9/18/18 Report - Detectorist Finds Gold and Pearls. Some Uncommon Beach Coin Finds.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Part 1500-year-old Cache Found by Detectorist.

In 2017, Terese Refsgaard was out with her metal detector in a field on the island of Hjarnø in Horsens Fjord and struck lucky.

In all, more than 32 pearls and pieces of gold have been found and the items are more than 1,500 years old, reports Politiken.

As well as the pearls, the items include pendants, a gold pin and pieces of gold cut up and used as currency...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://cphpost.dk/news/theres-gold-in-them-thar-hills-or-at-least-on-hjarno-island.html

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1927 Gold-Toned Quarter.

It is rare when you find a mint state coin on a beach, but it happens.

It isn't very often that you find a bullion coin either.  But that happens too.

When I started looking into coin collecting, I learned how important condition is to most coin collectors.  I knew it was important, but some coin collectors take it far beyond what I expected.  The slightest increase in condition, can multiply the value of a coin many times.

300 year old cobs or other very old historic coins don't have to be in excellent condition to have some value, but condition still counts.  A reale with a nice readable details is more valuable than a cob with little detail.  A discernable date is a big plus.

But what I wanted to talk about today are more modern coins, and especially those found on a beach.  Over the years I've found a few beach coins in excellent condition.  That is almost never the case if the coin has spent any time at all in salt water.  There are some very rare exceptions to that too.  I once found a coin in the water that was encased in plastic and none the worse for the experience.  Usually you see ugly black oxidation.

I have found a lot of silver coins, but the one shown above is the only one that has developed such bright gold toning.  I'm curious as to how that happened.

1977 Isle of Man Silver Jubilee One Crown.

Here is a coin that I found on a beach in my early days of detecting.  It is not a coin that ever circulated.  It is a commemorative coin.  Yet it was left on a beach, and I found it before it was badly damaged.  The melt value is about $12, but it one person said it would be MS 62.  You seldom find a mint state coin on the beach.

It has two scratches.  You can see them on the queen's shoulder.  I'm not absolutely sure but think I might have made the scratches when I dug it up.

In my opinion, coins in excellent condition are so rare on the beach, that a lot of care in recovery is usually a big waste of time - especially if you are in the wet sand or water.  However, on some rare occasions, you might regret any small amount of damage you might do.

Reverse of Same Silver Coin.

Here is another example of the type of coin I wasn't expecting to find on a eroded beach.  The condition is very good - estimated by some coin collectors to be EF to VF.

1966 Silver Spanish Coin.

This one fooled me when I dug it up.  It was on s remote beach where I would never expect to find anything like that. 

Below is what I first saw in my scoop.

Reverse of Same Coin.

I thought it was a fake Spanish coin.  No fake at all.  Not at all what I expected.  I just threw it my pocket and didn't pay much attention to it at all until I got home and looked at it better.

This one has a melt value of about $7.00, but the right one in MS 60 or above condition could bring five or six hundred dollars.

I wondered how and why it was left on the beach.

Those are two coins that I would not expect to find on a beach at all, especially in such good condition.

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There is nothing significant in the Atlantic, and the beaches are calm.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net