1798 Draped Bust Large Cent

[Homerun04]

Decided to get out today. I just had that "feeling". It was a short hunt (only 2 hours), but it yielded my best large cent to date. A beautiful 1798 Draped Bust. Pictures don't do this coin justice. Beautiful shape. The woods just keep on producing. Copper #16 on the season.

 

[ES66]

That is an awesome looking coin... Congratulations!!

 

[Silver Searcher]

O.K., and another thing I'm gonna throw out there, and have never seen mentioned before, is the fact that a nearly uncirculated or uncirculated copper coins tend to exit the ground in pretty nice shape while worn coppers seem to degrade much quicker.

My theory: Original mint luster on a coin is actually raised metal occurring in the minting process. Luster wears away very quickly leaving just the base metal of the coin, which would seemingly be much more susceptible to true corrosion.

Luster, in my opinion, somehow saves the coin somewhat, as a "buffer" so to speak, therefore allowing a nearly or uncirculated coin from incurring initial damage when dropped.

Just a thought, would like to hear comments!

Greg

There's one...and only one factor why a copper coin comes out of the ground looking like that.....sheer good luck.
That's a hell of a cracking looking coin

SS

 

[Trezurehunter]

Great Large Cent.

 

[Steve in PA]

Beautiful LC, must have come from friendly, forgiving, dry soil

 

[Brian in MA]

Wow, that is one nice looking Bust

I would give anything to have one of my coppers come out of the ground looking even half as nice as yours.

I'm happy when I can just ID them.

Congrats on an awesome coin.

Brian in MA

 

[Homerun04]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Yes, this is now one of my favorite coin finds. Many people have told me, however, that since it was a dug coin PCGS or any other grading service would return it in a body bag and not slab it. Too bad, because I think it is in AU condition, and would love to get a professional opinion on it. I also think it is an S186 or S187, but this is only based on conversation with fellow numismatists. It was found on the side of an old path about 15 yards away from an old cellar hole.

About a year ago I started researching an old piece of land in a nearby town that I had a suspicion was an old settlement dating back to the mid-1600s, but was abandoned in the mid-1800s and is now nothing but an old wooded ghost town. Here is the body of a message I wrote that was posted on Dirt-Fishing.com about just one day back in March hunting at this location (go to http://www.dirt-fishing.com and on main home page under “What a Day”).

To date, I have found at this location the following coins:

- 1899 Indian Head
- 1748 King George II Hibernia Half Penny
- 1826 Matron Head Large Cent
- 1833 Robinsons Jones Hard Times Token
- 1837 Seated Liberty Half Dime
- 1740 King George II Half Penny
- 1788 Massachusetts Cent
- Undated Connecticut Copper
- 1742 King George II Half Penny
- 1694 King William III Irish Farthing
- 182X Matron Head Large Cent
- 1737 King George II Half Penny
- 167X -168X King Charles II Farthing
- 1723 Rosa Americana Twopence
- 1808 Classic Head Large Cent
- 1798 Draped Bust Large Cent

 

[IWillFindTheGold]

That coin is BEAUTIFUL! Kudos!

 

[CRUSADER]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Yes, this is now one of my favorite coin finds. Many people have told me, however, that since it was a dug coin PCGS or any other grading service would return it in a body bag and not slab it. Too bad, because I think it is in AU condition, and would love to get a professional opinion on it. I also think it is an S186 or S187, but this is only based on conversation with fellow numismatists. It was found on the side of an old path about 15 yards away from an old cellar hole.

About a year ago I started researching an old piece of land in a nearby town that I had a suspicion was an old settlement dating back to the mid-1600s, but was abandoned in the mid-1800s and is now nothing but an old wooded ghost town. Here is the body of a message I wrote that was posted on Dirt-Fishing.com about just one day back in March hunting at this location (go to http://www.dirt-fishing.com and on main home page under “What a Day”).

To date, I have found at this location the following coins:

- 1899 Indian Head
- 1748 King George II Hibernia Half Penny
- 1826 Matron Head Large Cent
- 1833 Robinsons Jones Hard Times Token
- 1837 Seated Liberty Half Dime
- 1740 King George II Half Penny
- 1788 Massachusetts Cent
- Undated Connecticut Copper
- 1742 King George II Half Penny
- 1694 King William III Irish Farthing
- 182X Matron Head Large Cent
- 1737 King George II Half Penny
- 167X -168X King Charles II Farthing
- 1723 Rosa Americana Twopence
- 1808 Classic Head Large Cent
- 1798 Draped Bust Large Cent

Odds are its a 1675 Farthing.

 

[Don in SJ]

Congrats on a very nice 1798, that year seemed to hold up rather well with many being in decent shape that are found. I tried to get the varitey, but cannot say for sure, since the rough surfaces in some areas make a positive ID from the photo a challenge. I am fairly certain it is not a Sheldon 186 or 187. I am leaning towards a S-170, especially with the wide spacing of LIBERTY. The S-170 shares the reverse side with two other obverses and I do not think it is one of them.

Final criteria I used to say S-170 is on the Obverse, the wide LIBERTY, with a damaged serif of the right side of the left arm of the "Y".
On the Reverse, all seems to match, but an all tell diagnostic feature would be if there is no stem on the outer berry below E(D) and held between the leaves (I cannot tell from the photo if it has a stem or not for sure, I think it does not).
Also on the Reverse the leaf stem right of (N)E crosses the wreath stem. I think that does.

Again, not 100% sure, 1798 is tough, with so many varieties that are so similar to each other.

Don

 

[ruck]

Thats an eye popper dude!