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Can anyone help me with this OLD coin i found?
jessewvu
Posts: 5,063 ✭✭✭✭✭
I went back out on my property and found this this morning.
it weighs 0.3195oz (9.03 grams) and is 1.25" in diameter. It looks like you can see a left wing and an eagle head turned toward the left. Also, is there any good way to clean it up a bit to bring out more detail?
it weighs 0.3195oz (9.03 grams) and is 1.25" in diameter. It looks like you can see a left wing and an eagle head turned toward the left. Also, is there any good way to clean it up a bit to bring out more detail?
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Some more extreme things I've seen done with surprising results are electrolysis and tumbling. Granted if it was an MS66 chain cent this would be bad but it might be doable here to at least get some detail. Keep us posted on your progress
Where's Zot? He's good at outlining things.
Follow RickO's advice above and see what happens.
Good luck.
It's probably lost forever, sure would have been cool to find out that it is.
I didn't know the galactic battlecruisers from Planet Znutor had made it to this galaxy yet, but it appears their scouts must've landed somewhere near you. Watch out.
They're probably watching us.
In fact, they've probably mind-morphed some of us.
In fact, maybe they've mind-morphed me.
I suppose that could explain the curious nature of this post.
I have examined the pictures a bit more closely and I think I've come up with the design and a partial inscription for you.
Of course it is subject to interpretation.
Could it be a large cent? One would expect a dug coin in that condition to have lost a fair bit of weight, so your 9.03g would still be in the ballpark. (loss of nearly 20% is not uncommon)
Just a quick suggestion regarding identification: Any remaining design elements tend to be easier to see when the coin is wet (water is fine) and then trying to examine it under bright light at various angles.
Sometimes you find a sweetspot where the light catches it just right, and you can see enough to identify it.
When the coin is bone dry it's hard to see anything.
LordM, you crack me up.....
Thank you, RickO- I worked hard for that "ROFL".
(If indeed it was an "ROFL" and not a mere "LOL".)
Based on color and the tarnish it sure looks like a slam dunk copper to me. I'll eat my hat if that's silver!
Could it be a large cent? One would expect a dug coin in that condition to have lost a fair bit of weight, so your 9.03g would still be in the ballpark. (loss of nearly 20% is not uncommon)
Just a quick suggestion regarding identification: Any remaining design elements tend to be easier to see when the coin is wet (water is fine) and then trying to examine it under bright light at various angles.
Sometimes you find a sweetspot where the light catches it just right, and you can see enough to identify it.
When the coin is bone dry it's hard to see anything.
Large cent does seem to be a faint possibility, but... I dunno. Agreed that it looks like a Rorschach test in these images and condition.
I was hunting an old colonial roadbed and dug a similarly featureless copper, once. It was too small to be a large cent, but was in the ballpark for a British halfpenny, which would've been a likely contender. I did the "wet coin in oblique lighting" thing Zot is mentioning and could just barely see the faintest whisper of the outline of a bust. Based on that, and the way it looked, I believe the coin to be a late 18th century French sou, also possible on that site (though a bit less likely than the British halfpenny). But there's really no way to know for sure.
These things are tantalizing, aren't they? Even though an ID would never make any real difference in the monetary value of the find (which in these conditions is slim to none), one feels compelled to identify them... just to know. That's all part of the adventure and fun of detecting.
MY first large cent was also a crusty critter. It was dug at the site of a Rev War era shipyard, and pretty near the water's edge on a riverbank near some salt marshes. It must've been below the tide line at some point, because it got pretty corroded (though I've seen some wonderful, pristine early large cents come out of well drained, sandy soils down here in SE GA.)
A little cleaning revealed parts of LIBERTY and her hair bow and bust outline- enough to ID it as a Draped Bust cent, but not enough to coax the date off of it.
I made the mistake of trying to clean it further with electrolysis and accidentally "burnt it up". It is nothing but a brown, cookie-like slug now, alas. But at least I know it was a 1796-1807 cent. Not knowing would've bugged me.
So I see why you're eager to solve your mystery.
PS- I also think you've opened up some VERY intriguing possibilities on your property.
I might not know much about it, but I can say one thing definitively about that coin or token, just like you said in your title: it is OLD (in all caps).
And that is always exciting.
Go out and dig some more!
Now this is bugging ME.
All kidding from earlier aside, you have me staring at this thing.
Do I see a squarish protrusion in the middle?
Is there any kind of bump or protrusion in the middle on either side?
If so, we could be looking at a late 18th century flat button with the shank broken off.
They'll trick you. In the story I told in my last post, I dug one at that Rev War era shipyard and thought for sure I had my first large cent at first.
Then I saw where the shank had broken off. It was a button; a big one.
Ironically, not five minutes later and a few feet away, I found that large cent and though I had another button!
In England, a smaller, thicker 18th century flat button with no shank had me thinking I'd found a Roman AE3 coin for a moment.
Then again, if your area was settled in the 1630s or thereabouts, practically any type of European or North American coin is possible, which widens the mystery.
But look carefully in the center for signs of a button shank.
Back to the Rorschach test...
Not to get your hopes too high, but look here.
Of course there were plenty of other buttons (and coins) with eagles and birds.
I'm just dreamin', for your benefit.
I made the mistake of trying to clean it further with electrolysis and accidentally "burnt it up". It is nothing but a brown, cookie-like slug now, alas.
Yup, electrolysis on copper coins in general, and on old copper coins in particular, usually doesn't end well. Best used on silver only.
I see LM's "potential shank" in the picture. Looks to me like it could also be random patterns in the crust .... It's smack right in the middle though, I'll say that.
It would be a rather large button if that's indeed the case. Looking forward to further developments!
I'll see if I can get a video of me flicking it, it sounds silver (doesn't look silver)