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Two more nice 1798 cents found by my local dig buddy, Billy Ridenour
lordmarcovan
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Sorry for the image quality; these are scans, not photos.
As you can see, they're obviously dug coins, but despite the slight "environmental damage", they're pretty sweet for ground-found coppers, and were obviously high grade when lost.
My buddies have found a lot of very nice 1798 cents around here. Billy even got a sharp 1798/7 several years ago, which was the subject of a Coin World article. A contemporary counterfeit 1775 British halfpenny came out of the same hole.
Many of the other 1798s found here have been the Sheldon-166 variety, with the broken reverse die. I don't know what the Sheldon varieties on these are, but it appears the first is a Style 1 Hair and the second a Style 2?
I personally have dug only one Draped Bust cent so far, which is unfortunately an undateable, corroded slug. It was found near the edge of a salt marsh. But when these early coppers are lost in well-drained sandy soil like we have in many places here on the Georgia coast, they can come out quite nice.
Billy said these were found on Saint Simons Island, Georgia. At least one of them reportedly came from the site of the old Hampton Plantation, where Vice President Aaron Burr hid out after he killed Alexander Hamilton in their infamous 1804 duel. The Antigua-Charleston hurricane of September, 1804 struck the island while he was here. Later, a large live oak was cut on the property to produce the sternpost of the USS Constitution, who got her "Old Ironsides" nickname not from iron, but from St. Simons Island live oak timbers.
Who knows if Aaron Burr dropped one of these coins? It is certainly within the realm of possibility on such a historic site.
Both are shown as found, with little or no conservation done to them. (The scan of the obverse of the second coin came out rather dark.)
More of Billy's digging exploits:
October, 2011 (Spanish silver, cool artifacts, and a pristine 1798 S-166 cent)
February, 2012 (Another nice 1798 S-166 cent)
Spanish silver ingot (Found in 2013 on the island and sold for $5.1K in a Sedgwick auction!)
As you can see, they're obviously dug coins, but despite the slight "environmental damage", they're pretty sweet for ground-found coppers, and were obviously high grade when lost.
My buddies have found a lot of very nice 1798 cents around here. Billy even got a sharp 1798/7 several years ago, which was the subject of a Coin World article. A contemporary counterfeit 1775 British halfpenny came out of the same hole.
Many of the other 1798s found here have been the Sheldon-166 variety, with the broken reverse die. I don't know what the Sheldon varieties on these are, but it appears the first is a Style 1 Hair and the second a Style 2?
I personally have dug only one Draped Bust cent so far, which is unfortunately an undateable, corroded slug. It was found near the edge of a salt marsh. But when these early coppers are lost in well-drained sandy soil like we have in many places here on the Georgia coast, they can come out quite nice.
Billy said these were found on Saint Simons Island, Georgia. At least one of them reportedly came from the site of the old Hampton Plantation, where Vice President Aaron Burr hid out after he killed Alexander Hamilton in their infamous 1804 duel. The Antigua-Charleston hurricane of September, 1804 struck the island while he was here. Later, a large live oak was cut on the property to produce the sternpost of the USS Constitution, who got her "Old Ironsides" nickname not from iron, but from St. Simons Island live oak timbers.
Who knows if Aaron Burr dropped one of these coins? It is certainly within the realm of possibility on such a historic site.
Both are shown as found, with little or no conservation done to them. (The scan of the obverse of the second coin came out rather dark.)
More of Billy's digging exploits:
October, 2011 (Spanish silver, cool artifacts, and a pristine 1798 S-166 cent)
February, 2012 (Another nice 1798 S-166 cent)
Spanish silver ingot (Found in 2013 on the island and sold for $5.1K in a Sedgwick auction!)
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