Hey, just thought I'd throw this out there for comment. Have you ever dug an old coin in a not so old spot? Often wonder about circulation and when certain coins were finished being carried commonly. As in large cents, when do you think they were in regular circulation and carried daily and stopped? I found a large cent last week at 2 inches, just wondered if a child was palying with it when lost or was in circulation when lost. Think about these things when trying to determine history of sites. Thanx, Mike
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Ideas on circulation
- Thread starter mcb613
- Start date
That's an interesting topic. It's really had to tell how old a site is by how deep the coins are. I'm currently working a site where the homes have been torn down and removed. Best I can tell the homes were built in the 40s. So far I've found 10 wheats in this location dating from 1940 to 1952, but no silver. The site has also yielded memorial cents and clad from the early sixties to present. Digging there today I found a number of memorial cents and clad dimes 6" deep which seems highly improbable. By the same token, I found some of those wheats only 1 or 2" deep. However, I don't know how much dirt was moved around when the houses were torn down and cleared from the site. On the other side of the coin (no pun intended) the house I used to own was built in 1920 and the oldest coin I found in that yard was a 1887 Indian Head Cent and it was deep as you would expect. The other 1887 IH I found was in a rural area where the houses were 1900 or earlier vintage and was only under about 1/16" of dirt. It had fallen on a rock and couldn't sink any deeper. I usually assume I'll find coins at least 20 years older than the yard I'm working in.
When the Flying Eagle cent came out in 1857 the government encouraged the exchange of large cents for the new smaller cent. They advertised exchange events and people lined up with bags, baskets and jars of cents to exchange. Those with connections were able to search through the exchanged coins for those in good condition to add to their collections. I imagine the large cents still circulated for a few years, but my guess is that by the end of the civil war it was hard to find one in circulation. I've read a few articles about the exchange of large cents for small in the Numismatic News and Coins magazine.
Mark
Mark
GKMan
Well-known member
Sometimes it will be a stretch to imagine why a coin was found where it was. Case in point. I found a mid 1700 British copper literally feet away from home plate at a school built in the late 1950's and years later I found a 1730's British copper in my own back yard, a house built in the early 1960's. When you look at the old maps you can see that across from school there was an old farmhouse but to think that the ground wasn't disturbed beyond belief is hard to imagine but not impossible. As for that coin in my back yard. There wasn't an old house (100 year plus) within a quarter mile of me, but this area was all farm land and undoubtedly my house sat in a field and old farmer Joe must have dropped that coin there all those years ago.
Jason in Enid
Active member
Yeah, it would be interesting indeed if our coins could tell the tales of thier travels!
As for circulating, it wasn't until the 1900s that coin collecting really started to gain in popularity. Coins don't generally disappear from population until a new coin is release that look substantially different. That's why you can still find change from the 1960s in almost any handfull of change. The coins haven't changed enough to make people aware of it.
As for circulating, it wasn't until the 1900s that coin collecting really started to gain in popularity. Coins don't generally disappear from population until a new coin is release that look substantially different. That's why you can still find change from the 1960s in almost any handfull of change. The coins haven't changed enough to make people aware of it.
I have dug a couple of coins out of place and time. I found and old Chinese coin on the surface of a school yard, it had to be a show and tell type item. I gave it to the Principal so she could return it. I could just imagine a child grabbing one of his or her dads cool coins then loosing it, Ouch.
The other was a 1784 french coin I pulled out from under a demolished sidewalk on third street. I often wonder about that one.The chances of a French trapper being here in 1784 and loosing a coin are very slim. More than likely it was someones lucky coin and lost at a much much later date.
The other was a 1784 french coin I pulled out from under a demolished sidewalk on third street. I often wonder about that one.The chances of a French trapper being here in 1784 and loosing a coin are very slim. More than likely it was someones lucky coin and lost at a much much later date.
All good comments. I thought it might gain some interest, took a couple of days though... thanks to all. I often think that many odd location finds are from children drops. I once found a 1984 SIlver commemorative at the end of a long 1880's, farmhouse drive. Thought it was a crushed aluminum can. What a surprise! Take care and keep commenting, love to here em! HH MIke