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the mother of all THing questions

A

Anonymous

Guest
This is going to be a fun question to ask, and here goes...
I'm curious; how come we rarely if ever find gold coins. At one time they were pretty common in circulation right? and I assume they were just as good as pennies or dimes at sneaking out of the hole in your pocket. Where are they all hiding?
 
They circulated widely west of the Mississippi, but in the east they did not, people hoarded them, actually have a better chance of finding a cache of them than an individual one. Yea, RIGHT <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":)">
Seriously, everything I have ever read is that they did circulate but not near as much in the East as in the Far West.
Don
 
( At least I think it was 1933 ) all gold coins were called back by the goverment. If you had gold coins and didnt turn them in you couldnt spend them so a lot of them were turned in.
This is what I was told.
Good question
Greg from Mi.
 
Todd,
I think part of the reason is that people kept better track of higher denomination coins, just like we do today.
But you are right, I do alot of history reading and there is very often reference to be being paid or paying with gold coinage. I believe that with modern detectors we often discriminate out the $1,$2.5 through perhaps $5 gold coins. I suspect these would be the more commonly used denominations.
But on the other hand even in the bad old days of no discrimination I don't recall hearing of many gold coins being dug. Any of the old timers have experience/opinion?
Chris
 
ya I agree and also the east went to paper money doring the civil war the the west wanted the hard cash <img src="/metal/html/biggrin.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":D"> so it was circulating way more out on the west then the east <img src="/metal/html/biggrin.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":D"> BUT
that dont mean there was not one dropped for me <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol">
 
i guess the average person didn't have a need for gold coins to conduct his day to day business. i can remember when gasoline was 39 cents a gallon. i had no need for a hundred dollar bill back then even if i could get hold of one <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol"> <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol"> <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol"> <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol">
 
Most of the lower denomination ones come in odd areas,$1.00 foil, $2 1/2 dollars tabs etc..etc. perhaps a $20.00 one would come in high coin but how many of them were lost..Actually 2 club members have found one..one by accident while digging for another coin and another in a chain purse with silver coins. Unless you dig just about all your signals not going to happen....Too much junk in these areas..Sounds logical along the same line of digging for gold rings which are lost everyday and most of them are found in the water or on beaches where all is dug due to easy digging..
 
but think about it for a moment. You just lost what could be a week's pay or maybe a month's pay. How long will you spend looking for it?
Gold glitters in the sun and is a very easy beachcomber target esp. when lying right on top of the ground.
A blanket of pulltabs surround a gold coin. It may lie there forever.
Who actually had gold in their pockets to lose?
Many of us will never dig a gold coin. Some will go out and buy one, post it and say they found it for bragging rights. It is one of the ultimate MD'ing finds because it a very rare find across the board - regardless of MD you use.
And that's my 2 cents for the day!
HH!
 
When I was a teenager I remember gas at 11.9 per gallon..Prior to 1933 many dandies our equivelant to a hunk or stud always carried one in his pocket just for show so they were carried..Old tavern area might be a good place to look for one..Remember even a $1.00 gold piece turn of century could buy a lot of goods...and doubt they were routinely carried by other average people from that era. Heck I found a counterfeit Barber quarter so that should tell us something..
 
i defer to your age and wisdom, o ancient one <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol"> <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol">
 
Me too, I can remember paying 25 cents a gal, and I thought I was getting old. Of course it might have been cheaper, before I got a car, I didn't need any then so don't know.
 
GRESHAMS LAW, in economics, the name suggested in. 1857 by H. D. Macleod for the principle of currency which may be briefly summarized bad money drives out good.
********************
I copied the above from an internet link. I've always believed this is the reason why gold coins are tough to find. Of course, you could follow Greshams law and always have a gold coin in you pocket, just not spend it.
Basically, if you had credit, paper, copper, silver and gold as possible forms of currency, you'd spend the bad (credit, paper, copper, silver) first and the last one you would spend is the gold (I guess "bad" means the least intrinsic value and "good" means the most intrinsic value). Which probably explains why gold did not circulate much unless it was the only choice. I have read that in my part of Wisconsin, property had to be bought with gold or silver (NOT no down payment, 125% low interest loans!) and payment made somewhere downtown, like the local courthouse or something like that. So the only time gold would likely "circulate" is in large quantities from a train depot to downtown, or from the "rich" district of future large landowners to downtown.
Maybe the best chance for a gold coin then is "out west" where it circulated or old parks near rich districts where a rich person may have had a gold coin in their pocket.
 
Probably one reason you dont hear much about people finding a gold coin such as a larger denomination ten dollar coin,they were afraid to let it be known as other detectorists would flock into the area looking for more coins and the promising site would be lost,Cal
 
I watched half a dozen guys work a week on a spot, and watched a guy dig up a gold bracelet from about 8 inches down in the exact spot we had hunted all week! He found it with a shovel, no detector. It was fat and old as the hills and had what looked to be an Indian sun design on it. I liked to have crapped in my pants! I saw a guy dig up a 1 dollar gold mexican coin mounted on a ring, right where I had hunted the day before, He was useing a 8 inch coil and no discrimination. Again crap in pants, I was so #####sed. Its there, but you got to be aware, to hunt for it you got to know what it sounds like in the ground. If you got anything to bury, do it and listen, you will be surprised.
 
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