Coins Under the Carpet

That's cool. Have you tried metal detecting the yard (if you have a yard)? You would have a pretty good shot at some older coins. The best I have found in my yard is a 1939 P Mercury dime.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

One time while remodeling a balloon-framed home (studs went from basement to the attic) that had settled 12" over 65' because it had been built on an old dump, I came across a bunch of stuff that rolled under the baseboard and fell to the basement. A 1907 Canadian large cent, Cuff links, wooden clothespins, red and grey clay marbles. I even found an old Burpee seed calendar from 1911 that one of the workers placed in the wall. It was in color, and in perfect condition. This was about 1988, long before the internet was "selling" stuff.

 

I don't know if any of you are aware but, many of the old sailing ships had coins placed under the main mast when the ships were built. They did it for luck. A few years ago the navy was renovating the USS Constitution at the Boston Navy Yard and part of the renovation was to pull out the main mast and either repair it or replace it. Under that mast were coins from when the ship was built in 1797 and other coins from the different times the mast was removed for repair or replacement. Those coins were always put back after the repairs were complete and are there today. So under the mast of the USS Constitution are coins dating back to the 1790's. There are pictures of the coins.

I had a chance to go on the ship many years ago. For those who do not know the construction of USS Constitution was authorized by George Washington as well as 5 other ships of the same class but, only 4 were ever built. This is the oldest commissioned war ship in the US Navy and the world that is seaworthy and is still considered as part of the fleet. It went through a massive renovation many years ago and brought back to it's original specifications as when it was built. After being renovated they took her out into Boston harbor and raised her sail and let her sail under her own power for the first time in 100 years.

The USS Constitution was almost scrapped a few times but, was finally saved in the 1920's. It's last actual combat use was during the Civil War. When the war broke out it sailed down the east coast to Annapolis Maryland to pick up the Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy and bring them up to Newport where the Naval Academy was relocated during the war. The Naval Academy prep school is still located in Newport.

The USS Constitution is still maned and operated by the US Navy and if you visit the ship the men and woman you see in old style navy uniforms are actually in the navy. They are not actors. It's considered a high honor to be selected to join the crew. They do take the ship out in the harbor multiple times during the year. You can visit the ship at the Boston Navy Yard.

 

I've done that but, my house was moved from it's original site in 1932. I pretty much only have found roofing nails. I did turn up a 1941 Mercury dime in my garden.

 

I couldn't find pictures of the individual coins, but I did find this article with a group shot of those coins mentioned above.

https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/2017/03/17/hidden-treasures/

 

All of the above are possible. I began collecting about that time and what you see was common pocket change at the time. The rush to extract the silver was just beginning and took awhile as change pulled was spent anyway to get a coke or burger. So it took a little while before it became uncommon.

 

The only things we found under our old carpet was about 100 dead bodies, flies, bees, roaches, ants. Oh, and finger nail clippings everywhere. Great finds huh...

 

It was far less interesting than you probably imagine.

 

When I rebuilt my wood stove hearth, I raised it 4" so there is space under it. I placed two 1964 Kennedy halves in the space for possible future occupants to find.
Time capsules used to be very popular back in the day, but you don't hear about them being used in modern-day construction. On one of the renovation TV shows, the guy had his kids make a time capsule and put it in the wall. Kind of neat, I think.

 

I hope it was a PVC-free flip.

 

I've read so many articles about rare coins and notes found in old Pennsylvania farm houses, that I was thinking of buying old, dilapidated farm houses, metal-detect the property...then selling the property to buy another. It's always cheaper thinking...than actually doing.

 

When my father came back from Vietnam, he had to be medivac due to the injuries he sustained from a mortar. (He already had a Purple Heart from his wounds in WW II, and then another from the Korean War.) Due to his injuries, he was in constant pain. He used to hide his coins in his empty medicine bottles. After he passed, my brother and I were cleaning up his bedroom and found a bunch of prescription bottles of Oxycodine. We thought we had hit the jackpot because of the street value of Oxycodone. My mother found out that we had the bottles, and after a severe scolding, she opened the bottles. We thought we were going to get a bunch of money from the medicine bottles, but when my mother opened the bottles, they were filled with IHCs. We knew he collected coins and we were supposed to get the coins, but what we found was unbelievable. Although the IHCs were MS, we still enjoyed looking through all of them. (No Flying Eagles, tho.)

 

All I found interesting in a remodel was an inspection tag for the plumbing from 1969 .
Made it 50+ years so I guess that's not too bad of a run.

It was wire tied to the vent pipe in a back bathroom.

 

In the article it mentioned the 1797 large cent may have been added later. That's wrong they were put there when the ship was built. It was standard practice for centuries. I believe they still do it for modern war ships.

Something else they do when the ship is renovated is they strip the copper off the hull and replace it. Then they take the removed copper melt it down into coin blanks and strike commemorative metals for the ship and sell them to raise money for the renovation. I've bought two of them made at different times and gave them to my son. My son went to and graduated from the United States Naval Academy. I also gave him a two dollar battleship note from 1918. BTW the USS Constitution doesn't any type motors or props to move it through the water. Sail power only. She also has fully functional period cannons and they do fire them on the 4th of July or other special events. This ship is heavily guarded by the navy and when they take her out she is followed navy war ships that are fully armed. From the above picture you can see the ships in the distance behind the ship. That's about as close as they can get.