Large Cents in Minnesota??

GavinoGambino

Full Member
Oct 14, 2014
120
177
Twin Cities
Detector(s) used
AT Pro
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
So the other day I was thinking about the idea that there could possibly be large cents to be found in MN. Obviously as we all know, MN became a state in 1858, basically right when the largies were replaced with the smaller cents, but I imagine they circulated for a while before disappearing completely. Not to mention, there were a couple thousand people living in the state before it was officially a state. Therefore, would have probably been carrying (possibly dropping) the coins with them in everyday life.

Wondering if anyone has actually found one in MN or has heard of anyone finding one? I personally would probably **** myself I i stumbled across one of these in MN :laughing7:
 

There's probably some around, but also probably "mostly" in the Twin Cities area. ...And how much of that is covered in asphalt and concrete now?? Yeah, I think I'd need clean drawers, too!! :laughing7:
 

I found with a DFX and the tone was lower than silver dime and i dug it anyway. Dig those low tones. I got an 18 k ring once and that sounded like a low tone and there was a bullet a couple inches away.
 

Wife and I went out in the yard yesterday. Hit upon a whole herd of signals! After a fence staple, a piece of fence wire and another part of a fence staple, we called it quite for the day. Seems whoever had this place in the past just tossed their junk steel anywhere they wished. Have yet to find a coin or anything worth brushing the dirt off of. ...Too bad we're 50 miles from town! :crybaby2:
 

I think someone carried it around and lost it a few years before i found it.
It was in to nice of condition to have been there very long and in sandy soil that i think helps.
 

I found an 1825 half cent the other day in the Minnesota metro area. I'll post pictures if you want.

Gave me an 83-84 signal on the AT Pro.
 

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You are kidding me? You had to have been near Fort Snelling id imagine? Or do you think it was a coin that someone had in their collection that just happened to drop it? Id love to see pictures!
 

All the years I detected in MN, I never found a LC. I finally found one in PA where they were obviously more prevalent.

Here's a post from me from 2016 describing how my brother found a LC in MN...

A couple of years ago, my younger brother got a summer job with the county parks department. He was assigned to do maintenance and clean-up of each of the parks. His first day on the job, he's raking the grounds next to a beach and finds an 1821 LC! He tells me where the park is and the approximate location where he found it. So I get to the park the next Saturday morning just at sun-up figuring I'll have the place to my self.

I pull into the parking lot and there's two cars there, I figure they are probably some fisherman. As I walk down to the beach area and turn on my detector, I hear some screaming even though I have on my headphones. I look out into the lake and here's two young couples skinny-dipping and racing out of the lake towards me. They yell, "We thought you were going to shock the lake"! I said "No, but you guys sure shocked me". Never quite got into my metal detecting zen mode that day.

Now my brother tells me about another park that I figure I'll try the next Saturday. I get there at sun-up and there's no cars in the parking lot this time. Perfect! As I walk down to the check-out the park I see there's a paved biking trail that surrounds the entire park and in the distance I see some people biking on the path. I turn on my detector and see that the bikers are approaching me. They are riding one of those tandem bikes and it's an older couple. Unfortunately, the couple is only wearing shoes and a smile. I just shake my head and start to think my detector must have some other bizarre function that draws these people to it.

Later that week, my brother talks about another park and I tell him there's no way I want to see what's going to happen there when I turn on my detector!
 

Contact the zumbro river metal detecting club in rochester, bunch of those members find them. Lilac bushes out in the middle of farm fields are often where old homestead once stood. may I attended a club meeting and they talked about one guy walking about a mile thru mud to the lilac bushes and found 3 old large cents.
 

Was reading through these old posts and saw this one... This also goes to show, it is possible to find some old coins, but I doubt any construction company will give you permission when they're excavating and tearing down some of these old buildings. I wish I was into MDing when the Lightrail was being built.
Happy Hunting!

MPLS coins 4-8-1918 by T Johnson, on Flickr
 

Coin001.jpgcoin002.jpg Found in Minnesota 1808 and 1842 Large Cent.
 

IMG_0205.JPGIMG_0362.JPGIMG_0363.JPGYes I hunt farm fields. But finding old targets like a large cent is more than just where you hunt. It’s also about taking the time to research the field. Find documents that show early occupation on that field. Then take the time to contact and get permission from the owner of that field and of course take the time to hunt that field. Fallow the square nails. Don’t notch them out. They’re telling you a story. Take the time to listen. I have four large cents in Minnesota. The 1849 with the 52 caliber bullet hole came from a field near the Iowa border and was the results of a year of research and 200 plus hours of swinging a coil.
 

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