Sunday Mornings Finds - Liberty Head

West Jersey Detecting · Aug 18, 2008

Sunday Morning's Finds - Liberty Head

I finally got back Sunday morning to a site I haven't visited in a while. In the past I have found large cents and a ton of buttons and artifacts, but this was my first shot at this particular site with the DFX.

As expected there was tons of iron, so it was slow going. I must have done a great job on my earlier hunts, as there were not many good signals. I decided to dig some lower conductivity targets and dug a few post colonial era buttons including a nice plated one with the plating still intact, and the 1909 nickel. It is too bad the obverse has corrosion, because it looks like it was new when dropped.

Not my best morning of detecting, but it was a gorgeous day to be out!

tymcmurray · Aug 18, 2008

Re: Sunday Morning's Finds

Those nickels sure are pretty!!!

mikewaz · Aug 19, 2008

Re: Sunday Morning's Finds

Nice find!

That nickel almost looks plated. I read about those being gold plated and then passed off
to unsuspecting immigrants as 5.00 gold pieces.
Mike

West Jersey Detecting · Aug 19, 2008

Re: Sunday Morning's Finds

mikewaz said:
Nice find!

That nickel almost looks plated. I read about those being gold plated and then passed off
to unsuspecting immigrants as 5.00 gold pieces.
Mike

Mike,

That would have only been with the 1883. Here is the whole story:

http://From http://www.coinfacts.com

When the new Liberty Head Nickel was introduced in 1883, no one at the Mint noticed (or cared) that the word "CENTS" was missing from the reverse. The omission was noticed by certain enterprising individuals who, quick to seize an opportunity to make a quick buck, gold-plated the coins and passed them off as Five Dollar gold pieces. These became known as "Racketeer" Nickels. True "Racketeer" Nickels should be in very high grade and the edge should be reeded (this was done by hand to mimic the edge reeds on a gold piece). Modern versions are usually low grade and their edges are smooth; they have been produced by the tens of thousands and are, in effect, rip-offs of a rip-off!

Later in 1883, the Mint corrected the reverse by moving "E PLURIBUS UNUM" to top center and replacing it with a bold "CENTS".