My rarest coin find, only 5,000 of that coin known to exist!

[coinman123]

I found this coin near a stone lined well 5 minutes in to a hunt. It showed up as a pull tab, and was a pretty weak signal. I could only see Queen Victoria's bust on one side, and a crown with the date under it, I cleaned the location with the date after IDing the coin, on the other side. I could also see a few stray letters, but nothing that indicated that could tell me what it was. The sad part was that I bought the one cent version of this coin around five days after finding this coin (I never thought that any coins at the 25 cent bin at my coin shop would help me ID my find). Around a week later I see the coin I found online, and the stray letters being part of the word New Brunswick. I remember buying the one cent type of that coin, and feel like an idiot for not realizing that was my find. I find out only around 250,000 were minted, and almost all of them were recalled and melted down, leaving only 5,000 of the original mintage! I felt like an idiot again for breaking a tiny piece of the edge of the coin while cleaning it, then gluing it back on with super glue (The super glue dried clear). The coin is recognizable, and all major details are noticeable though. This coin is an 1861, New Brunswick half cent. I have not took any photos yet, but I will try to get some up soon.


Reference of how the coin should look.


Thanks for looking,

 

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Waiting on pictures

 

[xrunndonex]

Why did you clean it! Then glue it :0 what are you thinking man". Now it can't get graded

 

[Gridwalker306]

That's a nice find. It's unfortunate about it getting broken, and even more unfortunate about the cleaning and super glue...

 

[GioTheGreek]

I have found many New Brunswick cents, and tokens, but never one of those. Unlucky on the final result. Still, amazing find man!

 

[BigWaveDave]

 

[Mackaydon]

It's also amazing that even with a low original mintage of 222,800; and if, as you say , the current population is only 5,000 pieces, that the market value remains relatively very low. Last year's guide to the retail value of the 1/2 cent is 'only' $125 in VG-8. But in the condition you describe, your coin's greatest value may be in its educational value.
Don..........

 

[vpnavy]

Thanks for sharing...

 

[coinman123]

Why did you clean it! Then glue it :0 what are you thinking man". Now it can't get graded

I had no clue what it was when I found it. All of the heavy cleaning was done before I found out what it even was, and without that cleaning I could not see any details.

 

[g-olden years]

Hi coinman123! Big congrats on digging that 1861 New Brunswick half cent!

Give yourself another 24 hours to figuratively kick your own butt all over New England in regret for damaging it! Shed a tear or two for the bucks you may have earned selling it to a collector. Then forget all that & instead enjoy displaying your coin to look at over the years! Really neat that you found & bought the 1-cent version in a 25-cent bin a few days later. Now those two coins can hang out together in a display case! Please post pics of both coins when you have time. Have Fun!

 

[fongu]

Great find and sorry it got damaged. Lesson for the rest of the members on this forum. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Iron Patch]

It's also amazing that even with a low original mintage of 222,800; and if, as you say , the current population is only 5,000 pieces, that the market value remains relatively very low. Last year's guide to the retail value of the 1/2 cent is 'only' $125 in VG-8. But in the condition you describe, your coin's greatest value may be in its educational value.
Don..........

Exactly. There's no tears to shed over this one because it would have only been worth a small fraction of the VG price, if anyone would buy it at all. I have a local token that is quite a bit rarer, valued much higher, but is the same idea.... just enough to identify. To me the value doesn't matter, I'm just glad I have one and even in the condition it is, it's one of my favorite copper coin finds.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Nice find! Congrats!