Finding Collectible Money on the Street

I do a lot of walking, preferring not to drive for an errand under 2 miles. The other day, I found a cowry shell, then another... and a third... They did not seem to be from jewelry, but detritus from the sedimentary filler that we mine in abundance here. Speaking to the point, cowry is one of the ancient forms of money.

So, I was just wondering what other "old coins" people have found on the street.

 

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I normally find wheat pennies in parking lots.

 

I found a Mercury dime once in the street in the late 80s. That's it.

 

Oddly, the best I've found is a $20. I've also found $10s, $5s, $1s and change. I think living near a public, albeit city stadium has it's virtues.

 

When I was coaching little league ball I had a hundred dollar bill blow up against my backstop once. Didn't belong to any of my kids parents so it financed an impromptu after practice ice cream party.... Other than that, I have found two wheat cents over the years while walking.

 

I find more in vending machines than on the street. No keepers though :-(

 

I find parking lot pennies in wheat fields, but that's another story for another time.

 

Seriously, though, here in the northeastern states, if you're into finding pocket change, after huge snow piles that plow operators have heaped up in mall parking lots finally melt in the spring, there can be all KINDS of stuff, metal and otherwise, in the remaining debris pile.

 

A few years back I found a $100 bill in a parking lot. Not collectable but definitely spendable.

 

The only collectible coins I usually find are in Coinstar reject bins (mostly various foreign coins, with an occasional silver Roosevelt dime). The only coins I find on the ground are spenders. But I do have a friend who found a Chinese cash of Qian Long (1735-1796) on the sidewalk here in Baltimore a few years back. How it got there is anyone's guess.

 

I'm (roughly) in the area where that couple were walking and found the coffee cans full of--was it Morgans?--so I'm always hopeful. So far, it's mostly coins that would probably be Coinstar rejects.

 

let me guess, Metal detecting?

 

Just a joke. Metal detecting holds no appeal for me.

To be completely serious though, the idea of finding collectible ANYTHING on the street strikes me as ludicrous. It's the type of pipe dream stuff that isn't healthy for anyone to dream about. Good things typically are NOT free. Learn that and use that to your benefit.

 

Are you thinking of the Saddle Ridge hoard in California? 1,427 nicely preserved U.S. gold coins found in rusty cans along a trail...

 

And then came the Saddle Ridge horde of people looking for more cans.

 

A friend of mine found a 1925 Buffalo nickel on the ground in recent years and gave it to me. Must not have been there long because it wasn't dirty or scratched up.

 

Found a 1944-S Merc in my street Dec 2016.
Then in Jan 2017 a nice 1938 Jeff nickel on the floor of the supermarket.
GF found a 1959 Rosie in the Starbucks drive thru Dec that year.
In the early 80's I found a 1952-D quarter on the floor of a pool hall. I still have it.

 

I have found so much money that it's impossible to remember or write about it all. Everything from pennies to $100.00 bills. Alas, I've never found a "numismatic keeper ".
However, at least one story comes to mind. I was on my way to work, riding with my son-in-law, proceeding down the townhouse driveway. I saw something in the drive that had a familiar look. I told my SiL to stop. I got out, walked back to it and found a $20 folded in half. As always when I find money on the ground, I look around for more. There, about 25 - 30 feet back, was another, then another, then another, then feeling very lucky, I asked my SiL to move the car forward and under the car was a fifth $20.
All told, $100.00 in $20s , all neatly, but separately folded, as if they had been together at one time. All roughly 25 - 30 feet apart, running down the center of the drive.