Do you think more gold coins would be dug,,,

[bleeohio]

If you knew right where they landed on your detectors id? Say you had a quarter eagle, half eagle, eagle and a double eagle. All in a test garden, and found out in your ground where they hit, numbers, tone, or disc. Would the odds be greater, or is it luck.
I dig all good signals in homesteads and in close to fourty years have never had the pleasure of finding a GC. Just a matter of time though,, but I'm not a dig all kind of guy on turf, yeah I have my moments and find plenty of nickels and jewelry but would it be worth the effort to have a hit list? Anyone done such a thing?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

No. That will rarely help you. It's all about location-location - location.

 

[still looking 52]

I'm with Tom on this one.

 

[Elton]

I'm with Tom too. I may be all wrong..but Gold coins were not every where...and I would imagine one didn't lose them often.. I think there may be many buried, or hidden not found yet..or lost in ship wrecks..

copied from coin facts........... " The CC, O, C, and D mint marks were used on [size=large]gold[/size] and silver coins for various periods in the mid-nineteenth century until the early twentieth century by temporary mints in Carson City, Nevada; New Orleans, Louisiana; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Dahlonega, Georgia; respectively: most such coins still in existence are now in the hands of collectors and museums. If you can believe what is printed".....?????????????????????????

 

[D&P-OR]

Better listen to Tom.---He's found more gold coins than most of us EVER will & knows what he's talking about.

 

[Hoser John]

MUST agree with all of the above as a gold coin back in the day represented a HUGE amount of labor and were a treasured possession not hauled around in your pocket to be lost. John

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Having a list of where they come in on a meter would be ballpark at best due to depth, ground and junk surrounding same.
Indeed location would be the name of the game....and increase odds...

 

[bleeohio]

I agree all the way on location. A few years back, two local guys found twenty some gold coins scattered out in the back area of an old baseball field. Apparently there had been an old house there at one time. Hunting all the old homestead areas I do, over the years I've found just about every type coin in circulation. No 20cent though. But I know there is a gc out there with my name on it somewhere.
Wife says, "just buy a few gold coins if you really want them that bad", yea, she doesn't get it..

 

[Tom_in_CA]

MUST agree with all of the above as a gold coin back in the day represented a HUGE amount of labor and were a treasured possession not hauled around in your pocket to be lost. John

If you've ever read old legal documents, surrounding large purchases, you'll see a trend: Like for downpayment on purchase of real estate property, you'll often read something like: "$300 down payment in gold coins".

In 1880, a miner's wage for a month might have been $20 + room and board. So for him to have lost a $20 gold, would be like you or I loosing $2k or whatever. So I have a theory that, just like now, when we all get paid, we tend to carry some bills in our wallet, and change in our pocket (their equivalent to a few pennies, nickels, dimes, a half, etc...). Yet we do NOT tend to carry an entire week's paycheck in liquid form. Instead, we put that in the bank, break it down, and carry smaller portions of it. And only unless we're getting ready to make a large purchase (a used car where someone wants cash) only THEN do we carry $1k around.

This is a simplistic theory/explanation, of course. Because other cultural factors have skewed things (besides mere inflation). For example we have credit cards, ATM, check-writing, etc..... And also: If $5 were a week's pay, and that was in the form of a single coin, then it's entirely possible to be carrying it (just as you'd carry your paycheck from work to the bank).

I've found the most gold coins to be a travel locations. Like stage stops or emigrant camp/stop spots. Because go figure: When you got ready to up and move permanently, you were going to carry your wealth with you. And if cargo space/weight was at a minimum (for cross-country), would you rather carry 500 large cents , or a single $5 gold ?

However, I've also found them at old town demolition sites, country/mountain resort/picnic sites, and after beach storms (which would be another form of picnic usage I suppose). 2 of mine also came from an area that had military stationed in the late 1840s to mid 1850s. But it's hard to say, as other usages of the spot were going on as well.

 

[Mega]

Gold coins here in the UK can come in very near the iron range and this of course all depends on the quality of the gold content as it could/can vary by a reasonable amount,standardized weight and gold content did not happen till the 1st milled coinage came into being,so hammered gold coins although reasonably stable weight wise the quality of the gold could vary slightly which can give different readings on a detector.

Gold hammered and silver coinage goes back in some cases like gold staters to 55BC or slightly earlier,gold coinage was more i guess a statement of showing of ones wealth,the more gold coinage or infact anything that was made of gold the higher in society you would have been,but of course for nearly 2000 years banks or any other safe secure haven was not available so in most cases hiding ones wealth in this case gold coins would be in places like in the ground near a prominent location under the cover of darkness,and that secret location was only for the person/s who hid the treasure.But of course if they hid the treasure because a pending war/famine/plague or infact many other problems the original person who hid the coins could have died and the location was taken too the grave with that person till 2000 years later some one come along with a metal detector and locates it again

Because of the history and the turmoil one can never be 100% certain of things like exact locations of these potential gold coins or more commonly called hoards,single coins could be lost at any location,so although i can full understand that across the pond certain locations would have a higher chance of finding gold coins because of wealthy activity in the area.

I have found celtic gold staters just into the iron zone and this is why i dig everything as i dont want too walk away from these highly prized target,also because of the possibility of them being slightly deeper than what the screen can i.d i tend to use audio which is far more reliable at greater depth,so although say a gold coin across the pond from say 1820 or what ever could be within the limits of being shown on a detector screen as a TID,a celtic gold stater from 2000 year ago could be in the audio range,this is very important that if it is a signal that you are not sure about it has too come out just incase,i picked up some Whaddon Chase variation staters from 55BC that just would not show anything on the screen of the T2 and they only gave a very very faint whisper audio signal as well,so dug them rather than make a decision on what the screen tells you.As the old saying goes 'if in doubt dig it out' also having a decent set of full cup headphones so one can hear those whisper signals that could just be a super rare gold coin or artifact.

So location,luck and some other things can help in locating any gold coins either milled or hammered when detecting.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yes. I've heard that over in the UK, some of the gold coins are like foil. You can literally bend them with your fingers. And they might come out of the ground folded up.

Well thank goodness that modern foil isn't too likely to be "out in the middle of nowhere" of the furrowed fields you guys hunt.

Here in the USA, we too might be in "relic mentality" (ie.: "dig all") when hunting ghost-towsny sites. However, none of the gold coins (not even the smallest $1.00 gold) comes in at those very low ranges.

On 3 occasions I was even "cherry picking" when I got gold coins:

1) in a stadium bleacher demolition, where the underbelly was an ocean of aluminum foil and tabs. We were hunting this tearout since the place dated to the 1920s. But it was simply not possible to "be a hero" and angle for nickels or gold. Because the naked earth would only be exposed for a few days (before fill-dirt). So we were just angling for silver. I had my disc. set to *just* knock out square tabs (the beefy kind that come in at around 46 or 47 on the Whites scale). And I managed a $5 gold which comes in at 48 to 49-ish on the Whites scale (pheeww).

2) In a stage stop/emigrant stop spot, where.... conductive targets were so fast and furious, and time-so-limited, that I decided to start passing nuisance .22 shells, teensy zipper grommet stuff, shot-gun butts, etc... Was going to try to bag "one last seated" before the long drive home. But managed a gold coin that came in higher than my criteria (pheew).

3) a $1.00 gold, that for some reason came in above my criteria @ the junky park situation I was working.

So as you can see, in the USA you can probably not miss most gold, even when passing foil.

 

[marcomo]

Tom, the 1840s-1850s military finds are notable because that was a time when military personnel were paid "in specie"

Enlisted men only earned enough for silver. Officers got the gold.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yes. This is what I've heard.

Then how about the 1860s ? How about the 1870s ?

I know the famous Camp Floyd finds support what you're saying (as that was 1858 to 1861). But how about the rest of the '60s ? And forts from the '70s ? Same thing ?

 

[marcomo]

I believe it was still the same by the 1870's, but Tom D. knows quite a bit about this. He could probably tell you when the military changed the method of payment

 

[amberjack]

yes I think more should be dug....

AJ

 

[kansas_jayhawks]

If you knew right where they landed on your detectors id? Say you had a quarter eagle, half eagle, eagle and a double eagle. All in a test garden, and found out in your ground where they hit, numbers, tone, or disc. Would the odds be greater, or is it luck.
I dig all good signals in homesteads and in close to fourty years have never had the pleasure of finding a GC. Just a matter of time though,, but I'm not a dig all kind of guy on turf, yeah I have my moments and find plenty of nickels and jewelry but would it be worth the effort to have a hit list? Anyone done such a thing?

I think everyone missed the basis of your question. Bottom line if there isn't a gold coin in the ground you cannot find what isn't there - this we can all agree on.

However ... what if there is a gold coin in the ground. I've been told it shows up in the aluminum range. If I'm in a park that happens to be built on a site where people with gold coins were active and I didn't know it would I dig? Probably not. If I'm at an old site where anything could be in the ground I'm digging everything. So if there was a limited defined area where gold shows up on my F75 ... and I knew this ... I would be digging all signals in that limited area.

Good question.

 

[amberjack]

they are out there but there's a lot of carp in-between them

AJ

 

[bleeohio]

Jayhawks, that is exactly what I was asking in the first post. Just didn't word it to well. Some of the older houses with well manicured lawns, I don't want to dig everything so I tend to cherry pick but I would dig the vdi signals that fell in the known gc ranges. If I knew them. I'm certain I've walked over gold jewelry over the years and can't help but wonder if I've left a gc or two for seed.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I've found 2 of my gold coins while doing some cherry picking. Whether just by skipping and waiting for "bold round coin-sounding type tones" (and passing foil, or scratchy sounds). Or by down-right out-right editing of #'s .

BUT IN EACH CASE the objective was not to edit in gold coin TID's. But rather: The objective was lack-of-time to dig everything, so I was cruising for objects more likely to be coins. In other words, I was trying to pass trash, and the gold coins (a $5 in each of those two cases) was just fluke coincidences.

 

[bleeohio]

Tom, I often wonder how many backflips I'd do if I was fortunate enough to find one much less the numbers you've found. Question, are the numbers pretty consistent with each denomination gc? I know ground and trash can skew but just curious.