A Unique Accidental Coin Find

[Steve Herschbach]

I was at Ganes Creek, Alaska in 2002 on a gold nugget hunt using my White’s MXT. It was early days before they bulldozed for people and so there was a lot of non-ferrous trash found each day while looking for gold. One day I decided to take a picture of the junk from one day of detecting to show people how many holes got dug for trash. And this is only the non-ferrous. Any bolts, nuts, cans, etc. get dumped in the nearest pond throughout the day.

So I take this picture and before I go to toss it in the trash a broken grommet in the upper right catches my eye. It is not a grommet at all, but an 1892 Barber Quarter with a hole shot though it! Large caliber at that, which split the coin. Any normal days I would have just dumped that stuff in the trash bin without looking at it, so my taking the photo was fortuitous indeed. This coin really is one that did almost get away!

I like to imagine that it was all about. Why is there a hole shot in this coin? A bet or just somebody showing off? The edges of the coin are pounded also, prior to the coin being shot. Just a really interesting find with a White's MXT. My only Barber quarter find and it has a hole blown through it!

[fredmason]

bad luck and good fortune all in one coin...someone was having a little contest...

fred

[mn90403]

That coin is rare Steve.  It should be worth more now!

Mitchel

[rod-pa]

every Barber is a good one !!

[Ridge Runner]

If that shot had been taken around the date of the coin whoever lost a lot of money.

That coin could have kept you from going hungry back then.It could have gotten you some flour and salt pork to keep your ribs from rubbing your backbone.

It was lots of men didn’t earn that much in a day. No, I may be older than dirt but not that old.haha

[Cabin Fever]

That's an awesome find!

Better then finding a common date undamaged Barber in my opinion..

This coin you can imagine some history behind it. 

Nice showpiece..

 

Bryan

[LipCa]

Nice find... I'm wondering if it wasn't drilled out somehow for a ring and broken while pounding on the outside?  Doesn't seem very deformed for a bullet that large??

I hope it was shot out.... just wondering.    https://www.google.com/search?q=coins+with+bullet+holes&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:Cagn50rd1uEZIjjifI7X2udRqWfk-kaDebCU3M1bo_1ORfubOfXyriYgoGUhRqKmDGav6qSC5DzUdZcZeJJT-f5Dx4ioSCeJ8jtfa51GpEaFLAqgGrGikKhIJZ-T6RoN5sJQR5CdCjbGOwRQqEgnczVuj85F-5hFvp8PXVBqA4SoSCc59fKuJiCgZEXz8VIwMU8VAKhIJSFGoqYMZq_1oRsqnsKN3xj3sqEgmpILkPNR1lxhEQRR0ywKwrzyoSCV4klP5_1kPHiER-AEDITyJSX&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ0cmcpeTXAhXHhVQKHcceB9AQ9C8IHA&biw=1372&bih=915&dpr=1

[GB_Amateur]

Uh, Steve, surely you didn't throw out that 1943 copper penny shown in the photo, just to the left of your mangled quarter....

[Steve Herschbach]

I considered that it might have been drilled out as part of a field repair needing a washer, but that makes no sense at Ganes Creek where steels washers exist by the ton. And it looks to me like one side shows clear signs of being a bullet exit point with peeled back edges. Maybe somebody tried to punch a hole in it. That again goes back to taking an extremely rare and hard to find piece of spendable currency (at that time in Alaska) and converting it to a cheap washer. Makes no sense given the location.

I am going with drunken bets and the showing off of sharpshooter skills - true or not!

[BeachHunter]

Shot with a rifle at a 100 yards! I can see it now. Everybody lined up to take a shot at a lot of money. Very cool find with awesome history. Thanks for showing us Steve!