Found One Of Your Own! M.i.a Quarter

[Andy2640]

Couldn't believe my luck!  In a park in Hinckley that's been around since 1879, I come across a 1941 Quarter.  Pinged at 31.

 

The back story i guess goes summit like this > ,During WW2 Captain America was canoodling with Mrs Mary J Rottencrotch and dropped it whilst ....... ??

 

Whooooo Hoooooooo!!!

 

Andy.

 

EDIT: Also note, it has no minting mark indicating its location of manufacture.  Probably from Philly if i'm not mistaken (which incidentally happens alot) 

 

[GB_Amateur]

3 hours ago, Andy2640 said:

Also note, it has no minting mark indicating its location of manufacture.  Probably from Philly if i'm not mistaken (which incidentally happens alot)

True up until recently when they put a mint in West Point, NY (home of the US Military Academy) and coins minted there also have no mint mark.  However, now many coins minted in Philly have the 'P' mintmark.  It used to be an easy indicator but not anymore.

As far as "incidentally happens alot", if you mean you're more likely to find an un-mintmarked US coin than one with a mintmark, that depends a lot on where the coin is found and its date.  For a long time (on the order of a century) the Philadelphia mint produced the majority of coins, but by the 1940's Denver was cranking out its share much of the time.  "Where" has to do with distribution and diffusion.  For example, the western US has/had mints in San Francisco (-S) and Carson City (-CC) so its more likely to find coins with those mintmarks in the West.

P.S. Excellent find!  I've logged 400 hours in the last 3 years and have found just one silver quarter in that time window.  That's going to change soon (fingers crossed).  ?

[Andy2640]

Hya GB, thanks for your input.

 

"Probably from Philly if i'm not mistaken (which incidentally happens a lot)"  LOL -  was referring to me being mistaken, as in - I am mistaken a lot!.   But i'm glad you said this, as you have given me much more up to date info regarding the minting process.  Nice1 GB Your always a wealth of good info.

EDIT:  I am always surprised at the value of these coins.  90% silver (again if i'm not mistaken lol) and only worth under $5.00!!  I dont collect primarily for the coins value, as i just like the history and look/feel of em, but saying its silver (or junk silver) I would of thought together with its age that it'd be worth a little more. 

> Just thinking out loud ? 

Cheers!

 

ndy.

[GB_Amateur]

2 hours ago, Andy2640 said:

I am always surprised at the value of these coins.

Many (probably most) of the silver coins we find have value because of their silver content, not because of their collector value.  There is a fairly easy rule of thumb to get that value, because of the uniformity of both content (90% silver as you mention) and coin weight.  Fortunately for us (and 'them' too), a silver half dollar (50 cents face value) has the same weight as two silver quarters (50c face) and five silver dimes (also 50c face).

The silver content of a dollar's worth of 90% silver US coins is very close (actually slightly less) than 0.7 troy ounces.  I just looked up the silver spot price -- it's $14.82/toz.  I'm going to call that $15 so I can do the arithmetic more easily.  0.7*15 is $10.50.  So a silver dime containing one tenth that much silver has a value today of approximately $1.05.  Since I rounded up for both factors let's just call it $1.00 even.  (Oh, and your just found quarter is worth $2.50!)

There are some obvious problems here.   The biggest one is wear.  Most coins we find aren't fresh from the mint so some silver has been lost through wear.  Simply weighing the coin accurately will correct for this.  (Your quarter doesn't look to badly worn so probably just a couple percent loss is my guess.)

The second problem is that there are exceptions to the weight rule I outlined above.  A silver dollar (also 90% silver) weighs more than two silver halves.  (And most silver dollars, unless in crappy condition, have some minor collector value above bullion just because of their stature/desirability.)  Another issue are the silver War Nickels.  If I recall they contain about 2/3 as much silver as a silver dime, but I could be off several percent there.  There are other exceptions, particularly for coins struck prior to the Civil War.

The collector value ('numismatic value') of coins we find does sometimes exceed the bullion value, and we've seen quite a few examples of that here on this forum.  But in general that's not the case and the reason is that the thing that makes these special cases valuable is their scarcity/rarity, and they were scarce when they were dropped all those many years ago meaning it's more likley that the common date+MM (bullion value only) are the ones we find.

[Jackpine]

Sorta evens out the Brittania large pennies and pound coins I've gotten up here in the north woods of Michigan. LOL

[Andy2640]

Excellent explanation GB, much appreciated!

Incidentally,  I am a Gold and silver investor. Not the wispy, non existent paper shares, but the real tangible metals.  The gold/silver weight values i am very familiar with, but the values based on collecting, date and condition not so much.  I use the coin value guides here in the UK which are excellent and updated every year.  The local library is invaluable for such books and considering they are free to use, it is a cherished service, and one which unfortunately is diminishing due to our techno crazed culture.  Put it this way, i would be out with my picket in hand demonstrating if they ever threatened its continuation.  However i digress (which is usually the case:-) 

Here comes my soap box again >  BUT ....  Its amazing really that we can go out into nature,  get exercise, feel good and find stuff in the ground which has value and the potential for BIG value finds.  History we can touch just blows me away!

Silver is always easy to determine with the nox, as i get a variable 3 VDI indicator.  The quarter was a straight up 31, but that's usually not the case compared to other silver coins, and rings. Its always a 26, 27, 28 that tells me it is a Bun-head Victoria shilling for example. Its very accurate in this regard and always gets my blood pumping when it happens.

Finally, and i know im rabbiting on a little here, but your comment about 400 hours + and 3 years detecting, to only discover, or uncover a quarter astonishes me!  That makes me feel my find was even more special, so thanks for sharing that.

And to Jackpine, its amazing how things get lost in other countries, i'm finding Indian coins, french coins, Spanish coins, so yeah it never ceases to amaze me, and always gets me wondering how, and under what circumstances things get lost.

Oh well .....  Cheers fellas, and the best of luck to you all! 

Andy.

[PseudoShooter]

8 hours ago, Andy2640 said:

 

Here comes my soap box again >  BUT ....  Its amazing really that we can go out into nature,  get exercise, feel good and find stuff in the ground which has value and the potential for BIG value finds.  History we can touch just blows me away! 

 

This is why I'm so excited to get back to Cape Breton again. I've tramped through plenty of back woods in recent years and came across many undisturbed stone foundations, well off the beaten path.

While I understand that homesteaders were not wealthy people, the chance to detect in "virgin" ground is pretty awesome.

There are old stores and post office foundations on the shores there too that undoubtedly have home old history waiting to be found yet.

Fort Ste. Anne (older than Louisbourg), in Englishtown, has never been excavated, who knows what's in the ground in that area? Baleine is "undetected" ground too as far as I know.

[Andy2640]

Best of luck to you out there PS.

 

Andy.