1872 Indian Head

[wheres_wheatie]

Today I got out to a colonial site I've been diggin. Pulled two Mercury dimes and two encrusted Indian heads. The two indians and one of the mercs were all at the base of this huge tree stump just a couple feet away from each other. After letting them soak all day I gave them a rinse and it looks like one of the indians is 1872.

 

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[toasted]

Guess I lucked out with my five Indians at my new site. They're all in decent shape with legible dates right out of the hole. Now I just hope to find some from the 1860's and 70's with the lower mintage

 

[cjon455]

Looks like some nice detail under all th at crud

Good saves!

 

[basque-man]

Nice work on the finds! What's that slime looking stuff?

 

[Loco-Digger]

Congrats on the IHPs. Sounds like you have a promising site to hunt.

 

[park pirate]

To bad about the green gunk that's a key date...

 

[Ahab8]

That crust looks just like what I find on all of my indian heads here on the Maine coast. I call it the "coast crust disease". I sometimes leave mine in cold peroxide for days and often times their is a nicely detailed coin hiding underneath. Looks like you may have just that

 

[wheres_wheatie]

The whole coin was encrusted with that green stuff. I just rinsed, let it soak, and rinsed again and some of the green came right off to reveal beautiful details. I'm hoping it will all come off with just water.
If you look at my first picture you can see it bottom right fully encrusted.

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs. It should clean up half way decent or better.

 

[NEPADIGGER7]

Great find that should clean up just fine!

 

[Ahab8]

The whole coin was encrusted with that green stuff. I just rinsed, let it soak, and rinsed again and some of the green came right off to reveal beautiful details. I'm hoping it will all come off with just water.
If you look at my first picture you can see it bottom right fully encrusted.

Yup it looks just like mine. The crust is so stubborn that 98% of the time it's a very long peroxide bath. It the water won't do it don't be afraid to stick it in the hp

 

[Ahab8]

Here's a couple of examples





Please do show the finished product. One of my favorite things on this forum is to see the before and afters. I think yours is going to be a stunner

 

[wheres_wheatie]

I've never used hp, do you just let it soak, will it affect the value?

 

[JeffInMass]

That is one sweet key-date indian- congrats! Please re-post what it looks like after all that green is gone!

-- Jeff --

 

[Ahab8]

I've never used hp, do you just let it soak, will it affect the value?

The indian heads that I dig are normally brown and the hp does not affect the color at all. The beauty of it is that you are not doing anything that could potentially scratch the coin. It's just a reaction with the crud that breaks it lose. I certainly would never go throwing a $4000 coin in a vat of hp but I never hesitated to throw the 66,70,75,76 IHs in. I simply warm it up for about 18 seconds in the microwave in a Tupperware dish and drop the coin in. It will bubble a bit as it reacts with the crud. Most people continue this process over and over. I don't do that. I just let the coin continue to sit in the hp until the desired look has been achieved. Here's my take on the hp. If you have a nice solid coin underneath the crud you absolutely cannot hurt it. If you have a coin that's pitted and has very little detail you can absolutely hurt it. Can't wait to see yours when it's done.

 

[payload77]

Great year IH!