It Doesn't Get Any Better...

[IdahoPeg]

Wow! What an incredibly awesome find! And a great few days of detecting too! Congratulations!

[klunker]

4 hours ago, phrunt said:

that sucker is worth a fortune.

We all know GB is "lucky" in his find but let's not forget it took a lot of "not so lucky" to develop the excellent skills he has that are so necessary to be so lucky. 

[strick]

Banner....errrr wait wrong website....well buddy all I have to say is that you earned that coin for sure patiently searching through nail beds all these years with that trusty Deus of yours...I've watched you hunt and you know what your doing thats for sure...like I said the kiss of death for me was when I proclaimed  "it looks like I have the best find of the day with my buckle wreath"  and there was still two hours left in the hunt..😊  Theres only one thing that can compare to finding a gold coin and thats watching your friend find one.....I've not been detecting in several months (another hobby taking up my spare time) but it was great to get out again...I found my first Cason city mint coin on the first hunt we went on...One of the things which make up the beauty of this hobby was that we were able to detect at 4 different locations from foot hills to water hunting and then urban side walk hunting...

strick

[Drillerdave]

Congratulations Merton,                                         
You definitely deserve that beautiful coin with all the hard work you put in. Congrats again.

Dave

[Guest calabash digger]

Find of a lifetime!

[Paul (CA)]

Outstanding California find Goldbrick!  Terrific story as well,  maybe a third one is waiting for you or your buddy Strick to find.

Congratulations!

Paul

[GB_Amateur]

I've been reading Kagin's Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States off and on since the originating post of this thread.  I think the following (from Appendix 4 on p 242) is important to detectorists, and those in Northern California in particular:

Why are (California private gold coins) so rare?  Many of the private coins issued between 1849 and 1853 eventually were turned into the State and U.S. Assay Offices by their holders who feared great losses due to their overvalued status.  The pieces were usually melted and recoined...  A number of private issues also were shipped by express companies to the Philadelphia Mint, where they also were melted and recoined.

Of those issued later, from 1853 to 1855, the vast majority were shipped to China or to the Eastern United States and melted, as they generally were worth more being resold to an official mint, since most of this period's issues intrinsically were worth more than their face value.  Many, not exported, were turned into the branch mint in San Francisco.

Not until the turn of the century did private gold begin to attract interest as a historical and collector's series.

One way these coins avoided melting or export is to have been lost before that could happen....

 

 

[strick]

Merton and I had a long discussion about private gold coins...he is very well read on the subject..this was on our way home after he had found the coin and before we knew exactly what it was...turns out it was one of those rare coins...I dont know what he going to do with it....went back there last weekend me and the wife and had a great time...found a real cool pendant..

strick