OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!! (UPDATE: Photos of Cleaned Half)

Captn SE

Silver Member
Apr 1, 2007
2,774
13
Southern CA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE; X-1 Target Probe; Pro Coil, 6x8 SEF, Coiltek Platypus Elliptical, Sunray X8, Expl. 1050 coils
Hello Everyone,

I'm so ecstatic right now, I can hardly think. I still can't believe I found my oldest American coin today and it's a half dollar. It was a very hot day today (101 degrees), and I didn't know how long I was going to detect this afternoon. I stayed under the shade of the oak trees, finding about 6 wheaties. Then as the sun was going down, I ventured into an open area of the park. In a few minutes, I had my first silver coin, a mercury dime, hiding next to iron. I said, "Great, I got a silver"! I was happy to just leave at that time, but decided to swing a little more. About 15 minutes later, that's when it happened. When I detected the target, I thought maybe at best it was a deep clad quarter. I had pulled wheats/memorials from 7" at this meadow in the park before. The target was hiding in an iron patch of turf. My SE was nulling quite a bit. Then all of a sudden, bang!! I hear the threshold come back, followed by the sound of a coin. The depth meter was about halfway down, so I really didn't think that it could be something really good. When I made the plug and took some dirt out, I just then realized it was deeper than I expected. At about 7", out pops this white disk. I knew it was silver. My first glance was the back of the coin, which was an eagle. My hand was shaking. I turned the coin over and saw the lady liberty sitting. My eyes nearly came out of their sockets. :o I was in disbelief. I just stared at the coin for a while. I took a clad quarter out of my pouch for size comparison. Yep, it was a half; an 1858 O seated half dollar. This is my oldest American coin find to date, and also my first ever seated coin. I then got up and started doing the happy dance.... Then I started calling all my md'ing buddies to tell them of my find. We've all detected this part of the meadow countless numbers of times. Ron(CA), remember the '64 rosie you pulled from that meadow that was hiding next to iron? Well, the seated half was about 20' from that spot. The coin was being masked by iron all around. I checked the area around the hole, and verified this was the case. I've pulled some mercs, rosies, Indian heads, and 1 barber dime from this area before. I could never believe there would be a seated half yet to be found.

The coin has good detail, but is definitely oxidized. I will take a photo of it the way I found it. Should I use electrolysis on it?? I would love to see it all cleaned up, but will just leave it as is for now.

This find just keeps reinforcing the fact that no matter how many times we swing our detectors over the same areas, there are still great coins that haven't been found yet right under our feet. Just maybe next time, we'll find one. Well, today was my day to find that elusive coin. I'm on cloud 9!! ;D

Thanks for looking,
CAPTN SE
Dan
 

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Upvote 0

JerV3

Gold Member
Feb 28, 2005
5,718
2,613
Three Rivers
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1
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Minelab Etrac ,Xp Deus, Ctx 3030, Vanquish 440 X 2, Equinox 600, Equinox 800
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Big Congrats Man.

You couldn't have said it any better.

HH Jer
 

PENNYHUNTER

Full Member
Aug 19, 2007
227
88
Orangvalle
Detector(s) used
explorer se,excal 1000,whites MXT,and a E-trac
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

are you going to try to clean it?
 

history hunter

Bronze Member
Apr 12, 2007
2,043
558
Menasha WI.
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Nox 800 AT Max, Mine lab se pro/ Teknetics 7500 / teknetics 8000 / fisher m-scope (aquanut) 1280x/2ea compass relic magnum 6 /compass yukon 77b (professional) /compass yukon 71b
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

That's just awesome,maybe some day I will find one. WTG
 

Prober

Bronze Member
Apr 11, 2007
1,933
5
West Michigan
Detector(s) used
White's M6, Bullseye II, Ace250
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Captain, I'm so happy for you. I would have done a happy dance too...freaking awesome! It is sure a beauty.
 

cheese

Silver Member
Jan 9, 2005
3,330
1,080
South Georgia
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Awesome! I haven't found a seated yet either. Very nice find. I would do electrolysis on it. I found a 1898 barber half earlier this year that was rough. I stuck it in the electrolysis for a while and it turned out nice. Big hunks of crud just flaked off of it. I had no idea how nice the coin was going to clean up. Heck, I think I still have pics...I'll post a before and after for you. I put it in about 1 qt of water, with about 1/2 TBS salt, and 15 volts.
 

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Baldingboy

Bronze Member
May 17, 2007
2,240
34
Southeast Missouri
Detector(s) used
Minelab SE Professional with 6" Coil
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Unbelievable Captn!! You did a super job listening to what your detector was telling you. I would be totally stoked to find one of those. My oldest coin so far is from 1890. You have me beat by 32 years!! That's a lot! Good job buddy!
 

Boobydoo

Gold Member
Apr 24, 2006
6,338
28
Michigan
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

A most memorable find out of your 470+ silvers this year.
COngrats on the awesome treasure, you did well!
Thanks for sharing your adventure, continued good luck!

Smiles!
BDoo
 

Bavaria Mike

Gold Member
Feb 7, 2005
8,340
177
Bavaria Germany
Detector(s) used
Minelab XT70, Fisher 1280, Garrett Ace 250 and MH5
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Congrats on the half! HH, Mike
 

Goldiver

Bronze Member
Sep 15, 2006
2,345
1,150
Fremont, Ohio
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Equinox 800, Fisher F-75 LTD2, CZ-70, CZ-21, 1280x, Vibraprobe 560, Minelab Pro-Find 35
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All Treasure Hunting
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Great job on the half, those are tough to find!
 

ModernMiner

Gold Member
Jan 9, 2007
13,859
3,921
North Carolina
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5
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
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Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Captain,
FANTASTIC find!!! Congrats to you. I can't even imagine what it would feel like to find a coin like that.
-MM-
 

Green1

Silver Member
Mar 20, 2006
3,930
26
Massachusetts
Detector(s) used
Mxt 6x10 coil Massachusetts
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

yikes !!!!!!!!!! that is a sweet find there,,, congrads BIG time !!!
 

Skrimpy

Bronze Member
Aug 16, 2006
1,300
61
smAlbany, NY
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DFX
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Captn_SE said:
The coin has good detail, but is definitely oxidized. I will take a photo of it the way I found it. Should I use electrolysis on it?? I would love to see it all cleaned up, but will just leave it as is for now.

Don't know Capt. It looks to me as if the "Liberty" mark on the shield is worn off. Redbook says thats a G-4 coin and its worth about 24 dollars. Its a tough call. Its a nice historical piece but not worth a hell of a lot, so probably not worth a professional cleaning. Not sure I would electorlyze it either. I would think about the pro cleaning if it was in F-12 condition.
 

metalev4

Bronze Member
Aug 12, 2006
1,165
565
Excellent find!! Since it is not an exceptionally valuable coin I would...

Run it under warm water and then rub a little baking soda on the coin. It will clean up nice and you dont have risk of screwing it up with electrolysis. This is what I do to my non valuable silver and they clean up nicely witout damaging the coin in any way.
-Ev
 

willie d

Silver Member
Jul 13, 2005
4,007
394
Close enough to the beach
Detector(s) used
**Tesoro Tiger Shark** Tesoro Silver Umax** Minelab Sov Gt w/WOT coil** Whites 6000Di Pro SL**
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Cool deal. WTG
 

halfdime

Silver Member
Oct 31, 2006
4,496
1,419
Zelienople
Detector(s) used
White's XLT
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Great find! I have an 1858-O that my grandmother had; I wish I knew why she kept it. Wouldn't mind finding another! Will look forward to pics after you clean it up.
 

weasel606

Silver Member
Jan 28, 2007
2,683
152
West Virginia, USA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Xterra 70 ,Bounty Hunter Landstar, Garrett ACE 400
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

captn thats awesome !!! that se really did you good, congrats on the silver and enjoy that cloud 9 ;)
 

Colonial KirkPA

Silver Member
Apr 4, 2007
3,846
9
Colonial, PA
Detector(s) used
White's Pro XL
Re: OMG!! I Found A Seated Half Dollar!!!

Big Dan, I am happy for you, bud! No fist pumping? :D You truly show persistance at these parks and it proved to be your lucky day. You also have an extreme passion for this hobby...it would be an honor to swing a coil with you. Even the babes who are older than a 130 years old are hot, right? hahaha

Keep hitting that area, my friend! You should find a half dime, too! hahaha

Your best White's friend on the east coast,
Kirk
 

Colonial KirkPA

Silver Member
Apr 4, 2007
3,846
9
Colonial, PA
Detector(s) used
White's Pro XL
Re: Excellent find!! Since it is not an exceptionally valuable coin I would...

metalev4 said:
Run it under warm water and then rub a little baking soda on the coin. It will clean up nice and you dont have risk of screwing it up with electrolysis. This is what I do to my non valuable silver and they clean up nicely witout damaging the coin in any way.
-Ev

Dan, don't do this. It makes the coin look fake. Do the electrolysis on it! I can't wait to see the new pics of the cleaned coin. Great find, buddy!
 

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