Mayo South Elgin
Sr. Member
Had to drive the step daughter to school this morning so I didn't get out detecting until about 9:30ish.
All by my lonesome self. Went to one of the local Elgin parks known to still give up the oldies occasionally. I tried a hillside for a couple hours but didn't get anything exciting, so I thought I'd go to where I previously had found a silver rosie. On my way there, I spotted my favorite dirt piles and noticed that they now had wood chips piled around and some sandy dirt as well. I figured to give it a try since the same dirt pile had previously given me an 1898 Barber dime. I was really hoping for another silver something or other. I found a couple pieces of a toy car in two different places, a lead wheel weight, a shotgun brass, clad dime, mem cent, and then...
One freekin huge coppery thing, really thick and really green and dirty, about 3 inches deep in the pile.
I thought to myself, this could be really good, or a huge disappointment like some ChuckECheese token on steroids - but I'll find out when I get home because I didn't want to risk damaging it by rubbing or scraping off the dirt and the green if it was real old.
I kept detecting and didn't find much else worth mentioning and went home to rinse off the huge copper. When i caught the glimpse of stars around the edge and the ONE CENT on the other side, all I could say to myself was HOLY CR*P. I had to get my 10x loupe to read the date - 1843 and I believe it's now the oldest coin I have ever found in the US.!!!
I'm really paranoid about preserving it and don't want to do anything (further) that might damage it even if it's not that valuable - I just want to keep it since it's my oldest, so far. Any tips would be appreciated.
You can't see much from the photos - I may try and get better shots of it with another camera.
All by my lonesome self. Went to one of the local Elgin parks known to still give up the oldies occasionally. I tried a hillside for a couple hours but didn't get anything exciting, so I thought I'd go to where I previously had found a silver rosie. On my way there, I spotted my favorite dirt piles and noticed that they now had wood chips piled around and some sandy dirt as well. I figured to give it a try since the same dirt pile had previously given me an 1898 Barber dime. I was really hoping for another silver something or other. I found a couple pieces of a toy car in two different places, a lead wheel weight, a shotgun brass, clad dime, mem cent, and then...
One freekin huge coppery thing, really thick and really green and dirty, about 3 inches deep in the pile.
I thought to myself, this could be really good, or a huge disappointment like some ChuckECheese token on steroids - but I'll find out when I get home because I didn't want to risk damaging it by rubbing or scraping off the dirt and the green if it was real old.
I kept detecting and didn't find much else worth mentioning and went home to rinse off the huge copper. When i caught the glimpse of stars around the edge and the ONE CENT on the other side, all I could say to myself was HOLY CR*P. I had to get my 10x loupe to read the date - 1843 and I believe it's now the oldest coin I have ever found in the US.!!!
I'm really paranoid about preserving it and don't want to do anything (further) that might damage it even if it's not that valuable - I just want to keep it since it's my oldest, so far. Any tips would be appreciated.
You can't see much from the photos - I may try and get better shots of it with another camera.
1843 - Son of a gun!!!! Congrats on breaking your own record!
Gives me hope that one day I'll find one.
