23rd silver plus 1861 coin and Mr. Ed's 1911 tax tag. UPDATE - Cleaned the coin

[Gimmie The Loot]

* Used the Hydrogen Peroxide and toothpick method for a little bit and here are the results. Not too bad considering I could hardly read anything on the coin before other than 861. Too bad it isn't an american coin but still 1861 is cool! And I can only imagine the german who dropped it was enjoying a nice cold Diversey Lager.

Had to get out for a few hours today since I'll be busy the rest of the week. Went back to an area I had minor success at with my old Ace250. Got the Rosie right away, then a half hour later got the cool horse tag which reads;
"Vehicle Tax
City of Chicago
29528
1911
One Horse"

Then right before I was about to leave I got what I thought was an old Indian Penny but turns out to be foreign. I think French. What do you guys think? Should I Hydrogen Peroxide it? I can't read the front at all. The one side says 1 with a 1861 below it which is all surrounded by a wreath.

Thanks for looking and HH!
GTL

[p2c]

That actually may be a 1 centesimo piece (Italian), though if it is, there will be a star at the top of the wreath and also centesimo will be between the 1 and the 1861. I don't think it's french, but if it is, Napoleon III will be on the obverse of the coin.

What I would do is take hot peroxide and a toothpick. Dip the toothpick in the peroxide and then use it to scrape on the surface of the coin. If you are careful, you won't take off any of the green patina, because you can control the amount of peroxide on the coin, and also, you can wipe it off quickly with a paper towel. You can actually go at it pretty aggressively with the toothpick, since the wood is fairly soft compared to the coin. The drawback is this approach takes time and a lot of toothpicks. The benefit is that the coin will not be toasted. I use this method for nicer copper coins I find. I would not use it on say a 1909 s VDB, but I would use it say on any common date Indian head.

Nice Finds and good luck.
-Jon

[litefire56]

That tag is really nice! Still on my wish list.

The 1861 is a Austria One Kreuzer.

Here's a nice example

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1861A-Austri...item415cb5ce5c

[Pocket Spill]

Congratulations on that tax tag. A very cool find!

[Gimmie The Loot]

That tag is really nice! Still on my wish list.

The 1861 is a Austria One Kreuzer.

Here's a nice example

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1861A-Austri...item415cb5ce5c

Nice! I think you are right - There is an A below the date as well. Austrian makes more sense than French since my area was full of Austrians and Germans back then. Thanks!

[Mackaydon]

Mintmark 'A' designates Vienna, Austria

[litefire56]

That tag is really nice! Still on my wish list.

The 1861 is a Austria One Kreuzer.

Here's a nice example
trian
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1861A-Austri...item415cb5ce5c

Nice! I think you are right - There is an A below the date as well. Austrian makes more sense than French since my area was full of Austrians and Germans back then. Thanks!

Can't wait to see it cleaned up! BTW, I'm half Austrian, half German. Born and raised in the city.

[rob.s]

Sweet finds Jay I need too get back to work and get myself a etrac!!

[Lowbatts]

Very nice Jason!

[What the Beep?]

Did you find this in ground you previously detected with the ACE or just the general area? It would break my heart to think my 350 would miss all that good stuff.

[etrac007]

is that your oldest coin?

[Gimmie The Loot]

Did you find this in ground you previously detected with the ACE or just the general area? It would break my heart to think my 350 would miss all that good stuff.

Hey WTB - It actually was an exact area I spent a lot of time on with my ACE last summer. I pulled some wheaties and a heavy .925 ring there with the ACE which is why I decided to head back with the etrac. ACE found me plenty of gold rings in the one year I used it so don't be sad

Mike - yes 1861 is my oldest coin. It beat out my previous oldest which was a 1873 Indian.

HH!

[Dirt fishing Wolf]

Cool finds

[Lookn4Seated]

Congrats on that 1861! Sweet.

[Gimmie The Loot]

I actually found somebody in City Hall willing to look for some archives on this horse tag. Could end up being an interesting story... stay tuned.

[marinedad]

nice finds jason.

[p2c]

* Used the Hydrogen Peroxide and toothpick method for a little bit and here are the results. Not too bad considering I could hardly read anything on the coin before other than 861. Too bad it isn't an american coin but still 1861 is cool! And I can only imagine the german who dropped it was enjoying a nice cold Diversey Lager.

I hope you are happy with the result. You can also soak it in mineral oil for a little while, that may condition it a little. If it were an american coin, an I.H., it would have registered as a 12-21 to 12-24 on the E Trac (the fatties and flying eagle cents fall in that range 1857-1864) which is real annoying because that's a pull tab, and you likely would not have dug it. I have only dug 1 fatty once (1859) and that was on a hunch (it was 12-22). If it were an american cent from that date, it would have been in much worse shape. The cupro-nickle cents, what we call fatties, do way worse than copper cents or nickels in the ground. The quarter eagle gold fall in that range as well, so its good to dig on hunches. It's just there are so many pull tabs....

[MR Senior L4S]

Jason , You adjust prty. fast , congratulations . !