Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Have a lot of dug coins?

Soil Surgeon said:
Sadly, I think the shipping costs would far exceed the value of the coins.
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Or you could us USPS flat rate shipping...up to 70 lbs. for a fixed rate. I have around $300+ worth of dug coins so for me it will be worth it.

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What a minute, you say dug coins, I'm assuming you mean dirty old clad coins. Tumble them and either roll them and turn them in at your bank or go to a coinstar. The only coins to turn in are rotten zincolns. The rest will clean up just fine. Mark
 
I believe these would be the coins even the coin star won't accept :laughing: I remember my first trip to the coin star with all my rotted zincs, they were overflowing the reject tray and rolling all over the grocery store. I ended up just leaving :lol:
 
All my dug coins are cleaned and redeemed at my local credit union for 100% of their face value. If a coin is bent, it can be easily flattened and spent. The few rotted zinc pennies that I dig are tossed into the garbage.
 
diggin4clad said:
All my dug coins are cleaned and redeemed at my local credit union for 100% of their face value. If a coin is bent, it can be easily flattened and spent. The few rotted zinc pennies that I dig are tossed into the garbage.
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With pennies, most of what I dig are rotten zinks. About 10% are <1982 coppers. My bank will not take any dug coins unless they are in good condition.
 
markinswpa said:
What a minute, you say dug coins, I'm assuming you mean dirty old clad coins. Tumble them and either roll them and turn them in at your bank or go to a coinstar. The only coins to turn in are rotten zincolns. The rest will clean up just fine. Mark
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What do you clean them with? Tumble? Do you mean like a rock tumbler?

This photo is about 25% of what I have for dirty ol clad coins. It would take a very long time to clean each of them by hand.

IMG-2458s.jpg
 
gregazar said:
What do you clean them with? Tumble? Do you mean like a rock tumbler?
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That's exactly what I've done for larger quantities. Seperate the pennies from everything else and tumble seperately. I use a mix of salt and lemon juice, and a handful of silica sand. Rinse well and dry.

Roger
 
gregazar said:
What do you clean them with? Tumble? Do you mean like a rock tumbler?

This photo is about 25% of what I have for dirty ol clad coins. It would take a very long time to clean each of them by hand.

IMG-2458s.jpg
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I can eyeball many pitted/useless zincs in the picture. Those, I put in my trash immediately. The rest gets tumbled during bad weather days when I am stuck at home. I still have most of all the coins I have found. That is a lot of pounds. Coinstar is greedy with the 11% fee. My bank doesn't have a free tumbler. Rolling coins is just too much work plus, my bank still charges a 5% fee for rolled coins.

My plan is to eventually use Coinstar, those kiosks offering Amazon gift cards at zero fees. Any pitted zincs will be trashed quick. It just wouldn't be feasible to ship them to the mint IMO. Basically disc out zincs anyway.

Yes, I tumble the ones that look unspendable.
 
I am a member of a local credit union. My credit union has coin machines at each location. I've learned that the machines take almost all of my coins with very little cleaning. I don't tumble, I simply soak them in soapy water for a while and let them dry. Looking at your pic, I'd venture to guess that 90% or more of those coins would accepted by my credit union's machine. The toasty zincs are the exception. Throw them in the garbage.
 
Yes, most buy the Harbor Freight tumbler for around 60 bucks. Some aquarium gravel, us a mixture of vinegar, water and a dash of dawn. Many recipes out there. Just google it or check out the Cleaning Your Finds here. Take extra care to separate pennies and any other copper items from the other clad. Good luck. Mark
 
markinswpa said:
Yes, most buy the Harbor Freight tumbler for around 60 bucks. Some aquarium gravel, us a mixture of vinegar, water and a dash of dawn. Many recipes out there. Just google it or check out the Cleaning Your Finds here. Take extra care to separate pennies and any other copper items from the other clad. Good luck. Mark
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I paid $35 for my single barrel rotary tumbler from Harbor Freight when I started the hobby in 2011. It still cleans well. Their dual units still show to be $49.95 on-line.

That $49.95 price was a Black Friday price on duals though. Sixty bucks is normal.
 
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I wire wheel quarters, I don't clean the rest. I spend some very bad coins a few at a time.
Coin star also takes loads of my dirty coins👍
 
that's a heap of coins Gregazar!

and you say that is only a fraction of what you have.

how many silver coins did you find among all that?

for you tumble people, how long do you typically tumble coins?

are we talking hours, days, weeks?

my niece has a tumbler from National Geographic. they also sell a kid's metal detector i believe.
 
John Madill said:
that's a heap of coins Gregazar!

and you say that is only a fraction of what you have.

how many silver coins did you find among all that?

for you tumble people, how long do you typically tumble coins?

are we talking hours, days, weeks?

my niece has a tumbler from National Geographic. they also sell a kid's metal detector i believe.
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"for you tumble people, how long do you typically tumble coins?"

About 3 hours, longer if I feel lazy sometimes.
 
Gregazar,
Turning found clad and Pennie’s into till-ready coinage is easy, but you need a system. Separate clad and zinc Pennie’s. Use a rotary tumbler. Clad only tumbles with chicken grit, water and a drop of Dawn. Rinse off the chicken grit and tumble again with vinegar and a media. I use the pins that come with the Lyman rotary cartridge tumbler as media. Rinse, dry and take ‘‘em to your credit union that doesn’t charge a premium to cash-in. That’s for clad. Pennies get a single tumble with vinegar and media. There is some nuance, but that’s the process.
Total time to tumble twice and dry is an afternoon. At roughly $20/pound for clad, and $1.45/pound for Pennie’s, it’s worth it to me. You’ll have to decide for yourself.
I would add pictures but this site says I lack some security thang!
Anyway, I clean coins in 5 to 8 pound lots 8 to 10 times a year. It pays for my detectors and fuel to get to my sites. The PMs are just gravy.

As for sending bad coins to the mint… I have 40+ pounds of bad Pennie’s and only a couple of pounds of bad clad. Shipping costs would make it a break even endeavor. Hardly worth the trouble..
 
I read once on-line about a tector taking his dirty coins to venting machines, putting them in like buying something, and hitting "return" before buying and getting new, clean coins in exchange.

My morals kept me from trying that myself, but it did make me wonder something. Why take time and effort in separating the pennies from the other coin types before tumbling, if a Coinstar is the tool you will use? Who cares if quarters dimes and nickels are pink (you'll never see them again) with a machine charging a 11 percent fee? Separating the pennies is a hassle in itself. I usually miss one penny and get a blended color anyway.
 
Martin_V3i said:
I read once on-line about a tector taking his dirty coins to venting machines, putting them in like buying something, and hitting "return" before buying and getting new, clean coins in exchange.
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... That was me! Or, at least I did a version of that. I used to go detecting over lunch at work, as there was a park behind my office. I could easily go out and cherry pick a dollar or so and be back in the office within an hour. But...what to do with my finds? I realized that I could hit the men's room and give them a decent wash in the sink, then dump them in the vending machine and hit "coin return" and get nice, clean, beautiful change back. Worked great until one day...my manager walks up to my desk and slaps down two toasty brown quarters and just stares at me. He got them as change while buying a coke. I burst out laughing as he said, "I don't even want these in my pocket!" I had previously shown him what dug coins look like. He put it together and figured me out. I stopped my magic cleaning process after that, but we all got a good chuckle out of it.
 
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