The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 39, September 29, 2002, Article 9

SUBSCRIBER PROFILE: JOE WOLFE

  New subscriber Joe Wolfe writes: "I have a slightly different
  interest than most of your members I am sure.  I have a hobby
  I am very serious about and do research on coin caches.  I am
  what people like to call a treasure hunter. I have a metal
  detector and go out and search for dropped or lost coins
  hoping to find a few valuable ones.

  First I research to find a good location and then go look.  I
  enjoy the research more.  Presently I am researching turnpikes
  here in Loudoun County, Virginia.  They started collecting tolls
  about 1795 and did so up to about 1925.   I hope the tolltakers
  dropped a few coins at the tollgates and that I can find where
  the tollgates sat.   I've searched about 10 sites already and
  found only a few coins:  a 1807 large cent, 1773 reale, and
  another large cent I could not see a date on.

  As it turns out roads were widened drastically from 1800 and
  most tollgate locations were destroyed unless the road was
  moved or a historical building existed at the tollgate and it
  was preserved.  Even with a building, surrounding ground was
  sometimes graded and dirt added to yards to make them
  attractive.

  The research is an education. Some of these tollgates operated
  for 50 years or more.  So there must be dropped coins in large
  numbers. Just to give you an idea,  the Little River Turnpike here
  in Virginia started around 1824 and in their best year collected
  about $20,000.00 at 6 tollgates. A lot of it was in pennies so
  many coins changed hands.  I also noted with enthusiasm that
  the tolls were often collected quarterly by the treasurer. My
  question now is where were the tolls kept until the treasurer
  took charge of them?

  Think of it as Active Numismatic Research - I research and
  then perform actions.    A magazine called Lost Treasure just
  published my first article.   I want to write my next article on
  tollgates. True, the articles are about treasure hunting but the
  research is often about coins and coin caches."

  [Joe may be reached at cachenut at hotmail.com -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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