| Author |
 Replies: 154 / Views: 23,852 |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
I think at least one story said they were coffee tins, search for images of "1800s coffee tin" shows a few that look similar.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
726 Posts |
Edited by persistnt
02/26/2014 5:10 pm
|
|
Valued Member
United States
425 Posts |
No, I don,t think these are coffee cans. Coffee comes in a larger can than any of those pictured, and unless I am way off on my history , coffee almost always was sold in the bean form in a sack. Pre ground coffee not really available until the turn of the century.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
167 Posts |
I am so jealous and envy this couple like most everyone else I'm sure.
Im thinking to myself why couldnt it have been me? haha
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
8137 Posts |
Time to dig out the old mining equipment!  *starts dusting things off*  Edited by CoinCollector2012
02/26/2014 7:36 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
@odentheviking - "1878 - Chase & Sanborn first firm to pack and ship brand name roasted coffee in sealed cans" http://www.slahs.org/antiqibles/tins/dating.htmI know you have a theory, but it appears there was a tremendous variety of tin cans in the 1880-1890s so whether or not it was actually coffee tins the coins were found in I don't know. Like I said earlier, it's a shame an archaeologist wasn't involved, but who can blame them. They seem to have done everything right so far except for the probable loss of context available at the site. I tend to focus on the "who was it and how did it get there" stuff, but I doubt we'll ever know. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
odentheviking: I live in a similar environment to the area where the cans were found. I commonly find old cans that I know are over 100 years old, either in the ground or on top of the ground.
I once found food cans buried upright inside the foundation of an old homestead. I assume there were in the old cellar. One of the cans I dug up, but the bottom came off while I pulled it out. What ever the food stuff that was originally in there was, it had all turned to a white powder. I spoke with a man who is 94 years old and who lived near by his entire life. He couldn't remember a time when there was a house at the spot.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
726 Posts |
nice pic ...coincollecer 2012....A coin collectors dream find for sure...almost too good to be true
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
odentheviking touched on what I was going to say. I ran this by my father, and the first thing he said was that they must have been buried within the last 50 years, because the cans would have long since rusted and disappeared.
But I'm thinking that if they were buried under the right environmental conditions, they might preserve longer.
But my father has a point. How can a can from 100 years ago not be dust by this point?
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
I think it was mentioned that we may never know the whole true story.
Like where the coins came from, who buried them and when.
To me, the coins seem like they were a collection. Like most collections they have many coins in different grades
and different years. Some rare .. and some common.
I remember a story of a family in Philadelphia, for generations they would go to the mint each year and
buy one of each denomination. From the early 1800's
until well into the 20th century.
Maybe something like that happened with these coins. One generation starting the collection, another filling in the missing years.
The coins could have been stored inside, until the 1930's.
Instead of turning them in, someone decided to bury them.
All just guesses ..
As for cans in the ground, hard to say why some rust and others don't.
When metal detecting in Northern Virginia, I have dug civil war buttons. Some were in very good shape, some would fall apart in your hand when I pulled them from the hole.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
 Tin resists corrosion, that's why it's used on cans. There's certainly significant deterioration on these. 80 years or 120 years worth? The "collector who buried in the 1930s" theory is certainly interesting and worth considering. There was an old beer can dump at a place in northern WI that dated to the 1930s, an area that gets significant moisture, and some of those cans were still in pretty good shape when I dug around as a kid in the early 70s. |
|
Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
Awesome find. One thing that is making me think these coins were put in the ground much later than the dates is the condition of the lids. How is it possible to remove the lids without them crumbling or breaking the can? I have found old cans and the lid was almost welded on. Even if the cans are old 120 years or so they could have be buried at a later date. very mysterious.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
After reading several news articles about the possible ties between the find and the mint thefts of 1901, I am a bit puzzled. I'm not an expert on mint practices of the 19th century, but Morgan dollars were bagged by year at the mint. Why would gold double eagles and eagles be "date" mixed-bagged with a date range between 1847-1894? If this is tied to the stolen hoard that was reported to be six bags of double eagles, wouldn't there be only a max of six dates found? Scratching my head on a 1901 theft containing 1847 double eagles. |
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
5324 Posts |
One would guess pcgs would have looked into the theft angles before special slabbing these coins.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
217 Posts |
Well, I am not really sure on mint procedure or how coins were distributed before the Federal Reserve Banks, but my understanding is that the mints had places where you could redeem gold certificates and the like (wasn't that the whole argument about how the 1933 double eagles may have gotten out?) and so maybe there were mixed bags as a result of that?
My original thought of theft was that is was a theft of a collection, again given the nature of the dates of the coins.
|
| |
Replies: 154 / Views: 23,852 |
First Page
Previous Page
Posted 02/26/2014 5:09 pm
This coupole was realy smart I think---They doted a few of there O's and T's before letting people know...Smart, lets hope the FBI or other take away the (Gold) coins--They can be very stong and intimidating...An interesting case for the researchers out there -The FBI made some coulple out for a walk on the beach area, and whanmo they found DB Coopers cash- they (Feds) got every last bill.....Paper Money collecters wanted those bills because the serial numbers were known....The metal detectors (People) should have held back 2 or 3 notes, but the FBI was very threatening to them.....Lets hope this couple hav the stones to stand up......I wonder if the Coin show people will also be able to say no to feds who want to confiscate the exibit...Time will tell if I am right...
