Chain of Events

z118 · Oct 23, 2009

A nice part of the hobby for me is wondering about the path things take up the point at which I pull them out of the dirt.

As an example, two coins I found this summer about a month apart at schools about 15 miles from each other.

The first is a French 1 Franc coin from 1942, the second is a Japanese 10 sen coin from about the same period.

How did these wind up in schoolyards in upstate NY?

The most obvious guess to me would be that they were each brought home by soldiers after WWII, then perhaps brought in to school by children or grandchildren for show and tell or something and then lost.

It's striking to me that what would seem like such a unique occurence obviously isn't.

It's haunting to think of the soldiers who might have brought these back... about their stories and lives.

It's a strange world we live in, with many subtleties and interwoven events. I like to think metal detecting makes me more aware of them...

dan · Oct 23, 2009

Finding foreign coins in schoolyards is very common, and I think you're right about show-and-tell.

Also, there are a lot of foreign students attending the university here, and their kids often have coins from their native lands that they lose at school.

z118 · Oct 23, 2009

dan said:
Finding foreign coins in schoolyards is very common, and I think you're right about show-and-tell.

Also, there are a lot of foreign students attending the university here, and their kids often have coins from their native lands that they lose at school.

Yes, I find quite a few but they have all been more modern than these two. I've found about 20 foreign coins this year, not counting Canadian. I could be way off regarding how these coins got to where I found them... but it is fun to imagine.

RickO · Oct 23, 2009

Wondering about the history of a find, and the paths taken to where it is discovered, is one of the intriguing parts of this hobby. One can have many enjoyable reveries in this pursuit. Civil war bullets... imagine the passion, fear, dedication, heroism involved in those battles. Old pocket spills, was it a sporting moment or a moment of passion? Always interesting. RickO

Ed in KC · Oct 23, 2009

Good post--this sort of stuff is what I love about this hobby; it's the thoughts of the history of the find that makes them interesting!

Jason in Enid · Oct 23, 2009

I like to pull out old coins and know that I am the first person to see / touch them in 50, 60 or more years. It's almost as cool as unearthing a dinosaur fossil and knowing that is the first time that bone has seen sunlight in MILLIONS of years.

Anyway, I know what you mean. A few years ago I was searching an empty lot that use to have houses. I found a small, silver, art-deco pin. The next time I was at the library, I looked up the residents for the house that used to be there, and what woman lived there in the 30's. Kinda cool to put a possible name from 70-80 years ago to an item I dug up.

Cherry Picker · Oct 23, 2009

Unique coins are always welcome in my pouch.

t20tvo · Oct 23, 2009

ive found a few silver coins now of nearly a 1000 years old and when i tell the wife and mates in the pub about them and explain ive walked the same path as someone a 1000 years ago and how would they have explained to their wives and pals that they lost that sort of money wich must have been a weeks wages it gets them all thinking and all my pals ask what ive found now

SeabeeRon · Oct 25, 2009

Great post Z, you have hit on a point that many of us always wonder about...
how did that get here??!!? Thanks for sharing buddy! :yes:

Chain of Events

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