Coin Stash

rob_vic

Full Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
116
Location
Northern VA
I'm a relic hunter but I just came across a huge coin stash appearing to be from the early 1900s to about 1960 or so (based on coin dates). Here's the count so far:
100 V nickels - 1900-1921
14 buffalo nickels - dates mostly worn off
9 IHP - from the late 1800s
200 wheat pennies (still counting but it looks like there's gonna be around 450-500 wheaties) - mostly from the 40s and 50s, but I did see a 1909

I am clueless as to what to do with all these coins!
Should I clean the dirt off of the pennies with water and a soft toothbrush?
Are they worth anything (other than their given value)?
Are there key dates I should be looking for?
I don't particularly want to keep them - do people/places buy these?

Thanks for the help!
 
I'm a relic hunter but I just came across a huge coin stash appearing to be from the early 1900s to about 1960 or so (based on coin dates). Here's the count so far:
100 V nickels - 1900-1921
14 buffalo nickels - dates mostly worn off
9 IHP - from the late 1800s
200 wheat pennies (still counting but it looks like there's gonna be around 450-500 wheaties) - mostly from the 40s and 50s, but I did see a 1909

I am clueless as to what to do with all these coins!
Should I clean the dirt off of the pennies with water and a soft toothbrush?
Are they worth anything (other than their given value)?
Are there key dates I should be looking for?
I don't particularly want to keep them - do people/places buy these?

Thanks for the help!

I know people buy wheat pennies in bulk bags on e-bay you might look on there to get a idea.
 
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I'd absolutely LOVE to share this epic find with every one, but I keep getting an error message whenever I try to upload pics (I have 4 to share).

If someone is willing to provide their email address, I will gladly send pics to them if they will post to this thread.

Thanks!
 

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Key dates:
Indian Head (1859-1909): 1864 with L, 1869/9, 1877, 1888/7, 1908-S, 1909-S

Lincoln Cent (1909-Present): 1909-S VDB, 1909-S, 1914-D, 1917 Double-Die Obverse, 1922-D Missing D Strong Reverse, 1931-S, 1936 Double-Die Obverse, 1944-D/S, 1955 Doubled Die Obverse, 1972 Double-Die Obverse
(Semi-Keys: 1909 VDB, 1910-S, 1911-S, 1912-S, 1913-S, 1914-S, 1915-S, 1922 Weak D, 1924-D, 1926-S, 1943-D Double Mintmark, 1946-S/D)

Liberty Head (1883-1913): 1885, 1886, 1912-S.

Indian Head (Buffalo) (1913-1938): 1913-D Type 2, 1913-S Type 2, 1914/3, 1914-D, 1916 DDO, 1918/7-D, 1926-S, 1935 DDR, 1936-D 3-1/2 Legs, 1937-D 3 Legs.
 
Per Rob's request, posting the pics here. Rob, I had to crop them a little bit. Nice finds!
 

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Thanks!

Thanks Bagelbites for your help. This REALLY is a Friendly Metal Detecting Forum.

The first pic is sifting the coins to try to get as much of the dirt off as I could.
Second pic is just a pic of the stash
Third pic is after I sprayed the coins off with the garden hose
Fourth pic is as I was sorting them.

If anyone wants specific pics (just V nickels, whatever, let me know). I also have a video of the dig too. The stash was found under the front porch of a house built around 1900; I suspect that being out of the elements helped keep all the coins in excellent condition. They are worn, but only a few are corroded.

I appreciate y'alls help!
 
Wow no silver coins at all? Shocking theres not a merc or rosie thrown in there at least. An excellent find for sure, hoping theres more waiting to be found!
 
Tell the story of finding it! Inquiring minds want to know. Park? Private home? Age of home? Depth? All in the same giant hole? Was it in a container? Spill the beans man!
 
Wow no silver coins at all? Shocking theres not a merc or rosie thrown in there at least. An excellent find for sure, hoping theres more waiting to be found!

Exactly! I was wondering why no silver also? Only pennies and nickels. No dimes, quarters, half dollars, dollars, nothing. Strange.
 
Exactly! I was wondering why no silver also? Only pennies and nickels. No dimes, quarters, half dollars, dollars, nothing. Strange.

Wonder if it is the "saving you change" approach to spending money. So when I spend cash I save all coins. Maybe back then they were spending the silver coins like I spend paper, and saving the change from each purchase. The money value difference could make this plausible.
 
Tell the story of finding it! Inquiring minds want to know. Park? Private home? Age of home? Depth? All in the same giant hole? Was it in a container? Spill the beans man!

Silver Strike – Thanks for asking! Here’s the story!

So, this find is certainly not as exciting as you may think or as I’d like it to be. There’s no treasure map, research, internet sleuthing, or “my daddy’s daddy’s daddy said that…” to go off of. And honestly, a metal detector wasn’t even involved – chalk this find up to a bad phone line.

This stash was found at a homesite in western VA. The property has a pretty good colonial history from all of the military relics and civilian items found there and based on maps and some research, there “should” be CW relics there, but I’ve never dug anything there from that period. (CW relics are my main interest in this hobby.)

Originally, there was a home on the site during the 1800’s, but it burned down in 1890-something, the remnants pushed aside on the hillside (now buried) and the current house was built on the old home’s foundation during the early part of the 1900’s. I don’t know much about any of the previous owners, but it was purchased by a family friend in 2014. This stash was found under the front porch of that house. I never would have thought to detect/look under the porch because he has pretty good acreage and a couple of old homesites on his property that usually give up something interesting.

It all started when my buddy’s landline phone quit working. The phone guy came out and had to crawl under the house to troubleshoot the line. He came back out from under the house and said that there’s coins all over the place down there. Took a look and sure enough, you could see loads of coins, everywhere. In fact, some coins were barely covered in dirt, like they had been dropped between porch boards or just casually tossed under the porch. Only needed a shovel and shaker board to harvest all these coins. Coins were scraped from barely under the surface to about 2 1/2 feet down, all in an area about 3’ x 4’. Didn’t find any mason jars, stoneware, cloth remnants, cans, or other containers that might have held the coins at one time. Dates of the coins go from 1883 IHP to 1950's wheat pennies.

At first, I was thinking maybe it was a Depression era hoard because of the V nickels and IHP’s, but there’s not enough of them to really say that, plus the dates on the pennies (40s and 50s) kind of contradict that idea. Plus, as others have noted, there was no silver at all. Nothing over a nickel was dug out from under the porch. We have absolutely no idea who put it there or why. Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe, just maybe, the silver is somewhere else on the property??

Going through the coins, I haven’t found any key dates (THANKS for the list Coinshark!) yet, but I’m still looking!

Final thought – I’ll pay more attention to porches now. lol
 
Maybe they used the porch like a piggy bank and just dropped coins through the space between the boards? Definitely an incredible find though. Must’ve been fun finding all that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm a relic hunter but I just came across a huge coin stash appearing to be from the early 1900s to about 1960 or so (based on coin dates). Here's the count so far:
100 V nickels - 1900-1921
14 buffalo nickels - dates mostly worn off
9 IHP - from the late 1800s
200 wheat pennies (still counting but it looks like there's gonna be around 450-500 wheaties) - mostly from the 40s and 50s, but I did see a 1909

I am clueless as to what to do with all these coins!
Should I clean the dirt off of the pennies with water and a soft toothbrush?
Are they worth anything (other than their given value)?
Are there key dates I should be looking for?
I don't particularly want to keep them - do people/places buy these?

Thanks for the help!

Most wheat cents are worth just a few cents each unless they're a scarce or rare date. There are many price guides both in book form or online that can provide the info you'd need to identify any of them that might be of higher value.
Indians from the late 1800's, 1880-1899 are relatively common (retail about $2.00 each) but if they're in high grade they would be worth more.
Buffalo nickels with the date worn off are basically worth only face value.
You list the "V" nickels as dated 1900-1921. Is that a typo? These nickels were only minted until 1912.
The dates you mention are all common except if you have a 1912 with an "S" mint mark. Common dates retail from about $1.25 each and up depending on their grade.
In answer to your question.....yes, people buy them, both collectors and coin dealers. You can get more if you can find a buyer who's a collector because even an honest coin dealer will only give you wholesale when you sell.
 
Two things determine the value of what you have. Scarcity and condition. Dug coins have been damaged by the environment thereby decreasing their value.
 
Maybe they used the porch like a piggy bank and just dropped coins through the space between the boards? Definitely an incredible find though. Must’ve been fun finding all that.


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Maybe several decades of low stakes penny ante poker on the porch? or pitching pennies? This hoard might just be the ones that got away through the cracks...or that one time Aunt Edna stormed up the porch and kicked the table over during the Friday Night Game hollering, "Why are you idiots wasting your time?! Haven't you got anything better to do? This game will never mean ANYTHING TO ANYBODY!!!" Guess she was wrong.
 
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