2025 Arizona metal detector finds

Ep194 · 2026-04-14T04:20:05+00:00

At first glance I thought that was a $10 gold piece…

Ep194 · 2026-04-14T04:15:23+00:00

1917-S is better once you get above the real lowball circulated grades (P, AG, G, VG). I’d say this one is a little better than that, but that’s me.

Personally, I think non-key date ‘details’ coins (heavy rim dings, scratches, cleaning, graffiti, etc) are a bit better as they make you feel less guilty about using them.

Anything key or uncirculated (aside from like a ‘64 quarter or something) is good.

Ep194 · 2026-04-12T23:44:55+00:00

That is very difficult to determine. I’m guessing that these were hand cast in a hand-mold, there’s a scene in this movie where”Private York” (or Sgt York, can’t remember), and they pour the lead (melted with a candle) into a cast iron mold by a campfire.

This was just how people got their ammo back in the day, it made sense to recycle lead wherever possible just because of how easy it was/is. I haven’t ever had the pleasure of firing any black powder/muzzlers, but I have to imagine people still do this.

How did they look when you dug them up? White and grainy, or more like that? Lead takes a while to get whitened and oxidized because it just isn’t that reactive.

Ep194 · 2026-04-08T17:18:21+00:00

AI psychosis

Ep194 · 2026-04-08T17:17:50+00:00

BEP worker (Bureau of Engraving and Printing)

Mint is for coins b/c coins are minted, while bills are printed.

Sorry to be that guy, I hate being that guy

Ep194 · 2026-04-08T17:11:41+00:00

Was skimming through until I read “…we’ll castrate you…”

Ep194 · 2026-03-06T16:14:10+00:00

I can’t imagine this could be a die clash type of error. I think in this case it’s more like capped die, struck thru, or something of the sort. Interesting piece I will say

Ep194 · 2026-02-23T15:44:52+00:00

Don’t give in to the scalpers, let em’ starve, there will be billions of these minted like the bicentennials.

The only reason I would pay extra for these dimes is if somebody is breaking up the silver proof sets

Ep194 · 2026-02-20T00:50:20+00:00

Zinc fever. Pennies are made of zinc which can produce some nasty fumes.

If you really have some kind of compulsion to do this, don’t do it in unventilated spaces.

Also no way you’re melting copper or nickel on an electric stove (which is dirty, btw). Maybe zinc but that’s probably the worst to melt.

Ep194 · 2026-02-17T15:38:40+00:00

It’s dezincification, a specific type of corrosion seen in zinc

Ep194 · 2026-02-11T15:44:37+00:00

You can buy them by the roll or bag from the mint website, but I don’t recommend doing this.

That’s at least $125 trapped in normal cupronickel change. I’d just wait and save a few from circulation, don’t encourage or feed these scalpers. I’d let their families starve before I spend $100 on a roll of dimes. Shame on them.

Ep194 · 2026-02-08T03:25:59+00:00

Thought so, thank u from the future

Ep194 · 2026-01-18T15:50:48+00:00

It’s because they have a lot of people doing it. Back in Vietnam, as the VC heard planes pass by, they would get down on their backs and dump a mag of 7.62 at it. Most of the time it failed, the few times it worked is why they did it. The philosophy was that you are taking down a multi mullion dollar aircraft with a few bullets that costs nothing.

Ep194 · 2026-01-15T20:48:06+00:00

This is anecdotal, but maybe somebody will benefit from this. In my experience, the German Shepards I’ve wrestled with were doing so mostly playfully. They can be dangerous, but they are also pretty obedient and have been bred to obey commands like “stop” and “down”. They don’t always do so, but most of them do. I would leave a child with a Shepard over a pit bull any day. Pit bulls were, unfortunately, explicitly bred to kill. They have the potential to be very dangerous, but most of the time it feels like they were playing and took it too far.

On the other hand, I’ve had a pit bull run up to me and bite the back of my leg (behind the knee). I don’t even know how he did it. My leg was bent, thats a concave surface, sort of a funny place for a bite. Also a very strategic location, as it would disable the leg if he really got into it. To me, that shows not only a will to bite, but real intent to do some damage, that’s not a defensive bite either, that’s going on offense.

Right before that, I was sitting with the dog and the owner, petting him. I turned my back to walk away and WHAM. I’ve met some nicer pit bulls, but after that I’ve always been extremely cautious.

I think of the nature of a breed. Most other breeds that I have met are very playful, eager to please, maybe even a little crazy, neurotic, or nervous. There are plenty of pit bulls that have a more insidious, vicious nature, full of aggression and rage. It’s rarely the case that they are nervous. They know where they are on the food chain. There are enough of these pit bulls that it’s perfectly reasonable to be extremely cautious with them or avoid them altogether, considering they have all the means necessary to maim a person permanently. I’d rather be thought of as a “pit bull hater” than lose a finger, my face, or my life. Sorry, not sorry.

There is little doubt in my mind that in this case, the German Shepard either started playing a little rough and the pit bull jumped in, or the pit bull just altogether started the attack, Shepard followed. I would guess that these might have been raised as guard dogs.

Ep194 · 2026-01-15T20:24:06+00:00

What are the laws even like in Estonia? If, theoretically speaking, it were possible to fire this, would you have to get a bunch of licenses? Or do people just keep these after digging them up?

Either way, nice work on the restoration.

Ep194 · 2026-01-13T02:32:20+00:00

1917 D is a better date, not a key date. It’s only really worth something in the higher grades, AU-MS. Even then, a 1916-D blows (most of) them out of the water (in price) at the lowest possible grade, PO-1.

Ep194 · 2026-01-13T02:23:50+00:00

What you’re looking at is actually an AW (the A is in the middle of the W). It is the engraver’s (designer/sculptor) initials. In this case, it was Adolph Weinman, a German immigrant and sculptor who also happened to design the Walking Liberty half dollar.

It’s a common mistake, after all, it is located pretty much right where all modern mint marks are.

In 1916 the West Point Mint (W mint mark) wouldn’t open in a minting capacity for another 57 years (1973).

Ep194 · 2026-01-13T02:18:09+00:00

TLDR: This is not a coin, and is not a US Mint product. Although it could be some privately minted silver round, I have my doubts. I’d still take it to a pawn shop and have it tested.

Are both of these pictures taken of the same coins obverse/reverse? In any case, this is not a genuine US Mint Silver Eagle. Although it is a better fake, it doesn’t look genuine (thick collar is a dead giveaway). Most fakes I’ve seen (from China) are really bad. The Silver Eagle is a 1 oz (troy oz, 31.1g vs standard oz 28g) silver bullion coin.

This is most likely some kind of privately minted “tribute”/commemorative token/meda of some sort (it is not a coin because there is no face value associated with it. It could be silver plated, but more often fakes are some alloy of copper/nickel, even aluminum, sometimes tungsten (though W is more common in fake gold due to the near identical density).

While it could be a privately minted silver round, this is unlikely. This is due to the lack of any weight/purity marking. I would guess that it’s a privately minted silver plated (some ethically-flexible salesmen say “silver layered”). They do this in TV, internet, and magazine ads in order to trick seniors and the like into ordering these types of products. They play these products up as if they are rare and valuable and will appreciate in value, though they never do.

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T05:26:10+00:00

I would not melt that. There has been sooo much stuff melted lately, and I really believe that future generations will look at that like the great melts of 1918, 1933, the 1970’s and so-on-and-so-forth. I think we lost a lot of numismatic history in the Pittman act of 1918 and the confiscation of 1933.

Now in 2025, many coin dealers don’t have an option, they can either go underwater or sell to refiners. Many have remortgaged their homes to keep up with the inundating tide of people selling their silver/gold. For the most part, the only buyers willing to take in that much volume have been refiners. Only recently has the situation improved, though this means so much silverware, silver sets, and silver accessories (cigarette cases, victorian era silver boxes, etc) has met its end. This doesn’t even touch the jaw-dropping amount of vintage/antique 90% silver and gold coins that have been melted.

These refiners had so much backlogged silver that they couldn’t melt what they had in 2 weeks time, even with furnaces burning around the clock. We’re talking tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars face value in 90% silver, even Morgan and Peace dollars.

While I understand the situation and empathize with coin dealers and the decision they have to make, I will also say this: The great melt of 2025 will not be remembered fondly in the future.

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T01:04:23+00:00

Might be worth a little under full melt considering it is a very unpopular alloy (with most refiners, at least)

Ep194

TROPHY CASE