Cleaning a ship's hull in Galveston, I found a 1978 penny stuck in the growth

I was working a hull cleaning job on a container ship and my scraper hit something solid in the thick barnacle layer. It turned out to be a perfectly round, green penny from the year Jimmy Carter was president, fused into the shell of a big mussel. Has anyone else pulled up weird old coins or small objects from underwater jobs?

4 comments

4 Comments

william_harris3mo ago

Honestly that sounds like a total waste of time. You're just finding old trash, not some cool historical piece. It's a penny covered in ocean gunk, not a treasure chest.

the_keith3mo ago

Right? Totally with @william_harris on this. I pulled up a crusty old bottle cap once and got way too excited for a second. It's just junk.

dakotab933mo ago

Jimmy Carter? @william_harris that penny's older than me.

miles_hall1mo ago

Thing is, if it IS Jimmy Carter era that penny could be worth something someday if it's a rare error coin. Gunk or not, you don't know until you check the date and mint mark.