Redwaller
Full Member
There are a few coins that statistically I should have found by now. First is a half cent, dug plenty of large cents(maybe 20 or so?) but no half cents. Second is that flying eagle of yours....I have literally dug over 200 indians.... odds are one of those eagles should have been at those sites. Another is a standing or walking anything. I have dug well over 50 seated coins(including half dimes and half dollars), maybe half that number in barbers, and same thing for mercs. Shoot I have even found multiples of the odd ones like trimes, half dimes, 2 centers, and canadian fishscales. I have found buffalos, v nicks, shield nicks.....hell I even found a damn cob coin from 1680.... but no slqs or walkers
With this and other posts, there's some things to consider that can explain why some things seem like they should be found more often than they are. Half cents, for example, have far far lower mintages than large cents and were produced for fewer years. (literally the average mintage for any year with half cents is ~50,000, versus 2 or 3 million with large cents) Flying eagle cents, were hoarded during the Civil War and later rounded up and melted down by the treasury to make more bronze indian head cents. They were also only made for 2 years, only really widely circulating for like 10 years - not a large window for people to lose them in.
Additionally where you're searching is huge. From the sounds of your disproportionally large seated count (nice by the way), you're hunting places that predate things like slqs and walkers. This idea can be extended to other people too - if you haven't found x, you're probably hunting places that are either too old or too new to find x at.