1909 s indian head but from the ground.

Bible · Jul 6, 2022

I found this key date indian metal Detecting and it always seemed nicer than the rest. Took some scrap in today and just asked about it at a shop and got offered 60$ for it. I wanted to ask about the pcgs restoration services I heard about a couple years back but I forgot and left. Anyways I also found 9 other Indians the second nicest being a 1907 I've cleaned these as they were common dates and noticed the sandy soil left no corrosion. I wondered if this coin was restorable or is it around 60 bucks. Should it be cleaned better with a toothpick on the back carefully. Any advice would really help me right now. I included one that I cleaned that was more encrusted. Also the clean spots on the 1909 were from railroad tar spackle I believe since it was near the tracks and from a Chinese railroad camp. I rinsed it with distilled water and the tar rinsed right off.

flinthunter · Jul 6, 2022

Not for sure if this is correct but I've always been told that you grade it as a normal circulated coin and then drop it one grade for environmental damage.

coinsareawesome · Jul 9, 2022

flinthunter said:
Not for sure if this is correct but I've always been told that you grade it as a normal circulated coin and then drop it one grade for environmental damage.

That's been my understanding as well, and that's what I usually do when buying coins that have been dug. Anyway the shop owner lowballed you big time. Based on the coin details I would say it would grade VF details Environmental Damage, which would put it in the VG-F price range.

Bible · Jul 10, 2022

coinsareawesome said:
That's been my understanding as well, and that's what I usually do when buying coins that have been dug. Anyway the shop owner lowballed you big time. Based on the coin details I would say it would grade VF details Environmental Damage, which would put it in the VG-F price range.

Thank you I also put it in the vf range but wasn't sure about how it was gonna downgrade when graded. Makes a lot of sense thank you both.

The Urban Prospector · Jul 11, 2022

I found an 1909s ihp about 3 years ago and took it to my lcs. He offered me $400 for it but I declined. He told me that "basically" if you can read "LIBERTY" on the head dress, it's a $500 coin.