brianc053
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2015
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- Location
- Sussex County, DE
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XP Deus 2
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Hi everyone. Today I returned to the historic house that produced the Flying Head Cent earlier this week, and it continued to offer up treasures.
The highlight for me was the 1879 Indian Head Penny. The date is very clear, as is about half the coin, but the other half is buried under corrosion, as you can see. What does the forum think: should I try to clean the corrosion (losing the green patina in the process), or should I leave the coin alone (since I can see the date)? I'm tempted to try to remove the corrosion by using some carefully applied ketchup...
The other green coin is a 1918-S Wheat Cent, which I like because it's SOOO green. Looks like someone painted it.
To the right of the green cents is a button that says "Smith's", but its much older than the band. Does anyone know what this would be from? (every search of "smith's button" turns up something related to the band....). EDIT: maybe it's from Smith's Workwear? They were founded in 1906 in Brooklyn and made overalls and such. I still haven't found an example of this button though...)
The skeleton key is cool, though it's too bad the tooth is broken off.
Just below that is a piece of lead that I swear looks like a brontosaurus (but it's just a hunk of lead). Below the brontosaurus is another larger piece of lead.
The two cars are also cool: one is a Lesney Jaguar "E" Type (1960's), the other is a Jeep but I don't see any manufacturer's markings.
I found a date-less Buffalo Nickel too, though I forgot to put it in the first montage picture; it's included in other pics.
Thanks for looking!
- Brian
The highlight for me was the 1879 Indian Head Penny. The date is very clear, as is about half the coin, but the other half is buried under corrosion, as you can see. What does the forum think: should I try to clean the corrosion (losing the green patina in the process), or should I leave the coin alone (since I can see the date)? I'm tempted to try to remove the corrosion by using some carefully applied ketchup...
The other green coin is a 1918-S Wheat Cent, which I like because it's SOOO green. Looks like someone painted it.
To the right of the green cents is a button that says "Smith's", but its much older than the band. Does anyone know what this would be from? (every search of "smith's button" turns up something related to the band....). EDIT: maybe it's from Smith's Workwear? They were founded in 1906 in Brooklyn and made overalls and such. I still haven't found an example of this button though...)
The skeleton key is cool, though it's too bad the tooth is broken off.
Just below that is a piece of lead that I swear looks like a brontosaurus (but it's just a hunk of lead). Below the brontosaurus is another larger piece of lead.
The two cars are also cool: one is a Lesney Jaguar "E" Type (1960's), the other is a Jeep but I don't see any manufacturer's markings.
I found a date-less Buffalo Nickel too, though I forgot to put it in the first montage picture; it's included in other pics.
Thanks for looking!
- Brian
Last edited:
Upvote
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in the past cleaning up coppers and how the before/after have turned out while still retaining the patina. 
