Indian Head Cent Mystery

BuckleBoy

Gold Member
Jun 12, 2006
18,132
9,700
Moonlight and Magnolias
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4
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75, Whites DualField PI, Fisher 1266-X and Tesoro Silver uMax
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello All,

I am posting this in "Today's Finds" because I just noticed this recently.  I always keep meticulous records in my journal of where I hunt, what I find, how long I spend, and my detector settings for each hunt.  I usually even keep a rough map of the site and mark where good finds are made.

Anyhow, I was going back through all my recovered Indian Head Cents (they are housed in those blank, blue-colored, Whitman coin boards with a date of recovery written under each) and I saw the first Indian I had ever recovered back in the early 90's.  I realized that it looked strange.  The reverse was tarnished with an even green patina.  About 80% of the reverse, however, looked like it had never been dug. 

Indian Head Reverse.jpg

Indian Head Obverse.jpg


When I saw this my heart skipped a beat!  I was so new to detecting in general back then that I had no idea what I'd found.  Since then, I have recovered many pocket spills from old to modern, and the coins frequently bear these marks where they were laying on top of each other in the ground.  I was shocked!  I would certainly have remembered if something else came out of that hole, since this was my first Indian.  In fact, I was probably so excited that I forgot to re-check the hole!  I took the penny out of the coin board and put it on the desk where I could get a better look.  I got another dug penny and put it on top of the Indian.  It was too big for the coloration marks on the coin  :-\  Then I got a dime and placed it on top of the penny.  It fit perfectly.  :-[ 

Now, the good news is that there is a good bit of wear on that Indian, so the coin resting on top of or underneath it was likely a Mercury Dime...but who knows.  It could've been one of these:

Indian Head Pocket Spill.jpg

So what ELSE did I leave in that hole in the Virginia soil 15 years ago?  I may never know.  But I do know where the coin was found, and I will return there.  The property owners were quite aged, and it is hard to tell what I will find when I get there to check it out...but when I go back to Virginia for a Civil War relic hunt, you can bet I'll be stopping by to knock on their door.  When I do, I'll also update this thread...and until then, always remember re-check your holes.

Regards,


Buckleboy
 

Upvote 0
I took it upon myself to go back and check it for you.........it was a gold coin..........nothing big, move along folks :)
Well, he was looking for it to be a mercury dime. So you did him a favor by taking that stinkin' gold coin!
 

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