Big Silver Saved!

[romeo-1]

I know, cleaning silver coins is sometimes frowned upon but with this one I had no choice. For the most part I like my silver coins to look silver. This is the Victorian 50 Cent that I found yesterday as posted yesterday. I had thought it was a large copper and was about to relegate it to the junk coin drawer but a little checking revealed it to be a silver 50 Cent...something I have not found until now! As found, I could not read the date and could discern the barest of details. The iron oxide was extremely tough to remove but when finished I had a nice, somewhat worn, large silver with a clear date! Here are the before and after pics of the find. Thanks for looking!

 

[Iron Patch]

That is a rare coin for sure and i never seen silver look like that from the ground ,nice clean up Dd60

The ground where this coin was found is saturated with iron...take a look at this musketball...it looks like it's iron instead of lead and in fact it has a thin layer of infused iron...it coats everything making the signals tough!

I've never seen that before. Just one site or everywhere?

 

[romeo-1]

That is a rare coin for sure and i never seen silver look like that from the ground ,nice clean up Dd60

The ground where this coin was found is saturated with iron...take a look at this musketball...it looks like it's iron instead of lead and in fact it has a thin layer of infused iron...it coats everything making the signals tough!

I've never seen that before. Just one site or everywhere?

One site...but a large one...probably 20 square KM in total. I think it is in the water table...hard water.

 

[romeo-1]

That's what I am talkin' about, Willis!

That one has been burned in a one time fire. It was burned and that is what gave the soil the head start in oxidizing the silver further.

How do I know?

I am the World Champion of finding fire burned Barber and Seated Liberty silver coins, and I am not proud of this.

I don't think so...every find from this area is covered in a layer of iron oxide...and it's a big area. I guess we can't discount that perhaps the entire area was razed to clear the landscape for farming...interesting theory.

 

[Colonial Copper Zeus]

She's got a shnoz that could stab a person.
Chris

 

[CRUSADER]

That is a rare coin for sure and i never seen silver look like that from the ground ,nice clean up Dd60

The ground where this coin was found is saturated with iron...take a look at this musketball...it looks like it's iron instead of lead and in fact it has a thin layer of infused iron...it coats everything making the signals tough!

I've never seen that before. Just one site or everywhere?

One site...but a large one...probably 20 square KM in total. I think it is in the water table...hard water.

Normally you need a high water table for this to happen.

 

[dfx willy]

wow nice vicky!! i just found a hay penny! willy

 

[romeo-1]

That is a rare coin for sure and i never seen silver look like that from the ground ,nice clean up Dd60

The ground where this coin was found is saturated with iron...take a look at this musketball...it looks like it's iron instead of lead and in fact it has a thin layer of infused iron...it coats everything making the signals tough!

I've never seen that before. Just one site or everywhere?

One site...but a large one...probably 20 square KM in total. I think it is in the water table...hard water.

Normally you need a high water table for this to happen.

That would account for this site...dyked lands so I imagine there would be a lot of ground seepage from beyond the dykes.

 

[pepperj]

Nice work on cleaning her up, and a no brainer. Sure had a heavy coating on it for sure.
Anyways big congrat's on your first half.

 

[teleman 2525]

very nice find good cleaning job

 

[hogge]

Can't tell what it is ifin' ya don't clean it! Awesome! Congrats Hogge

 

[The Patriot]

good call on the cleaning...now you got a date and the silver colour is back...

 

[romeo-1]

good call on the cleaning...now you got a date and the silver colour is back...

Yep, I like my silver to look like silver!

 

[fistfulladirt]

That's what I am talkin' about, Willis!

That one has been burned in a one time fire. It was burned and that is what gave the soil the head start in oxidizing the silver further.

How do I know?

I am the World Champion of finding fire burned Barber and Seated Liberty silver coins, and I am not proud of this.

Plehbah is right, I dug an 1800's Morgan dollar last year that came out looking exactly like that half. After cleaning, (with spit and tinfoil), it appeared to have been scorched in a fire. The church yard I had been hunting had burned in the late 1800's.
Congrats on that coin, looks much better cleaned. ffd

 

[jimbob450]

That is one excellent cleaning job, way to go. Jimbob

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

Quite a pleasant surprise it must have been when you realized it was BIG silver instead of another crusty copper.

Good job.