Please teach us about our find! Early 1900s coins.
Oldfarmhouse
Posts: 5 ✭
Hi, I created an account in the hopes someone could tell me about the 3 coins we found while renovating our house. Middle is a Standing Liberty I think? It has no date and the hardest to research.
I don't know where to start... I don't have a trained eye and they all look alike to me. We are not interested in selling them, just trying to get information to document with the history of our home.
The house was built around 1909 and the coins were found under the original built in china cabinet (don't worry, we saved the cabinet but it had to be moved to another room).
I'm also assuming it would be bad to clean them for a better photo? Any tips would be appreciated! We are documenting everything to make a project book.
Thank you!
3
Answers
Welcome to the forum and please post the pictures
I tried! They ended up as a comment that needs to be approved. Clearly I'm terrible at this... ugh. Thank you for responding.
I figured it out. Kinda stumbled through this first post... pictures now attached to the original post.
Unfortunately the coins you posted have almost no numismatic value beyound their melt value as silver. They are in very rough shape and would be only fillers for most collectors.
Yes, I don't want to sell them or melt them. We want to learn about them.
There is very little we've found in the house (and we've seen about every inch there is). I want to make a little write up to be displayed with them. It's helpful to know they aren't valuable. Now I don't have to worry about displaying them.
Does that mean it would be ok to clean them?
Top; barber quarter; minted from 1892-1916;
2nd quarter; standing liberty quarter, type 2a (date on pedestal) minted from 1916-1930 (type 2a from 1917-1924)
3rd; mercury dime, minted from 1916-1945.
They were not put there when the house was built. Later dates. Why someone put them there or perhaps they just happened to roll behind (or under) over the years nobody knows. As mentioned they were coins that were being used in everyday commerce and are normal silver coins. They do have value as a silver coin (check coinflation for that) but not so much as collectable coins.
bob
PS welcome
Keep them as part of your Oldfarmhouse story book....
You can clean them if you'd like, but to most of us here the idea is abhorrent. Cleaning has ruined many nice collectible (valuable) coins. While your coins aren't valuable beyond their silver content, most of us would prefer to see them grime and all, with all of that as simply a tribute to their journeys and usefulness in commerce.
For more information on the coins, I'd refer you to either the RedBook (available at your library, undoubtedly) or to CoinFacts an Internet site managed by our hosts. www.pcgscoinfacts.com
Be careful. Many current collectors were infected by the collecting "bug" when they found something similar. The link to the past is very fun.
Leave them as is! Do what Paradise suggested. Put them in a small frame, box, or Riker mount display case, and show them off as a history of the house.
Welcome. Below are some links that will give you some information about each coin.
Hope this helps. Donato
pcgscoinfacts.com/Hierarchy.aspx?c=716&title=Barber+Quarter
pcgscoinfacts.com/Hierarchy.aspx?c=111&title=Standing+Liberty+Quarter
pcgscoinfacts.com/Hierarchy.aspx?c=703&title=Mercury+Dime
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
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The dates don't add up. The dime looks like a 41. Could not have been there in 1909. Mercury dimes weren't minted until 1916. The quarter has the same problem. Must have rolled or been swept under there.
Leave them as is and welcome to the jungle.
Don’t clean them! Leave them how they are. They’ll stay nicer that way.
I would suggest going to a library and looking at a copy of A Guide Book of United States Coins.
Yes welcome and they look like they where in a fire at one time, Yup in a fire maybe a they kept them as a keepsake.
Hoard the keys.
Get a metal detector and check the yard for a 1913 nickel.
put them back under the cabinet.
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
@Oldfarmhouse .....Welcome aboard... Nice old coins and a great find in your house. I would keep them 'as is' and mount them in a small display case with the story of how and where you found them. Cheers, RickO
This reminds me of the commercial where a person asks their neighbor if they know a good roofer and the neighbor replies yes and the person asking says ok can you do the research on them and get me three different quotes and have them here by Friday.
Please do my research on these coins and let me know everything about them. I'll be back tomorrow with half a dozen more for ya.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
Nice finds, try soaking the coins in distilled water for a week or more to see if any soil falls away. Do not rub the coins. Pat with a qtip. Also try soaking them in mineral oil or olive oil, this might also loosen some of the ground debris. Pat with qtip. Enjoy them and the history of U.S.currency. Peace Roy
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Since they are common not high value coins try the following
Soak they in mild dish soapy water for an hour or so
Then rinse them in hot water and pat dry
MD around the house.
Interesting finds. They appear to have survived a fire and not much will improve their appearance.
Show them off.
Lance.
Keep them, nice story behind it !!!
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Hard to say if they might have been lost at the same time or individually. Exactly where they were found may give you a clue as to this question. We can say that they look like they have spent some time together.
The black blotchy spots indicate that the coins have been stored together for a long period of time and is typical of coins kept in drawers or stored in contact with wood. Much of it is toning (tarnish), along with some possible corrosion or foreign material. Better to keep them "as found" as you can always clean them but once cleaned they can be uncleaned.
It looks like the Standing Liberty Quarter might have a digit or two of the date visible at the very bottom. The coin doesn't have much wear but the date is on a high point and tends to wear off quickly on coins dated 1924 and earlier. In From 1925-30 the date was lowered so that it wouldn't wear off so quickly. It also appears the have a "D" mintmark, indicating that it was made at Denver. Can you make out enough of the date to see what it is?
The wear on the 1941 dime suggests that it circulated for a few years and maybe was lost late 1940s-50s. A few very worn Barber quarters were still in circulation, and this may have been put aside around then as something unusual. Standing Liberty Quarters were also circulating widely in the 1930s and well into the 1940s, so 1940s-50s seems to be a decent guess as to when these coins might have been lost.