What strange places have you found world coins in and what have you found? The other week my mom found a Thai Baht on top of an ATM machine and TODAY I found a 1997 Mexican $5 coin while running on the golf course (near my backyard) I guess a Mexican tourist dropped their change while playing golf... But who wouldn't wanna come to Hawaii?
The one coin that will never leave my mind is a coin that me and my buddy Lewis found when we were about 9 years old. Lewis lived in a very old house and the basement was off limits cause it was in terrible condition and was unsafe. Tell that to a couple of 9 year olds. One day we decided the grown-ups had no idea what they were talking about. We went thru the basement looking around when Lewis saw an old wagon in the window cill. He wanted it, so I cupped my hand and gave him a lift. He reached for the wagon and picked it up and said wait, under the old cast wagon was a coin or something. The basement was to dark to see what it was, so outside we went. One side had in huge letters, USA, and the other side had a bunch of lines going side to side. We thought it had something to do with the boy scouts. He gave it to his father and I havn't heard anything else of it until I got my first red book and there it was. A Bar Copper, This is the coin that is ground into my memory...
When my dad moved into his new house (well, new to him, the house was built in '58), I found a sandwich baggie about 1/4 to half way full of silver dimes. A very winged liberty, but no key dates. Just though it was an interesting find because they were in plain view with the rest of the house and everything else had been taken.
When my neighborhood post office had a stamp vending machine that not only accepted pennies, but also gave them in change. After purchasing some stamps, 4 pennies in change came back and they were all Wheat Ears. I purchased again and 3 more Wheat Ears came back. The most interesting was a 1939-P in Fine. All others were 1957-D.
Inn-N-Out (a west coast hamburger chain that has achieved almost cult-like status — especially if you've moved back east) A few year ago, I received a 1916 Barber dime in change. The clerk started to hand it to me and then looked at it and began to put it back in the register (thinking it was a Canadian dime?). I asked to look at it and said it was a US coin and said I'd accept it, so he gave it to me. It's only in G condition, but, for me, it's a keeper coin.
I bought the Bar from an old tavern in the eary 70's. I think it was 71. The Tavern was over 100 years old but not sure of the date anymore. While dismantling the bar I found 4 coins. The 2 most interesting were a half dime and a Gold Liberty Head Dollar. The Dollar shows a lot of wear but it was the first one I had ever seen. I'll get it from the safety deposit box and let you guys dream about it's history.
well it might make you feel better that it is one of the most heavily counterfitted coins in American History (according to Red book).. I mean so you don't feel so bad about giving it to your friend's dad.
In 1973 or 74, I got my first metal detector. I took it to work at the tree service, (I still work there), Charlie was up a tree. I searched the area below the tree for about 30 seconds, got a beep, and 1 inch down was a Chinese coin from around 1800. A foot away I found an 1832 Large cent. Chinese laborers helped build the Erie Extension canal near here. The longest aqueduct in the Us at the time is 1/2 mile away. I still have both coins.
Several years ago I was cleaning and rearranging furniture and boxes in my home office. We'd lived in the house about 2 years. I had some boxes on a shelf that hadn't been moved in a long time. I was throwing things away, trying to make space. I took the boxes down, setting them on the floor. I got rid of enough stuff to lessen my clutter by about a box. I put the full boxes back up onto the shelf. I took the empty box out to the trash, and walked back into the room. There, in the middle of the floor, was a Morgan Dollar. I was never into Morgans. I only had one. It was in a 20th Century Type Set in a Whitman folder that was in one of the boxes. Huh! Must've fallen out. I pulled the boxes back down, located the collection and pulled out the folder so that I could replace the coin. The slot was filled. I've never figured out where the Morgan came from. Was it on the shelf, left by the previous homeowners? We'd gotten some boxes from friends who had moved recently when we were packing for our move to the current house...had they lost a coin? Nope. I even checked to see if I'd lost a tooth and been visited by the Tooth Fairy. It's still a mystery to me. So statequarterguy, did you ever live in the DFW metroplex? Art Haule
