Coin Finds: Amazing Finds From Surprising Places

Send your "Coin Finds" to numismatics@aimmedia.com and we'll get them in.

Please include your name, city and state. Names and addresses will be withheld from publication upon request. The editor reserves the right to to edit for content, style and length.

After reading On the Scene by Clifford Mishler in the January 19, 2021 edition of Numismatic News, I too have found two Jefferson nickels dated 1963D and 1964D in AU or better condition in change. One was received from a fast food restaurant in Brownsburg, IN and the other from a Sunoco service station, in the town of Lizton IN where I live, found just earlier this month. It always pays to check your change, especially if you’re a coin collector.

Steve Little
Lizton, IN

I came across a 1975 Washington Quarter and it's not in the red book. Now what's up with that?

Ken Jackson
Madison WI

I am age 78 and was interested in old coins as a boy but it did not lead into a hobby at the time. As a boy I routinely saw Mercury & Roosevelt dimes, Standing Liberty & Washington quarters, plus Liberty Walking & Franklin halves. As a young teen I received a very worn Liberty Head nickel dated in the 1900s. As a young US Navy sailor, I received my first Kennedy half in December 1964. In early 1962 my Greyhound bus stopped in St. George, Utah for breakfast; I walked out with two worn Morgan dollars in change. In 1965 I brought home coins and currency from in-port visits to the Republic of the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan. In 1968, in my home state of Iowa, I received in change a very worn half dollar dated about 1913; at the time I did not know that collectors call it a Barber half.

My official beginning as a coin collector was in 1970 at age 27; it started with my collecting Lincoln cents from circulation. I quickly graduated from bank rolls to bank bags; usually two $50 bags a week purchased each Friday: payday. The following are some results of that activity practiced for perhaps four years. My long-term average of wheat-backs was approximately 300 wheats, in each bag of 5000 coins. Stated in another way; about 6% wheats.

My biggest find was a 1909-S Lincoln in strict VF. I felt like I had found a small fortune as the retail value was approximately $30. I think the only two date/mint combinations I did not find were a 1909-S VDB and a 1914-D. I found two blank planchets with the brightness of a recently minted cent. I do not remember finding any other mint errors. There were rather numerous 1943 steel specimens. I rapidly realized I needed tubes for most date/mint combinations. I eventually advertised to sell some of my cents; a coin dealer, who had been burglarized, responded and bought many of them.

While I was living in Portland, OR I found numerous Canadian cents. One bag had an unusually high number of them. Also, because of my location I found many “S” mints. I have a full bank roll of uncirculated 1970-S cents obtained almost fifty-one years ago.

In addition, there were a few other foreign coins that somehow made it through the sorting machines. One time a bag held a very large number of mutilated cents; it seemed as if one person must have accumulated them and then turned them into the bank as part of a lot. A few dimes slipped through with the cents also.

Maurice Wadle
Coralville IA

When I search rolls, I tend to get small amounts which has me get limited and uneven results since I began coin roll hunting the Spring of 2019. I pursue mainly quarters, half dollars, and dollar coins. In my search, only once was I able to get a roll of half dollars. When I first started I got a few 90% silver coins once in a great while but since October 2019 I have had no luck finding 90% and 40% silver coins. Possibly, more people have discovered the fun of coin roll hunting!

My top finds since Spring 2019 till now have been: a) 1929 Standing Liberty Quarter in Good condition and date showing, b) a F - VF condition 1963-D Franklin Half Dollar , d) 2009 Sacagawea Dollar with Missing Edge Lettering in EF condition, e) 2005 Satin finish Sac Dollar in low MS state and e) 1917-D Lincoln cent in the slot of a change machine! The Lincoln cent was in AG-3 condition but still quite a surprise.

Name and address withheld

Found this 1828 large cent in a corn field along with a 1848 and 1852 large cents near Fairmount Indiana near where James Dean was raised.

John Clevenger
Gas City, Indiana

I recently obtained in change a lightly circulated Washington quarter showing two obverse sides: one dated 1986 and the other 1988. As a coin collector for over 30 years, I never saw a coin like it.

Dr. Frank Krause, DDS, MS
Cranford NJ