How Can I Estimate When A Coin Was Dropped?

[Ward]

This may sound like a crazy question, but I've always wondered when a coin was dropped. Hard to tell by the coin's date, because some pocket change might have fairly old coins in it. I've also found really new coins at a surprising depth, so that's not an accurate measure. I'm thinking that if there were a way to determine the average age of pocket change, that might be an indication. Has anyone heard of research on that?

[JCR]

 This has always been of interest to me also.     I always look at the degree of circulation wear the coin exhibits.  I'm sure there are some Numismatic guide somewhere.  I just estimate based on a lifetime of looking at coins that are still in circulation.   Knowing a site's history is also helpful.

[Ward]

Excellent idea, JCR! I'll have to take another look at the 1958 nickel I recently dug. If it's hardly worn, it was probably dropped within just a few years of that date. I don't know the age of the site, a ballpark, but that'll be a clue.

[JCR]

A curious mind never grows old.

[Badger-NH]

Wear from circulation is not a very accurate indicator of when a coin was dropped. A brand new silver coin could have sat in a piggy bank or a drawer for any number of years before re-entering circulation. Modern silver coins stayed in circulation through the '70s and early '80s. Wheat pennies were common in the '90s and early 2000s. I remember spending Mercs, Bufalos, and Franklins in the '60s. A few old timers told me they remember spending Barbers and Standing Libertys back in the '40s and '50s.  It wasn't uncommon for coins to be dropped 20 or 30 years after being minted.

[mntnflyr4fun]

IT will always be after he date printed on the coin.😁

[mn90403]

The wear on a beach coin changes everything ... except layers.

If you go to a park and you discover a 'silver depth' then that guide to that layer for that park can give you a clue.

Simon found Cointopia long after better detectors came out and after a while he had a good guess the exact coin he was digging before he started.  He needed a signal and depth ... with the sound to make his educated guesses.

 

[Wild Bill]

Here’s a seated liberty quarter I dug at about 4-5” along the gold rush trail near Ragtown along the Carson River where at least 200,000 immigrants came through.  

My theory is that this quarter is one of several that was used as brake pads on a covered wagon.  🙃 

[klunker]

 I mostly detect for gold nuggets, but I am not too proud to pocket the occasional unearthed coin.

 I will give you a simple formula for estimating when a coin was dropped that has a margin of error that is within a tiny fraction of 1%. Listen carefully and I'll show you. This will be a tutorial in the science of Numismatic Geology

 While detecting, I am always cognizant of the geologic history of the place I am working. typically the geologic time period falls between the mid-tertiary and the early Eisenhower administration (when I was born), thus if we average the time, in years, we will arrive at an accurate number of 33,589,062 years (remember this number). 

Now, most coins where dropped sometime between the mint date and the discovery date, the average in this area being about 179.3 years.

 Simply divide 179.3 by 33,589,062(=000005338) and that will give you a fairly precise drop date in percentage of numismatic/ geologic time.

Life is best when kept simple.