coinman123
Silver Member
First off, the silver shoe buckle fragment shown below wasn't found today, but it's definitely crucial to understanding why I think this coin is so cool. Anyways, today I went metal detecting at a site that I've regularly gone to for years now, and have had plenty of luck there, with handfuls of colonial copper coins, tons and tons of colonial buttons, and various other colonial finds. Today I went closer to a stream that I haven't checked around as much, and quickly got a good signal not too deep. I dug it, and quickly revealed a pretty toasted looking copper. I was pretty happy though, with my first coin I've found this year being almost certainly a colonial coin. I continued metal detecting for around another half an hour until it got dark, and my only other find was a colonial button with the silver plating peeling off rather oddly. The button was also a cool find, because it's exactly identical to another button I found at this site, except in much worse condition, but definitely worn by the same person. I didn't think much about my finds until later today when I decided to check out the coin for more details. I noticed a clear, but very small, counterstamp while cleaning it off a bit, and took a closer look to it. It clearly said "WH", though something about it looked extremely familiar. I suddenly thought of a silver shoe buckle fragment I dug at this same site back in around 2014, probably no more than 200 feet away, and realized that's where it seemed familiar from. I checked the shoe buckle fragment, and sure enough, the identical WH mark. I was immediately blown away, and excited to have a whole new story on this toasted copper. I don't know why, but something about two seemingly unrelated finds at a site being related really is cool to me in how it ties the history of the place together. I'd guess that "WH" was a local silversmith, and the counterstamp on the coin is either him testing out his hallmark, or an advertisement for himself. Either way, super cool, and it feels great recovering a missing piece of local history, otherwise completely lost.
Also, after looking a little more, I think there's a good chance that the coin is a Liberty Cap large cent, which I think would be my first, and my oldest American (non-state copper) coin, though this could just be my eyes playing tricks on me.
Also, after looking a little more, I think there's a good chance that the coin is a Liberty Cap large cent, which I think would be my first, and my oldest American (non-state copper) coin, though this could just be my eyes playing tricks on me.
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