How many coins in the ground?

NMsilver · Mar 16, 2019

This is just idle curiosity really, but has anyone ever done or seen an estimate of how many coins are actually in the ground (in the US) ?
I'm thinking one could get an estimate of what percentage of coins of each type and age were lost and then calculate based on the total mintage for each type.
I wonder if the Gov has ever looked into this for minting/economic reasons.
Hmmm... This sounds like a perfect project for a coin collecting nerd like me. :yes:

GKL · Mar 16, 2019

Just did a search using the words "how many coins are in the ground" and while I didn't keep looking to see if there were any studies about coins in the ground, I did find this news article:

Americans throw away $62 million in coins each year

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-throw-away-62-million-in-coins-each-year/

Here is a quote from the above link:

"Americans are losing $62 million a year by tossing coins in the trash.
That’s an estimate from recycling and waste management company Covanta Holding Corp. (CVA), which says that the coins are probably tossed accidentally, thanks to high-powered vacuums that suck up the money while cleaning couch cushions, car seats, and other nooks and crannies."
(end quote)

……...so listen for the sound of coins when you vacuum ! :lol:

kingman mikey · Mar 16, 2019

Really

Stiffwrists · Mar 16, 2019

I've always figured there are many more coins in the ground then there are in circulation. I have no numbers to back it up though.

maxxkatt · Mar 16, 2019

Interesting question. according to these figures there were 2.66 billion US coins produced in 2018 if I am reading the figures correctly. We have to assume billions are produced every year. Why so many?

Coin collectors save so many? don't think so.
Lots of them may get lost in areas that we don't detect like sucked up in car and home vacuum cleaners.

I guess the rest get lost in the dirt. That is a heck of a lot of coins. The rest of the equation would be how many total US coins are there now circulating in the US and maybe we could figure out how many get lost each year.

Too bad they stopped minting silver in 1964.

Just think about this and it will blow your mind. What if they did not stop minting silver coins and were always minting silver coins. We would only have to fume over pennies and nickels. Clad would not even be a word we would use.

Now think of all the clad you find each year and the dimes, quarters and half dollars and dollar coins would be worth so much money since they would all be silver. It would change this hobby completely.

Heck it would even make it more fun hunting in the south where all we mostly find is clad. Hmmmm, well we can all dream can't we.

maxxkatt · Mar 16, 2019

GKL said:
Just did a search using the words "how many coins are in the ground" and while I didn't keep looking to see if there were any studies about coins in the ground, I did find this news article:

Americans throw away $62 million in coins each year

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-throw-away-62-million-in-coins-each-year/

Here is a quote from the above link:

"Americans are losing $62 million a year by tossing coins in the trash.
That’s an estimate from recycling and waste management company Covanta Holding Corp. (CVA), which says that the coins are probably tossed accidentally, thanks to high-powered vacuums that suck up the money while cleaning couch cushions, car seats, and other nooks and crannies."
(end quote)

……...so listen for the sound of coins when you vacuum !

In college I used to work in the library and we had two buildings one 4 stories and one 6 or 7 stories. Each floor had probably 25 couches with cushions. I work the night shift and my job was to go around and turn off the lights on each floor. Well I checked those cushions for coins and found probably $15 - $20 in change each night. Back then that was nice extra pocket money and I am sure a good percentage was silver. But I basically spent it all on beer and girls that I hoped would be wild with me.

diggin4clad · Mar 16, 2019

Only one thing is certain...….More coins will be lost than there will be found. It can't be the other way around. :detector:

Mud-puppy · Mar 16, 2019

In case you havnt noticed....No more coins being lost dude..Not in abundance anyway...Not even in schoolyard totters where a guy could easily figure on pulling coins steady with decent replenishment rates...Now a days all the kids are on the electronic lunch pay, no snack vending machines that accept coins, the kids got the card or the electronic pay by phone thingy...Its getting hard to find a zipper pull or a Chucky Cheese token anymore let alone a clad Q!

I challenge you to check your own pockets and tell me right now how many coins you have on yourself? Then ask at the local convenience stores how many people pay with cash now a days? They will tell you its less than 20%..look and see how many kids are outside running around with youthful abandon outside a school or sports function......its about rarer to see a wild kid than a Yeti nowadays..

.Kids are all indoors on the computer... Ready Player One 'reality' they got no need appreciation or use for metallic coins...they dont even need pockets...WTH for? Cant carry a knife or a lighter, nobody plays with marbles, so who even needs pants let alone pockets?

sandgroper · Mar 16, 2019

Millions upon millions

Hope this helps

amc rulz · Mar 17, 2019

Scientifically, it has to be bunches and bunches of coin.

Mick56 · Mar 17, 2019

maxxkatt said:
But I basically spent it all on beer and girls that I hoped would be wild with me.

At least you didn't waste it...…..

maxxkatt · Mar 17, 2019

mud-puppy said:
in case you havnt noticed....no more coins being lost dude..not in abundance anyway...not even in schoolyard totters where a guy could easily figure on pulling coins steady with decent replenishment rates...now a days all the kids are on the electronic lunch pay, no snack vending machines that accept coins, the kids got the card or the electronic pay by phone thingy...its getting hard to find a zipper pull or a chucky cheese token anymore let alone a clad q!

I challenge you to check your own pockets and tell me right now how many coins you have on yourself? Then ask at the local convenience stores how many people pay with cash now a days? They will tell you its less than 20%..look and see how many kids are outside running around with youthful abandon outside a school or sports function......its about rarer to see a wild kid than a yeti nowadays..

.kids are all indoors on the computer... Ready player one 'reality' they got no need appreciation or use for metallic coins...they dont even need pockets...wth for? Cant carry a knife or a lighter, nobody plays with marbles, so who even needs pants let alone pockets?

<<post removed due to sexual innuendo, a forum rule violation>>

Coinshark · Mar 17, 2019

Coins in the ground.

Something I saw not too long ago.

https://www.businessinsider.com/loose-change-costs-americans-billions-every-year-2012-2

Soil Surgeon · Mar 17, 2019

Mud-puppy said:
......its about rarer to see a wild kid than a Yeti nowadays..

.Kids are all indoors on the computer... Ready Player One 'reality' they got no need appreciation or use for metallic coins...they dont even need pockets...WTH for? Cant carry a knife or a lighter, nobody plays with marbles, so who even needs pants let alone pockets?

Brilliantly put . :yes:

GKL · Mar 17, 2019

Coinshark said:
Something I saw not too long ago.

https://www.businessinsider.com/loose-change-costs-americans-billions-every-year-2012-2

a quote from that article reads:

"All kidding aside, lower denomination coins are actually quite expensive to make. As of right now, each penny minted costs 2.4 cents and each nickel 11.2 cents. Worse yet, the production costs are inextricably tied to copper, nickel and zinc markets and the price of all three has been going up."
(end of quote)

Maybe they can change to using stainless steel, that way we can simply run a very powerful magnet across the ground to pull the coins out instead of digging :laughing:

CTCurt · Mar 17, 2019

I've heard estimates, that 2/3 of all the coins minted, are now lost. That means that our hobby will endure, for as long as we care to search....

dirt dick · Mar 17, 2019

CTCurt said:
I've heard estimates, that 2/3 of all the coins minted, are now lost. That means that our hobby will endure, for as long as we care to search....

Yes, somewhere I read it,
or heard that between 40% - 60% of all the US coins
that have ever been minted, have been lost..... :?:

IDXMonster · Mar 17, 2019

Clad? A fast dyin’ breed...old copper and silver are deeper,harder to find...as Curt said,for as long as we care to look,it’ll be there. The more we find though,the better YOU have to be...every coin harvested is one more you won’t find! “Better” means...you still achieve reasonable results for the time you put in. Guys gave up detecting YEARS ago because”there wasn’t anything left”. No...it’s just not as EASY as it might have once been. There are literally TONS of old copper and silver left,I’m quite sure.

ugadigger · Mar 17, 2019

I think anyone reading this thread will have plenty of coins to find!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Troller · Mar 18, 2019

I read an article on this a while ago that I liked. Let's assume there is a small town with a population of 1000 people. Let's also assume that the population stayed relatively the same over the years. So over the years let's say the average person in this town each lost one coin over the course of the year.....and this went on for the last 100 years. That's 100,000 coins for us to find! Let's go get 'em!

How many coins in the ground?

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