Sniping silver

[lab rat]

Went out to a cobble wash without any tools at all, and found an interesting spot to dig in.? With nothing but my bare hands I dug up about 2 lbs. of sinkers, 2 brass screws, and 5 coins, including a silver quarter-- badly corroded.? I can just barely make out the head and part of one wing of the eagle on the back-- it was a Washington quarter.? Ugly as silver gets, but still silver!

The coin in the lower left is the remains of a clad Roosevelt dime, the other 3 coins were pennies.

 

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[lab rat]

Here's the other side of that quarter--

 

[bergie]

Excuse the dumb questiion, but what's a cobble wash?

 

[Leon]

Ugly is right, but like you say silver is silver...
I didn't think silver ever corroded that badly,,, what was the cause?, the salt water?
I would have probably seen that and threw it in with clad.

Still a good dig,,, you probably save that quarters life...

 

[lab rat]

Hi, Bergie-- 'Cobble' is a geological term reflecting the size range of loose rock material. The sequence is clay, silt, sand, gravel, pebble, cobble, boulder, and each term has a specific size range. 'Cobble' generally means stones between about 3" and 9" in diameter. In this particular case the cobbles are rounded by wave action from the sea, and at this specific site the surface sand has washed away, leaving behind larger stones and heavy metals. Hence 'cobble wash'.

The coins are badly corroded from being locked into a zone rich in chlorine (from the salt water) and sulfur (localized geologic sources)-- both of which attack silver. The thick coating on the quarter suggests it hasn't rolled around much due to friction in wave action-- a good sign for me as this means any heavies there aren't going to wash away between now and the time I can get back with some tools! If there is a gold doubloon around, this is where it would be.

 

[same4walls]

I have found over 160 silver coins in over 10 years of detecting. Found them in all kinds of soils and sands but never seen a silver look that bad. What is the date on it?

 

[Moonshadow]

I just made a post about my badly corroded silver rosies and one quarter. I definitely believe that it's the mineral content that affects the silver. Mine look just like yours. Some are green and crusty, some look rusty. That's how I can tell they are silver (plus the unmistakeable sound that they make). I will try to clean mine in the tumbler and let you know how they turn out.

HH, Moon

 

[downindixie]

I kind of do the same thing in the drainage ditchs locally.These ditchs are lined with large stones,in between these stones, the heavy metals that are washed down the ditch are deposited.I used a large screwdriver and break up the area between the stones and then seperate the coins from the bolts,nails,etc.
If the ditch doesn't have many areas that fit the above description,look for where it usually ends into a local creek,this area will be loaded with coins and jewelry.If it covered in water use a gold dredge.We did this in Birmingham,Al once and got nearly a gallon of coins,tokens and jewelry in about four hours.
Caution-beware of sharpe objects and used needles when doing this.

 

[lab rat]

Well, that picture says it all-- the date is as clear in the picture as it is on the coin. Your guess is as good as mine! I'll say it was a 1932 D... but it still wouldn't be worth more than about $.50, just for the silver content. BTW, I knew that quarter was silver by the edge, which was a solid gray color. Clad coins, even when corroded, usually show the copper stripe.

Went back there today and found another 2-3 lbs. of lead, a few more brass screws, and 2 more coins (nickel and penny, both corroded beyond use).