How widely were gold coins dispersed in the US

Thanks jak135, I put this in my favorites for safe keeping. flintstone

AMAZING story and find, jak. BEAUTIFUL piece...

And, thanks for the link, containing the additional info from PCGS...

Steve

jak135 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've chimed in a couple of times on this forum ask
> ing about the California Fractional gold coins. T
> hought I'd add my two-cent (gold coin) to the thre
> ad , as well. I found a gold half dollar last yea
> r at an old fairground (Indiana) that started in t
> he 1850's. It was the first coin I found with my
> G2+, the first time I used it. I'm not making tha
> t up...honest.
>
> I knew about the US gold coins, but never heard of
> the California fractional gold coins. I thought i
> t was the back clip to a gold earring when I first
> saw it. It was too small to be a $1 gold coin. I
> called over my hunting buddy and told him I found
> something gold. He looked at it and started telli
> ng me it was a gold coin...California fractional.
> I didn't believe him at first. I did not clean it
> for fear of scratching it, but enough showed throu
> gh for him to see. This sight has been well hunt
> ed over the years by many folks. I've been huntin
> g this site for three years with a F75 and found a
> few trimes, IH's, three cent (nickel), a half-real
> e, many half-dimes, three dimes and two-cent. My
> hunting buddy has found similar items, as well, wi
> th neither of us finding large silver coins. Lot
> s of iron patches throughout the grounds and that
> is where we have been finding the coins. I bought
> the G2+ to help in that effort. My buddy uses a D
> eus.
>
> This gold half dollar gives a 47-48 VDI on the G2+
> . On my F75 the VDI air tested at 19-20. From th
> ese numbers, the 19.2 kHz of the G2+, certainly h
> elps this coin's detect-ability.
>
> These California fractional coins are so small and
> light, it is hard to believe anyone walked around
> with them in their pockets. Perhaps they were giv
> en as prizes for the races or agricultural competi
> tion entry winners.
> As Tom mentioned earlier in this thread, these wer
> e circulated well but very difficult to find.
>
>
> [www.flickr.com]
>
>
> [www.flickr.com]

TNSS-thanks for providing the link to this thread, it's been awhile since I read it. For the longest time I just read forums but never made comments, just in recent years has that changed. Looks like it's been almost 2 years since the thread was bumped so I'll bump it now and provide some data. It's a long one, i know so I apologize in advance.

One of my Dad's life long dreams was to find a gold coin. He never did find one before he passed away a little over a year ago. But he got to see the ones I found and that made him happy. He provided me with a wealth of knowledge and got me into metal detecting when I was 8 years old. He was a dealer and so I got to try any detector he had in stock. Needless to say I've tried about every metal detector out there and I've got my favorites.

I personally know and hunt with many people who have found gold coins that total over a hundred. Most all of them are in the West. They taught me well and I've had the good fortune of finding a bunch myself.

If a gold coin is on your bucket list, here’s my opinion on how one should go about finding one.

First, and most important, location, location, location, you need to hunt where gold coins would most likely be lost. This thread has a wealth of information from NASA Tom and others. But you need to also do your own research by reading books & journals, looking at maps and getting out to locate these places. Always get permission from landowners and never hunt protected site.

Second, you need to have a dig it all mentality. You can’t cherry pick the good signals and leave the iffy ones. Yea you might find a $20 or $10 but chances are those got found years ago or were never lost to begin with. Many of the areas I hunt have been hunted to death since the 1980’s. I’ve also hunted some that have never been touched. As has been stated in this thread, the $1 is the hardest to find and most lost. This creates a huge opportunity for those willing to work for them.

Third, you have to be mentally with it. You must believe you will find one and turn all your attention to achieving that goal. But, don’t over think it, I know guys that try to hard and that can actually have a negative impact. Enjoy the ride, take what the day gives you and learn from each experience.

Below are the Gold coins I have been blessed with in finding.

1-1901 $5 found with the Minelab Explorer with a 15” DD coil at a lake resort. The coin was about 12” deep and was only giving me a one way signal every third swing or so, I wasn’t even sure there was anything in the ground. I never thought I would find a gold coin in my life but finding this first one gave me what I needed to find more.

All coins below were found at Military Camps in the Utah Territory which contained parts of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. I won’t disclose the exact location of these finds as many hours of research, travel and swinging a detector were involved. There are many temporary and permanent camps used for the purpose of grazing livestock, cutting wood, exploring, etc. etc. etc. located throughout the old Utah Territory.

2-1853 $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with an 11” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. The coin was about 8” deep co-located next to several pieces of iron. This was what I wanted to find more than any other denomination, a $1 gold coin! I was ecstatic when I found it. My buddy that was with me thought I was having a medical emergency because I sat for so long just looking at it. He finally walked over to see what I was doing. He, by the way, had already found 9 gold coins prior to this day.

3-1851 $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with an 8”x12” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. The coin was about 7” deep co-located next to several pieces of iron.

4-1853-O $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with an 8”x12” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. The coin was about 8” deep co-located next to several pieces of iron.

5-1851 $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with an 11” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. The coin was about 8” deep located on the edge of a carpet of nails patch.

6-1851 $2 ½ found the same day as 5 with the Minelab GPX 4000 with an 11” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. The coin was about 12” deep no other targets were within 5 feet of it.

7-1854 $1 found with the XP Deus with the 9” HF coil running 31 Khz at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. The coin was only about 1” deep in heavy iron trash but I had a hard time locating it because the ground was so muddy it covered the coin.

8-1852 $1 found the same day as 7 with the Minelab GPX 4000 with an 8”x12” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. After running the Deus over the whole area, I switched to the GPX for deeper targets. The coin was about 8” deep in heavy iron trash.

9-1853 $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with a 5”x9” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. Found in the same camp as 7 & 8 weeks later. After running the Deus and the GPX with the bigger coil over the whole area, I switched to the GPX with a smaller coil to get between the iron trash. The coin was about 7” deep in heavy iron trash and I almost didn’t dig it because of the bad signal it gave in the trash.

10-1852 $1 found with the Minelab Equinox 600 with an 11” DD coil Field 2 mode at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. Found the same day as 9 but in a different camp. The coin was about 5” deep next to one piece of iron. This is the day I found out how accurate the Equinox is at IDing targets in this case $1 gold coins.

11-1853 $1 found with the Minelab Equinox 600 with an 11” DD coil Field 2 mode at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. The coin was about 4” deep mixed with a lot of modern trash like foil, spent .22 brass, shotgun shells and 9 mm brass. I already knew it was going to be a $1 because of how it read on the Equinox.

12-1853 $1 found with the Minelab Equinox 600 with an 11” DD coil Field 2 mode at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. The coin was about 4” deep in moderate iron trash. It gave a funky tone but the numbers were right, so I was 95% sure it was going to be a $1 gold coin before I dug it.

13-1851 $1 found with the Minelab Equinox 600 with an 11” DD coil compared the signal in both Park 1 & Field 2 mode at a Military Camp in the Utah Territory. The coin was about 2” deep and had 2 nails in the hole with it. Still because of how well the Equinox does at accurately IDing targets I was 95% sure it was going to be a $1 gold coin before I dug it.

Hope this data helps anyone who's interested.

Abenson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TNSS-thanks for providing the link to this thread,
> it's been awhile since I read it. For the longest
> time I just read forums but never made comments, j
> ust in recent years has that changed. Looks like i
> t's been almost 2 years since the thread was bumpe
> d so I'll bump it now and provide some data. It's
> a long one, i know so I apologize in advance.
>
> One of my Dad's life long dreams was to find a gol
> d coin. He never did find one before he passed awa
> y a little over a year ago. But he got to see the
> ones I found and that made him happy. He provided
> me with a wealth of knowledge and got me into meta
> l detecting when I was 8 years old. He was a deale
> r and so I got to try any detector he had in stock
> . Needless to say I've tried about every metal det
> ector out there and I've got my favorites.
>
> I personally know and hunt with many people who ha
> ve found gold coins that total over a hundred. Mos
> t all of them are in the West. They taught me well
> and I've had the good fortune of finding a bunch m
> yself.
>
> If a gold coin is on your bucket list, here’s my o
> pinion on how one should go about finding one.
>
> First, and most important, location, location, loc
> ation, you need to hunt where gold coins would mos
> t likely be lost. This thread has a wealth of info
> rmation from NASA Tom and others. But you need to
> also do your own research by reading books & journ
> als, looking at maps and getting out to locate the
> se places. Always get permission from landowners a
> nd never hunt protected site.
>
> Second, you need to have a dig it all mentality. Y
> ou can’t cherry pick the good signals and leave th
> e iffy ones. Yea you might find a $20 or $10 but c
> hances are those got found years ago or were never
> lost to begin with. Many of the areas I hunt have
> been hunted to death since the 1980’s. I’ve also h
> unted some that have never been touched. As has be
> en stated in this thread, the $1 is the hardest to
> find and most lost. This creates a huge opportunit
> y for those willing to work for them.
>
> Third, you have to be mentally with it. You must b
> elieve you will find one and turn all your attenti
> on to achieving that goal. But, don’t over think i
> t, I know guys that try to hard and that can actua
> lly have a negative impact. Enjoy the ride, take w
> hat the day gives you and learn from each experien
> ce.
>
> Below are the Gold coins I have been blessed with
> in finding.
>
> 1-1901 $5 found with the Minelab Explorer with a 1
> 5” DD coil at a lake resort. The coin was about 12
> ” deep and was only giving me a one way signal eve
> ry third swing or so, I wasn’t even sure there was
> anything in the ground. I never thought I would fi
> nd a gold coin in my life but finding this first o
> ne gave me what I needed to find more.
>
> All coins below were found at Military Camps in th
> e Utah Territory which contained parts of Nevada,
> Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. I won’t disclose the e
> xact location of these finds as many hours of rese
> arch, travel and swinging a detector were involved
> . There are many temporary and permanent camps use
> d for the purpose of grazing livestock, cutting wo
> od, exploring, etc. etc. etc. located throughout t
> he old Utah Territory.
>
> 2-1853 $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with an
> 11” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territo
> ry. The coin was about 8” deep co-located next to
> several pieces of iron. This was what I wanted to
> find more than any other denomination, a $1 gold c
> oin! I was ecstatic when I found it. My buddy that
> was with me thought I was having a medical emergen
> cy because I sat for so long just looking at it. H
> e finally walked over to see what I was doing. He,
> by the way, had already found 9 gold coins prior t
> o this day.
>
> 3-1851 $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with an
> 8”x12” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Terr
> itory. The coin was about 7” deep co-located next
> to several pieces of iron.
>
> 4-1853-O $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with a
> n 8”x12” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Te
> rritory. The coin was about 8” deep co-located nex
> t to several pieces of iron.
>
> 5-1851 $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with an
> 11” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territo
> ry. The coin was about 8” deep located on the edge
> of a carpet of nails patch.
>
> 6-1851 $2 ½ found the same day as 5 with the Minel
> ab GPX 4000 with an 11” DD coil at a Military Camp
> in the Utah Territory. The coin was about 12” deep
> no other targets were within 5 feet of it.
>
> 7-1854 $1 found with the XP Deus with the 9” HF co
> il running 31 Khz at a Military Camp in the Utah T
> erritory. The coin was only about 1” deep in heavy
> iron trash but I had a hard time locating it becau
> se the ground was so muddy it covered the coin.
>
> 8-1852 $1 found the same day as 7 with the Minelab
> GPX 4000 with an 8”x12” DD coil at a Military Camp
> in the Utah Territory. After running the Deus over
> the whole area, I switched to the GPX for deeper t
> argets. The coin was about 8” deep in heavy iron t
> rash.
>
> 9-1853 $1 found with the Minelab GPX 4000 with a 5
> ”x9” DD coil at a Military Camp in the Utah Territ
> ory. Found in the same camp as 7 & 8 weeks later.
> After running the Deus and the GPX with the bigger
> coil over the whole area, I switched to the GPX wi
> th a smaller coil to get between the iron trash. T
> he coin was about 7” deep in heavy iron trash and
> I almost didn’t dig it because of the bad signal i
> t gave in the trash.
>
> 10-1852 $1 found with the Minelab Equinox 600 with
> an 11” DD coil Field 2 mode at a Military Camp in
> the Utah Territory. Found the same day as 9 but in
> a different camp. The coin was about 5” deep next
> to one piece of iron. This is the day I found out
> how accurate the Equinox is at IDing targets in th
> is case $1 gold coins.
>
> 11-1853 $1 found with the Minelab Equinox 600 with
> an 11” DD coil Field 2 mode at a Military Camp in
> the Utah Territory. The coin was about 4” deep mix
> ed with a lot of modern trash like foil, spent .22
> brass, shotgun shells and 9 mm brass. I already kn
> ew it was going to be a $1 because of how it read
> on the Equinox.
>
> 12-1853 $1 found with the Minelab Equinox 600 with
> an 11” DD coil Field 2 mode at a Military Camp in
> the Utah Territory. The coin was about 4” deep in
> moderate iron trash. It gave a funky tone but the
> numbers were right, so I was 95% sure it was going
> to be a $1 gold coin before I dug it.
>
> 13-1851 $1 found with the Minelab Equinox 600 with
> an 11” DD coil compared the signal in both Park 1
> & Field 2 mode at a Military Camp in the Utah Terr
> itory. The coin was about 2” deep and had 2 nails
> in the hole with it. Still because of how well the
> Equinox does at accurately IDing targets I was 95%
> sure it was going to be a $1 gold coin before I du
> g it.
>
> Hope this data helps anyone who's interested.

Thanx for the good read .

I have found stage stops of emigrant travel corridors to be the best. Because, go figure .... back then, if you were uprooting your life on the east coast, to come out west, you would be carrying your life's fortune with you. And since cargo space and weight limitations were at a premium, you would consolidate into singular gold coins, when preparing for a long move. At least that's my theory

I know that people say military posts, of certain date ranges , are good spots to find them. But none of my 15 ever came from military posts, for some reason.

Andrew and Tom = STUNNING data...…. with a plethora of multiple-tuition, documentable (critical) data-points.
Andrew...… it is interesting that almost all of your gold coins found..... were $1 coins. KUDO'S for digging the 'foil' signals!!!! (at old sites).

That tiny little "1-Bit" could buy SO much.... considering it's size...……,,,,,,,,,,, was very easily portable/concealable ((took up no space)); yet, was hated....because it was SO easy to lose.

Abenson,

THANK YOU for taking the time to document/share all that information.

And what an INCREDIBLE record you have, at finding those gold coins, especially the $1...

Just amazing, amazing stuff...and I see times where you found two, in one day. I can't even imagine that (unless finding them in a "spill"). To find two different gold coins, on the same day, that were NOT part of a "spill" but found independent of each other? That stretches my brain to the point that it's nearly incomprehensible...!!

CONGRATS to you, and thank you for sharing!

Any pics?! I'd love to see them!

Steve

Abenson thanks for sharing your gold coin finds data. Question about your fort site, do you know the historical layout of the fort site? If so, are the gold coins concentrated in a particular area? Like the mess hall, officers site, enlisted barracks, etc?

Steve-Since tiny pics is shutting down I'm not sure how to get a picture on the site at this point. Suggestions anyone?

Cal_cobra-Only one of the places I hunt had a fort on it and none of the coins came from that site. I mostly hunt temporary camps and I don't know the layout of them but when the coins are found they are usually close together. I'm guessing where the relics are concentrated had tents placed there. I also find coins and other relics in high concentrations of iron nails and these areas must have been where supplies were uncrated and stored.

NASA Tom-At some of the sites I hunt, the only signals that are left are the low conductors. So I'm digging lots of .22 lead, .22 brass, small round balls, etc. These low conductors are also where the numbers, letters and Hardee hat pins come in, everyone leaves those in the ground as well.

Abenson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Cal_cobra-Only one of the places I hunt had a fort
> on it and none of the coins came from that site. I
> mostly hunt temporary camps and I don't know the l
> ayout of them but when the coins are found they ar
> e usually close together

Well gee, I guess Cal Cobra and I are over-due for some $1 golds, eh ? (durned those pesky $5s, $10s, and $20s that get in the way)

Abenson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Steve-Since tiny pics is shutting down I'm not sur
> e how to get a picture on the site at this point.
> Suggestions anyone?
>


Abenson,

I now use "postimages.org" when I want to post pics on the forum.

If you navigate to that page, and upload your image (it lets you browse your computer to find the image you want to upload), you will then see a screen like this, when your upload is finished...







As shown in that picture, what you need to do is copy the link for your uploaded image that is the second one from the top, that says "direct link" (the one that I circled in yellow, in the picture). Then, return here to the forum, to your "message composition" window, where you are typing your post, and click the "insert image url" icon, at the top of the "message composition" window...







In the window that pops up after clicking the icon, paste that link/url that you copied, from the postimages page.

That's all there is to it.

If you still have trouble, send me a PM with your email address, and I'll email you, and then you can send the images to me via email and I will post them. But it's really easy to post the images, using "postimages.org," once you've done it once or twice...

Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2019 07:38PM by steveg.

Thanks Steve here's the picture.

That's a good-looking eighteen dollars and fifty cents ($18.50) you have.

Thanks NASA Tom, I've got a long way to go to catch up with Tom_in_CA. One of his coins is more than all mine combined. If only I had the problem of $5, $10 and $20's getting in the way of the $1. What a problem to have LOL.

Abenson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks NASA Tom, I've got a long way to go to catc
> h up with Tom_in_CA. One of his coins is more than
> all mine combined. If only I had the problem of $5
> , $10 and $20's getting in the way of the $1. What
> a problem to have LOL.

Abenson, you have 13 gold coins, eh ? You're catching up to my 15 !! But seriously now dude : I'll bet that 13 puts you in the top ten in the USA. When counting individual fumble fingers gold coins (ie.: not counting caches and not counting ones mounted in jewelry). I've heard of some guys with more than us from the fabled famous Camp Floyd fame. But outside of those 3 or 4 guys at Camp Floyd, I haven't heard of anyone exceeding 10-ish in the USA.

It's like the "hole in one" for md'rs, to bag a gold coin. Much less 2 or 3. I know of some CA hunters with 2 to 4-ish. And my mentor is up to 8 if I'm not mistaken (although 1 of them is from Europe) .

Mine were :

$20 gold = stage stop
$20 gold = beach storm erosion
$10 gold = defunct mineral springs resort
$10 gold = uh ... historic site.
$5 gold = sidewalk tearout
$5 gold = grandstands demolition tearout
$5 gold = old town demolition tearout
$5 British Sovereign = stage stop
$5 gold = stage stop trading post
$5 gold = beach storm erosion
$5 gold = military camp spot (so I guess I stand corrected on not getting any at military camp spots)
$5 gold = ..... uh .... historic site
$2.50 gold = beach storm erosion
$1 gold = park turf
$1 gold = beach storm erosion

Dates ranged from the 1820's (British Sovereign) to 1914 (the $2.50)

THANKS for the pic, Abenson, STUNNING!

Thanks also for your summary, Tom_in_CA. OUTSTANDING!!

Steve

Tom CA- Yea a lot of gold coins came out of Camp Floyd. But outside of those guys I personally know 4 who have also surpassed 10 gold coins. There's also a rumor that 2 guys in Utah found an unknown camp and have pulled a bunch out of it. It's pretty hush hush though so I can't confirm that one. Most people I know who find them don't like to tell about them. I'm getting old enough that I feel I should share my finds and knowledge rather than die with it.

OK, guys...

Dumb question, that you may not want to answer, but...

Why would so many gold coins be found at these "military camps?" I would have thought them more likely to have be found on established posts/fort sites, but it sounds like maybe these "camps," which I assume would have been more "temporary" in nature, seem to give up a good number of gold coins?

Steve

Abenson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tom CA- Yea a lot of gold coins came out of Camp F
> loyd. But outside of those guys I personally know
> 4 who have also surpassed 10 gold coins. There's a
> lso a rumor that 2 guys in Utah found an unknown c
> amp and have pulled a bunch out of it. It's pretty
> hush hush though so I can't confirm that one. Most
> people I know who find them don't like to tell abo
> ut them. I'm getting old enough that I feel I shou
> ld share my finds and knowledge rather than die wi
> th it.

Hey there Abenson: Re.: the "hush hush" (supposed reason for lack-of-details and/or confirmations), I too have heard a few "stories" like that. But I have my doubts. Other such reasons is the "fear of the IRS" or "fear of thieves targeting you" or "fear of claim -jumpers". But rest-assured the mystery person(s) found xx gold coins. Right ?

The reasons I'm not inclined to buy into these stories, is that : MD'rs, like any other sport or hobby, is 99% about gloating and competition. Right ? For example: If you are a skier, and you FINALLY accomplish a triple back flip, then you DARN WELL SURE hope your buddies saw it. And/or that someone captured it on film. So that you can claim your fame, right ? Or if you hit a hole-in-one on the golf course, and they want to add your name to the placard in the club-house, you don't say "no". Or if you catch the trophy year's record trout or bass in the lake, you certainly enter it into the fishing competition tallies. And get your mug on the front cover of Rolling Stone. Right ?

So as you can see, it's IN OUR NATURE to show off, compete, gloat, etc..... And durnit: Well-deserved if I might add. And the forum show & tells are FILLED with people showing off their trophies. (And readers adding their ID's, their atteboys, etc.., eh ?) And some of the show & tells are downright valuable. So tell me why those persons aren't fretful of the IRS and thieves ?

I know I know, that some people just don't show & tell. And some people's financial stakes (of their finds) are just *too* high, etc..... I heard it all. There's always some reason why the mystical rumored find is kept on the down-low. But if these supposed "rumored secretive persons" don't come forward, then .......... pray-tell ....... how can we include it in the conversation ?

So, for those 4 persons who have exceeded 10 gold coins, that you know of (that are more than just "rumor category") : What kind of gold coin totals are we talking about ?

steveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK, guys...
>
> Dumb question, that you may not want to answer, bu
> t...
>
> Why would so many gold coins be found at these "mi
> litary camps?" I would have thought them more lik
> ely to have be found on established posts/fort sit
> es, but it sounds like maybe these "camps," which
> I assume would have been more "temporary" in natur
> e, seem to give up a good number of gold coins?
>
> Steve


This was answered earlier in this multi-page thread, if I'm not mistaken. Because , for certain periods of select years, the US Govt. paid in gold coin to their soldiers . But it was only for select years.

Steve-My felling is, because they were in tents rather than permanent structures, it was just easier to lose coins as well as other stuff. One thing I learned about the Fort site in my area was that many of the soldiers spent their money long before they were paid. They had bills with the commissary, laundress and other post obligations that were taken care of before they ever got to touch any coins.

Tom CA-I actively hunt with 2 of them, one has 10 the other 11. Two others that I know and one I just hunted with last week has 14 the other 11. These 4 guys have nothing to do with Duane Bylund's group at Camp Floyd. Now Duane Bylund that wrote the book and I have meet and talked to found like 70 or so. His two buddies I forget there names found a bunch as well. There were other guys that hunted with Duane later on and I know they found a few as well so not sure what the real total to come out of Camp Floyd was but my guess is well over a hundred. That was back in the 90's though nothing like that to my knowledge has been found since.

Abenson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
....
>
> Tom CA-I actively hunt with 2 of them, one has 10
> the other 11. Two others that I know and one I jus
> t hunted with last week has 14 the other 11. ....

Thanx A-benson. Then as I said : Outside of the Camp Floyd Fame, I'd imagine that you and I are in the top 10, in the USA. Aside from your present attestation of the "14" and "11" etc..., I've rarely ever heard of guys approaching 10 .

Some European hunters might have tallies of a dozen or 20 or whatever. But even over there in Europe: The elusive gold coin is the "hole in one holy grail" of any md'rs. It's just that they have more history and more old coins to choose from. Thus potentially upping their odds :/

Tom,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I do know about the payments to the soldiers; my understanding is that typically the officers were paid in gold coin, and enlisted men in silver coin...

My question, which I didn't word well, obviously, was a deeper question than that. What I was trying to figure out, is why a CAMP, if "temporary," would have so many gold coins being found, AS OPPOSED TO a fort. My assumption would be that the payments, to the men, would have occurred at the fort. Then, subsequently, I would have assumed that a good bit of the money exchanging, would have also been at the forts. I would have expected that the shipments of coin from the treasury/mint, that was used to pay the soldiers, would be sent to the forts, the men paid there, and then the coins often spent there, on supplies, etc. at the sutler's store, etc. I wouldn't have thought you'd find as many coins in "temporary" sites, as I wouldn't have expected as much money to be changing hands (unless they were gambling with the coins in their free time, etc.), so that's what I was meaning, by asking the question.

Abenson,

Your thoughts do make some sense to me -- i.e. that in some cases the money never made it into the soldier's hand directly, but instead went straight to pay off his "tab" at the commissary, or sutler's store, whatever. If that's the case, that could make some sense...

I know on the Fort site that we hunt, we do find a decent amount of silver, but I haven't personally seen a gold coin dug, and don't know of any (other than rumor of one dug a long time ago) that have come from there, for sure. So, that fits with what is being said here...

Steve



Tom_in_CA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> steveg Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > OK, guys...
> >
> > Dumb question, that you may not want to answer,
> bu
> > t...
> >
> > Why would so many gold coins be found at these "
> mi
> > litary camps?" I would have thought them more l
> ik
> > ely to have be found on established posts/fort s
> it
> > es, but it sounds like maybe these "camps," whic
> h
> > I assume would have been more "temporary" in nat
> ur
> > e, seem to give up a good number of gold coins?
> >
> > Steve
>
>
> This was answered earlier in this multi-page threa
> d, if I'm not mistaken. Because , for certain pe
> riods of select years, the US Govt. paid in gold c
> oin to their soldiers . But it was only for sele
> ct years.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2019 06:02PM by steveg.

steveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
....
>
> I know on the Fort site that we hunt, we do find a
> decent amount of silver, but I haven't personally
> seen a gold coin dug, and don't know of any (other
> than rumor of one dug a long time ago) that have c
> ome from there, for sure......

Apparently the years-of-operation/usage play a BIG part in the equation.

Now that would be a bucket lister to me to hunk an old fort. Has to be so interesting stuff found.

some made it to london

[metro.co.uk]

Requested BUMP

This may help folks in the renewed interest of find a gold coin.

it totally blows my mind that this thread has been bumped up here today .. as yesterday I spent about three hours researching the very subject .. "where would someone use a gold coin" .. now I've got a bit of thread reading to do.

Cal_cobra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Out here in California I know (and have seen) seve
> ral hunters that have found gold coins. One guy i
> n San Francisco found what appeared to be someones
> savings, something like 18 $20 gold pieces that ap
> peared to have been collateral damage from the 190
> 6 quake/fire. He has found something like 30 gold
> coins all together in all his years of detecting,
> and his cache was featured in the western & easter
> n treasure magazine. I know another guy that main
> ly hunts old sites (old for CA) stage stops, adobe
> s, spanish era sites, etc., and he's found about 1
> 5 gold coins over his 30+ years of detecting. I s
> ee a couple of gold coins per year found in Northe
> rn California. A few years back a guy found one o
> f the ultra rare (and uber expensive) private mint
> gold rush era coins.
>
> I've read several times that more gold coins are f
> ound in California then any other state, the only
> reason why that I can think of (if it's in fact tr
> ue) is due to the gold rush.
>
> Even though there's a multitude of silver coins wo
> rth far more, it seems to be the pinnacle of every
> ones detecting wish list....including mine


Hey Brian, I was thinking of this find in SF. Was it Montera Tom or something like that who made the find?

Sure miss the old California Detecting forum!

There was also that couple who stumbled across those cans of gold coins on their property a few years back. Speculation was they may have come from a SF Mint heist.

Since my post in 2019 I've added 2 more $1 gold coins to my collection. Both found with the Minelab Equinox 800 11" coil. Both were located in quite a bit of iron trash.

SeabeeRon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
>
> Hey Brian, I was thinking of this find in SF. Was
> it Montera Tom or something like that who made the
> find?
>
>

Yes. Tom from Montara passed away several years ago. The story, as he told to me, was that his wife (who was an avid bottle digger) was digging bottles at San Francisco oldtown demolition site. He hopped in with his detector, and began to find these gold coins. Brian (cal cobra) is saying "30". I don't recall Tom's count being that high. But it certainly wasn't that many from this individual site. Because he also had a few single coins (another 3 ? or 4 ?) from other locations aside from the singular demolition site. So maybe it was 20-something from the single demolition site.

As I recall the story, they got booted by the 2nd or 3rd day in there. And he never went back. If it were me, uh.... 2am would have been mighty tempting. I also asked Tom if he had tried to find out where any off-haul dirt had been hauled to. He said he didn't do that, and later regretted not thinking of that.

He deduced that his gold coins, from that single lot, were most likely from a cache that the heavy equipment must have broken into, and scattered around the site during the bulldozer wrecking-ball process.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2021 03:58PM by Tom_in_CA.