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Little Coin Lost

goldpaninut

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
484
Location
Oregon
Way back in 1982 I was attending college in Eugene, Oregon. My free time was spent metal detecting in areas that I had spent time in as a child, in the 1950s. I was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon and lived there until I was 12. My Dad had been raised there also, and had gone to a grade school by the name of “Summers School” because it was on Summers Lane. I attended that grade school also in 1956. The school had been around since the early 1900s, and naturally it was a magnet for me and my detector in 1982.

Back then I was using a top of the line Whites Coinmaster detector called the 4000D Series 2. It did a very good job finding coins too! It had a maximum depth of about 5”. One day I made a trip from Eugene to Klamath Falls to detect Summers School, as it had been closed for years. Arriving at Klamath in July, it was extremely hot, but the heat didn’t deter me from looking for treasure there. During several trips there I found Indian pennies, old wheat pennies, silver quarters, and Mercury dimes. I never did find a nickel there, probably because they rang up the same as bottle caps.

I remember one Mercury dime in particular I found. It was a 1936-S in fine condition, but on the reverse side had a green dot. I found it about 3” deep in the old play ground area. Not thinking much of it, I threw it into my leather “treasure pouch” that I kept all my good coins in.

Eventually college ended in Eugene, and I returned to my home in Alaska. Upon arriving home, the next day I visited my Dad across town in Anchorage. Naturally he wanted to see all my “treasures” in the pouch I had found during my 2 years away from home attending college. So I dumped them on the kitchen table, and we went through them. Then he came upon the Mercury dime with the green dot on the back, and asked me in a very serious tone where I had found that one. When I said Summers School in Klamath Falls, he got all teary eyed, which was very out of place for him! He then related the following story to me. When he started 1st grade at that school, his mother had given him this dime for good luck, and told him to always be very careful not to lose it. But in the 3rd grade, it came up missing one day at school. He looked for it every day until he was out of the 6th grade and no longer attended that school. He told me it was one of his most cherished things, and he never thought he would see it again.

Well, of course I gave it to him, and he kept it very secure for the rest of his life. When he went to be with the Lord in Heaven in 2010 it naturally passed back into my possession, where it holds a prominent position in my collection of coins from over the years!
 

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That's an amazing story and you were truly the person meant to find it!

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What are the odds of that ? I grade that "full green blob band".
 
Wow, what an amazing story! What are the chances of that?! Thanks for telling it to all of us!

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Great story but I'm thinking of using it a different way.😁
The next time my buddy shows me a great find I'm going to say to him:
Where did you find this? 😲
My momma gave me this, it was my grandpa's and she said "never lose it".
I lost it there and searched for it 3 years.. 🥺
😄😄
 
I'm not sure what it is. I remember however when I was little in the early 50s, my grandparents still lived just across a couple fields from Summers school. In my Grandpa's shop he had a can of green stuff, I think he said it was for soldiering or gluing pipes? Could have been this same stuff. Dad didn't say if my Grandmother had applied the green spot or she had just got it in circulation, but knowing her she applied it!
 
Thanks for sharing. What a great story. Amazing you were able to find the very dime he had lost and return it. Something very special you two shared. Thanks again for sharing.
Ken
 
Thanks for all the nice comments here! I know getting that coin back after losing it 48 years prior was almost more than my Dad could control emotionally. When ever he would have company over, he always brought out that Mercury dime and told the story. I was always the hero who found and returned it to him, and he was always the proud Dad.
 
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