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Very Lucky Day Today
hyf88
Posts: 294 ✭✭✭
Well, it has been about two months since I have been able to get out and do any detecting, but today our office closed at noon so I decided to get a little exercise and just run the detector out behind my house. There is about 25 acres of undeveloped land with a spot where an old house was supposed to be, and before that I understand there was farmland back in the 1800's. Still haven't found the house lot but think I've found the farmland. No hardwood, just pine trees for about an acre which tells me it was clear cut at some point in time.
Anyway I have hunted back here several times and have only found two 1960 Lincolns. Today I found two lincolns almost immediately, a 1978 and a 1979. Then after not getting a signal for nearly 10 minutes, I got a solid quarter signal on my little Bounty Hunter. It said 4 inches down and when I dug in, what looked like a coin popped right out in the shovelful of soil. It was about the size of a half dollar and looked like it had been down there for quite a while, the dirt wouldn't come off for me to see what it was. So into my pocket it went with the Lincolns. The mosquitoes were getting bad so I decided to head back and see exactly what this thing was.
After rinsing it off with a little soap and water I can barely make out that it is a Draped Bust large cent! Of course I can't make out the date - yet - but it looks like the 1800-1808 type. Either way it is far and away the oldest coin I've ever found and you can bet I'm going back out this weekend to see if she has any sisters out there. Since I know this thread is useless without pictures, here's a scan of the coin. You can barely make anything out of it but under a light you see the wreath on the back and the portrai on the obverse. I'm going to try the potato trick tonight to see if I can get a date off it. My apologies for the long story and big pictures - just had to share it!
Anyway I have hunted back here several times and have only found two 1960 Lincolns. Today I found two lincolns almost immediately, a 1978 and a 1979. Then after not getting a signal for nearly 10 minutes, I got a solid quarter signal on my little Bounty Hunter. It said 4 inches down and when I dug in, what looked like a coin popped right out in the shovelful of soil. It was about the size of a half dollar and looked like it had been down there for quite a while, the dirt wouldn't come off for me to see what it was. So into my pocket it went with the Lincolns. The mosquitoes were getting bad so I decided to head back and see exactly what this thing was.
After rinsing it off with a little soap and water I can barely make out that it is a Draped Bust large cent! Of course I can't make out the date - yet - but it looks like the 1800-1808 type. Either way it is far and away the oldest coin I've ever found and you can bet I'm going back out this weekend to see if she has any sisters out there. Since I know this thread is useless without pictures, here's a scan of the coin. You can barely make anything out of it but under a light you see the wreath on the back and the portrai on the obverse. I'm going to try the potato trick tonight to see if I can get a date off it. My apologies for the long story and big pictures - just had to share it!
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Thanks!
RAH1959
PS...Great find!
<< <i>After rinsing it off with a little soap and water I can barely make out that it is a Draped Bust large cent! Of course I can't make out the date - yet - but it looks like the 1800-1808 type. >>
Draped Bust large cents were minted from 1796-1807. You're thinking of the half cents.
VERY intriguing find! My first large cent was a Draped Bust. You could see the hairbow and LIBERTY on it when I dug it, though it was sorely corroded. The type was identifiable. Then, in an attempt to see the date on it, I accidentally ruined it while trying to clean it with electrolysis.
Be careful! Mine is now a featureless slug that looks worse than your "as-is" picture above!
I'm excited for you, even if you never coax a date off of it.
Soak that puppy in olive or mineral oil and go slow and easy with cleaning it.
Way to go!
It might not ever look like much, but that is a fascinating find!
Rah1959, the potato trick is simply to cut a slit in a potato and slide the coin in and let is sit overnight. Hopefully some of the gunk will come off and the details will be a bit sharper.
Can you guys suggest where I can get some mineral oil? Is it something I can get at Lowe's? Thanks.
Such a bummer that the harsh New England winters appear to have taken such a toll on her. Now if whoever owned it just happened to have dropped a half-eagle as well.....
What if you took some very fine grained sandpaper (like you'd use to prep auto paint for a final coat) and sanded down the area where the date would be very smooth. Then, try acid etching that area of the coin to see if you could get a date to rise - basically the same thing that crime lab folks would do to bring out a filed down serial number on a gun. You'd probably ruin the eye-appeal of the coin, but you might just find that date.
Your mileage may vary, see what others think, etc.,etc.
<< <i>I have used this method before with good results. Hydrogen Peroxide >>
Interesting method... I didn't know about it