Does the word FUGIO excite anyone?? 1787!!! 1st penny by Benjamin Franklin

[olas13]

Happy turkey day everyone! Well I headed down to the beach today to go surfing but the swell died down so I bagged that idea.On my way past the beach I noticed the town had started a project that I had been waiting for them to begin so I could do some detecting there.Used to be a few casinos on this ground. After about a half hour I was digging a good signal and happened to look to the side and noticed a round object sitting on top of a flat rock. I reached down and picked it up and there was a 1912 V nickle!! great!! after another 20 min. of detecting I got a very loud signal and dug down about 6".Out popped a large round disc.I lightly rubbed off some of the dirt and the first thing I saw was 1787!!very clear.Well needless to say I was very excited. here are some pre cleaning pics enjoy!!
Not sure now that I have read about it that I will even attempt a cleaning myself.Its soaking in olive oil right now.
Any suggestions?

OK here we go. Wow lots of comments, Thanks all.Here are the best pics I can get with my camera.First thing I can say is that being in the air it has now begun to turn green.The first pics I posted look much better than now.The color was nice and even. It is what it is. Here is a pic for size and weight. Also some more of the reverse.
the reverse says states united around the circle for sure. I took it to my local coin dealer today and he did a couple of tests/checks and says it is the real thing.
Went back this am to search around some more and don't you know the trucks werre dumping gravel on top already.
My next stop was to find out were they took all the soil that was taken out, which resulted in permission to dig through a mound of dirt 15 feet tall 30 feet long.(got a 1898 v nickle in the first 15 min ath the pile.)IN the usual poor condition that those coin get from being in the ground.I'll be back at it tommorrow.Also some pics of the dig site and some bottles from the hole.Enjoy!

p.s. the pics didn't show up so I,m starting a new post to do the follow up, thanks.

 

[olas13]

Hi Don.Bob Sullivan here.(olas13).Thanks for all your effort.The new pics look rough but the coin is still in great condition lots of detail, its just green in some areas. I really should have left it out of the oil.(was only in it for a couple of hours) but that removed some of the dirt which had given it a very even color.Everyone here really have given me and education.I,m not sure what I'll do next. Thanks again Everyone!! Bob Sullivan.HH.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Hi Don.Bob Sullivan here.(olas13).Thanks for all your effort.The new pics look rough but the coin is still in great condition lots of detail, its just green in some areas. I really should have left it out of the oil.(was only in it for a couple of hours) but that removed some of the dirt which had given it a very even color.Everyone here really have given me and education.I,m not sure what I'll do next. Thanks again Everyone!! Bob Sullivan.HH.

Good to hear from you again, olas. Congratulations on an excellent find! What you should do next, I think, is leave the coin alone. I would suggest peroxide, but I don't think it'll work now that the coin has been in the oil.

Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[Montana Jim]

Re: Attribution of the Variety of the Fugio

With the addition of the cleaner Reverse photos, I spent some time looking at all the varieties and came up with what I thought was the variety, but before I was going to post it, I had it verified from a colonial collector and he agreed with my identity.

The coin is a Newman 12-U Rarity 5 (Rare) and there is a photo of one on the Coinfacts.com website.

http://www.coinfacts.com/colonial_coins/fugio_cents/fugio_cent_n012_U.htm

What was diagnostic for me in IDing the coin as a N.12-U was the alignment of the lettering WE ARE ONE

This was the only Reverse that I could find where the alignment of the ARE with ONE underneath is as shown, the others are more spread out.

So, congratulation on finding one of the harder to find varieties of a Fugio!

Don in South Jersey

I agree with your attribution Don... fo rthe same reasons... the "we are one"