Anyone ever find any California gold coins or tokens?

[Gimmie The Loot]

Anyone ever found any of the old gold rush coins or tokens? I would love to hear some stories!

 

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[Mackaydon]

Many years ago (back in the 60s?) there was a member of the California Wreck Divers Club who would periodically go to Baja California and find one dollar Calif. gold rush era (Liberty Head and Indian Princess Head) gold coins on a wreck; he filled albums with them and would bring them to club meetings and share his tale of how he'd venture out to this particular area (on the 'outside' of Baja) and pry out these coins with a screwdriver from between the deck planks. I have no doubt that if the club survives, so do his stories still circulate within the club--to the point of being legend.
Don.......

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I know of 4 "private mint" CA gold coins that have been found. I'm sure there's been a few more, but just thinking of those 3 off the top of my head. 2 of them were guys I know: 1 was found by Jim Owens, in Monterey, CA, during the winter beach storms of 1982:

1) A $5 Schultz gold piece. Turns out, it was only 1 of less than I think 10 or 12 (?) known to exist. He sent it to auction the following year (1983) and it fetched $45k, if my memory serves me right. That was a LOT of money in 1983 (you could probably still buy a house around here for that price, back then Heck, I wouldn't argue with $45k even now, ~30 yrs. later

2) There were two "Moffat" gold coins found in a park scrape/renovation work, in an old town park north of SF (Santa Rosa, if I recall). That was about 12 yrs. ago.

3) There was a private mint gold coin found on a mud-flat beach, where demolition spoils had been dumped over the years, on a beach inside SF bay, near SF airport Brisbane area. Not sure exactly what coin it was, or exactly which beach in that area.

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

Nice stories guys! Glad that they exist. I'll be moving to LA in 1 month and can't wait for my first excursion to an old camp site. Might just start at the beach since I will be looking for an apartment in Santa Monica. Anyone else close to SM?

 

[Mackaydon]

You can spend a lifetime MD-ing between north of the SM pier to south of the Venice pier. You can also spend a fortune renting in SM close to the beach. If you're price conscious, you might look closer to the 405 or south of Olympic Blvd.
Don....

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

Price of my apartment will be dependent on how much gold I can find!

 

[tyeechinook]

I found one! 1858 little smaller than a dime. Liberty head on the front, 1/2 printed on back with a bear. Found it in the carpet of my grandmas house when I was 10. She said finders keepers. Anyone have any idea how much it's worth?