My favorite Stander

[skierbob]

Here's another Fairmount Park beauty:

 

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[skierbob]

The reverse:

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Beautiful Coin!

 

[Cannonman17]

WOW, you found that?? that sucker is UNC MS-62 FH at least!! Type 1. Wow... that's a nice coin!

 

[Detectingfreak]

Beautifull standing liberty! 1917 that is old!!

 

[skierbob]

Yes sir. Found this coin across the road from Mount Pleasant Mansion, a house that was once owned by Benedict Arnold, the infamous traitor from the Revolution.

There's a story behind this coin. Once, when I was a member of the First State Metal Detecting Club, we held a show at a local shopping mall. There were, and still are, some prolific hunters in that club. A lot of us brought in some of our best finds to display and possibly sell at the show. A famous numismatist named Jules Reiver, rest his soul, judged all the coins displayed during the show. Jules was a legend in numismatics. His coin collection was recently auctioned off for something like 8 million dollars. Don from South Jersey would know of him, being that he was an expert in early American coins, especially coppers. Anyway, Jules judged the 1917 Stander as best in the show.

Right now, it rests in my U.S. Type Set book, as it is better than any Stander I ever bought. In fact I have a few Standers that are better than any I bought. This is one of 154 Standing Liberty Quarters that I found in Fairmount Park alone.

 

[Blackjack77]

Incredible story, really nice coin.That park was very good to you.
congrats & HH

 

[Kiros32]

154 SLQs in one place? I am speechless...literally, that's incredible. What is your total coinage from this park?

 

[skierbob]

According to their web cite, Fairmount Park, covering 9,200 acres, is one of the largest urban parks in the country. It is comprised of 62 regional and neighborhood parks, the largest of which are East and West Park, F.D.R. Park, Tacony Creek park, Pennypack Park, and Wissahickon Park. When I say Fairmount Park, I'm only referring to the original, basic park areas on both sides of the Schuylkill River, East and West Parks. I'm not sure how big of an area that is, probably about 3,000 acres or so. It's still a big section of park. It's been a park for a long time. It's where they held the Centennial Exposition in 1876 and Memorial Hall from the Exposition still stands. There are several colonial mansions around the park, many football, baseball, rugby, soccer fields, driving ranges, golf courses and many picnic areas. Boathouse Row is right along the river. They hold several regattas there annually.

To answer your question, my count on silver pieces found in East and West Fairmount Park, is 4,243. This includes everything from 3 cent pieces to silver dollars. And I'm not kidding when I say that similar totals were probably found by many of the regular hunters of the park.

 

[bk]

And now the park is off limits.
Have you ever made a serious attempt to get it opened up?
Have you ever contacted the FMDAC to assist?
Awesome quarter!

 

[skierbob]

Bk,
The FMDAC originally helped us get the park open. With the help of one of the founders of the FMDAC, Harry Bodofsky, and his lawyer we got a permit system installed so we could hunt in the park. You had to be certified by an examiner, usually one of the officers of a local metal detecting club, who would check out your digging technique to make sure that you didn't leave a mess. Then you would have to renew the permit every year. It was only good from Labor day to Memorial Day. They didn't want us in there during the summer picnic season. They hired these Junior Park Rangers to come around and ask us for our permits.

This went along fine for a few years until the Philly Police requested the local treasure hunting club to help them find a murder weapon in Fairmount. Several members of the club went out on a Saturday morning to look for the weapon and the president of the club actually did find the weapon in Cobbs Creek. This weapon helped to convict a murderer. Subsequently, the president of the club was presented a citation by then Mayor Rendell for doing this good deed and it was written-up in The Philadelphia Inquirer. As luck would have it, this article was read by an 80 year old archaeologist sitting in his ivory tower at the University of Pennsylvania. And he then pitched a bitch at the Fairmount Park Commission. He didn't know that they let those scavengers metal detect in the park. "They're going to find all our precious artifacts and what would be left for the archaeologists of the 23rd century to find." Presto, the commission held a hearing to hear his side of the question and determined to do away with the permit system. Our president pleaded with them to no avail. That was 13 years ago. Many people have tried to get a permit, but they are adamantly against it. The FMDAC is tied up with other matters. And they always say to do good deeds with your metal detecting. Unfortunately, this is what can happen sometimes.

 

[bk]

Thanks for the update. I remember reading something in the FMDAC "Quest" newsletter about this. My hat is off to the Federation for helping in this. It is truly unfortunate that these Arcs have to stick their nose into everything. (I am putting that very mildly)!
At least you took a few nice coins from there.

 

[PhotoTJ]

That is the most beautiful coin I've ever seen. congrats.

 

[lordmarcovan]

Holy smokes, you DUG that?

Wow.

 

[lordmarcovan]

I agree with Cannonman- that looks like a Full Head strike!

 

[skierbob]

Thanks everybody for the complements. To the naysayers I say yes, I really did find that and yes, I really did dig that. Here's 4 more that I really did find and I really did dig. Not as good as the first one, but pretty close.

 

[christophernixon]

I dug a real nice 1921 SLQ - only I put a very pretty scratch right across her midsection when I was retrieving the target - I had only been detecting for a few months and was still learning good target recovery - I still get sick when I look at her.

I think this is the prettiest coin ever minted by the US Mint.

 

[whitesid]

the condition on that is amazing!!!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Great quarters. Kudos to you and your patience in coaxing the dirt off those. So difficult with mint condition coins to keep from putting a single miniscule scratch on them when trying to gently remove the dirt. I am impressed.

 

[skierbob]

Buckleboy,
I have to respond to you because there are a couple jealous guys on another post who don't believe a coin like this could come out of the ground. This coin was found in Fairmount Park in Philly, where thousands of coins in near mint state have been found. It was only a half inch in the ground. I thought it was probably a clad quarter and therefore was not very careful when I dug it up. If you look at 10 o'clock at the rim on the obverse, you will see a tiny rim ding where I hit it with my digger. The coin is not mint state. The best you could grade it is AU. I did not clean it. However, I did have a professional coin dealer take some black stains of the surfaces of the coin. He wouldn't tell me his method of removing the stains.

I don't think it should be too hard to believe that someone in 1917 got a coin fresh from a bank or a store or in his pay envelope in the town where the original U.S. Mint is located, walked up to Fairmount Park, sat down on the grass to watch a ball game and that brand new Standing Liberty Quarter slipped right out of his pants pocket.
BOB