1880's Pocket Spill with Big Silver!

[Silvermonkey]

This signal had me fooled. I was a yard off a wooded trail that I had passed through a zillion times. The VDI on my Deus 2 was in the mid-high 70's. I was thinking " junk", but I dug it any way. I was horrified when a large silver disc showed up at the bottom of the hole. Horrified because I wasn't being careful with my extraction, and ended up scratching the face of a absolutely beautiful 1854 O Seated Liberty half dollar.

Why was this signal so low? Counterfeit coin...nope. Out of the hole the VDI was 95. There must be other coins. Sure enough, this proved to be a mega 1880's pocket spill which included:
1888 seated liberty dime, 1884 liberty nickel, and 5 Indian head pennies ( 1876, 1885, 1887, 1888 x 2).

This is only my second seated liberty half dollar in 10+ years of detecting. Despite the damage I did to the coin, I'm still thrilled with this find. It also taught me a valuable lesson...never rush digging a target out of the ground...even if you are sure its crap. Someday it might prove to be something awesome! Thanks for looking! HH.

 

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[Centsless Detecting]

Honestly it doesn't look that bad. That would make my day any day. You got 2 more seated halfs than I do.

 

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[jewelerguy]

very nice!!

 

[sibbley]

Man, could it get any better than that! Congratulations...

 

[michael NY]

This signal had me fooled. I was a yard off a wooded trail that I had passed through a zillion times. The VDI on my Deus 2 was in the mid-high 70's. I was thinking " junk", but I dug it any way. I was horrified when a large silver disc showed up at the bottom of the hole. Horrified because I wasn't being careful with my extraction, and ended up scratching the face of a absolutely beautiful 1854 O Seated Liberty half dollar.

View attachment 2142894 View attachment 2142895
Why was this signal so low? Counterfeit coin...nope. Out of the hole the VDI was 95. There must be other coins. Sure enough, this proved to be a mega 1880's pocket spill which included:
1888 seated liberty dime, 1884 liberty nickel, and 5 Indian head pennies ( 1876, 1885, 1887, 1888 x 2).

View attachment 2142898 View attachment 2142896 View attachment 2142897
This is only my second seated liberty half dollar in 10+ years of detecting. Despite the damage I did to the coin, I'm still thrilled with this find. It also taught me a valuable lesson...never rush digging a target out of the ground...even if you are sure its crap. Someday it might prove to be something awesome! Thanks for looking! HH.

Wow sweet congratulations

 

[mikefromIllinois]

I would take that 70 cents any day of the week. Congrats.

 

[dognose]

great finds. Bummer about the hit to the coin, but it's a lesson learned. Good tip.

 

[erfranks]

This signal had me fooled. I was a yard off a wooded trail that I had passed through a zillion times. The VDI on my Deus 2 was in the mid-high 70's. I was thinking " junk", but I dug it any way. I was horrified when a large silver disc showed up at the bottom of the hole. Horrified because I wasn't being careful with my extraction, and ended up scratching the face of a absolutely beautiful 1854 O Seated Liberty half dollar.

View attachment 2142894 View attachment 2142895
Why was this signal so low? Counterfeit coin...nope. Out of the hole the VDI was 95. There must be other coins. Sure enough, this proved to be a mega 1880's pocket spill which included:
1888 seated liberty dime, 1884 liberty nickel, and 5 Indian head pennies ( 1876, 1885, 1887, 1888 x 2).

View attachment 2142898 View attachment 2142896 View attachment 2142897
This is only my second seated liberty half dollar in 10+ years of detecting. Despite the damage I did to the coin, I'm still thrilled with this find. It also taught me a valuable lesson...never rush digging a target out of the ground...even if you are sure its crap. Someday it might prove to be something awesome! Thanks for looking! HH.

Sweet Saves

 

[kmk]

This signal had me fooled. I was a yard off a wooded trail that I had passed through a zillion times. The VDI on my Deus 2 was in the mid-high 70's. I was thinking " junk", but I dug it any way. I was horrified when a large silver disc showed up at the bottom of the hole. Horrified because I wasn't being careful with my extraction, and ended up scratching the face of a absolutely beautiful 1854 O Seated Liberty half dollar.

View attachment 2142894 View attachment 2142895
Why was this signal so low? Counterfeit coin...nope. Out of the hole the VDI was 95. There must be other coins. Sure enough, this proved to be a mega 1880's pocket spill which included:
1888 seated liberty dime, 1884 liberty nickel, and 5 Indian head pennies ( 1876, 1885, 1887, 1888 x 2).

View attachment 2142898 View attachment 2142896 View attachment 2142897
This is only my second seated liberty half dollar in 10+ years of detecting. Despite the damage I did to the coin, I'm still thrilled with this find. It also taught me a valuable lesson...never rush digging a target out of the ground...even if you are sure its crap. Someday it might prove to be something awesome! Thanks for looking! HH.

Very cool find!!!!

 

[jimther]

This signal had me fooled. I was a yard off a wooded trail that I had passed through a zillion times. The VDI on my Deus 2 was in the mid-high 70's. I was thinking " junk", but I dug it any way. I was horrified when a large silver disc showed up at the bottom of the hole. Horrified because I wasn't being careful with my extraction, and ended up scratching the face of a absolutely beautiful 1854 O Seated Liberty half dollar.


Why was this signal so low? Counterfeit coin...nope. Out of the hole the VDI was 95. There must be other coins. Sure enough, this proved to be a mega 1880's pocket spill which included:
1888 seated liberty dime, 1884 liberty nickel, and 5 Indian head pennies ( 1876, 1885, 1887, 1888 x 2).


This is only my second seated liberty half dollar in 10+ years of detecting. Despite the damage I did to the coin, I'm still thrilled with this find. It also taught me a valuable lesson...never rush digging a target out of the ground...even if you are sure its crap. Someday it might prove to be something awesome! Thanks for looking! HH.

Congrats on an outstanding find Silvermonkey. In almost 40 years of detecting (also in Eastern Massachusetts) I've never found a Seated Half. Here's a link to Coinworld valuations for an 1854-O Seated Half

U.S. Coin & Paper Money Values - Coin World

Jim
www.masstreasure.com

 

[1wvhunter]

Cool Recovery!!

 

[glass half fool]

This signal had me fooled. I was a yard off a wooded trail that I had passed through a zillion times. The VDI on my Deus 2 was in the mid-high 70's. I was thinking " junk", but I dug it any way. I was horrified when a large silver disc showed up at the bottom of the hole. Horrified because I wasn't being careful with my extraction, and ended up scratching the face of a absolutely beautiful 1854 O Seated Liberty half dollar.

View attachment 2142894 View attachment 2142895
Why was this signal so low? Counterfeit coin...nope. Out of the hole the VDI was 95. There must be other coins. Sure enough, this proved to be a mega 1880's pocket spill which included:
1888 seated liberty dime, 1884 liberty nickel, and 5 Indian head pennies ( 1876, 1885, 1887, 1888 x 2).

View attachment 2142898 View attachment 2142896 View attachment 2142897
This is only my second seated liberty half dollar in 10+ years of detecting. Despite the damage I did to the coin, I'm still thrilled with this find. It also taught me a valuable lesson...never rush digging a target out of the ground...even if you are sure its crap. Someday it might prove to be something awesome! Thanks for looking! HH.

Awesome to hit a jackpot like that As the song by Emerson Lake and Palmer puts it OOOHH what a lucky man you are Congratss

 

[Surfline]

This signal had me fooled. I was a yard off a wooded trail that I had passed through a zillion times. The VDI on my Deus 2 was in the mid-high 70's. I was thinking " junk", but I dug it any way. I was horrified when a large silver disc showed up at the bottom of the hole. Horrified because I wasn't being careful with my extraction, and ended up scratching the face of a absolutely beautiful 1854 O Seated Liberty half dollar.

View attachment 2142894 View attachment 2142895
Why was this signal so low? Counterfeit coin...nope. Out of the hole the VDI was 95. There must be other coins. Sure enough, this proved to be a mega 1880's pocket spill which included:
1888 seated liberty dime, 1884 liberty nickel, and 5 Indian head pennies ( 1876, 1885, 1887, 1888 x 2).

View attachment 2142898 View attachment 2142896 View attachment 2142897
This is only my second seated liberty half dollar in 10+ years of detecting. Despite the damage I did to the coin, I'm still thrilled with this find. It also taught me a valuable lesson...never rush digging a target out of the ground...even if you are sure its crap. Someday it might prove to be something awesome! Thanks for looking! HH.

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone. As noted by my fellow Mass hunter lenmac65, It is fun to wonder how that pile of coins ended up in the woods. That was a lot of money back in the late 1800's. Whoever lost all that change was certainly having a bad day!

I use a hard plastic hand shovel once I dig a good sized plug around the target exactly for what occurred with the scratch.

 

[miserman]

I always like seeing the variety of coins that people carried in their pockets in the mid to late 1880's. Great find!