Myers Depot Metal Detectors

1829 Bust dime, and various hunt goodies

Tom_in_CA

Tom_in_CA

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Who needs pesky large cents ? We go straight for the bust silver out here in CA ! :laughing:

Got out with a friend to one of our back-pocket sites last weekend. In the past, this site has given up a Spanish reale, misc. 1830s to 1850s foreign and USA coins. And now this bust dime. Also scores of cool age-indicator relics to keep us salivating at all the banging 4-star signals :eat: Like gold rush era buckles, gilt buttons, and lots of hand-blacksmithed copper that just drips with oldness.

For lack of a better description, I can only describe this place as a ghost-town/commerce location. Here's the 1829 Bust dime. For some reason, someone put a notch in it.
 

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The various age-indicators. Eg.: buttons, old nicknacks, pistol balls, rimfires, buckles, lots of obligatory green copper stuff, etc.....
 

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And then another hunt a few nights ago. This one was to a singular family concern. A dot on an 1860's surveyor's map, with some dude's name. Nearly a 2-mile hike into the mountains. Nothing there now but a lone out-of-place tree.

The earliest topo map of the area is the 1910s. And it shows nothing there. So whatever homestead it was, we think was just 1860s/70s. Almost no modern targets, except for an occasional shotgun butt. A previous trip the place got me an 1850s Australian gold rush merchant trade token. This trip gave us no period coins. But we did get lots of interesting age indicators. Eg.: powder flask, tamping/ram-rod holder, toe-taps, suspender clips, gilt button, lantern parts, etc....
 

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You might not find the east coast lc but you got the gold and silver... I’m barely off the east coast so I’m not finding either lol. Killer hunt Tom


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L0S3R said:
You might not find the east coast lc but you got the gold and silver...
Click to expand...

Limiting the demographics conversation to USA coins of ... say .... 1820 to the 1850s : On the east coast, if I'm not mistaken, ... the ratio of LCs to silver-of-that-period (busts and very-early-seateds) would be : Mostly LC's. Right ?

But out here in CA, if you get USA coins from the 1820 to 1850s period, it is nearly ALWAYS busts and super early seateds. RARELY ever LC's. I've only ever gotten 2 LC's here in CA. Yet have something like 13 to 15 bust coins, and lots of 1840s/50s seateds. The LC's simply didn't get out here as much.

My theory is that cargo space and weight was at a premium. So .... if you were getting ready to pack up your life for a permanent move west, then you would tend to consolidate your coins . Eg.: Instead of 50 LC's, you'd have a single bust half. Instead of 500 LC's, you'd have a single $5 gold. And so forth. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it ! :laughing:
 
Ah man tom you killed it! Can't even make fun of you! Finding stuff I still can't manage to find on the east coast:mad: congrats on some good digging!
 
Tom_in_CA said:
Limiting the demographics conversation to USA coins of ... say .... 1820 to the 1850s : On the east coast, if I'm not mistaken, ... the ratio of LCs to silver-of-that-period (busts and very-early-seateds) would be : Mostly LC's. Right ?



But out here in CA, if you get USA coins from the 1820 to 1850s period, it is nearly ALWAYS busts and super early seateds. RARELY ever LC's. I've only ever gotten 2 LC's here in CA. Yet have something like 13 to 15 bust coins, and lots of 1840s/50s seateds. The LC's simply didn't get out here as much.



My theory is that cargo space and weight was at a premium. So .... if you were getting ready to pack up your life for a permanent move west, then you would tend to consolidate your coins . Eg.: Instead of 50 LC's, you'd have a single bust half. Instead of 500 LC's, you'd have a single $5 gold. And so forth. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it ! :laughing:
Click to expand...



To top it off, the gold rush didn’t spread to the east coast so much, especially with the Carson city coins.


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Tpmetal said:
... congrats on some good digging!
Click to expand...

thanx for coming along on the ride !

L0S3R said:
To top it off, the gold rush didn’t spread to the east coast so much, especially with the Carson city coins. ...
Click to expand...

Yes. I've heard of east coast hunters with lots of LC's, colonial coppers, reales, etc.... Yet can't assemble even a modest collection of S mints (eg. the better lincolns like 10s, 11s, etc...) . But out here, if we're on the 1880s to 1920s stratas, probably 75% of the mints of the silver will be S. Not many CC's though. The Nevada guys must not let those pass over the state line ! :laughing:
 
Tom_in_CA said:
My theory is that cargo space and weight was at a premium. So .... if you were getting ready to pack up your life for a permanent move west, then you would tend to consolidate your coins . Eg.: Instead of 50 LC's, you'd have a single bust half. Instead of 500 LC's, you'd have a single $5 gold. And so forth. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it ! :laughing:
Click to expand...

Heck, I just did that at the grocery store---I gave the self checkout all of my change and small bills first so I could get end up with fewer bills and coins---and I have 300 horses pulling my wagon and a short ride home.

Congrats on the research, the resulting adventure, and the powder flask and silver dime. Also, to paraphrase one of your lines, I'm loving that Jefferson nickel.
 
Tom_in_CA said:
thanx for coming along on the ride !







Yes. I've heard of east coast hunters with lots of LC's, colonial coppers, reales, etc.... Yet can't assemble even a modest collection of S mints (eg. the better lincolns like 10s, 11s, etc...) . But out here, if we're on the 1880s to 1920s stratas, probably 75% of the mints of the silver will be S. Not many CC's though. The Nevada guys must not let those pass over the state line ! :laughing:
Click to expand...



Lol I don’t have the east coast luck, I guess the west in West Virginia screws me haha... no gold or lc lol


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That dime has been through the ringer and has some stories to tell. The rest of your date indicators confirm it was a hustle and bustle site in the far past. Nice work getting the research done and reliving the history there.
 
Good hunt Tom.

Yes, I think you are right on homesteaders consolidating their money into larger denominations. This makes good sense.

I have dug a number of LC's but those silver coins are very few. Only 3 Barbers to 10 LCs (US, British & Canadian) and no earlier silver.
 
waltr said:
Good hunt Tom.

Yes, I think you are right on homesteaders consolidating their money into larger denominations. This makes good sense.

I have dug a number of LC's but those silver coins are very few. Only 3 Barbers to 10 LCs (US, British & Canadian) and no earlier silver.
Click to expand...


That's simply crazy. Only 3 barbers, yet multiple LC's ? Here in CA, it would be 1000 barbers/seateds before you could ever fetch an LC.


Washingtonian said:
Good stuff as always Tom. Always love your show and tells....
Click to expand...

ToySoldier said:
....Congrats on the research, the resulting adventure, and the powder flask and silver dime. .....
Click to expand...

thanx for coming along for the ride fellas !

Gimmie The Loot said:
That dime has been through the ringer ....
Click to expand...

Yes. I guess I need to be on the east coast, if I want to get any pristine fresh drop low-circulation busts :laughing:
 
Great finds Tom, any chance we could get a close-up of that buckle disc on the bottom in your pic? Keep up the good work!
 
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