Dug this 1794 Large Cent yesterday

dsinsc · Jan 24, 2013

First off I want to offer my sincere condolences to my northern friends who's ground is frozen but here in SC it's digging season 8-)

Been waiting two years to get back to this place but it's been so overgrown we just couldn't hunt it. I dug a nice matching pair of big shoe buckles, a King George II halfpenny and a few early buttons the one time we tried searching there so we knew it was an old place and when we saw they were timbering the area we re-secured our permission and kept a close eye on it. When they got to the spot we wanted to hunt they just went around it and we were like :icon_scratch:

We asked the guy on the bulldozer and he said they were done with that area but asked if we were finding anything. We told him we would be if they'd clean that spot over there up! He said he'd see what he could do about it and the next day when we went back the place was smooth as a baby's butt! We dug a bunch of flat, fancy and dandy buttons, a few buckles and musket parts, a couple coins and the usual pewter spoon pieces, musket balls, thimbles, melted lead etc... . I wish I could've gotten this coin before the bulldozer did, you can tell the edge damage on it is fresh as a daisy, but I'm happy to have it anyways. I added a picture of the pair of buckles that I got there two years ago, glad I got them before the bulldozer did

Dave

Daffyduk · Jan 25, 2013

Nice find!! Its 14 degrees here in WV with a couple inches of snow expected today. Cant wait till spring!!!

SusanInColumbia · Jan 25, 2013

Dave, what great finds! I'm in South Carolina too and the weather (except for today) is perfect for relic hunting. Do you know of any groups that have hunts planned? I'm just starting out but it sure is a lot of fun!

granthansen · Jan 25, 2013

Fantastic! Great story too... would love to have a personal bulldozer for many spots!

HomeGuardDan · Jan 25, 2013

Simply a beaut dave! One of the nicest dug examples I have seen in a long time! WTG man you are on a roll!

Dan

dsinsc · Jan 25, 2013

Steve in PA said:
Wow! That is a stunning Liberty Cap. Too bad about the damage, but it looks like old damage to me, since the damaged areas look to have the same patina as the coin from what I can see. Two perfect matching shoe buckles - you just don't see that.

Thanks Steve, I touched up the damage to blend it in as best as I could, when I took the dirt off it those areas were down to fresh bare metal. You could see the stress that was put on it, like when you try to straighten a piece of brass and all the patina where it was bent wrinkles up and pops off....

dsinsc · Jan 25, 2013

HomeGuardDan said:
Simply a beaut dave! One of the nicest dug examples I have seen in a long time! WTG man you are on a roll!

Dan

Thanks Dan, You, Bill and Beau have been finding some great stuff. I want to dig a hammered silver coin over here one day

dsinsc · Jan 25, 2013

SusanInColumbia said:
Dave, what great finds! I'm in South Carolina too and the weather (except for today) is perfect for relic hunting. Do you know of any groups that have hunts planned? I'm just starting out but it sure is a lot of fun!

Hi Susan, Columbia is a good ways from where I'm at but I do know they have a club up there that does group hunts once in awhile. We have a group hunt coming up in a couple weeks, a bunch of us guys get together every year and rent a house and dig for a solid week. They all have wives though so I don't imagine inviting a female along would go over too well

dig kzoo · Jan 25, 2013

Great finds, the large cent is amazing!

JohnnyMac · Jan 25, 2013

wow..that's a beauty..can't wait for the weather to break here in Jersey I have permission for a few new/old farms here I can't wait to detect

screwynewy · Jan 25, 2013

Awesome job on an early LC. What are the odds that the dozer would hit the coin and cause that much damage - what a shame. I'd still be thrilled to have dug it. You still have snakes active in your area? I do a lot of digging near the coast of the NC/SC border and have never seen a rattle snake - nor do I want to. I run into copperheads occasionally but never a rattler.

jfeeney · Jan 25, 2013

Congrats on the Large Cent... impressive details indeed. :icon_thumright:

Mi$terG · Jan 25, 2013

Beautiful coin, despite the ding. How many of us are lucky enough to find a coin from the 1700's anyway?! Congrats.

VOL1266-X · Jan 25, 2013

That 1794 looks a whole lot better than the 1794 LC I dug in Tennessee last March. Beautiful coin. HH, Quindy.

fishstick · Jan 25, 2013

That's by far the PRETTIEST DUG cooper I'VE ever SEEN!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATS... HH

joeyfresh · Jan 25, 2013

dsinsc said:
Thanks and I was surprised it had that much detail on it myself. It was crusted over pretty bad but it cleaned up better than I thought it would. I took some pictures of it right out of the ground with my buds camera, still waiting on him to email them to me though.

I would love to see the before picture. How did you clean the crust off? I'm always to scared to touch any of my coppers with anything other than a light brushing off. Great finds btw!

PEles · Jan 25, 2013

dsinsc said:
First off I want to offer my sincere condolences to my northern friends who's ground is frozen but here in SC it's digging season Been waiting two years to get back to this place but it's been so overgrown we just couldn't hunt it. I dug a nice matching pair of big shoe buckles, a King George II halfpenny and a few early buttons the one time we tried searching there so we knew it was an old place and when we saw they were timbering the area we re-secured our permission and kept a close eye on it. When they got to the spot we wanted to hunt they just went around it and we were like We asked the guy on the bulldozer and he said they were done with that area but asked if we were finding anything. We told him we would be if they'd clean that spot over there up! He said he'd see what he could do about it and the next day when we went back the place was smooth as a baby's butt! We dug a bunch of flat, fancy and dandy buttons, a few buckles and musket parts, a couple coins and the usual pewter spoon pieces, musket balls, thimbles, melted lead etc... . I wish I could've gotten this coin before the bulldozer did, you can tell the edge damage on it is fresh as a daisy, but I'm happy to have it anyways. I added a picture of the pair of buckles that I got there two years ago, glad I got them before the bulldozer did Dave

pretty coin Dave , congrats on the script I today too!

The Hun