{Sentinel}
Silver Member
Trip to S.C. = 1853 Longacre "Type I" Liberty Head Gold Dollar!
What's up guys
Just got back from a visit to see my mother, and brothers and sister down in South Carolina. While there, I did some research and found an old Confederate camp that was used to hold Yankee prisoners for about six months. The place is near my parents property and is overgrown with brush and woods now. On Friday I went out there to look around very late in the afternoon. After locating what looked like the breastworks and rifle-pits that would've surrounded it I dropped my
coil and within 5 minutes found a decent Eagle Button and that was all the evidence that I needed, the smoking gun so to speak, and secured my appointment to go back the next afternoon. Here's the video below about 2 hours into the dig and starts with me digging out the hole:
Second video after I took a few minutes to collect myself:
Needless to say I was stunned when that popped out. It was the LAST thing in the World that I would've expected to see come out. This camp was erected late in the war and most Confederate soldiers would not have had access to U.S. Gold coins like this. I believe that this was a Gold coin that was somehow hidden by a Northern soldier to keep until he was released or to use to bargain for goods. A U.S. Gold Dollar could by ALOT in the late war Confederacy and that soldier knew it. He could've used it to barter for foodstuffs (potatoes, bread, etc) really just about anything. He either buried it or lost it but I'm pretty sure it was probably lost because you just didn't bury something like gold and not recover it, unless of course that soldier died or was moved so abruptly that there WAS no time to recover it.
My brother was with me behind the camera and was amazed and he got alittle mad because he didn't find much (he wasn't over the learning curve quite yet with the Ace 250 w/ 10x14 Excelerator Coil). This Dollar was the most minted of the years but is in great condition. According to PCGS the high points are the hair near the coronet and the points of the leaves on the reverse and there's very little to no wear. Comparing it to the PCGS photos of this coin, it grades in the higher AU range. If it had been a "D" or "C" worth more but just to dig a Civil War era Gold coin is a very rare and exhilarating find indeed and something I won't ever forget! Thanks for looking
Photos (Uncleaned)
Photos (Rinsed with alittle water)
What's up guys
Just got back from a visit to see my mother, and brothers and sister down in South Carolina. While there, I did some research and found an old Confederate camp that was used to hold Yankee prisoners for about six months. The place is near my parents property and is overgrown with brush and woods now. On Friday I went out there to look around very late in the afternoon. After locating what looked like the breastworks and rifle-pits that would've surrounded it I dropped mycoil and within 5 minutes found a decent Eagle Button and that was all the evidence that I needed, the smoking gun so to speak, and secured my appointment to go back the next afternoon. Here's the video below about 2 hours into the dig and starts with me digging out the hole:
Second video after I took a few minutes to collect myself:
Needless to say I was stunned when that popped out. It was the LAST thing in the World that I would've expected to see come out. This camp was erected late in the war and most Confederate soldiers would not have had access to U.S. Gold coins like this. I believe that this was a Gold coin that was somehow hidden by a Northern soldier to keep until he was released or to use to bargain for goods. A U.S. Gold Dollar could by ALOT in the late war Confederacy and that soldier knew it. He could've used it to barter for foodstuffs (potatoes, bread, etc) really just about anything. He either buried it or lost it but I'm pretty sure it was probably lost because you just didn't bury something like gold and not recover it, unless of course that soldier died or was moved so abruptly that there WAS no time to recover it.
My brother was with me behind the camera and was amazed and he got alittle mad because he didn't find much (he wasn't over the learning curve quite yet with the Ace 250 w/ 10x14 Excelerator Coil). This Dollar was the most minted of the years but is in great condition. According to PCGS the high points are the hair near the coronet and the points of the leaves on the reverse and there's very little to no wear. Comparing it to the PCGS photos of this coin, it grades in the higher AU range. If it had been a "D" or "C" worth more but just to dig a Civil War era Gold coin is a very rare and exhilarating find indeed and something I won't ever forget! Thanks for looking
Photos (Uncleaned)
Photos (Rinsed with alittle water)
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LOL, we didn't film that...but I tell you it WAS a celebration there in the woods! 
