What??? In Michigan???

[lrgoodger]

Yesterday I got my second 1883 IHP in a row. We didn't have any luck in the fields, so we stopped and got permission to do the yard of an old house. It was pretty clean already. We only got four wheaties and the one IHP. It was pretty crusty but at least the date is clear.



Today we hit the fields again and checked four or five sites before we got one that showed evidence that a house was there. We hunted it for a couple of hours and my brother got a couple of flat buttons and a 1917 wheatie. I finally got a signal that banged 92 solid both ways on the Deus II and was convinced I had a dime, but out popped a large cent. It was worn smooth and counterstamped is why it hit that low. I could see part of the word 'UNITED' on the rim and a bit of the wreath near that. When I got home, I looked up the large cent reverses and I could see that the leaves in the wreath near the letters did not match the matron or braided hair large cent wreaths, so I dug deeper and identified it as a Draped Bust Large Cent! They quit making those in 1808, so that made it my oldest US coin by far. My previous oldest was an 1828 LC. Knowing what it was now, I scrutinized the obverse and I could make out LIBE in liberty above the counterstamp D. I could also see the D was stamped on the outline of the right facing head and I could see the ponytail outline. Then I went for the date and I could make out the 96 in the 1796 date. The 17 was obscured by the counterstamp. It almost looks like you can see part of the top of the 7 as well. If you fullsize these images, you should be able to make out those details.

 

[pepperj]

Very nice! Congrats on the old counterstamp.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Great find - amazing a Draped Bust Large Cent made it that far West !

 

[UnderMiner]

Great find - amazing a Draped Bust Large Cent made it that far West !

It likely circulated well into the later half of the 19th century. My friend's mother in Kansas collected any unusual old coins that would come through her store up until the 1950's and when she gave the jar of coins to her son he found several large cents in there. He told me the story and we concluded that large cents were still circulating, albeit extremely limited, well into the early 20th century, and we speculated maybe they entered the store during the Great Depression from someone finding a really old piggy bank their parents/grandparents saved for hard times. We have to remember that even Spanish silver was still circulating as legal tender in this nation up until the 1850's, some of those coins would have been over 150 years old by then, so a large cent from the 1790's circulating until the 1890's or even early 1900's isn't really that far fetched especially when you consider older people who would have saved them when they were young and spent them when they were really old.

 

[Gare]

You and Your brother are doing GREAT Ron

 

[Almy]

I have found it to add to the fun when going through an ID process like you did. I get two thrills when I find a rough coin, one at the time of the find and the second when I ID it and it is old or rare. The process itself is fun, too.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Very nice finds !

 

[oldmxrat]

That's a really cool oldie, congrats!

 

[Digger RJ]

Yesterday I got my second 1883 IHP in a row. We didn't have any luck in the fields, so we stopped and got permission to do the yard of an old house. It was pretty clean already. We only got four wheaties and the one IHP. It was pretty crusty but at least the date is clear.

View attachment 2208049

Today we hit the fields again and checked four or five sites before we got one that showed evidence that a house was there. We hunted it for a couple of hours and my brother got a couple of flat buttons and a 1917 wheatie. I finally got a signal that banged 92 solid both ways on the Deus II and was convinced I had a dime, but out popped a large cent. It was worn smooth and counterstamped is why it hit that low. I could see part of the word 'UNITED' on the rim and a bit of the wreath near that. When I got home, I looked up the large cent reverses and I could see that the leaves in the wreath near the letters did not match the matron or braided hair large cent wreaths, so I dug deeper and identified it as a Draped Bust Large Cent! They quit making those in 1808, so that made it my oldest US coin by far. My previous oldest was an 1828 LC. Knowing what it was now, I scrutinized the obverse and I could make out LIBE in liberty above the counterstamp D. I could also see the D was stamped on the outline of the right facing head and I could see the ponytail outline. Then I went for the date and I could make out the 96 in the 1796 date. The 17 was obscured by the counterstamp. It almost looks like you can see part of the top of the 7 as well. If you fullsize these images, you should be able to make out those details.

View attachment 2208050View attachment 2208051

Very Cool!!! Congrats!!!

 

[invent4hir]

An outstanding find like that will keep you detecting another 50 years!

 

[Silvermonkey]

That is a crazy good coin for your neck of the woods. Congrats!!!! The fact that it is counter-stamped is the cherry on the cake. Well done!

 

[TORRERO]

It likely circulated well into the later half of the 19th century. My friend's mother in Kansas collected any unusual old coins that would come through her store up until the 1950's and when she gave the jar of coins to her son he found several large cents in there. He told me the story and we concluded that large cents were still circulating, albeit extremely limited, well into the early 20th century, and we speculated maybe they entered the store during the Great Depression from someone finding a really old piggy bank their parents/grandparents saved for hard times. We have to remember that even Spanish silver was still circulating as legal tender in this nation up until the 1850's, some of those coins would have been over 150 years old by then, so a large cent from the 1790's circulating until the 1890's or even early 1900's isn't really that far fetched especially when you consider older people who would have saved them when they were young and spent them when they were really old.

The truth is that NONE of Americas coins have ever been officially pulled from circulation...
I don't think people realize that when you dig a coin, you can't really go by the date on the coin as to when it was lost, My father told me one time that when he was a boy working in a store, he saw all kinds of silver coins, because a barber dime, or mercury dime was just the same as a Roosevelt dime.. Only after silver went out in 64 did people snag all those earlier coins,

 

[lrgoodger]

About that ID process, modern computer tools can make it easier. I took a photo of an actual 1796 draped bust and scaled it and overlayed it onto my photo as a dim transparency. I was able to correctly position it because the chin and ribbon on the back of the head are obvious on my piece. What was revealed was that what looks like a 9 where the date should be to the right of the counterstamp is in the wrong spot for the last number in the date. To the left of that bogus 9 is a 2 of the correct size, shape and position, so I believe it is actually an 1802.

 

[mcmich]

Cool find! I found one of those in Michigan some years back. Totally worn but if I put some oil on it and held it at an angle I could make out the coin type. It was on a bluff overlooking a really beautiful river. I could imagine someone sitting there taking it in. There was a farm at the spot at one time. I heard the fire department used it as a training burn. Melted Al everywhere. Found lots of good stuff there. I dont think it had been detected.