Throw out your opinions or educated guesses please....

Hi folks, I have a question that maybe you folks would be more knowledgable on than others. I have a hobby of metal detecting for old coins. I want to increase my odds on finding another 1877 Indian head penny. Do you think I would have more success at a spot that saw a lot of activity in 1877 or one that had a lot of activity in 1878? Seems like there wouldl be more 1877 pennies in circulation in 1878 than 1877 or am I wrong in this assumption? When did the mints start sending out the newly minted coins back in the late 1800s? Thanks for anyones ideas or comments. Jim

 

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I would assume that based on distribution of newly minted coins that it would be logical that most 1877 cents found their way into circulation in 1878. Keep in mind that the mint starts making the current year's coin in the latter part of the prior year.

It's not like they had trucks back then so they could easily go from Federal Reserve bank to Federal Reserve Bank...then onward to meet commerical bank demands. So I imagine the 1877 cent didn't really show up in circualtion until the last half of 1877 and more so in 1878.

So...where were the Federal Reserve banks of 1878? What commerical banks were closest? What areas of the country generated the most commerce where a "penny" would be used, say outside in a farmer's market instead of on the streets of NYC?

I guess this is what Mel Fisher was thinking before he started to look for the Atocha.

 

Hi Jim. I think I might have met you at the gometal detecting forum? I used to post there quite frequently last spring when I first got into detecting.

 

Hi, ol silver, I don't recall going to that forum. Maybe, I usually go to the findmall forum and one other. You get out much? Detecting that is? JIm

 

My uncle (who found several silver dollars and a commemorative by metal detecting) told me to look near old oak trees. Young children would play on those trees and hang upside down. Their change went where?

Also, many people would sit under oak trees for shade. Look there and you may find something.

I remember at an Elementary School playground, a kid found three Sacagewega Sollars in a bag with baseball cards and a decent rist watch. You never know what you can find!

 

I agree with looking around the bases of old trees. Little kids that hide stuff like coins place them near a tree so they can find them later easily. My ex wife did just that about 40 or 50 years ago and never could find out where that was.