🥇 BANNER My oldest coin, Nova ?, 1783, just dug!

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Had 2 hours this morning, decided to hit the site where I have found LC's, 3 cent nickels and a slick copper. Faint wheat penny signal.
Thought, "cool a token", size of a LC but a little thinner, but could tell it has some design under the crud

Rubbed some dirt off on my glove and saw US, googled Old Large Cents, found no matches. Sent pic to Steve of PA, he said it looks like a Nova Constellatio, no way! A little more rubbing and 1783, ok stopped rubbing.



Can anyone confirm if this is a Nova and type? I think I need to tooth pick some more crud off, seems like it has a lot of detail under the dirt.

Dried, then flaked with wooden skewer pics:

(Thanks for looking!)

Good luck out there!

 

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[scruggs]

Their are several types of your coin. One has 30 leaves, one has 26 leaves, another has 23 leaves. I believe yours has 23 leaves. If you go back to the above link I posted and click on the picture of the 4 coins then it will explain the different varieties of this coin. Hope it helps you, remember to click on the picture of the 4 coins to get your info.

 

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[pepperj]

One would think that this would be sitting on the top row sooner than later, I hope. Huge congrats on one the most bad -ass coppers one would ever hope to dig. Xmas came early for you, what a present.
I'll throw my hat in on this copper!

 

[Tired Rooster]

You will probably never find another one of those. Congratulations on finding a true piece of American history.....VERY nice find...NO.... AWESOME find!!

 

[Steve in PA]

Amazing find Thad! I can't believe you found that at that place. I've always wanted to dig one of those. I put in a banner vote for that one!

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Their are several types of your coin. One has 30 leaves, one has 26 leaves, another has 23 leaves. I believe yours has 23 leaves. If you go back to the above link I posted and click on the picture of the 4 coins then it will explain the different varieties of this coin. Hope it helps you, remember to click on the picture of the 4 coins to get your info.

Thanks much Scruggs! The search box on that site is also helpful. Never would have thought this morning such a cool piece of history would pop out. This site is special. I've done about 8 quick hunts, always have to barrel roll the weeds to earn new ground to swing, so I'm only hitting 100 sq ft per hunt, it's quite exhausting. It's only 10 minutes from my house and each hunt has provided at least one nice keeper, this is the best so far...

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[coinman123]

Incredible find! I had to buy mine... it was a much more common 1785 issue though, for 25 cents in a junk bin, but still no where as good as digging it! Banner for sure, yours is a rarer variety too!!

 

[Scrappy]

Thanks Scrappy. Thanks for the chart, looks like I have the variety C. Pls post pics of yours and let me know your strategy on cleaning it up or service. Thx!

Yes, yours is a Crosby 3-c variety, the same one as mine. Here’s my baby . As far as cleaning goes, different environmental factors can determine the best way to clean coins. Mine happened to pop out wicked clean as such where all I needed was to hand pick away the dirt with a toothpick. Yours looks to have the details “in the corrosion” so I’d be extremely careful if you clean it yourself. There’s a chance that if you removed some of the scale that the detail would come off too. A professional could tell you if it’s cleanable but it could end up being very expensive. For me, I enjoy the imperfections in my relics and coins. It tells a story of what was, what could have happened, and what it went through. Personally I really like your coin as is!

Cheers and good luck!

 

[Blak bart]

Very sweet find pa-dirt_nc-sand !! Great work ! congrats ! Got to get me one of those some day !

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Ok, 10 hours later now and I'm back at home and finished trimming the Christmas tree. My 3 little ones look forward to this day quite a bit.

Sooo, I took a look at the coin again and it had fully dried out from being in the dirt for 200+ years and the dirt just started flaking off. Used a wooden skewer on edge to help some bits.I'm very happy with how it looks now.
Not quite as nice as Scrappy's, but definitely not a toasted copper!

 

[A2coins]

BOOOM BABY that's how we do it.... Sweet!!!

 

[HighVDI]

That is beautiful! Congratulations!

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

One would think that this would be sitting on the top row sooner than later, I hope. Huge congrats on one the most bad -ass coppers one would ever hope to dig. Xmas came early for you, what a present.
I'll throw my hat in on this copper!

Thx Pepperj! I'm feeling pretty good about it now, after the crud flaked off, looks like the pics in in the books. Yep, a great Christmas present from the dirt!

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Amazing find Thad! I can't believe you found that at that place. I've always wanted to dig one of those. I put in a banner vote for that one!

Thx for the super quick ID this morning, thought I had an old token...

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Very sweet find pa-dirt_nc-sand !! Great work ! congrats ! Got to get me one of those some day !

Thx Bart! Maybe a little bit of luck in finding this guy... I pine for the old silver you've pulled. Thx!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratulations on the fantastic find and beautiful piece of history!

 

[Louisiana Ken]

Love that coin!!!!!!! It's awesome!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!

 

[sandchip]

Wow, that is beautiful.

 

[Steve in PA]

Thx for the super quick ID this morning, thought I had an old token...

Man you shocked the heck out of me when you text me that pic this morning. I'm still in shock!

 

[pepperj]

Ok, 10 hours later now and I'm back at home and finished trimming the Christmas tree. My 3 little ones look forward to this day quite a bit.

Sooo, I took a look at the coin again and it had fully dried out from being in the dirt for 200+ years and the dirt just started flaking off. Used a wooden skewer on edge to help some bits.I'm very happy with how it looks now. View attachment 1519475 View attachment 1519476
Not quite as nice as Scrappy's, but definitely not a toasted copper!

Plain and simple-That's down right pretty looking the way it is now.