First Seated Half....Suggestions?

[montyhall]

Hey all, got out today for the first time since the big FREEZE in Southern IL today. Got my first Seated Half, its a 1861 with all the beauty marks of being in a farm field for 100 years..It is holed, with a few dings, a plow mark, and pretty crusted. Also found a 1891 Indian head, that fared much better, harmonica reed, and vaccination tag. It was great out today, around 60 with plenty of sun, and soft ground. I have used backing soda on this till thumbs are sore. It was unreadable at first. Any suggestions as far as further cleaning? Doesn't have to look new, but the back is so crusted you can hardly see it. Thanks for looking! HH

 

[lairmo]

Congrats on the Silver!!!
Nice hunt you had there...

 

[seger98]

Soapy water maybe, but it sure is pretty the way it is right now! Super nice find...


Chris

 

[kdismuke1]

SUPER FINDS. THE SILVER IS NICE.

 

[beetle662]

Very cool find! I'd say someone wore that around their neck at one time. Why not clean it up and wear it the same way? Numismatically, it'd grade very low because of the hole. Personally, I think I'd use electrolysis on it to get the crud off of it first. See what you have then.

Whatever you do, its still a cool find!

Congrats!

 

[Evolution]

Any chance it says "Confederate States Of America on the reverse. Apparently, 500 of the 1861 half dollars were at one time acquired and the reverses of the coins were smoothed down and restamped to be Confederate half dollars. Nice find either way though.

Rob

 

[John Deere Digger]

Super seated. Congrats. I bet those fields were pretty muddy. I havn't been out yet since the ice. May try tommorow.
JDD

 

[AmericanCoinHunting]

Silver Dip ? found at a coin shop.......?

 

[montyhall]

After reading for a while, i decided to try electrolysis on it. The back of the coin had so much crud, that you could see very little detail. Might have gone thru a fire, don't know. Anyway here are the results, i am happy with it. I only left it in for about 1 min, with 12 volts 500 ma. Then a little baking soda to clean her up a bit. She LOVES her new home! JD you need to come up this way for a hunt.

 

[treasurefiend]

Sweet find, congrats!!!

 

[Bavaria Mike]

Congrats on the seated half! I use a silver cleaner dip I got from a coin dealer. HH, Mike

 

[Ray in CA]

That is one sweet coin!!! Lots of nice silver being found lately. Congrats!

Ray

 

[Lowbatts]

Only advice is to enjoy it!
Great find!

 

[creeper71]

I wouldn't do anything to that coin til A EXPERT told me what to do.... Assuming from my price guide that the coin can't be worth any less then 400.00 that is for Almost good-3 I'm guessing this is a semi/key date... Don't want to ruin a perfectly good coin an loss the value...

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Electrolysis is really the best way to clean most coins. Careful with older copper it tends to disingrate.

Here is a link for a good system-
http://gometaldetecting.com/electrolysis_cleaning.htm

Keep @ it and HH!!

 

[Monty]

I found a shield nickel and use electrolysis on it and ruined it. Only left it in about 10 minutes and when I saw most of the crud come off I took it out. I've been afraid to try it again ever since! Monty

 

[dfx willy]

awesome!!! id do what beetle said and wear it. willy.