Hi, New to this forum. I'm not a coin collector at ALL, but do love metal detecting. I was at an old home site in TN yesterday and dug an old copper coin. Lots of blue-green patina and almost impossible to see any image. It seems to be the same size as a large cent. (my digging buddy had a few to compare it to). Only things we can read for sure are the letters "B" and "R" -- they appear be right next to each other, along the edge. Of course, my first thought was the word "LIBERTY" but I swear there is no "E" between the B and R. I think I might also see a "W" elsewhere on the rim.Not sure about that tho. What is also weird is on the other side, someone has disfigured the coin, looks like with a nail set or something. Deep, purposeful indentations. As I said, I know nothing about old coins. Any friendly clues as to the identity of this coin would be much appreciated. Also, why someone would gouge it like that. I know it's not worth anything and don't care about that. Just curious. I'll try and attach a photo.
Wow, I think you both are right. Once I oriented it with the "B" and "R" in the lower left, the image became clearer. Fascinating. I have only washed with water and will stop even doing that. Wish I would read the date... Here are the gouges. Why would someone do that?
Hey Chris, I recognize that. It is a map...of my backyard. BTW, I don't really live in NJ, somewhere in Montana I think. Bruce
Would this be the front or back of the farthing? What would be on the other side? Can anyone hazard a guess as to the date? I think I see a 1 and 7 but I"m not sure.
They mentioned it was the size of a large cent. Too big for a farthing, it's a half pence. It also appears to be a George III piece which would probably date it between 1770 and 1775.
The gouges are on the head side probably of one of the King Georges` I can see 17-0 so maybe 1770 I`m not sure though
Thank you! Yes, I think you are right. It is just over one inch in diameter. As to the face side, there is really no image left. Can you hazard a guess as to why someone would dig into it like that? Is that something people did? I appreciate everyone's kind attention. Again, this was found in America, near a pioneer home site in Tennessee.
This is a really cool find. It's usually anybody's guess as to why somebody would gouge into coins when they are found like this. It may have been they were practicing on the coin to make a pattern on something else. I doubt it is the case with this, but sometimes they may be gouged from somebody suspecting it to be a counterfeit. This would have been low value enough to where I couldn't see somebody making a contemporary copper plated coin. It could be a stamp from some old store or it could have just been a kid being a kid, gouging the coin back then. Entertainment options were far fewer back then.
Besides all the usual suspects for gouges in coins, the old ones started out at a time that a copper coin was useful as hardware since there were few hardware stores around. You can find them as gears, buttons. washers or perhaps to level the feet of a cook stove. And foreign coinage was actually common in colonial and early America because US coinage rarely made it out of New England (and England as souveneers). Eleswhere, they made do with whatever they could find well into the 19th century. In the east, Brittish and Hibernian; in Louisiana, French and in Florida, Texas and the west, Spanish were common into the early 20th century.
Also another thought is that Georgie da Turd wasn't very popular during the early days of our country and maybe someone thought they would rather look at that design versus the original one.
