Lightning strikes twice, 1869 IH

[terpfan]

Just when you think you are wasting your time in a place, you come up with a great find that really pumps you up. I recently got permission to hunt an early 1800s home with a little over an acre of lawn. The owners warned me that someone had detected there before, but I was welcome to give it a shot. I was skeptical that any serious hunting had been done.

I spent three hours there with the M6 with little to show except a handful of clad and a few shotgun shells, maybe there was nothing to find. Perhaps a serious detectorist had cleaned out all of the goods. Another bad sign--much of the soil did not seem to be virgin at all, apparently there had been some excavation work done in many parts of the yard. So I didn't expect much when a got a zinc penny tone at only 3". I turned over the plug to find that undeniably beautiful green disk looking back, my first indian head of the year. YESS!! I gave the coin a gentle kiss, said a little "thank you", and proceeded to turn the coin over to find the date. Please let it be old! It was a low mintage 1869, the very same date of the last indian head I found nearly six months ago. As you may recall, this 1869/9 made banner last year. In the photos, the coin with the heavy patina is the recent find and the darker coin is from last year. The newer find does NOT appear to be an 1869/9 overstamp.

I'll definitely keep pounding this site, now that I know that goodies remain here. I'm hoping there is more to post, maybe some LCs or old silver.
Steve

 

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[jeff741972]

Nice indians

 

[Johnlightning]

Love them green indians ! Nice finds. I do love to hunt "hunted out areas". makes your day when you come up with finds.

 

[Master Sarge]

Hey Terpfan, nice IH! Do you like your White's M6? I have a buddy that currently uses an White's Classic ID 5. And he is wanting to up grade. I was telling him about the M6 and MXT. The M6 is basically an MXT with out the Relic Mode, am I correct?

 

[terpfan]

Hey Terpfan, nice IH! Do you like your White's M6? I have a buddy that currently uses an White's Classic ID 5. And he is wanting to up grade. I was telling him about the M6 and MXT. The M6 is basically an MXT with out the Relic Mode, am I correct?

Absolutely love the M6. I have no experience with any other "high end" detectors, but I've found the M6 to be very easy to use. It is moderately priced, yet is powerful enough that I've found pennies down to 8-9". I'm very comfortable using it and have no plans to change detectors.

 

[Gator-Flea]

Nice coins!!

 

[ModernMiner]

Steve,
Both of those IH's are in great shape. Congrats. I always love finding those IH pennies. Great design.
I've been in that situation a few times. You find an old house that you are just drooling over, you get permission, and then start digging modern clad DEEP. Keep your chin up, there will be more there.
-Doug-

 

[SkimmerBob]

Great finds!!!!!!!!! What was the VDI on them if you remember? I use a M-6 too & I have heard the I.H. rings in at 55 same as a screw cap.

 

[terpfan]

Great finds!!!!!!!!! What was the VDI on them if you remember? I use a M-6 too & I have heard the I.H. rings in at 55 same as a screw cap.

Skimmer, in this case the VDI came in at 58. I've found that I can never predict indian heads by their initial VDI numbers, though. When I dug the 1869 I was virtually sure It would be a recent Lincoln. Talk about a nice surprise! Depending on the depth and soil conditions, I've seen initial VDI numbers anywhere between 45 and 75 for indian heads. At the deeper depths I have seen a similar range of VDI numbers with wheaties. If I am hunting an older site, I will use the tone ID mode and dig everything above iron. If an iron signal is "suspicious" I'll dig it too. Have come upon a couple of nice large cents that were giving mixed iron signals.

 

[SkimmerBob]

Thanks for the info Terpfan. I have been skipin over them 55's because i dug to many screwcaps. I know this park has IH but it is very trashy. Thanks again.

 

[hikeinmts]

Check out that date real close.....doesn't exactly set right, to my eyes. Of course, you have it in your hands, and I'm looking
at it on the internet with my tired 65+ year old eyes. Hope you got something special.....to match your other one.

 

[Bartman]

Nice indian. I love turning that plug over and seeing that green patina in the hole. I love digging indians. Maryland soil seems to be pretty good to them too!

 

[Detectingfreak]

nice job on the IH pennies!

 

[september]

Nice finds!!

 

[terpfan]

Check out that date real close.....doesn't exactly set right, to my eyes. Of course, you have it in your hands, and I'm looking
at it on the internet with my tired 65+ year old eyes. Hope you got something special.....to match your other one.

I really can't make out a double strike in this coin when I use a magnifying glass. I really had trouble getting a clear photograph, and the patina makes it all the more distracting. By comparison here is a close-up of the 1869/9 from last year. Even though it is pretty corroded, you can see the doubling of the nine in the date.

 

[terpfan]

Nice indian. I love turning that plug over and seeing that green patina in the hole. I love digging indians. Maryland soil seems to be pretty good to them too!

Agreed, we're very lucky. I've found nine indian heads and they have all been in nice shape, some with a patina and some without. The coins that look really come out rough for me are the wheaties from the 1950's. Those years always seem to come out porous and a mess. Plehbah would not approve of my Whitman folder for those years!