1liquigirl
Sr. Member
Gambling in Atlantic City is a thing of the past. You'll make out better on the shoreline. I run with a Garrett Ace 250 and came back with this and a few pieces that I think are bayonets, various sand pennies and the mouth of an 1800's amber brown whiskey bottle. It stormed with thunder and lightning the night before, and the surf was really pounding. The beach opened at 6AM and out I went. I turned the stone over and there it was, a chain and a shiny silver coin sticking right out at me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and after the shock wore off, you should have heard me whooping it up. I put it in my bag with the shells I had been collecting prior. I didn't care at that point about breaking any of them, to me I don't think I'll ever find anything better. About a minute after I put it in my bag, an ATV cop went by me, and I ecstatically said "Hi" to him. It was probably pretty out of place, but I couldn't help it. I held onto that bag like my life depended on it all the way back to the hotel room, to show my sleeping partner the treasure I had truly found. I wonder how long it takes to embed coins and chains in to sandstone? More than 30 years, I'm sure. We didn't head straight home, we went to a friend of ours that owns a stones and gems shop. He'd never seen anything like this before. He told us that as is, we are looking at a value of at least $400. We plan to get the stone X-rayed at some random dentist's office to see if there may be a pendant or even a gem on the chain and if we're lucky, there may be more coins. There is an indent in the rock underneath the area that the coin is showing that could have held another coin, it is completely round and about the size of a dime. There's alot of MDing that goes on along the shores of Atlantic City and alot of iron content out there, so I bet this stone could possibly have been overlooked by others more than once. I want to get all of the sand removed that is concreted on this coin, but I'm afraid to hurt it in any way. I carefully removed some of the grains of sand with a razor blade and I am sure I didn't scratch it. It is just enough to see that some letters are still present, but not enough to identify them. I refuse to do anything more to it. I trust someone out there can get it clean. The chain located in the top left of the stone in picture one and on my finger in picture four is handmade, the ends of each link are wrapped over the next loop. It is non magnetic, but has been tested for 14 ct gold and dissolved right away at our local jewelry store, so it's more likely to be bronze. A few more links are showing on the other side of the stone from where it hangs out on the other, so most of the chain could be wrapped up inside the stone. The coin is smaller than a dime, about 16.6 millimeters in diameter and thinner than a dime. I live in Central Pennsylvania and I doubt there is anyone around here that could identify this coin, it it thinner and smaller than an American Dime.
Update: For the latest info on where we are at in research and IDing this coin, and it's continuing story, check out my post of the same title under Today's Finds. It's been pretty popular, and I'm proud to call you all my friends. I will continue to check this post for possible IDs and suggestions. Thanks to all.
Update: For the latest info on where we are at in research and IDing this coin, and it's continuing story, check out my post of the same title under Today's Finds. It's been pretty popular, and I'm proud to call you all my friends. I will continue to check this post for possible IDs and suggestions. Thanks to all.
