Just cleaned the mud off and found a 1913 buffalo

[Ken from Atlanta]

I've had this buffalo in my cup of assorted stuff for a while now, and since I'm supposed to be cleaning up my mess today, I decided to start with the coins in the cup. I found this buffalo in a vacant lot nearby a while back, but just tossed it in the cup because I couldn't make out a date and just figured it was another mystery year, and forgot about it.

Anyway, I hit it with some windex and started rubbing the crusty mud off and noticed that the mound under the buffalo didn't have a line through it, and that I could still read the "five cents" on the mound. When I turned it over and worked on the other side I noticed that the "13" in 1913 is clearly visible now that the mud is gone, and the top of the 9 is still there too. The metal is reddish black, but I'm going to try to shine it up a bit, and maybe take some better pics......

 

[BuckleBoy]

That Buffalo is in nice shape, perhaps a more recent drop. I remember years ago I found one below a big oak tree that kids played around and mine was in such unbelieveable condition that my son and I figured it was probably dropped within the year and was most likely from a collection of one of the kid's parents...

Don

This sounds funny, but bear me out... Don, the nicest old cents and nickels I have ever found were always near large trees. I think that by drawing water and nutrients from the surrounding soil, this keeps the soil around such finds less acidic than other areas (even other areas in the same field or yard). Now, these coins were always obviously "ground-found" due to their color, but the nickels I have found near old trees have had a dark patina and no corrosion, rather than the usual "red" that nickels get. Just a thought.


Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[Ken from Atlanta]

That Buffalo is in nice shape, perhaps a more recent drop. I remember years ago I found one below a big oak tree that kids played around and mine was in such unbelieveable condition that my son and I figured it was probably dropped within the year and was most likely from a collection of one of the kid's parents...

Don

This sounds funny, but bear me out... Don, the nicest old cents and nickels I have ever found were always near large trees. I think that by drawing water and nutrients from the surrounding soil, this keeps the soil around such finds less acidic than other areas (even other areas in the same field or yard). Now, these coins were always obviously "ground-found" due to their color, but the nickels I have found near old trees have had a dark patina and no corrosion, rather than the usual "red" that nickels get. Just a thought.


Regards,


Buckleboy

That makes sense to me, now that you mention it, there is a large old tree near the spot where this one came from, and the patina is more of a chocolate color than "nickel red". I have always wondered if it would be worth my time to bury a bunch of coins and see how long that red takes to develop, just to get an idea of how long the ones I find have been there. I guess it would vary widely though depending on soil type, and could even be different in spots 10 feet apart. Hmmph, there I go thinking again.

I have a feeling though that this one was where it was for quite a while though, because it's not AS worn as many of the others I have found, it seems like a year or two more in circulation and that date would have been gone completely.