Connec: Copper and More

[Curious The George]

A friend took me to one of his spots for a hunt on Wednesday.

In the photo of the finds are, left to right, top to bottom:

Top Row
1. A key, I think, possibly a watch key.
2. Broken gun flint, pistol size.
3. Unfired bullet.
4. Fired and flattened bullet.
2nd Row
5. Brass piece, handle of spoon or something else.
6. Back half of a brass padlock. I think that is what it is, it has some steel springs still inside, the springs are V type springs and very old.
7. Brass thimble, can't tell if it was plated or not.
3rd Row
8. Piece of pewter.
9. Flat button with no back mark. Still has some gold plating clinging to front.
4th Row
My prize. A 1787 Auctori: Connec: One Cent Copper

All in all a very satisfying day on the hunt.

My friend also found a large copper but it has not been identified yet. We are working on that.

 

[JerV3]

Those are some nice finds there

HH Jer

 

[TommNJ]

Nice Copper and relics !!

TommNJ

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Nice copper. Did you tumble that one?

 

[rjw4law]

I think most of us would agree that we would gladly love to find those coppers.

 

[CRUSADER]

Yeap, first one part of a fob watch winder (key)

 

[vermonster]

You had a great day! Congrats on the copper it's just beautiful
vermonster

 

[Rusted_Iron]

Great finds, I like the copper and the thimble. I would be pretty psyched about that too.

 

[Curious The George]

Nice copper. Did you tumble that one?

Nope, not tumbled. I have taken a militant stand on cleaning old coins.

If a coin is not way rare, it is going to be cleaned to the point that I can see if the designs are still on it and the date. Dug coins, unless very rare, are not worth too very much. This one in my Red Book in G condition says the selling price is $50. I figure it is not near G condition and it was dug. So it is worth 1/4th of that or less. I see no point at all in keeping a copper disc covered with crust and crud that I can't enjoy what is there.

I cleaned it by my own method and am quite happy to see the two sides clearly enough to gaze at it and enjoy a 222 year old coin that someone held in their hands that long ago. Makes me want to go find another one!

 

[allen]

that is one sweet 222 year old coin !!!

 

[Sniffy]

Very nice CT copper. I cleaned mine with hydrogen peroxide.

 

[Colonial Copper Zeus]

Great shape on the Conn. I found one just like it yesterday.
Chris

 

[rjw4law]

All that old stuff still gets me excited....great finds.

 

[Don in SJ]

Nope, not tumbled. I have taken a militant stand on cleaning old coins.

If a coin is not way rare, it is going to be cleaned to the point that I can see if the designs are still on it and the date. Dug coins, unless very rare, are not worth too very much. This one in my Red Book in G condition says the selling price is $50. I figure it is not near G condition and it was dug. So it is worth 1/4th of that or less. I see no point at all in keeping a copper disc covered with crust and crud that I can't enjoy what is there.

I cleaned it by my own method and am quite happy to see the two sides clearly enough to gaze at it and enjoy a 222 year old coin that someone held in their hands that long ago. Makes me want to go find another one!

A finder of the coin can do what they think is best for their viewing pleasure, but you have to realize a Conn copper is one of many varieties and some varieties are worth much more than others, even in dug condition. Usually a Conn copper is hard to attribute the variety without first carefully cleaning the dirt off, then hopefully if enough important details show the variety can be determined. So it is a good idea to carefully clean any ground found copper as if it was a rare one, till you know for sure................ Red Book is only a general guideline of Colonial and other coins for varieties. If using just Red Book to determine if valuable or not, could lead to ruining a valuable old one through ignorance of not knowing what is a rare or not.

 

[Curious The George]

Good advice, Don in SJ. Thanks.

 

[seger98]

Real nice finds you have there!