Coins Lost To Time, Nature, And Mankind

Coins can certainly be lost due to accident, particularly to drastic accidents. I recall particularly the ancient Judaean coin that the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon carried with him on the ill-fated final flight of the shuttle Columbia. I don't believe it was ever found amongst the recovered debris.

However, most coins that are "lost" are only lost temporarily. Coins are far more durable than we give them credit for. Unless they are actually destroyed by melting, they've got a pretty good chance of surviving until they are rediscovered. Coins buried in landslides, crushed under collapsed buildings in earthquakes, even coins lost overboard by ships can all one one day be found again. Finding them is an engineering problem, not a physics problem.

Of course, survival rates also depend on what the coins are made of. If the dinosaurs had struck gold coins, we would still be able to find them today, pretty much intact; our own gold coins would likewise survive indefinitely. Silver coins should also survive for millions of years in a recognizable form. Bronze and other base-metals, however, tend to turn back into the ores from which they came after just a few thousand years, even less if the conditions are more corrosive (such as seawater).

The final factor regarding survival is, of course, the nature of the civilization that re-discovers them - will they care enough about historic artifacts from a long-lost civilization enough to bother preserving them? I recall reading the story of a hoard of ancient Roman silver coins found by chance in Italy during the middle ages. The hoard was so huge, it took days for a team of men to empty the pot they were found in. Every single one of those coins was promptly melted down by the prince who owned the land they were found on, who used the silver to make a nice batch of his own coins.

The Chinese Cultural Revolution is one of the events that come to mind.

Back in the late 1950s when Chinese Communism started to gain a strong hold, there was a strong urge to get rid of bourgeois ideology and anything that didn't conform to Communism ideology. A lot of ancient texts were burnt, pots and pans were melted down to create useless pig iron and of course, coins were not spared.

That said, how about coins that were reused and overstruck as brand new coins? Would you classify those original coins as "lost"?

I wonder if that's a product of our culture and upbringing... failure is bad... must get straight A's in school... things must always be pristine and perfect....



Good point. And one only needs to look as far back as 9/11 to see the truth in that. 500k tons or so of rubble per tower crashed down on basement vaults yet we see "9/11" ASE's for sale all the time. Part of me would like to own a piece of history like that, especially since it ties in to my hobby... but not if it lines someone's pockets.

There was a post some time ago about all the things people do to and with coins. And in many instances with little regard to dates, mint marks, condition, etc. I can only imagine how many 1909S VDB Lincolns were melted down for Copper. Or thrown into ponds, pools, lakes, rivers, etc. And that is only one coin to think about. Picture how many Silver coins are melted every day to make other things with. And again with no thoughts to dates, mint marks or condition.
In that post about all the things people do to coins it was amazing that there are any coins left at all.
Why I remember melting an entire roll of 1913 Liberty Head Nickels thinking they were Silver.

That reminds me of a quote from the Bible:
Matthew 6:19-20: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For me, it puts into perspective the true "value" of my collection. It's all transitory.

That has probably claimed thousands of noteworthy coins over the years.