Just bought a house built in 1872!! Should I build a proof set or mint set? Pics added!!

coinlieutenant

Very excited about our new home. 3600 square feet!!! Triple brick home, stone lined now. Five beds, three baths, 1.2 acres. Fireplace in every room!! Has an old milkhouse and an old smokehouse on the property and best of all was built in 1872. Looks like an old manor home. Will provide some pics later...

I am working on getting it included in the Illinois state and maybe even Federal historic registry and thought that it might be numismatically exciting to put a 1872 set together... Should I do proofs or business strikes??

Vr.,
John

Russ

Be sure and check inside the walls for coin stashes.

Russ, NCNE

coinlieutenant

I am most certainly going to do that!!!

RGL

Definitely time to fire up the metal detector, as well ... sounds great, congrats.

mdwoods

Old houses are neat. I hope you do find some old goodies hidden away.

Dollars

I have to ask, if you would not mind telling....

How much for such a fine property??

Sounds wonderful. I await pics (so does my lady)

TIA

CoinAddict

Sounds like a wonderful house. Congratulations on your purchase. Can't wait to see the pictures.

coinlieutenant

All,

Here are some attempted pics...

nwcs

Yeah, see what may be hiding in the house first.

dollardude

Wow, breathtaking home, thanks for the pictures!

I concur with the above suggestion to look for old coins. Back in those days, builders would sometimes place a coin of the date the house was built somewhere at the cornerstone location. I'd do a simple MS set in 1872.

WWW

Wow! What a cool looking old house that is. Congratulations John. I'd go with the proof set.

coinlieutenant

Here is a rendering of the house as it stood in 1894, when a biography was performed on prominent citizens of the time. I got this from the previous owner who got it from historical archives in the county.

nankraut

Beautiful old home. Now, don't be using any baking soda, cleanser, etc to clean up in there, It'll ruin the "patina".
BTW: if you can afford it, go for the proof set.

nankraut

Louis

KUCH

John, Congrats to you on such a beautiful estate purchase. Go with the business strike. Best of luck in your new home.

coinlieutenant

My thought was business strikes at first too but the almost all of the dates are keys or semi keys.

Penny, two cent, trime, quarter eagle, half eagle, eagle, double eagle....

Only 1500ish of 2.5-10$ minted...

Bochiman

I 3rd the notion to look for coins in the house but am glad John took some before pictures.
His next thread may very well show a house with missing cornerstones , torn up walls, etc as he gets the "fever".

John, if you need help on it, just ask...I am sure a bunch of forum members would help you look in the house.

Glad you got a house you like....would be nice to have some acreage, but here in the Seattle area, I can't afford it
You should maybe think about getting a metal detector as well and check out your new land to see if there were any holes in pockets back then

FatMan

What a beauty. I am green with envy.

JRocco

That is one beautiful house. Good luck and good health. Be sure to check around the chimney bases.

FrattLaw

I only wish they had homes like that in California. Here, if it's over 50 years old, they tear it down to build something bigger and more modern! No history whatsoever!

By the way, beautiful home. Just incredible! I almost bought a 1783 farm house with 10 acres that need total renovation when I still lived in NJ. I still wonder if it was saved or ripped down by some developer so a strip mall could be built.

Good-luck and I would do a proof set as well. Matter of fact I'd try to do an entire history on the house and display any old pictures/drawings that you come up with.

Michael

XpipedreamR

Why not do both?

coinlieutenant

Why not do both?

LOL, I am going to be hard pressed to do one in an entire lifetime...

John

tradedollarnut

If you're really, really nice I might let you hold it:

1872-CC Seated Dollar

coinlieutenant

Very awesome coin...

That is worth about as much as the house...

I do accept coins as housewarming gifts however... and I suppose that one would suffice...

airplanenut

Awesome house! As FrattLaw mentioned, we have some colonial estates near me... I LOVE driving by them (which was a problem when I was first learning to drive, and wanted to turn my head )

Now, do you have a room devoted just to coins yet?

tradedollarnut

I do accept coins as housewarming gifts however... and I suppose that one would suffice

For a magnificent house like that, you deserve something really special - like a slabbed clad state quarter!

Just kidding, I really do like that architecture - it's like a bust dollar.... classic, truly classic!

coinlieutenant

Maybe if we ever get it on the national historic registry Bruce, you can come out and put on display for historical purposes the coinage of 1872 during an open house to the public...

That would be most cool...

Nic

Do a mint/date set. The people who built the house could relate to such. Harder/more expensive than the proofs. Would be cool though, even in VF/XF. Nice property! K

slothman2000

My current residence was built in 1873. I have checked into all the Historical registries and such and it is a pain in the you know where. If the house was updated at all ( and believe me it should have been at one point) you may have to undo some of the things that were done to put it back into the original order. The good thing is that the Federal and most State Governments will give you a tax break on some of your work. Incidently, I have lived here 7 years and have extensivly metal detected and searched the nooks a crannies for anything worthwhile, to date nothing...a big fat zero...

RYK

John,

Congrats on the house. It looks like we will be neighbors soon!

RYK

WorldTypeSet

Just smash down the walls looking for coins. I'll bet you'll find a complete set of 1872's in there somewhere