I didn't want to hijack another thread (IE, found in circulation) But I was wondering what the Oldest, rarest, most interesting coin you guys have ever found just laying on the ground? I'm not talking metal detecting, or walking through old Romain ruins. just walking down the street or in a store.
Hm, you kinda stole my thread there, ratpack7? It's all good. The only thing close to that was two wheat pennies I found on the ground in a classroom.
Collecting Cents as a kid in the '60s, I was busy filling up my Whitman Blue Folders from Dad's pocket change. I was very fortunate to be on the west coast, San Francisco mint marks were the easiest to aquire. Steve
I used to go to a YMCA summer camp and it seems to me now, that at least half of every day was spent swimming. One day I dove down about 12 ft. and grabbed a handful of mud to show the others I was on the bottom. I disturbed the resting place of an old IHC and brought it to the surface. Rumors quickly began spreading and it didn't take long before half the camp was actively treasure hunting!
Probably my most interesting find came eight years ago. At the time, I was in seventh grade and when our lunch wave let out, I would look around for any loose change anybody left behind (I think I found a total of about $15 by June). I noticed a dime in some ketchup, so I picked it up and cleaned the ketchup off. I look at the dime and see that it didn't have FDR on it; I thought it was weird-looking. I got back to class and showed my teacher, who told me that it was a Mercury dime (it was a 1942, BTW). I've held onto it ever since and it remains the only Merc I own. I'd say this find is my most valuable one from my formative years, beating out a $5 bill I found during recess when I was in fifth grade (I got to keep it after nobody claimed it at the end of the year. I found the bill and turned it into the lost & found the previous week).
i found a 1988 canadian ten cents on the curb here in cincinnati a few months ago. that is my "most interesting" find that wasn't in change from a store or in a roll.
Two that I found that were unusual just for the location were both foreign. I found what if I remember correctly was one of those little coins from the Netherlands - the ones that are smaller than a dime. This was on a little dirt path leading toward an apartment complex in suburban Illinois. I was riding my bike and happened to see it on the ground. Another time while I was in college I found a euro on the floor in the library. Neither was valuable but both were so random and out of place.
oh, and I once in a pool in an amusement park, and when I stroked my arm, I grabbed what felt like a piece of paper in the water. $5 bill. It was a pleasant find
1902 cent and a 1909 cent. I stared at that 1909 to see if an S would suddenly pop out... it didn't happen Other than that a few silver dimes here and there.
Just last week my friend found a $50 bill someone had folded up and shoved into the coin slot in a vending machine.
Reminds me of the bright AU silver quarter I found sitting on a CoinStar machine. "Durr, the machine won't take it, it must not be worth anything."
I found a woman's change purse in a parking lot a few months ago... unfortunately for me, it had her drivers license inside so I took it to her house and returned it. It had around $150.00 in it! The look on her face was priceless.
I like the "priceless" part best. For me, I can't think of a coin find of the rare and unusual variety at the moment.
