Lunch Finds

z118 said:

These three coins surprised me, as I thought the park I was in was pretty recently created.  I guess I will have to check for certain.

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A newer park may have been built over an older....????....who know's what! Anyway, looks like a prime place to search!

- Harley-Dog

1940 War nickel????

spittfire said:

1940 War nickel????

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As I understand it, 1940 would not be considered a "War Nickel."

From Wikipedia:

Wartime nickels
From mid 1942 to 1945, so-called "Wartime" composition nickels were created. These coins are 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese. The only other U.S. coin to use manganese is the Sacagawea dollar. These coins are usually a bit darker than regular nickels, said to be due to their manganese content (as was true of many British coins minted from 1920 through 1947). However, carefully-protected proof sets of these coins are difficult to tell from the standard alloy. A more likely reason for the darker appearance of the wartime coin was due to exposure to sulfur during circulation, which invariably gave the coins a mild and somewhat distinctive dark silver tarnish.

The wartime nickel features the largest mint mark ever to grace a United States coin, located above Monticello's dome on the reverse. This mark was a large D or S if appropriate for those mints, but nickels of this series minted in Philadelphia have the unique distinction of being the only U.S. coins minted prior to 1979 to bear a "P" mint mark. When the price of silver rose in the 1960s the "war nickels" quickly disappeared from circulation, a process often aided by their distinctive silver-tarnish appearance, which sometimes appeared in banded form from contact of coins with sulfur-containing elastic bands in pockets.

An unofficial variety of the wartime coin dated 1944 was made in 1954 when counterfeit nickels were produced by Francis LeRoy Henning of Erial, New Jersey. He had previously been arrested for counterfeiting $5 bills. The 1944 nickels were quickly spotted since Henning neglected to add the large mintmark. He also made counterfeit nickels dated 1939, 1946, 1947 and 1953. It is estimated that more than 100,000 of Henning's nickels reached circulation. These can still be found in pocket change, and there is a thriving collectors' market for them, although owning a counterfeit is technically illegal. Henning dumped another 200,000 nickels in Copper Creek, New Jersey, of which only 14,000 were recovered. Another 200,000 are thought to have been dumped in the Schuylkill River. When caught, Henning was sentenced to 3 years in jail, and had to pay a $5,000 fine.

My bad! I think of the war years as pertains to my home in the UK. Forget that the USA didn't get in until 1941. Nice find any way!!

These three coins surprised me, as I thought the park I was in was pretty recently created.

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Also keep in mind that when creating the park, they may have used fill dirt from some other location. Just a guess, but I've run into that more than once. Those are still good finds though, no matter how they got there. HH!

Yes, you would be shamed to the bone if you gashed a 1909 s VDB or something.
I have gashed a few that I would rather not have.
As Epi suggested , the only ways are to use something with a blunt tip, or start cutting good old fashioned plugs.
I never really understood this "popping out" method.
How do you exert the sideways pressure it would take to pop it out ... And I'm assuming it just pops out that path that the knife created ?

can I have one

Xray said:

I never really understood this "popping out" method.
How do you exert the sideways pressure it would take to pop it out ... And I'm assuming it just pops out that path that the knife created ?

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I slide my knife into the ground, and when I feel it contact a coin, I cut a 2-4 inch slit in the turf and lift the coin up through it.  It's remarkably easy, and as I said, it leaves just about no mark whatsoever on the turf.

I went back to this park today on my lunch, and again found 15 coins.  In the same area that I found the three old coins yesterday, I found a 1941 wheat penny.  12 wheats now, no silver!  I bet I set a record for finding the most wheats without finding a silver coin.

I also found the token pictured below.  Any ideas what the sign represents?

Here's one just like it on Ebay, but no description or explanation.  It must mean something!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5039141888&category=11007

Thanks!

I've seen "coin poppers" and probes like this http://www.jimmysierra.com/toolsZ.htm, seems to me something like that can be easily improvised, object being to come up with something long, sturdy with a blunt tip.
As for the good luck token, you might try posting it on the help id my finds forum.
Seems the law of averages will catch up and silver will come with wheats around, unless someone has cherry picked that area already.
Even then, they would be bound to have missed a few.

Update:

The token is a Girl Scout pin.

It's funny because I spent some time scouring the internet to no avail, but my wife knew what it was the instant she saw it.

Thanks!

Some nice detecting there. I think I would start cutting plugs there, especially on the deeper targets (assuming your machine gives a depth indication). You never know but what you might skip over the dime and find a WL Half for your first silver.