Ok, so I "dug" this one very humid, mosquito infested morning . It was the only coin dug at site, I'll take it ! I strongly believe it's a Miller 32.1 X .3 R-3 rarity . I poured over all 87 varieties until I was satisfied ? So, what do you think it's worth ? Grade ? I say at least VG details ( ED ).
Very nice find. Back in my diggin' days, I used to envy you folks up North. Edit to add: for a dug copper, that one survived in relatively nice shape.
Tell me about it. I have several blank coins that are so worn there's nothing left . Now that I have a Scale, I should weigh each one. Most are probably King George half cents, hopefully not one of these.
King George halfpennies, not half cents. There's a difference, you see. Cents are decimal coins. The Brits didn't go decimal until 1970. I dug a few slugs, too. One that came out of an old colonial sand roadbed is French, I think, but it's hardly got a whisper of detail left on it to go by. My first large cent is like that, too. When I dug it, I could tell it was a 1796-1807 Draped Bust cent- you could see a little bit of Liberty's hair bow and the wreath, but I made the mistake of trying to clean it with electrolysis, and "burnt it up". It's a total slug now. It was in fairly rough shape to begin with, having been found on a riverbank alongside a salt marsh.
*Confusingly, on the flipside of that equation, the coin we Americans have always referred to as a penny is technically a cent, since it has been a decimal coin from Day One (since 1792).
You may be correct in your attribution, but I didn't have too much time to check. There are actually 241 varieties of 1787, some with very minor differences so it can be quite a chore. If correct R3 is pretty common as far as Connecticut coppers go, and in this condition I could see it selling for 30 to 40 dollars.
Yeah, that's ok. It got me bragging rights that day and a prize at our club meeting. You might be right but I thought it was 241 for all coins from 1785- 1788 .
Definitely a “bragging rights” coin for a digger. Now you just need that NE threepence or Pine Tree shilling! PS- speaking of which, one of my dig buddies from NH, who passed away suddenly at too young an age, posted these photos of the silver he found in his final season in the field, from spring-summer 2012. Look closely at the stuff in the pictures. He was never one to exercise his bragging rights, and was very low key. Posted these pix with almost no commentary. I’d say he capped off his short but successful detecting career quite nicely. “Went out with a bang”, he did. RIP, Tim Buck from New Hampshire.
I don't detect any more but used to and found a few King George coppers and US large cents. I collect CT pieces and just bought this one, looks like a bratty kid damaged it. what do you think?
There are over 350 varieties for the whole span of Connecticut coppers. I was collecting them for several years by die variety, but I have kind of drifted to New Jerseys lately.
