Quarters, nickels, dimes, pennies. As a detectorist I obviously find my fair share of clad coins. When I get home from detecting I put all of my clad in an empty cool whip container or an empty tub of butter with some warm water and swish it around and give it a good rinse. I drain all the water out. When the coins no longer have any loose dirt or debris on them and dump them out on a towel to dry. After that's all done I toss them into a big Rubbermaid tote in my closet where I leave them. My plan is one day get a big tumbler just to make sure they are clean enough to run threw a coin star type machine at my bank. But I don't want to cash them in for years. I would like to keep saving it all and one day make a new purchase. Probably a new detector or at least most of a new detector. Now... What I want to know from all of you here is what do you do with your clad change....? Cash it in as you get it, once a month, once a year?? Do you save it? I would like to hear all of the different things people do with their clad. Hopefully everyone throws their two cents in on this topic!!
Trevor
I've only been back to park hunting for a year and a half. Sell the clad back to the bank once a year (Jan.) $300+ first year $900+ the second , haven't exchanged any of the jewelry yet. I tumble it in the 3# harbor freight machine once or twice a month. I save the copper but dump the zincs at the Coinstar at Walmart when I get a small coffee can full which nets me about 10 bucks.
Good discusion topic. I have olny really found about three mason jars full of clad in the last four years. I am toying around with a few ideas for what to do with it all. I may get a peice of plywood and super glue the coins to it to make a mosaic of some sort that i would keep adding to or i might make a coin building. I deffennitly am not going to spend them unless i really need the money for something. Im curious as to what other people will say about this topic.
I normally wait until I have a hundred or two hundred bucks, then do the coinstar routine. I spend it on whatever. Extra money is always nice
Joe
I dont find much clad,but what I do gets thrown in the pocket change jar...kids keep robbing it.
I have a really nice Lortone tumbler I use. I do it about once a year when I'm bored. I usually end up spending it on gas when I screw up the bills lol
Without too much confession I reinvest in new equipment. If I'm finding enough clad to make fuel, batteries, new coils, diggers, and some on a new machine, well, I consider myself to be doing good. I have turned in my gold and near gold when the prices were up. I'm holding until another peak. The silver has a long way to go before I cash in and I'm setting aside a few items to keep, because they're milestones for me. The one thing I find about this hobby that I really like is the discovery. Clad, silver, gold, whatever. I'm mercenary to a degree but honest with myself and the finds. The clad is manna, the silver is a blessing and the gold is heaven. I keep swinging. I don't know what I'll find next. But I'll finance my hobby as I go, PA.
I save till the end of the year and then cash it in at the bank. Then I go to the local coin dealer and buy silver bars . I give to my son,daughter, and grandkids for Christmas gifts.All found clads turns into silver.