Yesterdays Hunt Brings My First Copper of The Year

coinman123 · Apr 4, 2015

Yesterday's Hunt Brings My First Copper of The Year

I have have only done 5 hunts this year, snow everywhere. I went to a new place I have never been and saw that 75% of the place was impossible to metal detect due to snow. I tried the dry ground and found a nice 1803 Large Cent, my first of the year, ten feet away I found a colonial button.

I decided not to take any dirt of until I got home, I found it very hard to not check the date until I got home.

Photo of it before cleaning.

Photo of it after cleaning with a Q-Tip and some olive oil

Anyways, I think I found a new place to metal detect.

Happy Hunting, Coinman123,

coinman123 · Apr 4, 2015

The reverse looks way better than the obverse, here is a better photo.

digging440yrs · Apr 4, 2015

SWEET, CLEANED UP NICE! :thumbsup:

Ahab8 · Apr 4, 2015

That's a beauty. Good job not trying to see a date in the field. I NEVER try to Id a coin in the field. It gets packed in some dirt in a keeper case and I deal with it when I get home. I promise the date and coin won't change before you get home 8-)

That's a great start and looks like a nice spot indeed

cjon455 · Apr 4, 2015

Awesome coin, cleaned up amazingly!

Bill D. (VA) · Apr 4, 2015

Wow - that copper cleaned up great. What method did you use?

creade · Apr 4, 2015

Awesome coin :thumbsup:

that's how I clean them

coinman123 · Apr 4, 2015

Bill D. (VA) said:
Wow - that copper cleaned up great. What method did you use?

I filled up a cup of water than set the coin in there. I than gently swabbed the surface with a Q-Tip until the dirt was gone. I coated it in olive oil after stabbing it because it was starting to dry out. Last thing I did was rubbed dish soap on it and let some dry on the coin (a method that I created). If needed I did the whole process again until I was happy with the end result. I soaked it in olive oil over night took it out in the morning. I think 12 hours of soaking in oil was all it needs even though I have some coins that needed to soak for months.

Rubbing the coin with olive oil covered fingers never hurts either. Remember to do it after all dirt is gone though so it does not get hairlines.

flatbutton · Apr 4, 2015

Crisp looking LC man! Amazing details on that one. CONGRATS!

doninbrewster · Apr 4, 2015

Super find and very nice for a draped bust LC. My kind of diggin!

coinman123 · Apr 4, 2015

doninbrewster said:
Super find and very nice for a draped bust LC. My kind of diggin!

Thanks, Most coppers that I find are unsalvageable, you can usually tell before you clean them if they will be good or not, this one looked like it had a chance even before I cleaned it.

Bubba65 · Apr 4, 2015

The Largie came out real sweet, got to love when they come out like that CONGRATS :thumbsup:

Rick (Nova Scotia) · Apr 4, 2015

NIce one.
I like to keep the suspense alive, and have no trouble at all not to rub a silver, but copper is substancially harder, having been a collector all my life know It does not hurt them, I mean hey they are not MS65 coins. Some of my best looking coppers that have only had a thumb rub, and that's it for cleaning.

Scrappy · Apr 4, 2015

I can never get tired of looking at those old coppers. Looks better than the 1803 LC I found last week. Congrats!

DigIron2 · Apr 4, 2015

The ground was very kind to that one.very nice.

trdking · Apr 4, 2015

cha ching! worth some bucks!
Sweet one

coinman123 · Apr 4, 2015

trdking said:
cha ching! worth some bucks!
Sweet one

Not that I would ever sell anything I find but I'm curious of the value, how much do you think it would be worth? I'm not good with valuing "Problems Coins". Based on looking at it in hand I'm guessing around EF to maybe AU Details, hard to capture all of the details in a photograph though.

Also, I realized that I now have the pair, the Small Date/Small Fraction (My first 1803) and the Small Date/Large Fraction (The One that I just found)
Here is the small fraction small date I found, notice the difference on the fraction compared.

Now this one looks to be the large fraction

DigIron2 · Apr 4, 2015

just a guess coinman,but I would guess at least every bit of 200$

creade · Apr 5, 2015

It would be worth that if sold on eBay to a private collector. Mine is about the same. I brought to a coin show and they told me 30-35 bucks. I didn't believe them. I took it to a coin dealer I know, he told me any dug copper is automatically ag- 3. That being said I've seen dug coppers sell for 3 times(or more)the value online, just in case you ever wanted to sell it.