Don't Overlook the Obvious: Old Silver Literally On The Trail

[Silvermonkey]

Greetings and Happy October T-Net Nation! I was able to get out into some nearby woods on Monday for a couple of hours of detecting. While walking down a very well traveled path I hit on a decent high-ish tone ( VDI=84). About two inches down out popped a very tiny, very bent silver coin.



Turned out to be an 1847 seated half dime. It's a little on the banged up/ mangled side, but I was super happy to find it. This is only the third half dime I have come across in the past 10 years of detecting. I'm guessing that the lower than normal VDI was due to the size, and the bent-ness ( is that a word) of the coin. For me, a silver dime on the Deus 2 is usually a dead on "92".



Fifty yards down the same trail I got another nice signal that proved to be an 1837 Canadian " Habitant" bank token. This coin was also bent up, and in rough shape. But after some research I was able to get a positive ID. This token is a first for me.



It is always a bit of a shock when you can uncover really old coins on a well used trail like this one. It really pays to slow your swing way down in this situation. Thanks for looking!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[robertk]

Bent or not, those are awesome! Nice finds!

 

[oldmxrat]

Very cool, congrats on your recoveries!

 

[Digger RJ]

Greetings and Happy October T-Net Nation! I was able to get out into some nearby woods on Monday for a couple of hours of detecting. While walking down a very well traveled path I hit on a decent high-ish tone ( VDI=84). About two inches down out popped a very tiny, very bent silver coin.

View attachment 2107961 View attachment 2107962

Turned out to be an 1847 seated half dime. It's a little on the banged up/ mangled side, but I was super happy to find it. This is only the third half dime I have come across in the past 10 years of detecting. I'm guessing that the lower than normal VDI was due to the size, and the bent-ness ( is that a word) of the coin. For me, a silver dime on the Deus 2 is usually a dead on "92".

View attachment 2107963 View attachment 2107964

Fifty yards down the same trail I got another nice signal that proved to be an 1837 Canadian " Habitant" bank token. This coin was also bent up, and in rough shape. But after some research I was able to get a positive ID. This token is a first for me.

View attachment 2107965 View attachment 2107966 View attachment 2107967

It is always a bit of a shock when you can uncover really old coins on a well used trail like this one. It really pays to slow your swing way down in this situation. Thanks for looking!

Awesome!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Georgivs]

That looks just like a wheatie I found that was used for target practice. Looks like it was hit by a 22.

 

[Jose The Goon]

Like "robertk " says; "Bent or not, those are awesome!"
Congrats !!
By coincidence, I have an 1847 half dime that was bent almost exactly like yours is. Wasn't dug but was given to me by my father years ago. I worked in the wood shop of Boston Whaler in the 1970's and we used only Teak & Mahogany for the consoles & rails etc. Every night at the end of our shift, we dumped barrels of scrap wood into dumpsters. We were allowed to take it home if we wanted to & some guys brought it home for firewood. I boxed up some of the good pieces & took them home. Still have a lot of it to this day. Well, teak is a very hard wood. I took the half dime and placed it between two pieces of Teak & then pressed it in a heavy-duty vice. (Don't use the vice alone as the metal might wreck the coin). It straightened out the dime pretty good with no damage.
In hindsight, I should have boiled the coin in water for 15-20 minutes or left it out in the Sun on a hot day & quickly did the vice thing. Probably would have made the straightening easier. Would like to know what others think of this coin straightening method.
(doesn't have to be Teak, just another type of very hard wood) Cheers !! J.T.G.
p.s. And you are so right about the trails. Hunters, horseback riders and others using the trails (especially in Winter with snow on the ground) always losing stuff when pulling things out of their pockets like hankies etc.

 

[Kona Koma]

Greetings and Happy October T-Net Nation! I was able to get out into some nearby woods on Monday for a couple of hours of detecting. While walking down a very well traveled path I hit on a decent high-ish tone ( VDI=84). About two inches down out popped a very tiny, very bent silver coin.

View attachment 2107961 View attachment 2107962

Turned out to be an 1847 seated half dime. It's a little on the banged up/ mangled side, but I was super happy to find it. This is only the third half dime I have come across in the past 10 years of detecting. I'm guessing that the lower than normal VDI was due to the size, and the bent-ness ( is that a word) of the coin. For me, a silver dime on the Deus 2 is usually a dead on "92".

View attachment 2107963 View attachment 2107964

Fifty yards down the same trail I got another nice signal that proved to be an 1837 Canadian " Habitant" bank token. This coin was also bent up, and in rough shape. But after some research I was able to get a positive ID. This token is a first for me.

View attachment 2107965 View attachment 2107966 View attachment 2107967

It is always a bit of a shock when you can uncover really old coins on a well used trail like this one. It really pays to slow your swing way down in this situation. Thanks for looking!

Wow! Nice finds. Stay on that trail!

 

[Silvermonkey]

Like "robertk " says; "Bent or not, those are awesome!"
Congrats !!
By coincidence, I have an 1847 half dime that was bent almost exactly like yours is. Wasn't dug but was given to me by my father years ago. I worked in the wood shop of Boston Whaler in the 1970's and we used only Teak & Mahogany for the consoles & rails etc. Every night at the end of our shift, we dumped barrels of scrap wood into dumpsters. We were allowed to take it home if we wanted to & some guys brought it home for firewood. I boxed up some of the good pieces & took them home. Still have a lot of it to this day. Well, teak is a very hard wood. I took the half dime and placed it between two pieces of Teak & then pressed it in a heavy-duty vice. (Don't use the vice alone as the metal might wreck the coin). It straightened out the dime pretty good with no damage.
In hindsight, I should have boiled the coin in water for 15-20 minutes or left it out in the Sun on a hot day & quickly did the vice thing. Probably would have made the straightening easier. Would like to know what others think of this coin straightening method.
(doesn't have to be Teak, just another type of very hard wood) Cheers !! J.T.G.
p.s. And you are so right about the trails. Hunters, horseback riders and others using the trails (especially in Winter with snow on the ground) always losing stuff when pulling things out of their pockets like hankies etc.

Thanks for the tip Jose! I grew up on the South Shore back in the 70's, and drove past the Boston Whaler plant all the time. Probably went right past you a few times. Small world!

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Congrats on the killer finds !

As mentioned above, I've also straighten out of several bent Silver Coins by putting them in between two pieces of hardwood and putting them in a Vise or just hitting the wood with a Hammer.

Good Luck !

 

[scruggs]

Very nice recoveries on what must be a very old well traveled path. Hope you hit it again and find more!

 

[Jose The Goon]

Thanks for the tip Jose! I grew up on the South Shore back in the 70's, and drove past the Boston Whaler plant all the time. Probably went right past you a few times. Small world!

Sure is a small world ! I'll bet every time you drove by the plant you could smell the fiber-glass resin in the air. There's a Home Depot on the Whaler site now. Sad. After Reebok bought them, they moved operations to Florida.
If you were like me, your mind was probably wondering what it would be like to detect around those old stately Colonials on Rte. 228 heading toward Rte. 3A down to Nantasket Beach. Those homes were owned by the wealthy of that era. Lots of stuff lost on those properties I'll bet. The homes & properties still look fantastic and look especially nice on a Winter's night around Christmas time, when most of those homes have nothing but white electric candles in all of their windows.
Happy Hunting & Cheers !! J.T.G.

 

[Jose The Goon]

Congrats on the killer finds !

As mentioned above, I've also straighten out of several bent Silver Coins by putting them in between two pieces of hardwood and putting them in a Vise or just hitting the wood with a Hammer.

Good Luck !

Yes. 2 pieces of hardwood & a baby sledge would do the trick. But I've been thinking that heating the coin just before you squeeze it in the vise or pound away with the sledge might, & I say might, help the coin bend back.
I've never tried it but it's just a thought, until I come across another bent coin.
p.s. Thanks to your post, I just realized that I spelled the word "vise" wrong !!

 

[Gare]

Great finds NICE POSTING Thanks !!

 

[Silvermonkey]

Sure is a small world ! I'll bet every time you drove by the plant you could smell the fiber-glass resin in the air. There's a Home Depot on the Whaler site now. Sad. After Reebok bought them, they moved operations to Florida.
If you were like me, your mind was probably wondering what it would be like to detect around those old stately Colonials on Rte. 228 heading toward Rte. 3A down to Nantasket Beach. Those homes were owned by the wealthy of that era. Lots of stuff lost on those properties I'll bet. The homes & properties still look fantastic and look especially nice on a Winter's night around Christmas time, when most of those homes have nothing but white electric candles in all of their windows.
Happy Hunting & Cheers !! J.T.G.

That's so funny....I've fantasized about hunting those very properties.....Such a classic old New England piece of road.
Cheers to you too!

 

[Almy]

Heat from the sun or boiling the coin in water would not heat metal sufficiently to change its bending properties noticeably. It would need the heat of a flame and to be bent immediately so it is still hot. But, in my experience, the flame discolors the coin or other metal in the area to be straightened, so that should be considered. I often just put a piece of rag into a vise, set the coin into it so that the cloth sandwiches the coin and then close the vise. The cloth slides on the metal vise jaws and also cushions the coin a bit, so the result is the same as using wood, it seems. I don't do this hot because the cloth would burn.

 

[pepperj]

Heat from the sun or boiling the coin in water would not heat metal sufficiently to change its bending properties noticeably. It would need the heat of a flame and to be bent immediately so it is still hot. But, in my experience, the flame discolors the coin or other metal in the area to be straightened, so that should be considered. I often just put a piece of rag into a vise, set the coin into it so that the cloth sandwiches the coin and then close the vise. The cloth slides on the metal vise jaws and also cushions the coin a bit, so the result is the same as using wood, it seems. I don't do this hot because the cloth would burn.

Then if it looks like everything other coin it's just that.
Personally I would be leaving it the way it is, as it tells a story.
Nicely done with the trail hunting.
In the past I would just do the trails and the area that they cut through.
Produced many keepers over the years that I did them.

 

[lenmac65]

Way to go! I always swing my coil along the trail edge to and from a site time permitting, and it has paid off on many occasions.. Congrats on the Seated coin and bank token. Keep swinging!

 

[dalrem]

Yes. 2 pieces of hardwood & a baby sledge would do the trick. But I've been thinking that heating the coin just before you squeeze it in the vise or pound away with the sledge might, & I say might, help the coin bend back.
I've never tried it but it's just a thought, until I come across another bent coin.
p.s. Thanks to your post, I just realized that I spelled the word "vise" wrong !!

Being new to this hobby, I'm learning a lot. Thank you.

 

[Jose The Goon]

Heat from the sun or boiling the coin in water would not heat metal sufficiently to change its bending properties noticeably. It would need the heat of a flame and to be bent immediately so it is still hot. But, in my experience, the flame discolors the coin or other metal in the area to be straightened, so that should be considered. I often just put a piece of rag into a vise, set the coin into it so that the cloth sandwiches the coin and then close the vise. The cloth slides on the metal vise jaws and also cushions the coin a bit, so the result is the same as using wood, it seems. I don't do this hot because the cloth would burn.

Yes, heat from a flame or torch most likely will wreck the coin. Even using the vice method, I'd be reluctant to try it
with an old penny or large cent for fear of cracking the coin. Silver & gold only IMO, or as "pepperj" says, leave it as is.