Thinnest Damn Big Copper I Ever Found!

[Erik in NJ]

Same Colonial-era house as yesterday’s beautiful 1864 Indian Head Cent. I’d found the signal then that I dug today, but it was getting late then , I was tired, and the signal was under a fairly large flagstone so I left it for today! Now normally I wouldn’t dig up a flagstone, but since this house is going to be demolished by a contractor and is uninhabited I pulled up the flagstone (and replaced it). Well protected by the flagstone for years and right under the footprint of the stone I dug down about 6” and saw a beautiful large very thin green disc! The signal through the 1” thick flagstone was solid and a 21 or so on the 800.

Coin measures about 28mm and is not perfectly round. It’s the thinnest most worn big copper coin I have ever dug. I knew in the field that it was very worn but hoped to later get some detail. I’ve only hand rubbed at home it to remove the extra dirt and applied a bit of oil from my face. Still no detail at all. Here are the pics. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I finally dug a coin at this house from the era I was expecting, hope there are more but so far they have not been forthcoming. Beginning to think this place may have been detected several years ago, but a lot of these guys tend to miss a lot of stuff. Have dug about 25 wheats, V nickel, Buffalo nickel, so hard to believe they were all missed and all coppers and silver coins found. It’s a strange site, overgrown, lots of woods (I hate woods) and just a few postage stamp size grassy areas. Soil is seemingly undisturbed like powdered sugar in several places. It’s all an enigma as it this large thin copper.

 

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[mindcrime1988]

Just a thought, perhaps it is an older copper coin but since it's thin and not so round anymore could be from the fact of being run over by a train. I found a few coppers years ago and wondered why they looked like what you described and sure enough, there were some railroad tracks about a hundred yards away. I've heard many kids used to put coins on the tracks to have them run over just for something to do and pass the time.

 

[Wildcat1750]

Nice find! Makes you wonder how many other goodies are out there beneath paving stones!

 

[Erik in NJ]

I did think about that and it could be the case but the fact that it's 28-29mm which is the size of the English halfpennies makes me believe is just a very worn copper. Usually the copper coins that have been run over by a train are a bit more oblong, this one though not perfectly round is pretty round. Would be interesting to compare it to a large cent that has been run over though.

Just a thought, perhaps it is an older copper coin but since it's thin and not so round anymore could be from the fact of being run over by a train. I found a few coppers years ago and wondered why they looked like what you described and sure enough, there were some railroad tracks about a hundred yards away. I've heard many kids used to put coins on the tracks to have them run over just for something to do and pass the time.

 

[Fluffycat]

Awesome find! 😎

 

[smokeythecat]

I found two similar types of items. Both were used by native Americans as ornaments, they had hammered them very thin.