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HUGE BACKYARD FIND

Started by sadysta1,

15 posts in this topic

Dry

Dry

Posted
Posted
Did anyone read the article in the May 2 issue of Coin World about the Mohawk River find?

 

Chris

 

Please share, I let my CW lapse.

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cpm9ball

cpm9ball

Posted
Posted
Did anyone read the article in the May 2 issue of Coin World about the Mohawk River find?

 

Chris

 

Please share, I let my CW lapse.

 

Here is the article, verbatim:

 

Mohawk River site yields coinage

Finds include O-115 variety, other 1807 half dollars

 

An old fort site along the Mohawk River in upstate New York is continuing to yield coins and historical artifacts more than four years after first being searched by two seasoned metal detectorists, says a collector representing the two.

 

The area was a location of military activity during the French and Indian Wars, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

 

To date, nearly 600 early U.S. coins have been found dated 1794 through 1838, with the bulk of the finds in Draped Bust and Capped Bust half dollars, with several 1795 Flowing Hair half dollars, and several Bust quarter dollars, according to a collector who belongs to the same metal detecting organization as the finders of the hoard. The same collector has been assisting the two metal detectorists in selling many of the coins over the online auction site eBay. The collector wishes to remain anonymous.

 

The finds also have included a number of Spanish Colonial silver coins, predominantly 2-real pieces.

 

Some rare varieties have been found among the coins recovered, including the third-known example of the Overton 115 variety of an 1807 Draped Bust half dollar (Al C. Overton's Early Half Dollar Varieties: 1794-1836). The metal detectorists have also found an example of an 1805 Draped Bust quarter dollar, Browning 5 variety (Early Quarter Dollars of the United States 1796-1838 by A.W. Browning) and an 1817/13 Capped Bust half dollar. All three of these pieces have been sold.

 

The two searching the site reportedly found seven 1807 half dollars, including the O-115. Two were sold without attribution, and attribution for the remaining four is undisclosed, according to the eBay seller.

 

The search site, whose exact location has not been disclosed because it is still being worked, has yielded 18 "caches" or groups of coins since late 2001. The latest was found under a rotted tree trunk that, when removed, produced a pocket of 30 to 40 half dollars, according to the eBay seller.

 

The seller states the two metal detectorists have permission to work the private property from its owner.

 

The two discoverers have sold several hundred of the coins privately, including at coin shows and flea markets in the states of New York and Florida. The collector assisting the finders has sold a large number individually over eBay.

 

The eBay seller said the best of the coins are yet to be offered, numbering almost 200, although he would not disclose specific dates, varieties or numbers found.

 

The eBay seller said approximately 200 of the first coins sold privately or at shows were without attribution by Overton variety for the half dollars and Browning varieties for the quarter dollars. The coins are now being attributed by an unidentified Bust coinage specialist whom the eBay seller reports is a member of the John Reich Collector Society and Bust Half Nut Club.

 

Unusual Markings

 

Perhaps the most unusual characteristic of most of the coins is the appearance of one of three different marks. The marks appear to have been intentionally impressed in the coins by one or more persons who buried the coins, according to the eBay seller. The marks appear either as a notch or chisel mark along the obverse rim between the 12 and 1 o'clock positions, a round punch in front of or in the obverse portrait of Liberty, or an oblong gouge in the field in front of the portrait. "The marks were somebody's signature," according to the eBay seller.

 

The eBay seller surmises that the marks were placed on the coins by whoever buried them so they could identify them if any of the marked coins were found in local commerce. If the marked coins began turning up in circulation, the owner would know that his cache or caches had been unearthed.

 

These marks prevented about 180 of the coins purchased by a New York dealer from being graded and encapsulated by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America because of "environmental damage," according to NGC Vice President Rick Montgomery.

 

The coins were submitted to NGC's affiliated company, Numismatic Conservation Services, by an authorized NGC dealer in New York.

 

NCS staff encapsulated the coins as "genuine" without any grade, and pedigreed with a holder insert to the area where the coins were found.

 

The way many of the coins were found together in stacks indicates it's likely the coins were buried in cloth bags that have rotted since they were entombed, according to the eBay seller. CW

 

Dry, there are two other articles in this issue relating to the hoard:

 

In one, it reports that the O-115 1807 Draped Bust half dollar was initially put up for auction on eBay, unattributed, on Jan. 1 but the seller ended the auction when he was advised of the possible rarity of the variety. The coin was also the subject of extensive discussion online in the U.S. Coin Forum on the Collectors Universe web site.

 

The second article indicates that some of the coins were sold to Mike Capawan, a New York dealer, and he has information on his web site at www.KeshequaCoins.com.

 

Chris

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etexmike

etexmike

Posted
Posted

I could never be that lucky.

 

I wouldn't find money buried in the backyard if it had a red X marking the spot.

 

Good for those guys.

 

-------------

 

etexmike

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papag

papag

Posted
Posted

Hi Guys

I don't have any verification but someone this morning told me he heard on the news that they arrested those guys. Don't know if its a rumor or not or the circumstances.

papag

Ken

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whoopig01

whoopig01

Posted
Posted

I think this story is a hoax. How could all those currency notes last any amountof time buried in a wooden box under two feet of earth without rotting to any degree that would not destroy the value of the note? I could believe it if it was just the coinage but not all of the notes as well. news.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gif

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midwest

midwest

Posted
Posted
I think this story is a hoax. How could all those currency notes last any amountof time buried in a wooden box under two feet of earth without rotting to any degree that would not destroy the value of the note? I could believe it if it was just the coinage but not all of the notes as well. news.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gif

 

news.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gifnews.gif why don't dont you read the story 893whatthe.gifboo.gif

 

It says they were found in cans inside the box 893whatthe.gif

 

I bet you kind of feel like these emoticons right now tonofbricks.gifforeheadslap.gifflamed.gif

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whoopig01

whoopig01

Posted
Posted

Most can that have spent anytime in the ground will pinhole at the least allowing water to get it. It does not say how the cans were sealed. I think it is a far fetched idea to believe that all those bills survived in the ground in a wooden box inside rusted cans and came out in any kind of tradeable form. It would have to be an extraordinary set of circumstances for it to happen.

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