first post, long story, metal detectors, and a bust dime... whew.
elmeister
Posts: 117 ✭✭
Hi all,
first official post here... very informative forum for this relative newbie... i've gotten bitten by the collecting bug pretty recently via a friend... he was going through "grandpa's nickels" and that reminded me that I also had a hoard of coins my grandfather set aside... all silver... mostly bullion but a nice assortment of morgans, circ. walkers/franklins, circ. mercs, and unc/proof sets from 1955-1964... plus about 8 or 9 rolls of silver quarters and 5 or 6 rolls of silver dimes... past few nights i've spent cherrypicking the silver and came up w/ a few DDR 1964 dimes and a Type C 1964-D washington in an AU55-58 plus a handful of type B reverses.... cool to find interesting pieces in otherwise bulk silver...
so what has me posting here is a story... in 2003 my father passed away due to cancer at a fairly young age (53) a few weeks before I graduated college... now, my father was sick for a number of years battling the disease and during the good times, he spent his time doing many of the things he wanted to do during his life but never had the time... he was an elementary principal, had recently finished his Ph.D program and was always busy w/ family stuff... unfortunately, he got sick almost as soon as I was out of the house to college when his free time was finally opening up...
he was very involved in collecting indian artifacts for years and hunting the fields in SE Pennsylvania looking for his next find... his interest in artifacts led him to researching indian encampments... this grew into relic hunting and searching for early American settlements/camps throughout the history rich area that we live in... so along came a fleet of metal detectors and many busy days hiking and searching for something... most of what was found was rusty metal w/ little historical value... the occasional musket ball or old button kept him busy...
so I remembered one time when I was home from school he was telling how he had finally found something of interest... it was an "old dime"... he was searching along a canal (or abandoned canal.... i can't remember) near our home in Berks County, PA and he dug up this little treasure... it was prominently displayed in a cardboard flip among his other random finds... not being terribly interested in coins at the time, i probably remarked that it was cool and moved on... but luckily i did remember him finding it in the first place...
so fast forward a few years... after my father passed, my mother moved into a new house and packed up his study and artifacts... all in all, there are about 7 or 8 boxes full of arrowheads, ax heads, etc... stashed in her basement... there they sat for years and years... when my newfound interest in coins popped up, i remembered the "old dime" my dad found metal detecting a few years back... digging through the boxes of stuff turned up nothing... i literally ripped my mom's house apart trying to find the box I knew the dime was in... frustrated I quit and assumed it was lost... tonight while I was at her house, I decided to give it one last look.. while in the basement I found a new box hidden under a pile of Christmas decorations... as soon as i opened it I saw a small tray of coins... i knew I had finally found it... not quite remembering what the coin was, i eagerly pulled it out and held it up to the light... a 1835 capped bust dime...
OK... now it's not MS but considering it was dug out of the ground after sitting there for 150 years i'd say it's not too bad! sure there are some scratches and rim damage.. and i have NO idea what the black line is on her face (it sounds cliche but it doesn't look as bad in hand... the pics amplify it quite a bit) but in the end it's an cool old coin, found by my dad doing something he loved, within the last years of his life... he'd be happy i was so excited to find it today after all my time searching... hell, if he were alive today i know he'd be right here w/ me getting all obsessed over old coins... i know it would have been the natural progression of his interests...
so into PCGS or NGC it it will go... no, it probably won't get graded due to condition issues but i don't care... i recently started a certified mid/high grade typeset and have added some nice pieces to it already... my plans are that it will be a slow growing set done "right" w/ carefully selected coins in the best condition I can afford... i'll be 30 in a few weeks and hopefully will have time to grow it into a fine collection of pieces... in the end, i know there will be some high value coins in it but my 1835 capped bust dime will be the most valuable coin in the set to me.... the only one i could never sell...
here's pics using my old point and shoot... my macro lens and tripod are being borrowed by a friend for the week.. go figure... any help on condition/variety is appreciated!
oh, thanks for listening... sorry for being long winded but I enjoyed telling the story...
-matt
first official post here... very informative forum for this relative newbie... i've gotten bitten by the collecting bug pretty recently via a friend... he was going through "grandpa's nickels" and that reminded me that I also had a hoard of coins my grandfather set aside... all silver... mostly bullion but a nice assortment of morgans, circ. walkers/franklins, circ. mercs, and unc/proof sets from 1955-1964... plus about 8 or 9 rolls of silver quarters and 5 or 6 rolls of silver dimes... past few nights i've spent cherrypicking the silver and came up w/ a few DDR 1964 dimes and a Type C 1964-D washington in an AU55-58 plus a handful of type B reverses.... cool to find interesting pieces in otherwise bulk silver...
so what has me posting here is a story... in 2003 my father passed away due to cancer at a fairly young age (53) a few weeks before I graduated college... now, my father was sick for a number of years battling the disease and during the good times, he spent his time doing many of the things he wanted to do during his life but never had the time... he was an elementary principal, had recently finished his Ph.D program and was always busy w/ family stuff... unfortunately, he got sick almost as soon as I was out of the house to college when his free time was finally opening up...
he was very involved in collecting indian artifacts for years and hunting the fields in SE Pennsylvania looking for his next find... his interest in artifacts led him to researching indian encampments... this grew into relic hunting and searching for early American settlements/camps throughout the history rich area that we live in... so along came a fleet of metal detectors and many busy days hiking and searching for something... most of what was found was rusty metal w/ little historical value... the occasional musket ball or old button kept him busy...
so I remembered one time when I was home from school he was telling how he had finally found something of interest... it was an "old dime"... he was searching along a canal (or abandoned canal.... i can't remember) near our home in Berks County, PA and he dug up this little treasure... it was prominently displayed in a cardboard flip among his other random finds... not being terribly interested in coins at the time, i probably remarked that it was cool and moved on... but luckily i did remember him finding it in the first place...
so fast forward a few years... after my father passed, my mother moved into a new house and packed up his study and artifacts... all in all, there are about 7 or 8 boxes full of arrowheads, ax heads, etc... stashed in her basement... there they sat for years and years... when my newfound interest in coins popped up, i remembered the "old dime" my dad found metal detecting a few years back... digging through the boxes of stuff turned up nothing... i literally ripped my mom's house apart trying to find the box I knew the dime was in... frustrated I quit and assumed it was lost... tonight while I was at her house, I decided to give it one last look.. while in the basement I found a new box hidden under a pile of Christmas decorations... as soon as i opened it I saw a small tray of coins... i knew I had finally found it... not quite remembering what the coin was, i eagerly pulled it out and held it up to the light... a 1835 capped bust dime...
OK... now it's not MS but considering it was dug out of the ground after sitting there for 150 years i'd say it's not too bad! sure there are some scratches and rim damage.. and i have NO idea what the black line is on her face (it sounds cliche but it doesn't look as bad in hand... the pics amplify it quite a bit) but in the end it's an cool old coin, found by my dad doing something he loved, within the last years of his life... he'd be happy i was so excited to find it today after all my time searching... hell, if he were alive today i know he'd be right here w/ me getting all obsessed over old coins... i know it would have been the natural progression of his interests...
so into PCGS or NGC it it will go... no, it probably won't get graded due to condition issues but i don't care... i recently started a certified mid/high grade typeset and have added some nice pieces to it already... my plans are that it will be a slow growing set done "right" w/ carefully selected coins in the best condition I can afford... i'll be 30 in a few weeks and hopefully will have time to grow it into a fine collection of pieces... in the end, i know there will be some high value coins in it but my 1835 capped bust dime will be the most valuable coin in the set to me.... the only one i could never sell...
here's pics using my old point and shoot... my macro lens and tripod are being borrowed by a friend for the week.. go figure... any help on condition/variety is appreciated!
oh, thanks for listening... sorry for being long winded but I enjoyed telling the story...
-matt
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Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.american-legacy-coins.com
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Congrats on finding the coin and what a beautiful coin/story it is!
Tom
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I'm sorry about the loss of your dad at such a young age. Sounds like he was quite a guy.
Nice dime, fun story, well written. It was especially nice hearing of SE Pa, having grown up in southern Chester County. The down side was it was so hard to find "s" mint coins back in the day. Have you continued his searches?
Oh yeah!!
I haven't spent time doing the artifact hunting or metal detecting but I know my interests will grow over time... I am my father's son... at some point i'll be glad i kept all his detecting equipment and artifacts... i keep a number of display boxes w/ the nicer artifacts in my office... i would like to eventually find an indian artifact guy to look through the collection just so i know what I have... artifacts are WAY harder to judge/evaluate than coins...
of all the coins my grandfather stashed (he lived in Media) there were virtually no SF mint-marked pieces and relatively few D... guess being 30min. from Philly mint saturated the market w/ local coins
as for the dime, i'm hoping my daughter will appreciate it... she loves looking at coins and sitting on my lap looking for silver when I go roll-hunting (granted she's 2... but i'll take it!)... obviously, she never got to meet him but she'll know him from pictures and stories... here she is a few weeks ago doing a rather good imitation of her daddy w/ a $2.5 1926 Sesqui Commem.... labeled MS63 in a rattler but i think it'll go 64... i think she agrees!
-matt
Now that is special.
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You are starting her off very young, have fun with it and don't push it.
I have always let my children open the little packages that come in the mail, They really like to open up the package and be the first one to see the coin.
My three year old thinks all of my coins are "Broken" which they are
Welcome and enjoy leaning as much as you can as there is so much great information on this forum.
Your dad would be most proud of that little gem behind the glass, as I'm sure you are-she's beautiful. It is good to have guys like you (and her) on here.
as well. I have a similar experience that I'll post in a different thread.
bob
It's a JR4, which is common, but will still always be special to you.
There are some excellent coin clubs not too far from you Elmeister. Red Rose Coin Club in Lancaster and West Chester Coin Club are both VERY active and would be another great resource as you learn. The folks in both places would love to hear about this dime!
Good luck and have fun.
Betts medals, colonial coins, US Mint medals, foreign coins found in early America, and other numismatic Americana
Thank you for sharing and welcome to the forum.
"Bongo hurtles along the rain soaked highway of life on underinflated bald retread tires."
~Wayne