How Many SINGLE Gold Coins Found In The US?

[Michigan Badger]

I doubt that there's been more than 100 single drop US gold coins ever found with a detector in this country.

Most gold coin finds were probably part of a cache.

I've been at this game for 37 years and I've tried my best to follow the reports and to date I've personally only heard of about 10 or 12 single coin digs and about 6 of these were claimed here.

Question: Has anyone out there ever tried to follow this? How many gold coins would you guess have been found by detectorists while hunting the lower 48 states?

Venture a guess even if you've never followed the reports.

 

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[Jeffro]

I would guess a little higher, but not by TOO much. Reason being, I know of a club up in Portland that boasts of their memebrs over the years finding six gold coins, and thats just one club. They've been around awhile and the less reputable seem to peter out after a few years.

I would guess that we really do not hear too much about the gold coin finds until recently- just the last ten years or so, with the popularity of the internet. Before then how many really went through the effort to report their finds to the treasure mags? I would guess maybe one in 5 or 10?

So maybe a little higher, after all personal metal detectors have been around for quite awhile now.

No matter what, a gold coin is sure a rare find. Back then I wouldn't carry one around to get lost, and if I did lose one, I would sure look hard for it! I imagine not too many were ever lost in the first place.

 

[omnicognic]

I have heard 3 credible and 1 I witnessed making 4, but of those only 2 were "U.S." coins so to meet the criteria of the question, I would guess over a hundred SINGLE U.S coin finds but not many over a hundred. Now speaking of U.S. gold coins in mutiple finds in one location (cache) I would have to say thousands, quite a few of I know about personally...

 

[Michigan Badger]

Good posts, thanks.

I would venture that drunkenness or some accident like a horse throwing would account for some lost gold coins. Also there's the child who gets into his father's drawer and borrows a gold coin for his outdoor sand pit play area.

I definitely think many excellent finds are the result of some child burying his little secret treasure. When I was a kid I did this many times with change and toys.