indian head pennie UPDATE with pictures

bourassa5

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Nov 8, 2008
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well i went back to an old mill site in the middle of the woods that i found a barber dime and around 15 buttons the other day and found a 1864 Indian head Pennie, I'm not sure if it had an L or not but its got great details, you can see all the liberty, it is just a little blurred/worn away. What my question is, when i was cleaning it with hot water and Que tips, the brown began washing away and left a bluish green color, i used the Que tip harder and got rid of most of the brown and now it still has good detail but is greenish blue. Does this decrease the value a lot? that is my main question is if the value of the coin will go way dozen because it is greenish blue, i will try posting a picture later, any answers will be appreciated.


(i would like to know what you guys would grade the pennie, it looks better in person and i plan to try and get ride of all the brown by using hot water and que tips, also in person you can clearly read most of the liberty on the headdress.)
 

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Nate in Ohio

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Oct 24, 2005
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Re: indian head pennie

I think typically when the indian heads clean up well, there is a nice smooth layer underneath the dirt...if cleaned to harshly, the layer may easily start flaking off, or it may not. and typically that layer of patina does have a greenish color to it...and it certainly doesn't decrease the value I say...yea, you cleaned it. But what good is a dirty indian head penny that you can't even clearly see? that's not gonna be worth any more. anyway enough rambling, congrats on the nice coin!
 

Old River

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Re: indian head pennie

Sounds as if you had a good hunt. Will be waiting on the pictures. Happy Hunting....
 

STH69

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Re: indian head pennie

Really cool finds
 

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bourassa5

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Nov 8, 2008
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i also would like to know where to look for the L on the front side, i dont think it is there but i do not know for sure, my guess for grade is vg, bc i can read the full liberty
 

creeper71

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Dec 5, 2007
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bourassa5 said:
well i went back to an old mill site in the middle of the woods that i found a barber dime and around 15 buttons the other day and found a 1864 Indian head Pennie, I'm not sure if it had an L or not but its got great details, you can see all the liberty, it is just a little blurred/worn away. What my question is, when i was cleaning it with hot water and Que tips, the brown began washing away and left a bluish green color, i used the Que tip harder and got rid of most of the brown and now it still has good detail but is greenish blue. Does this decrease the value a lot? that is my main question is if the value of the coin will go way dozen because it is greenish blue, i will try posting a picture later, any answers will be appreciated.


(i would like to know what you guys would grade the pennie, it looks better in person and i plan to try and get ride of all the brown by using hot water and que tips, also in person you can clearly read most of the liberty on the headdress.)
The brown your discribing I would think is just dirt... since I can't actually see coin in person this will be a judgement call for you to use hot perixcide to clean the coin with... if it's just green it shouldn't hurt it...but if you have corrosion bubbles then you should stick to q-tips or toothpicks
 

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bourassa5

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Nov 8, 2008
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Ok, I did not want to use peroxide just bc it's got good detail, you can read the full liberty so I'd say by red book value it's around 20$, would cleaning it with peroxide deeface any value?
 

creeper71

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Dec 5, 2007
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bourassa5 said:
Ok, I did not want to use peroxide just bc it's got good detail, you can read the full liberty so I'd say by red book value it's around 20$, would cleaning it with peroxide deeface any value?
it shouldn't deface value peroxcide only cleans the green of the coin it DO NOT bring the coin to the copper color....How ever if you have small bubbles from corrosion you may lose detail if you use peroxcide... also the 20.00 in red book are for undug coin values since it is dug value probly will be lower then what is quoted in the red book....
 

BioProfessor

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Apr 6, 2007
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It is REALLY unusual to dig a copper coin that has been in the ground over 100 years that will meet collector's grading standards. The grading books like the Redbook are for non-dug coins. Dug coins have a different patina, usually some pitting, and a little corrosion. Silver and gold can come out of the ground looking like they came out of a drawer but copper doesn't usually hold up very well.

The point I am trying to make is to not worry what the book value of the coin is. It is not really a relevant number. Just clean the coin so that it has the eye appeal YOU like in a coin, display it, and let everyone admire it. I would only get "excited" and worry about the surface condition if I dug an extremely rare coin. In that case, I would leave the cleaning and conservation to the experts and hope you would be able to find a reputable grading service to grade it. That will be tough to do. But you could get my kind of luck and dig a very rare coin (mintage 3000) and have the professional conservators break the SOB in HALF!!!!

Anyway, good coin. Enjoy it.

Daryl
 

mlayers

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Oct 29, 2007
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very nice coin...Matt
 

piratesgold

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Apr 29, 2008
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That coin won't grade high enough to be worth anything more than the sentimental value it has to its finder.
keep it.

Lucky
 

BioProfessor

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Apr 6, 2007
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Don't just jump to peroxide. Try something like olive oil first. Less harsh and more likely to give you a better patina and may result in a better looking coin. Can't hurt to start easy and see what happens.

Whatever you do, post pictures as you go through the process. We can all learn something.

Daryl
 

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