1799 Draped Bust LC and other finds from the creekside

[relicmeister]

Spent a few hours today in the woods along the brook, one of my favorite places, especially on a beautiful summer day. The group photo shows some of the finds, including a tiny horseshoe, a fired
musketball, a gear, parts of an old copper box, a spoon, a flat button, and the top of a (salt?) shaker.
The old Oldsmobile key (circa 30's?) next to the '43 merc was a surprising and cool find.

My best find was the 1799 Draped Bust Largy, which came out of the loamy, sandy soil in decent
shape, especially the obverse!

This was found not far from the KG II I found two weeks ago. I'm gonna go back over and over
cause I know there are more old coins to be found!!!

I also secured open-ended permission to hunt a large old farm whose property goes all the way
to the river. The house dates to late 1700's, and the old road ran through the property. This local
farm will keep me busy for quite some time to come. Happy Hunting

 

[Argentium]

You are living the dream friend ! 1799 DB Large is a great find !! Permission to hunt the farm may be your best find .

 

[Greylock]

Wow that's a rare coin. You must be on cloud 9. Im putting in a banner vote.

 

[Greylock]

or should I say a highly collectible coin

 

[G.A.P.metal]

relicmeister
Great find on the 1799 large cent... a piece of history few will ever pull out of the ground !
Gary

 

[Don in SJ]

Are you sure it is a 1799? Might be 1798. Looking at the reverse side the numerator/fraction bar and denominator do not seem to match with any of the 1799 reverses. Hope for your sake it is a 99 but I would have my doubts, going by the photos...

 

[relicmeister]

You certainly could be right about that, Don. I don't have close to your knowledge of old coins so will have to study it further.
Thanks

 

[relicmeister]

To make things more ambiguous, I just read that a lot of fake 1799s were made by altering the much more common
1798.

 

[relicmeister]

Comparing the back of my coin with the photo of the 1799 coin shown in a heritage auction galleries photo on US coin values site
I'm satisfied they are identical. Not certain about the front however. could be either 1798 or 1799 . I'm gonna have to get
someone to look at it. Anyone know how to go about doing that?

 

[lifeoncelost]

You could take it to a coin show in your area. Lots of dealers and auction house representatives are there. If it is a small coin show, there might not be any auction house reps. Either way, best place to go to take it to an expert.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Awesome find! The DB LC is in great shape! Congrats!

 

[vpnavy]

Great finds! Thanks for sharing...

 

[CASPER-2]

NICE WTG

 

[Don in SJ]

Comparing the back of my coin with the photo of the 1799 coin shown in a heritage auction galleries photo on US coin values site
I'm satisfied they are identical. Not certain about the front however. could be either 1798 or 1799 . I'm gonna have to get
someone to look at it. Anyone know how to go about doing that?

Disregarding the date, which is hard to say with certainty either way, look at the fraction bar and see how short it is on the right side, it appears from your photo that the bar does not overlap (extend to) the second 0 in 100 at all and on all reverse varieties of the 1799 it does partially cover some of the 0, that is why I said the fraction is not the same from your photo. Only if corrosion is hiding the rest of the fraction bar could it be correct for a 1799.

When I see a nice early year Large Cent posted, I like to try and attribute the variety for the finder, since especially in this case depending upon variety, it could have been a very very good coin to find. In order to attribute the variety, both sides of the coin need to be looked at and it was on the reverse side that I saw it did not match exactly any of the 3 varieties of the 1799.

 

[cjon455]

Awesome detail on that draped bust! Congrats

 

[treblehunter]

Wow, great finds, great spot, let me know if you need help covering that farm?

 

[relicmeister]

Disregarding the date, which is hard to say with certainty either way, look at the fraction bar and see how short it is on the right side, it appears from your photo that the bar does not overlap (extend to) the second 0 in 100 at all and on all reverse varieties of the 1799 it does partially cover some of the 0, that is why I said the fraction is not the same from your photo. Only if corrosion is hiding the rest of the fraction bar could it be correct for a 1799.

When I see a nice early year Large Cent posted, I like to try and attribute the variety for the finder, since especially in this case depending upon variety, it could have been a very very good coin to find. In order to attribute the variety, both sides of the coin need to be looked at and it was on the reverse side that I saw it did not match exactly any of the 3 varieties of the 1799.

Yes I think I see what you mean, Don. These coin differences can be subtle, can't they? Same for the hairstyle difference-I
think mine is style 1 but I'm not sure of that either. Anyway, I further cleaned the area of the date ( only olive oil and scotchbrite)
and think I can now conclude it's a 1798 as suspected.

 

[slowwevo]

wow ,I wish I could of got half of the responses you did,on either the 98 or 99 db I found and posted,oh well Congrats

 

[doninbrewster]

Great find regardless of the date. Seeing the date on a genuine 1799 is frequently difficult to say the least. The date seems often be struck right to the edge of the planchet. I was lucky with the 1804 cent I found earlier this years as the one thing that was clear was the date.

 

[Don in SJ]

OK, took the time to look at some 1798 varieties and for sure it is a 1798, the Reverse with such a short fraction bar with the second 0 in 100 not being under it at all is on Reverse Type T and Reverse Type Y. There are a few Obverse marriages with Reverse T and the variety S-170 is closest match. The Reverse Type Y is very similar but clash marks and die cracks should be evident and I cannot detect them, so with that said I believe with some certainty your Draped Bust Large Cent is a 1798 Sheldon 170 variety. Including a combined photo of your coin with an example of a S170 and S174. All needed attribution points are not clear enough for me to say with 100% certainty, other than it is most likely one of those varieties.

http://www.largecents.net/collection/coinpics/s174.jpg

http://www.largecents.net/collection/coinpics/s170.jpg

Don