Silver coin percentages

Through the end of 2014 I've found 574 silver coins and I broke down each denomination into percentages. Actual numbers in parenthesis.

10c - 74.6% (428)

25c - 18.1% (104)

5c - 4.5% (26)

50c - 2.3% (13)

nonUS - 0.5% (3)


I haven't kept records of my clad denominational totals so I have no way of knowing for sure, but my gut feeling is my percentage of quarters is higher with clad than silver.

Does anyone else have a denominational breakdown of their silver coins?

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who's anal about keeping "keeper" records...

Marcus------That's very interesting.------What was your starting date (thru 2014) to get these coins?-----Also, what was your ratio of silver Rosies to Mercs?---You should find that figure interesting to.---------Del

I think if you like keeping records, so be it....it's another facet of the hobby. I personally do not keep them but have been called anal about other things, lol.

That's more silver coins than I've found since I've been detecting.

Wow.

But I don't really hunt sites that would likely have old coins.

I bet I do have the record for the most silver coins dug during a tornado though. I dug 11 silver dimes that day and several wheat cents in about an hour and a half. I was on a roll and wasn't gonna let a little bad weather run me off. I had no idea it was as bad as it was though. Just a half mile away from me, and EF2 was on the ground while I was digging. The wind got up where I was, and I could hear it thundering a lot in that direction but it never rained a drop where I was. I started noticing things falling out of the sky and it was debris from that tornado...small things like papers, shingles, etc. I have pics that I saved from people in town that took pics of the funnel and our church helped clean up the area for weeks after it came through.

marcomo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Through the end of 2014 I've found 574 silver coins

Sounds like coin roll hunting.

If thats for 2014...Congratulations! Outstanding! I only know one other guy getting those numbers..Dan aka Capn Fi.

Indeed when we go from silver to clad at least in my area dimes and quarters are pretty close in amounts. Guess the quarter has become more dominant whereas the dime was dominant in silver coin years...

Wow you could buy a lot for a dime in the 40's.....is probably the answer....

deathray - For 2014 only? Not even in my wildest dreams! Although I do remember reading a story a few years back in W&E about a guy who found over 1,000 silver coins in a single year. That's mind boggling to me.

Daniel in Tn - That's a GREAT story! The tornado up the street and 11 silvers in an hour and a half both add up to major excitement and an unforgettable experience. I'll bet someday the grandkids will be rolling their eyes and saying, "grandpa's telling the tornado story again..."

Del - Totals are since I started detecting in the spring of 2008. My best silver year was 2011 when I dug 159. Since then I've trended down. Last year was down to 66. A part of it was my dad's death and dealing with the estate meant numerous weekend days where otherwise I would have detected I couldn't. Also a tough winter after a string of many mild ones that cut out virtually the entire first two months of the year with snow and deep frozen ground.

My Mercury to Silver Rosie totals thus far are 330 Rosies to 85 Mercurys. Also 12 Barbers and 1 Standing Liberty.
Roosevelt 10c - 77.1%
Mercury 10c - 19.8%
Barber 10c - 2.8%
Standing 10c - 0.2%

Those totals reflect the fact that I have detected a lot of postwar yards, the "low hanging fruit" close to home.

Interesting numbers, here it seems we get about 2-1 mercs over rosies.

deathray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If thats for 2014...Congratulations! Outstanding!
> I only know one other guy getting those
> numbers..Dan aka Capn Fi.

Here's the Capn's numbers from the Kinzli Forum for 2014, just awesome (and he did much better last year). I feel sorry for the folks detecting in the greater los angeles area!

"My 2014 detecting year was a truly great year!! Here is the breakdown of my silver coins found in 2014 (537):"

11 Barber Dimes
1 Seated Dime
174 Mercury Dimes
225 Rosies
1 Chilean 10 centavos
51 War Nickels
57 Washingtons
5 SLQ's
1 British Sixpence
8 Walker Halfs
1 Kennedy Half
1 Barber Half
1 Franklin Half

Yes...its his job,lol.

5-1/2 late wheats = 1 Roosevelt
5-1/2 early wheats = 1 Mercury
5-1/2 late Indians = 1 Barber
5-1/2 early Indians = 1 Seated

If I dig 5 or 6 pennies......... I'm due a silver dime. If I dig a silver dime first......... it's almost a guarantee that I'll probably dig 5 or 6 pennies thereafter.

((( Resultant of 43 years of aggregate/collected data )))

canslawhero Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> deathray Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If thats for 2014...Congratulations!
> Outstanding!
> > I only know one other guy getting those
> > numbers..Dan aka Capn Fi.
>
> Here's the Capn's numbers from the Kinzli Forum
> for 2014, just awesome (and he did much better
> last year). I feel sorry for the folks detecting
> in the greater los angeles area!
>
> "My 2014 detecting year was a truly great year!!
> Here is the breakdown of my silver coins found in
> 2014 (537):"
>
> 11 Barber Dimes
> 1 Seated Dime
> 174 Mercury Dimes
> 225 Rosies
> 1 Chilean 10 centavos
> 51 War Nickels
> 57 Washingtons
> 5 SLQ's
> 1 British Sixpence
> 8 Walker Halfs
> 1 Kennedy Half
> 1 Barber Half
> 1 Franklin Half



Very impressive quantity! Quality not so much. One good thing about living in the north east.

Tom - Less than 1/6 of your detecting years logged, but my wheat/silver ratio jibes with your findings.

Since dug wheaties have little value, even for key dates, I generally tumble them and then soak them in olive oil then dry them 100-200 at a time. Right now I have 2497 counted and in a large jug. I estimate 200-300 still untumbled and uncounted. Which would put me at about a 5-1 wheat/silver ratio.

A good book I read when I was new to the hobby was Michael Chaplan's Urban Treasure Hunter, he estimates a 6-1 ratio.

Nice to know others have parallel performance.

His question was two fold as I read it and answered the clad part....in agreement with several other posters as 5 Wheaties to a silver coin seems about right most of the time....

My clad and pennies go in bowls for a while until I get around to separating them for tumbling.

Out of curiosity, I totaled what I had there tonight, approximate 2.5 to 1 ratio of dimes to quarters.

25c - 21
10c - 53
5c - 24