1878 Morgan dollar

[kieser sousa/rip]

Hello all ! Found this realy ugly silver dollar today.I found it in some coal ash so it's in pretty rough shape.1'st year morgan and the 2'nd I've dug.I found it on the lawn of a friend while looking for the suvey stakes.The deal was i find the stakes, i get to detect and keep all that i find.I found one of the stakes and now i just need to measure off that one to find the rest so I'll be headed back tomorrow ! Oh and i also found a couple of weat cent's an old knife and a few old toys.

 

[history hunter]

A silver dollar is great to find no matter what shape it's in. I have found one 1921 morgan that was almost uncirculated and a peace type dollar that was cut in half. HH

 

[SeattleALE]

Little muddy but you know there's silver under there!

 

[cheese]

I found a half dollar that looked like that, but after electrolosys, it looked great! The crud came off in flakes and revealed a much nicer coin underneath than I thought I had. See these before and after pics:

 

[Green1]

great find there,, really hope she cleans up 4 ya....

 

[Rubicon]

Great finds, I had some of those exact cars growing up in the late 60's.

 

[BioProfessor]

Here is a simple electrolysis unit you can build for almost nothing. Might want to try it.

http://gometaldetecting.com/electrolysis_cleaning.htm


Daryl

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

What a great electrolysis unit and finds

Keep @ it and HH!!

 

[kieser sousa/rip]

Here is a simple electrolysis unit you can build for almost nothing. Might want to try it.

http://gometaldetecting.com/electrolysis_cleaning.htm


Daryl

Thanks Daryl ! I'll give it a try.I remember doing this in high school science class.

 

[BuckleBoy]

I found a half dollar that looked like that, but after electrolosys, it looked great! The crud came off in flakes and revealed a much nicer coin underneath than I thought I had. See these before and after pics:

You might wanna post your specs. on the electrolysis job you did on that half. Voltage? Time? Solution used? Electrolysis on silver coins is TRICKY business, but yours turned out magnificently.

Regards,

Buckleboy

 

[BuckleBoy]

Judging from the edge dings, I have a hunch that this one might be an old counterfeit coin. If so, it could be worth much more than if it was a real one. Perhaps silver plated pewter or lead The composition of it will also have an effect on how long you'll want the electrolysis job to last. Careful!! You should be able to tell within a few minutes whether or not it is silver, depending on the voltage you use. How deep was the coin? Have you recovered any other silver from the site, and was it in a similar condition?

-Buckleboy

 

[gold fish]

Ok, here's a pic of mine. Trust me, it's a fake, it takes A LOT to do this much damage to a real morgan, silver is pretty tough. It rings up solid as zinc on my MD, a real morgan SCREAMS silver, and the weight is WAY wrong. I have bought a few morgans, and this is not one. I really am not trying to burst your bubble, but they look real similar.

Heck, we can start an authentic FAKE morgan club !!! So far, it looks pretty exclusive.

P.S. - buckleboy, did you mention something about value ??

 

[mobrigade]

Any Morgan is a good one!

 

[kieser sousa/rip]

Judging from the edge dings, I have a hunch that this one might be an old counterfeit coin. If so, it could be worth much more than if it was a real one. Perhaps silver plated pewter or lead The composition of it will also have an effect on how long you'll want the electrolysis job to last. Careful!! You should be able to tell within a few minutes whether or not it is silver, depending on the voltage you use. How deep was the coin? Have you recovered any other silver from the site, and was it in a similar condition?

hello Buckleboy,Is there a test that i could do or have done to see if it is silver ?It rang on my detector as silver and weighs the same as other Morgans,but not positive,I didn't weigh it just compared it to another one.Haven't found any other silver there yet,but the ground there has a layer of coal ash under about 6 inches of topsoil.I found the coin in the ash layer.I did find a mercury dime in a layer of coal ash that turned the coin into a white powder.Thanks for the info.

OK, here's a pic of mine. Trust me, it's a fake, it takes A LOT to do this much damage to a real morgan, silver is pretty tough. It rings up solid as zinc on my MD, a real morgan SCREAMS silver, and the weight is WAY wrong. I have bought a few morgans, and this is not one. I really am not trying to burst your bubble, but they look real similar.

Heck, we can start an authentic FAKE morgan club !!! So far, it looks pretty exclusive.

P.S. - buckleboy, did you mention something about value ??

They do look similar,but mine seems right on the weight and rang as silver on my machine.But i still have doubts as to if it's authentic,could be a counterfeit,Did someone say it could be worth more !

 

[gold fish]

Ok, wait a minute, mine came outta what looked like an old "burn pile", too. Jeez, I hope they aren't real, there goes our club !!!

 

[kieser sousa/rip]

Ok, wait a minute, mine came outta what looked like an old "burn pile", too. Jeez, I hope they aren't real, there goes our club !!!

lol,we could always mint a few of our own.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

This is the week of the ugly silver! I have seen a few and posted my own this week.

You can try about 30 seconds of electrolysis to clean it up a little.

 

[cheese]

I used 15 VDC to fry the half I posted a pic of. I use about 1 tsp of salt in the water also. I don't know how long it stayed in the bath...but I kept checking it. I've never had any negative results with electrocuting silver. Copper is another story...takes some care to do it without ruining it. With the silver, I just pull it out every few minutes, scrub it a little with a sponge, and drop it back in the bath until it's clean enough to suit me. Heres a pic of my electrolosys setup. It's a bit fancy, but you can accomplish the same thing with a regular plug-in-the-wall transformer.

 

[kieser sousa/rip]

Well i made a unit as per Daryl's post and tryied it out.It is now silver colored but still pretty darn ugly ! Thanks again Daryl for the info ! Now I'm thinkin what can i try next ! Fun Fun !

 

[kieser sousa/rip]

Man,This is just to cool ! lol I did one of my naval buttons and I am impressed ! Pic's don't look as good as the real thing but i am very happy with it !I was a bit leary of trying it on this button at first but glad i did !

 

[BioProfessor]

Looks like the dollar may need a little more time in the juice. Hard to say. It could just be a coin that has nothing much to reveal.?.

From the electrolysis post site:

I have found that 5 minutes is not quite enough time, I have had a single coin in electrolysis for up to an hour, with great results.

The only caution here is you need to watch the transformer carefully for the longer it runs the hotter it gets - real hot. For the people who claim your set up does not work, ask them to leave the coin or object in the electrolysis for 10 to 15 minutes, if the water has not changed color by then, or no bubbling is visible - then it is possible that what they are trying to clean does not have a metal alloy base.

Final Cleaning:
A) You will need some very fine steel wool #00, the type used to clean glass, this will help buff out any remaining dirt, build up off of the face, and it will not damage the coin in any way.

B) With a soft tooth brush, use a polish like "Peek", and apply with the brush, do not let dry but stand for a few seconds, then buff with a soft cloth.

Keep at it. It may get better yet.

Daryl