Wow!! First Large Cent, Old Token and Other Stuff......

[Garrett424]

I'm really excited about this one.

I went to a school where I once found an 1881 IH Cent in the hopes of scoring some jewelry or whatever else I could dig up. The first spot I hit immediately yielded an old token of some sort.

It's the identical size as a penny and says something like "national 499"(??) on the back and I think I can make out the letters "loney"(??) on the front .
There's a line of type under the "499" but I just can't make the letters out at this point.

After soaking it for a while I can make out a date on the bottom of either 1863 or 1865.

If anyone has a clue as to what this might be and/or how old it may be I'm all ears. It definitely looks as if it's been in the ground for quite a while.

Back:



Front:



Then, I had to relieve myself (which I normally wouldn't even bring up on a public forum but it's a major factor in the story) and decided to hike back into an adjoining woods. I had to climb a hill to get there.

I figured I might as well swing the detector on the way up the hill and I'm SO glad that I did because about halfway up I got a faint signal in all metal mode/max sensitivity and decided to dig it. I switched over to disc mode and the signals were bouncing all over the place which aroused my curiosity. About 7 inches down I found This:



The oxidation was confusing my machine which explains the multiple signals. That usually means trash but you never know.

Had nature not called I would never have walked up that hill. You can bet I'll be scouring every inch of it now.

It's my very first large cent and I couldn't be happier, despite the poor condition it's in. I have no clue what the date is yet. It's currently soaking in olive oil. I'm hoping I can at least resurrect it enough to get a date off of it. I'm open for any and all suggestions from anyone who has ever had a similar coin dilemma.
I can read a few letters under a loupe and it's definitely a large US cent.

I even found some junk jewelry; a cool looking kids bracelet and a tiny "Holy Family" religious medal. A friend of mine has a 6 year old daughter who'll love the bracelet.



I also got the usual clad and trash but I'm not even going to bother posting any pics.

I hunted for maybe 80 minutes tonight and this was a great and definitely memorable hunt for me. It's amazing how sometimes you just get lucky and hit just the right spots.

I also intend to hit this place hard given what I've already found thus far. It's huge and I believe the potential is very good.
What a way to end the summer.

I started hunting seriously exactly 3 months and 1 day ago; the first day of summer 2014. As of the time of this post, there are only about 35 minutes left before fall officially kicks in.
What a great summer it has been.

Thanks for looking and HH

 

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[RJ55]

Cool finds, Congrats on the large cent

 

[digndeep]

congrats! don't stress my first 2 large cents were smooth.my third I only found half of it,appeared to be cut for some reason and finally yesterday dug one I could make out,1818.looks from the profile to be early 1800's but I'm no pro.a lc in any condition is cool.

 

[ATpro5]

Looks to be a classic head. Only minted from 1808-1814

 

[ATpro5]

Actually on further inspection it could be a later one. To toasty.

 

[bootybandit]

Awesome digs! Congrats on the 1st!

 

[dig kzoo]

Congrats on the LC! I would try the toothpick method, If you still cant get a date try a pencil / paper rubbing. I also use the kids silly putty to do an impression.

 

[treblehunter]

Nice find, maybe in six months of soaking in that oil it will loosen up that crud and you'll be able to see a date. From what I can see from photos (hard to tell) hot peroxide would of been a good candidate. Once you get that oil on it I don't think the peroxide works as good. Dawn dish-washing detergent cleans oil great (thats what they clean those duck off with from oil spills) Peroxide does not hurt a coin, just sometimes that dirt/crud is clinging on to the little detail thats left. Sometimes it is covering that detail up. Your coin, your call. If I found it, I'd HP it then soak it in mineral oil. JMO.

 

[Garrett424]

Nice find, maybe in six months of soaking in that oil it will loosen up that crud and you'll be able to see a date. From what I can see from photos (hard to tell) hot peroxide would of been a good candidate. Once you get that oil on it I don't think the peroxide works as good. Dawn dish-washing detergent cleans oil great (thats what they clean those duck off with from oil spills) Peroxide does not hurt a coin, just sometimes that dirt/crud is clinging on to the little detail thats left. Sometimes it is covering that detail up. Your coin, your call. If I found it, I'd HP it then soak it in mineral oil. JMO.

I did the hot peroxide for about an hour before dropping it in the oil.

I'm picking up some distilled water today after finding a pretty good article on cleaning old/ancient coins. I think I just may be able to bring this thing back.

http://www.crustyromans.com/cleaning/

The smaller one has me intrigued as well. I'm beginning to see the image improve a bit already.

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.

 

[Carolina Tom]

CONGRATS on your first LC. That token looks like it might be a winner too.

Awesome job G424!

 

[46Wheat]

Thank you for sharing your hunt and those pictures with us .

 

[dirtlooter]

cool finds, hope they clean up for you

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Hi Garrett congrats on that first taste of Large Cent success !!

 

[Garrett424]

I just identified the token thanks to Treasurenet!!

I found out here at this link:

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/29950-very-cool-token-1863-a.html




It's a brass or bronze Civil War Store token from NY City, 1863. There's an Indian head hiding under all of that rust.
What I thought may be "loney" turned out to be "Maloney" (it's REALLY hard to read at this point).
Yesterday's hunt just got even better.

Now all I need to do is restore it to a readable state if that's possible. I wish mine looked as good as the one in that picture.

I love this site.
I always get the answers I'm looking for sooner or later.
Many thanks to all.

 

[beez0404]

Two exceptional finds. With as often as I have to pee I'm surprised I've not found anything on my way yet! LOL Congrats on your finds. I believe I like that token more then the LC.

 

[Garrett424]

Two exceptional finds. With as often as I have to pee I'm surprised I've not found anything on my way yet! LOL Congrats on your finds. I believe I like that token more then the LC.

Yup.
That was a first for me, that's for sure. I'll have to drink a quart or two of water before my next hunt. I'll also have to remember to keep swingin' no matter what. Had I not done so, I never would have found that LC. Had I taken a route a few inches to the left or the right, I still wouldn't have found it. Somebody up there was likin' me at that moment.

I found the token in the very first spot I decided to start at. I wasn't swingin' for 40 seconds before I got that hit.
It's amazing that we hit just the right spots sometimes. I love it when you get something cool right out of the gate.


I'm getting off work in about 5 minutes and I'm going back to that spot. Hopefully, no one will be using the fields. I've already found three nice old pieces and a small 14K gold earring there and I'm pretty sure that more treasure awaits. This place is heavily used.

I'm also leaning toward that token myself. Once I find out the date of the LC (if I can) I may have to reconsider. We shall see.
Until then I'll just like 'em both and be very thankful that I was able to find them.

Thanks and HH