Dig Or Buy

I do both. The coins I have dug are all modern clads and zinc with the exception of three badly corroded wheats. I place them in a jar so as to keep up with much more I have to dig before the detector is paid for. As for buying, I try to get most of mine from the banks at face or from pocket change. I get mostly halves and save the 64's and 40% to sell. I then use the profits to buy other stuff such as Morgan's and Peace dollars and some mint and proof sets from the pre 1964 era.

I buy all of mine. However, after reading BadThad's thread about cool finds from searching rolls of pennies, I'm just about tempted to go to the bank and order a couple hundred dollars worth of pennies to go through! I really have a weakness for high grade copper, but I like all other coins as well!

I have a dozen or so "Spanish pieces of eight" that I have found on shipwrecks but most of my coins have been either pulled out of circulation (I am that old) or purchased. I have found lots of "spending money" with my metal detector on land but other than junk silver no real keepers for the US collection.

I metal detect, but have yet to find silver or a copper or nickel coin that is older than 1945. So I would have to say for my collection I mostly buy. I'm from Michigan too, and it appears that fistfullofdirt is finding all the good stuff before I get there.

Fistfull, I would love to see some pictures of those finds....Where do you metal detect, private land with permission, public land, North.South, East or West

I started metal detecting in January. Addicting hobby! My most valuable finds have been some gold and platinum rings, but I've come across some old coins too. My oldest so far is a 1902 IHC, but my favorites are a 1906 V nickel and a 1907 Barber dime. Most of my finds have come from the beach so unfortunately the elements have taken their toll on them. I'm still learning how to clean them properly. For those who haven't done metal detecting and are horrified by the word cleaning, all I can say is once you see the condition some of these coins are in when they come out of the ground you'd agree that sometimes cleaning can increase a coins value!

By the way, a friend of a friend found an 1870CC Seated Liberty quarter while detecting last year. It was found in the desert, so it was still in decent shape!

For the most part I'd say that serious numismatists that metal detect still buy a lot of their coins. Metal detecting finds are usually in rough shape, or at the very least well circulated and of a lower grade (not always, but usually). Plus what you find is completely random. While it is possible to find a 1909S VDB LWC while detecting the chances are slim, so if you want to complete your Lincoln collection you'd better start saving for it (or sell some gold jewelry finds!). The best part of finding old coins while detecting isn't their monetary value, it is finding a coin that someone lost 50, 100, 200 years ago or more that is just now seeing the light of day.

This probably the most unique thing that I dug last year. It's called a "magic key chain", and I found it at a spot 8 miles from my home. I had to go back the next day (after I figured out what it was supposed to be) to recover 2 short pieces of the chain, which were still in the hole. The key was not with it. It was recovered from a depth of roughly 6 inches when the soil was very dry last summer. I almost had a heart attack, thinking I'd dug my first Seated Liberty quarter....and technically I did, but a US version would have been much more fun to dig.

Chance