$5 Gold: Found on the beach

What's it possibly worth?

 

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Wow, you found that on the beach? I'd say it is worth about 150 dollars.

 

Nice find!

 

bummer...can't see the picts

grrrr.....company firewall....will have to check them out at home.

 

what beach did you find that at... oh really that just so happens to be the same beach that i lost my 5$ gold coin. i thank you for finding it for me. just kidding..

all jokes aside i would go out and by a lotto ticket if i were you before the luck runs out.

did you use a detector or were you just digging in the sand?

 

It's a 1903 5 dollar gold piece : )

 

I would guess a little over melt price...its been cleaned and the sand and water didn't help it any I bet....

Speedy

 

1903 S is worth about $165.00 in that condition! Nice Find!!

 

Thanks for the replies. The coin was apparently washed out from the beach bank by one of the recent fall storms. The location is presently sparsely populated but was once a thriving area during one of the gold booms about a century ago. Judging from the relative lack of wear on the coin, I would surmise that it has lain buried, untouched by human hands, for close to a century. It obviously would not be in the condition it was found if it had been in the sea or on the beach all that time.

 

A few suggestions:

1. Find out who owns the land and get permission to metal detect on it.
2. Go to the local library and/or town hall and research what the land was once used for (think events, or sports fields, meeting spot for clubs, etc.)
3. If you don't already own a good metal detector, rent one.
4. Remember where you found your coin and DON'T tell any other coin hunters

Chances are, the spot was once of some importance and the chances are good other coins are in the ground there.

VERY cool find. Thanks for sharing

 

You also need find out if there are any protected animal or plant species in the areas (especially for beaches and their adjacent sand dunes) that you are going to metal detect and what the Laws are regarding disturbing them! State and/or Federal Laws prohibit metal detecting in some areas where there are protected animal or plant species. However, there are other areas in which metal detecting is allowed as long as the area that is disturbed is small and any protected animal or plant species are able to recover. In other words, don't dig a large and deep hole, fill the area back in before you leave, wait a few weeks so things can recover, then everything should be okay to go back and dig in that area again. Just don't dig in the same spot as before until sufficient time has passed and you are sure that any protected animal or plant species have recovered. Sea Oats is the most common plant specie of protect plants along beaches in the U.S.!

When working in sand dunes where metal detecting is limited due to protected animal or plant species, it is best to set up a grid system on a hand drawn map and dig trenches either parallel or perpendicular to the beach. The trenches should be no more than two feet wide and generally no more than two to three feet deep. Avoid any protected animal or plant species if at all possible or very carefully move them to an area that has already been worked.

Many of the State and Federal Laws are very clear about disturbing protected animal or plant species on beaches and their adjacent sand dunes! Don't risk being arrested which could result in jail time, and/or a fine and/or the forfeiture of your equipment, if you are found guilty.

A friend of mine found an area in Florida with the sand dunes loaded with silver 2, 4, 6 and 8 Reale pieces from a Spanish Ship that wrecked in the late 1600's or early 1700's. Since I was unavailable at the time, he took another partner and they found close to thirty coins in the sand dunes, being deposited there by the many Hurricanes that hit or skirted the area. Well, his partner broke their' agreement to only work the area as a team and was sneaking back several nights a week and dug large and very deep trenches and holes in the sand dunes. My friend was suspicious of this partner and caught him in the act one night and thus severed their partnership. The next time my friend went back to that area, a Sheriff's Deputy was there and was placing "No Trespassing" signs all over the place. My friend (who was smart enough to leave his' Metal Detector in the trunk of his' car) inquired as to why he was placing the signs. The Sheriff's Deputy stated that someone had dug large trenches and holes in a large amount of the sand dunes and had completely destroyed the Sea Oats there and if caught, they would be arrested.

I hope that eveything works out so that you can metal detect in that area and I hope you make some really great finds!


Frank

 

That is when it is nice to live in the country....nobody much cares what you do to the plants....there are TONS of them around so you can detect where ever you want!!!

Speedy

 

Sob Sob Sob
Why don't I have that kind of luck!
Sob Sob Sob

 

Speedy, can you tell me how you so easily spotted that from the pictures posted??

 

Well I try to study coins for cleaning and sometimes its not easy but I think with this one it is...here are somethings I think of and see...

#1 The place where this was found had sand and water....the coins I have gotten from sand and water looked cleaned as the water and the sand rubbed it (I would call that a cleaned coin)...also the sand and water make the coin some-what dirty...so you would clean it too look better....I don't see this one as too dirty so more than likely its been cleaned...

#2...the hair lines I see on both sides
#3 the coin is worn yet it doesn't show dirt from circulation....
#4 the color...it just looks like most of the cleaned gold coins I have looked at...
#5...I think I see a little dirt around the stars...may be wrong but if the photo was close I think we would see it....

Again...I could be wrong...and I would be the first to say that...I say coins have been cleaned that my dealer says they haven't...just my two cents...

Speedy

 

Gold is the only metal that keeps its colour,even though it is very soft.It doesn't corrode like other metals do.

Aidan.

 

If the coin is cleaned, then it's doubtful it was lost while circulating. Perhaps then it was some more contemporary beach-goer's good luck piece or such.

OTOH, I think lying in the surf, getting buffeted by waves and abraded by sand, would produce an effect rather similar to cleaning, so don't assume it was lost recently. I'd do a little prospecting in the area you found it.

 

I wonder if it would be good to research shipwrecks through the history of your local coastline to help you track down possible fossick sites.

 

I'd say it's worth about $200 dollars.

and welcome to the forum.

 

unfortunately, the OP is unlikely to still be around since this thread is 10 months old and they haven't posted since this thread was last active.