Coins, I am very confused

Maint1517

New Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
24
Location
Long Creek, South Carolina
I guess I have REALLY got a lot to learn about coins. I see you guys talking about barbers, toasted copper, wheats,Merck’s and others. But I have no idea what they are.
 
Barber = dime, quarter or half minted 1892-1916 (no halves in 1916) - designed by Charles Barber. Toasted means corroded to the point that it is hard to read the date, see the design, or even identify. Wheat pennies were minted from 1909-1958 - the back has two stalks of wheat (which i always thought looked like feathers). Merc is short for Mercury dime, minted 1916 to 1945 (President Franklin Roosevelt died in 1945 and the dimes changed to his likeness... those are Rosies) Mercury dimes portray the Roman god Mercury.
 
The mint has been cranking out coinage for the US since about 1793, give or take. That means people have been losing these coins since about...1793, give or take. Google these terms(Merc=Mercury dime, Barber coins, Morgan dollar, Shield nickel, etc). They don’t generally show up anywhere at any depth, although they CAN. WHERE you look and how DEEP you dig will generally dictate your success in finding these coins. Get a good basic understanding of detecting with your current machine and upgrade as soon as feasible. It’s not easy to find old coins “at will” these days, they are either hidden in trash or very deep, generally. Something like the Minelab Equinox would get a newer hunter such as yourself a GIANT advantage over your current unit.
 
The mint has been cranking out coinage for the US since about 1793, give or take. That means people have been losing these coins since about...1793, give or take. Google these terms(Merc=Mercury dime, Barber coins, Morgan dollar, Shield nickel, etc). They don’t generally show up anywhere at any depth, although they CAN. WHERE you look and how DEEP you dig will generally dictate your success in finding these coins. Get a good basic understanding of detecting with your current machine and upgrade as soon as feasible. It’s not easy to find old coins “at will” these days, they are either hidden in trash or very deep, generally. Something like the Minelab Equinox would get a newer hunter such as yourself a GIANT advantage over your current unit.
Thanks for the advice. I do plan on upgrading to a better machine at tax time. I just wasn’t sure what to get. I’ll check out that Minelab Equinox.
 
1- Yes a better detector can find those deep coins but more important is LOCATION, location, location. Even an entry level detector will find lots at the right location. Take time to learn what your detector is saying is more important than buying an expensive one.

2- Coppers can be any of the largish copper coins that were common in the 18'th and early 19'th century. These include the British Half penny, Canadian half penny, US one Cent, and some rarer coins like the Fugio.

3- Research coins on the web, lots of info. We all did this when starting out.

4- Read through the "ID my finds" sub-forum. Those threads are great to learn about what others have found and many have links to more info on the items.
Also lots of fun trying to figure out what an item or coin is and a chance to do the research.
 
1- Yes a better detector can find those deep coins but more important is LOCATION, location, location. Even an entry level detector will find lots at the right location. Take time to learn what your detector is saying is more important than buying an expensive one........

Very good point, and also note that even a more expensive higher level detector can't find what is not there, so again ........location.
 
First 3 words of the 5th sentence of my post says...”WHERE you look”....which means...location. Far and away the most important factor.
 
A couple of coins in our jargon not directly mentioned but may be included in the links others posted: indian head penny 1859-1908(9) =injun, and the indian head nickel with the buffalo on reverse side=buff, penny made after 1982 and mostly made using zinc=zincolins. Good luck.

Don

Sent from my LG-H871S using Tapatalk
 
I wasn't a coin collector when I started, so I knew very little about the coins I was digging up. You learn by finding different coins and then researching them or posting them here. They'll always be some obscure coin or token that stumps me, but the guys on this site will gladly ID it for me if I post it.

The jargon takes a little time to figure out, but spend some time on these forums and you'll be all set in no time. HH (happy hunting).
 
And important is the term “clad”. When they stopped minting coins out of silver (for most US coins 1964 was the last silver) they started minting coins out of layered metal. The process of layering metal is called cladding so the coins made of layered metal are called “clad” coins. A clad coin will tarnish and they come out of the ground a dull brown or gray color. A 1964 or earlier silver coin will come out of the ground still looking silver.

So if you are out hunting clad you are hunting a place with modern coins.
 
There are many reference books that you can buy for reasonable money that will tell you almost everything you'll want to know about coins. One of the best is the "Guidebook Of United States Coins"....available in coin shops, Amazon, or online coin supply dealers.
 

Attachments

  • Image (17).jpg
    Image (17).jpg
    46.4 KB · Views: 430
First 3 words of the 5th sentence of my post says...”WHERE you look”....which means...location. Far and away the most important factor.

Location, location, location. Indeed. After acquiring a decent detector, as you said far and away the most important factor.

It took me a year or so of bumbling and stumbling around hunted out parks to come to this realization :laughing:
 
Welcome to the forum! It looks like you've received some detailed responses from our helpful members. :)

I, too, had little knowledge of coins when I first started detecting. But I learned a lot simply through browsing this forum. I learned to identify coins by looking at the photos of other members' coin finds & reading how they referred to the coin. Eventually, after seeing several members post pics of a Barber dime and call it such, you get to know, "Hey, that's a Barber dime." It's just one of the ways FMDF has helped increase my knowledge of the hobby of metal detecting. :thumbsup:
 
I highly recommend the Red Book. It is a wealth of information about coins. Well worth the price. It is updated yearly.
 
Thanks for all the information and advice everyone.
I have a question about finding the right location. I know you need to know some history about the place that you want to hunt. But is there anything else you look for or go by? Other than a magic 8 ball?
 
It’s not always about first knowing the history of a location. Some hunters have the gift of eyeballing a spot and knowing that there’s history there, even if just a vacant lot or ballfield.
 
Back
Top Bottom