Hello all! New thread here called "Marvelous Miracle Monday!". Please post any Coin, Token, Medal or Currency that practically took a miracle to find and finally own. Also, follow it with a description or short story. This is an 1892S Barber Quarter that I dug up while Metal Detecting. It was a very trashy site, and I dug several aluminum pieces already. I was about ready to give up when I got a strange coin signal. It actually was two signals. The first one I dug a promising 1895 nickel in dire condition. It was bad but I checked the hole again and got a beautiful quarter signal or I had hoped. I dug some dirt and put it to my right side. I checked the hole again and got nothing. I then looked at the pile of dirt and peeking out of it was nice shiny reeded edge. I thought it was a Barber dime or something but when I gloriously snatched it up, I right of way noticed the Eagle on the back! Then came the date of 1892. I wasn't aware of the mintage but decided to check for a mint mark and low and behold, there was an "S" plain as day! When I looked it up at home, I was amazed. The odds of me finding it where I did is perplexing. Just think. A trashy site in Eastern Connecticut and a key date barber quarter. I brought it to my monthly club meeting and won a barber dime and the President's Award. (Not U,S president, Club president ). Here it is again!
My quarter was also metal detected. I decided to climb up a steep hill in an old park in Brooklyn NYC. I found evidence of someone who lived in a wooded area with old cans and a huge horseshoe. I was detecting junk and was about to give up when I got a good big silver signal. I thought it might be the usual Barber, Standing Liberty or Silver Washington Quarter. But this time it was something spectacular that I had never seen before! A marvelous miracle
A true miracle coin for me. The ONLY coin in over 45 years my wife has asked to see. I knew a vest pocket dealer for many years. Last time i saw him he was moving his family and operation to the West Coast. Said he "Owed me one", and knew i was there to see if he had an interesting coins to sell. At the time I gave him something like $350 dollars and he said he would send me a coin that would "Blow my socks off". Truth is that was in March of that year and I forgot about it. Hot August morning. I get an unexpected package in the mail. It blew my socks off. My pictures do no justice. the bif thing. My wife said, "Can I see that?" There is an old movie called Invasion of The Body Snatchers. (They put large pods in people's basements and then the people change). My wife has always had this weird ability to read my mind. she looked at my face and said, "No you don't have to look in the basement for pods." The exact thing I was thinking. James
Back in 2001 I was detecting an 1850s farm that was being torn up for Town homes. The house was built solid with huge rocks for a foundation and stone walls. It sat back down a long driveway with old oaks on both sides. It was detected by several people and I over the weeks up to the demolition. A few Indian heads and Mercs were found, but coins were scarce. I managed a stash of marbles and old milk bottles from some outbuildings. One day after work I stopped by and found the foundation had been removed. After detecting the disturbed dirt I found what I thought was a token. Turned out to be this 1809 Half Cent. Holed or not, it made my day.
More of an online "miracle." Six+ years ago someone posted this 1895-O 10c (key date) to another forum asking if it was fake (it is). Someone pointed out that the obverse was the wrong type - the obverse changed to the one on the fake in 1901, so for it to be dated 1895 was impossible. But by then I was already examining the reverse instead. I knew nothing about Barber dimes or the documented hub changes. All the publications said that the reverse also changed in 1901. But I was focused on the left-most leaf vein and not the 1901 addition of the "thick ribbon." That leaf vein changed in 1900, not 1901. I was perplexed. The reverse actually changed in 1900? I found BCCS and started emailing the folks there. Turns out that yes, the reverse hub changed first in 1900 but without the extra ribbon fold, and then changed again midway through 1901. I couldn't believe no one had ever noticed this in the 40 years since John McCloskey published the first documentation of the dime hub changes. I had discovered something new! Since then I've published six articles in the BCCS journal on this and other new transition varieties, including Barber quarters and half dollars. I never in my wildest dreams that I would end up being a published numismatist or that I would start collecting Barber dimes. You never know!
My $1.00 Gold coin. I wasn’t really looking for one like this but the clash screamed for me to buy it so I did. Her face is complete on the reverse.
I tell you it was a miracle when I received this Twenty Cent piece in change back in the 50's. We only dreamed of seeing one. I have told the story before of the old man with the vegetable cart. My mother gave me 50 cents to buy something from him. He gave me this Twenty Cent piece in change and my mother let me keep it. I have since passed it on to my youngest son who was born in 1975.
The early half dimes have fascinated me since I was a YN. Unfortunately I could not afford any of them until I graduated from college and landed my first job. The first one I acquired was an 1800 "LIBEKTY" The "R" in "LIBERTY" was broken at the top. This one is the "miracle" piece because it is an MS-64. This is the best one I have ever seen in person. There are better examples on "Coin Facts," but I have never laid my eyes on them.
