Art I need to chime in here because I think it's important that we all talk about this. As most of you know I considered Vino a friend on here. Let me be clear....I've never actually met the guy. But this situation has affected a ton of people. I had the funniest hunt of my life yesterday. Dug a ton of early coins from a site with a family connection. I was riding high until I thought about posting. Are people going to question my finds? Am I just going to get lumped in with him? After talking with a couple of people that I really respect in here it all was clear. I am posting because I'm proud of my finds and want to share them. I love seeing all of your finds and hope you all continue to share with me. If people can't tell that these dirty old coppers of mine came from the ground and want to judge....so be it. The people that truly are knowledgeable will know they're legit. I have always posted the dirty pics of my finds at the beginning of my posts. I've always encouraged others to do the same. I just feel like it adds legitimacy to my posts. Looking back it's pretty obvious when something hasn't been in the dirt long. So please keep sharing with me and I will keep sharing with you. I love this forum and it will continue to be great. I put in so much time and effort to do this. I will never stop doing something I love
You know, the thought of anyone questioning my posted finds has never even crossed my mind; ever.
I can't even imagine going through the trouble of creating fake finds to get some kind of pathetic ego boost from people I don't even really know on a message board that's visited by a very small demographic of people who dig in the dirt for treasure. In my area, this is most definitely not a popular hobby. I have yet to encounter a fellow detectorist actually hunting in my travels.
But now I'm wondering a little. All I can say is that if anyone ever has even an inkling that any of my finds are fake, I would ask them to please confront me directly or just stay quiet about it.
I have found 4 class rings from one location; three 10K and one valadium from Walmart. That was over more than 18 months and at least fifty hunts at one location. It may seem like the odds against that happening are extremely high. Then again, this location has been used for playing sports for over 75 years. When you step back and look at the big picture it's not as unlikely as it may seem. Plus, it's an absolute FACT that true persistence WILL pay off in a good location as long as you're willing to not get discouraged and press on no matter what.
Plus, I've probably filled a trash can to the brim with trash two times from that single location (well, maybe not that much but you know what I mean). I'm not finished yet either. The site still has more than a few hunts left.
Also, if I (or pretty much anyone here) were to post the boatloads of utter trash that we have dug on our many hunts, what would even be the point?? I don't come on here to look at can slaw. I come to see amazing finds like the two beautiful coins posted in this thread. It inspires me to get out there and find my own treasures.
The finds that I do choose to photograph and post are usually the best of the best. Early on I posted everything, including clad and trash but back then I found it exciting to dig up anything because I was so new to this hobby. That no longer applies now that I know what I'm doing (at least, I think I do).
So it may look like I'm incredibly lucky sometimes but a real fellow treasure hunter understands the thousands of holes that are dug only to reveal more clad, those damnable Zincoln's, trash, can slaw and other junk that will never be seen here. Hell, I wouldn't waste the time taking the pictures.
Most guys would not clean their coins outside of washing the dirt off of them. Now this is a touchy subject. The black oxide would be considered environmental damage when graded. Cleaning it off removes some of the detail and both of those coins may have had some mint luster. There are solutions that would only attack the black oxide leaving the coin relatively untouched. In coins of this rarity it could mean the difference of 75% in value. I would have cleaned them and let the natural toning take over again, just like you have done. I have had many that got the lemon juice bath between aluminum foil. It knocks the black off them without taking down the solid high spots.
