Sorry about that, I was including Barbers in the conversation as well as Seated. But yes, I find more CC than S coins. The CC's are usually very worn and if I remember correctly are usually 1875. I don't have a lot of them maybe 3 of them. Come to think of it, even in the Lincoln wheat series, I rarely find S mint marks prior to the 40's.

[Tom_in_CA]

22 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

.... What we drool over from the western part of the country is the "S" mintage coins, the gold coins, ...

School-of-nox :  The answer to this is simple :  We refuse to let our key date S mint coins cross over the Mississippi.  Tsk tsk.  Occasionally one slips over .  If that happens, kindly mail it back to me  😘

 

And yes, gold coins are most often always found in the western states.   If you want to start another post on that, there's been several reasons why this phenomenon exists, that we can discuss.   But I know lot of guys here with a gold coin to their name.  Some of which rarely find seateds, never find reales, etc.... Ie.: they're "tame" hunters.  And I know several other guys with two, three, or four gold coins so far here.  And a couple with 10 or more gold coins (although that's rare).  

 

Contrast to the EAST coast, where there are HARDCORE HUNTERS (with scores of LCs, colonials, reales, seateds, busts, etc...) yet have NEVER found a gold coin.  Or have found only 1, etc....   

[schoolofhardNox]

10 minutes ago, Tom_in_CA said:

School-of-nox :  The answer to this is simple :  We refuse to let our key date S mint coins cross over the Mississippi.  Tsk tsk.  Occasionally one slips over .  If that happens, kindly mail it back to me  😘

 

And yes, gold coins are most often always found in the western states.   If you want to start another post on that, there's been several reasons why this phenomenon exists, that we can discuss.   But I know lot of guys here with a gold coin to their name.  Some of which rarely find seateds, never find reales, etc.... Ie.: they're "tame" hunters.  And I know several other guys with two, three, or four gold coins so far here.  And a couple with 10 or more gold coins (although that's rare).  

 

Contrast to the EAST coast, where there are HARDCORE HUNTERS (with scores of LCs, colonials, reales, seateds, busts, etc...) yet have NEVER found a gold coin.  Or have found only 1, etc....   

I'm one of those....never found a gold coin, but have plenty of colonial coins.  The only gold I hear of being found in NE are usually $2.50 or $5.00 gold, mostly into the 1900's. I'd trade a couple of Fugio's or a Nova for one of those older gold coins.

[Tom_in_CA]

54 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

.... I'd trade a couple of Fugio's or a Nova for one of those older gold coins.

Us west coast guys are green with envy about your east coast colonials and LC's.  That's for sure.   Our consolation is we have a fighting chance at a gold coin, and ... yes .... a high percentage of S mints.

 

Was just doing a country picnic site a few weeks ago, and got a 1901 quarter.   My buddies and thought "we're about to have a heart-attack", since the 1901 s quarter is a BIG BUCKS quarter.  And seeing as how we were only an hour from SF, I was already counting my chickens before they were hatched.   Alas, it was only an "O" mint.  AAaarrggghhhh  

 

When we're in a spot giving up 1910, '11, '12, '13, '14, & '15 wheaties, they are almost invariably all S mints.

[GB_Amateur]

1 hour ago, Tom_in_CA said:

When we're in a spot giving up 1910, '11, '12, '13, '14, & '15 wheaties, they are almost invariably all S mints.

Those are all semi-keys of the series, IMO.  In my coin searching days I never found any of them.  My uncle, who was way more dedicated at searching bank rolls, found 1909-S (not VDB), 1914-S , and 1915-S that I know of, but I'm not sure about the other three.  If I found any of the pre-1916 Wheat -S cents it would likely be my best ever coin find, although I did luck into a 1924-D from a late 1950's built home permission.  Go figure....

3 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

Yes, I find more CC than S coins. The CC's are usually very worn and if I remember correctly are usually 1875.

Interesting.  Looking at the Redbook, it appears both the dime and half dollar from that year were (relatively speaking) rather common; not so the quarter.  I think the Carson City mint (which began production in 1870) did produce more coins in its first ~10 years than later.  AFAIK it was never a big producer, regardless of year or denomination.  They only ever minted silver and gold coins there -- understandably since it was in the middle of precious metals country.  Anyone finding a -CC minted coin anywhere should feel accomplishment.

 

[rod-pa]

Can anyone identify for me the case in the third picture?  I dig all kinds and sizes of them.

Thanks

[Chase Goldman]

3 hours ago, rod-pa said:

Can anyone identify for me the case in the third picture?  I dig all kinds and sizes of them.

Thanks

As I wrote in my writeup - it is a brass makeup case also known as a compact.  When I opened it up all the broken glass from the mirror was sitting in case. These are typically late 19th to early 20th century design in this style.

[rod-pa]

thanks, i obviously missed that...note to self to not read before coffee

[Cal_Cobra]

That's a nice one, congrats!

I've dug one bust dime that was pretty toasty, and one bust half that was in decent shape.  They're definitely not jumping out of the ground anywhere.