Hello all - new to the forum... Started metal detecting this past year which has quickly gotten me interested in coins. I collect coinage from my travels and have bought a few ancients on ebay etc but for the most part I collect what I dig. I dug this 1865 2 cent this past week, and wanted to ask a question specifically regarding dug coppers... Every old copper I have found naturally has a heavy green patina - of course to be expected. My question is how this affects value - my guess is quite negatively unless the copper in question was rare - an early LC or something of the like. Clearly, the same problem does not exist with old silver, but I am curious to know whether an earth-tarnished coin would ever be desirable to a collector, if it were otherwise a decent grade in terms of it's details... Thanks for any info and I look forward to following this forum and learning more about coins... Cheers, BB
That is an extraordinary find! Although, it does have a patina I think it looks great. It could easily fetch $15 bucks to the right person. Well worth the knee bend champ! Have you posted on CCF? The way you talk(type) sounds very familiar to a funny man that swings and posts over there. If so or if not either way Welcome to Cointalk!
Yes that coin would be desirable to a lot of collectors at the right price. Even severely corroded ground pieces can be desirable if they are rare dates/varieties. I have a ground recovery 1798 S-144 large cent that is so far gone that it has lost half its weight from the corrosion. I paid $274 for it and was happy to get it.
Thanks for the info - I suppose what you are saying is that it depends on whether a collector is looking to fill a slot in their collection - the right coin for the right buyer... I have gathered in my brief browsing that the toning of a coin, at least in the mint states, seems to be very desirable in certain circumstances, and therefore I was imagining that a dug coin and it's patina would therefore be outside of what a collector was looking for... Well, I will keep an eye out for those key dates! Here's another 'earth recovery' for you (I like that term!) that I found a couple weeks ago - my first LC. A little rough around the edges but I was thrilled to find it - what a satisfying weight the coin has - really feels substantial. I'm lucky to live in an area with such wonderful history! And no, never been on CCF - thanks for the welcome to the forum - look forward to expanding my understanding of the wide world of numismatics!