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Question about 1805/6 Draped Bust Quarter Beach Recovery

Hi, I signed up just to ask those who know.
I am a new metal-detectorist and recovered an 1805/6 Draped Bust Quarter. It is a very dark gray...almost black. But it does have decent detail...like I know what that would be.
Do you all think it I should leave it as is or try to clean it?
I have a very short slide show on YT for those that might like to see it:
http://youtu.be/-ju6OSjBHAA
Moderators if links are not allowed please remove them with my apologies.
Thank You,
Bob
I am a new metal-detectorist and recovered an 1805/6 Draped Bust Quarter. It is a very dark gray...almost black. But it does have decent detail...like I know what that would be.
Do you all think it I should leave it as is or try to clean it?
I have a very short slide show on YT for those that might like to see it:

Moderators if links are not allowed please remove them with my apologies.
Thank You,
Bob
0
Comments
DO NOT CLEAN IT!!!!! If you do you will destroy much of the value that it might have.
Second, the only way we can tell you anything is through a pictures. Hosting sites like Photobucket can help you there.
If the slideshow is inadequate I will post some photos in the future.
I won't touch the coin in the mean time.
And 1806/5...noted. Thank you.
<< <i>Here's a screenshot I took from the video with the coin pictured:
<< <i>congrats on your find! I am glad to hear your are taking sage advice and conserving the piece by not performing any cleaning. >>
Awesome find!
Looks VF maybe EF details, severely corroded (environmental damage) but still worth, what, a Very Good price? Call it $500 or so, but probably more than that in sentimental value.
That coin was nice nice nice when it was lost (provided is authentic... there is a small chance it's a cast counterfeit I guess)
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.american-legacy-coins.com
I really do not deserve a find like this. I've only been detecting 6 weeks now.
The beach has been good to me this past week. I also recovered a large cent and a George III (halfpence?). I thought they were tokens of some kind and I did clean those. They were both completely green and encrusted and also pretty worn, but they were my oldest coins prior to this quarter.
I'm not a collector..should I try listing it here or on Ebay?
Or, as we say on this site, "you suck!" (That's a high compliment here, meaning, "you suck because you make me jealous".)
Be sure to visit us over on the MD forum here.
As to the coin, I suspect that any conservation efforts would only make it look worse. Keep it as it is and enjoy it for what it is- a really neat relic.
NGC, our sponsor's competitor, has a conservation service called NCS, which did a lot of the major shipwreck finds made by the Odyssey group, so they've got the experience to conserve sea-salvaged coins, but that being said, I still don't think anything they could do to it would make it look better. As it is, with that sort of sea-salvage "patina" on it, it's not unappealing as a relic, and I think that's about as good as it is likely to get.
we-he-he-he-he-ll-ll-ll-ll-o-o-o-o-o
re-he-he-he-he-he-ea-ea-ea-ll-ll-y nice to have you on board
.
If I was you I would keep it. You aren't likely to find another one...EVER!!!
I agree with others....Do not clean.
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I've not done much beach hunting, personally, and my only two noteworthy beach finds were gold rings, so I haven't encountered this particular conservation issue with my dug stuff. I have yet to find any old coins on the beach and tend to prefer inland relic hunting places like old plantaition sites for the older material.
Bob
still have a silver look. After 200+ years they mostly aquire
some sort of patina...the silvery colored ones have most likely been
messed with some how.
The color in the video/screen capture is off a bit...the coin really a very dark gray in person. The details are crisper in person as well. The stars on the right side of the obverse look like they could cut they're so sharp.
The coin sings like a silver when dropped (gently). Also, any copper I recover from the beach is green in color if it has been there long enough. I do find lots of pennies new and old on the beach. The older pennies hold up best...the zinc pennies dissolve over time. There's plenty of copper sheathing on the beach from old boats as well.
To me the coin is just an old coin. Do you think I should submit it for grading given its condition and the history of its time under the sand? Would any collector seriously consider a coin like this?
Thanks again for all the responses.
Here on our SE Georgia (St. Simons Island) local beaches, they've lost so much beach due to erosion that they've "nourished" the beaches with new sand in some places. That, and a few hurricanes over the centuries, and who knows where our old stuff is; be it out to sea or way too deep to find. I've never tried hunting after a storm. The Florida folks have that down to a science on the shipwreck beaches. Like I said, I've never found anything old on our beaches, but a friend of mine said he once found a Spanish cob. Certainly stuff like that has been found on inland sites here, as our history goes back to at least the 1500s, as far as white folks are concerned.
Your coin is an amazing relic, and that's where its value lies. Keep it as it is, with the provenance intact, because its STORY is what will give it the most value. It retains a tiny bit of numismatic value as a coin, perhaps, but "mainstream" collectors would be frightened off by the extreme environmental damage, so I would not recommend wasting any money on trying to slab it, unless you'd just like it in a PCGS "Genuine" holder or an NGC/NCS details holder. No amount of tinkering will ever undo what time and Mother Nature did to it, but there is no reason to let that get you down.
I look at it as a relic piece, and a great one at that. Other folks will also see it this way. Sometimes the relic-versus-numismatic philosophies disconnect widely. I walk in both worlds. Some of my favorite detector-found coins are stuff I wouldn't look twice at if it were in a dealer's case, but the fact that I was the one who found the coin and was the first person to see and hold it in a century or more... well, that's a kind of magic that only we treasure hunters can experience. It's the next best thing to time travel, in my opinion.
So keep it as-is, I say. Don't do anything more to it except make sure the salt is neutralized and it will be stable for longterm storage in the dry air environment. As far as I know, with that kind of "skin" on it, it could already be stabilized and you might not have to worry about it any further.
Our beaches are dynamic...the sand is always shifting and beach replenishments happen every few years. It all depends on how much the Nor'easters have taken away.
One very different storm was last year's Sandy. It actually put sand ...lots of sand...up onto the beach. I have found lead fishing weights with fishing rigs still attached well away from the water. It was upon finding them where they should not have been found that has me detecting away from the wet sand where most look. Last week we did have a NE'ster go buy and it removed a few feet of sand so the entire topography of the beach has changed again. I think that last storm made it possible for me to find the Large Cent, George III and the Draped Bust coins.
If you enjoy beach detecting try to get out after a good storm. You never know what may wash up or be uncovered. Or, maybe just enough sand has been removed so that you will be able to detect what was not possible before. I have recovered 2 partial square, bronze ships nails this week...hoping for a fully intact version.
The relics are special.
<< <i>Thank you all for your thoughts and kind words.
I really do not deserve a find like this. I've only been detecting 6 weeks now.
The beach has been good to me this past week. I also recovered a large cent and a George III (halfpence?). I thought they were tokens of some kind and I did clean those . They were both completely green and encrusted and also pretty worn, but they were my oldest coins prior to this quarter.
I'm not a collector..should I try listing it here or on Ebay? >>
Oooops, hope not abrasively with a brillo pad or wire brush. There are conservation methods for recovered copper that has a better chance of an attractive (and more valuable) outcome, starting with soaks in various oils, gentle prodding with toothpics, rose thorns, and cotton swabs, certain other chemicals, and also electrolysis (hooking the coin up to a battery or transformed (low amp) AC current in buffered water) although that last will remove crud and sharpen the details of a dug or sea salvaged copper, you have to be careful because it will also eventually dissolve the coin completely
if you get a chance, we'd probably be interested in seeing before and after pictures of those coppers
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Here are the copper coins after cleaning:
If I told you how I cleaned them I might actually hear some of your (you coin collectors) jaws hit the floor. No mechanical abrasives were used. I did not use electrolysis, either.
I cleaned them like I would a crusty propeller, shaft or rudder of a boat. I used acid....a very short bath.
Take mercy on my soul....I had no idea what they were and I certainly did not believe that I would find coins that old on the beach. The video of their recovery is on my You Tube channel.
If you want to sell the 1806/5 quarter -YES get it slabbed- even a genuine holder is better than none for such a coin. Why don't you get an opinion from your local coin shop?-maybe they will give you an offer or get it slabbed for you.
Believe me...had I thought they were actual coins I would have never used acid.
I'm not a coin collector and have never handled a Large Cent or a George III. The George was so thin and the Cent was so light for its size. I really thought they were tokens if anything. And they were both completely encrusted in a hard, rough, sand and green substance that made identifying them impossible to me. Live an learn.
I promise to be more careful in the future.
Thanks for your thoughts. I'll stop by a coin shop.
<< <i>AARGH !!!!!!
If you want to sell the 1806/5 quarter -YES get it slabbed- even a genuine holder is better than none for such a coin. Why don't you get an opinion from your local coin shop?-maybe they will give you an offer or get it slabbed for you. >>
eBay auction for corroded 1806/5 quarter
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
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