1857 Cent - Advice needed on clean up

[NJ Garrett]

Hi all!

As some of you know, my parents are in the process of selling a property in NJ that has been in our family since 1902. Prior to that, the house dates back to the 1700's when it was a tavern and possibly a general store in the 1800's. Upon hearing the news that they would be selling it, I decided to take up metal detecting, in an effort to recover as much history from the ground as possible before they sold it. It's been a heck of a journey for the last 9 months, and I'm finally getting in my groove.

This week, I managed to find two items of interest. The first was a 1936 Buffalo Nickel. It's in nice condition, and the date is clearly legible. I was with my dad when I got this signal. I jokingly said "Come to papa." To my surprise, it was a nice coin. My dad was in shock. His comment was "I've walked over this spot probably a million times."


The second coin was a funny signal. I dug it anyway. At first, I thought it was just another Lincoln, but upon brief inspection, it didn't have any "tells" that I could see. Upon rinsing with water, I could tell that it wasn't an ordinary penny, but I could not make anything out. Finally, after pulling out the magifying glass, I could find a date. 1857. A little research pulled up the 1857 flying eagle penny, and I could make out the shape of the eagle on the front. Mystery solved! It's a very interesting coin. When you drop a penny or a nickel, they have a nice ring to them. When you drop this coin, it has no ring. Just a thud.

My question to all of you is how do I clean this guy up? I have no plans to sell any of my finds. I plan to pass my finds down to my son, like my family had passed the house down for generations. I'd like to clean this up, but hopefully not do any damage to the coin.

Thanks!

Kevin

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[Greylock]

Unfortunetly I can't help with the cleaning. To me it looks like there is nothing to clean and would leave it as is. Good find either way. Hope someone can help

 

[bountyhuntergirl86]

You can try vinegar at your own risk ... or electrolysis

 

[jewelerguy]

nice. flying eagle is another one I'd love to dig some day

 

[recondigger]

Congrats on the great finds! I have dug a bunch of flying eagles and there really is not to much you can do with them when it comes to cleaning without destroying what detail you have. Just a soft to tooth brush and some water. After I do that to mine I place them in a spoon warm the up over the gas stove so they get hot and then melt wax over them by holding a candle on the side showing until the whole coin is covered with melted wax. After that I let is sit in the wax for about 30 sec. And then wipe the coin off with a rag removing all the wax but what has been soaked into the coin. This should help being out some detail.

Dig until your arm falls off

 

[ggossage]

That's one that's still eludes me--great job! Be careful cleaning it...it has more nickel in it than our newer pennies (excluding the newer zincs)....so you'll notice it behaves a lot like a nickel when you clean it. In the past, nickels and fatty injuns turn red/pink on me when cleaning, so I started brushing them with a brass brush if they weren't valuable. That gets the crud off and doesn't turn it pink/red. Good luck and great find!

 

[Mach1Pilot]

Nice job recovering that flying eagle!

 

[matt092079]

Just looking at the wear of the coin, I'd say cleaning would only harm this one. Looks like you've already cleaned with water, perhaps? Not sure. You can clean at your own risk, but I'd vote on just leaving it as is.

 

[bountyhuntergirl86]

Try maybe a light tooth picking

 

[NJ Garrett]

Thanks for the great suggestions! I will definitely try toothpicking, especially on the back. Are there any suggestions for improving the relief on the coin? I assumed that if I was able to clean up the coin (i.e. remove some of the oxidized crust), that I'd be able to see some more of the coin details. Is that true or is this just a worn little penny that I have no chance of seeing more detail? I'm totally new to this, so thanks for the words of support!

 

[BuckleBoy]

My experience is that these clean well with toothbrush and water to scrub down to the red color, then very light rubbing the fingers over the high points in the design. Oil on the hands will bring the detail out. Watch my video. I've had great luck with nickels and CN Indian Head and Flying Eagles.



BUT, if you have already rubbed the green, the oil on your fingers will adhere the green to the coin, and no amount of scrubbing will remove it. Even wiping with a bare hand will screw up the process in my video.

-Buck