smittyw
Sr. Member
Howdy, new fellow here from the Dover-Plant City area of Florida. Am enjoying the new hobby and using a borrowed Garrett GTA (have a white's XLT eSeries on layaway). Wondering if most hunters in Florida, when locating buried silver coins (old or new), find that they are very discolored. Also, would a hunter want to use tarnex or any other cleaner on the coin to attempt to clean them? I realize that very old coins would loose collector value if they are cleaned, but was wondering anyway. A coin dealer told me that very old silver coins (1800's) found in this area have been so damaged by the "acid" in the soil that they are not worth anything in collector value. Unfortunately, I have not had the good fortune to find anything pre 1964 yet, but have been eagerly trying to do so. Been checking yards of some 1914 houses in Plant City (with permission) and best I could do for now was a 1920 wheat in not so great condition. At least it did not melt away like the modern (junk) penny of today, Ha. Thanks for any responses. Might be interested in hunting with a club or others when time permits.