Best year found is a 1823 but its in pretty rough shape. A few are in great condition for being in the ground for over 100 years. I love finding large cents. I have two others that are not pictured they are in a display case at a one room school house (where I found them) that has been refurbished and is now a museum. Jim
James; I really appreciated your showing these old cents, and can only guess as to who might have dropped them so many years ago. A penny then would have been quite a loss, and I'll bet some little kid looked and looked for the coin before giving up and leaving. Again thanks for the showing.
im thinking about going to an old demolished school about an hour or so away form where i live the school was origianlly built in 1812, so i have a good change of the coins left behind by some kids/parents
Thanks Dan. I love thinking about that too when I find one. Wonder who held it last. Stuff like that is fun to think about.
That's a really neat collection. The cents were obviously used and used before they were deposited in the earth for someone like yourself to find many generations later. Thanks for sharing.
Every time I see one of these threads, it increases my desire to own a metal detector that much more.
Thanks guys. Hey Gary, I was not much interested in History until I started metal detecting. Found things I had to do research on to find out what they were. Some civil war items. I love history now. Just read the Ron Chernow book "Alexander Hamilton". Wouldn't have even thought of reading it before I started detecting. History is fun and a big part of why people love old coins. Jim
Some neat finds Jim, Finding older coins like those are about the only advantage that I can think of to living back east.I've done some detection out here & the average coin is about 1900. I found 1 from 1883 but that's it. We just didn't have the old world population here losing coins.
Nice finds! Now for a question. Since the coins are already damaged from the dirt, does it really matter if you clean them and try to get back some luster on the coins? Just curious to know what people do after they find coins in the dirt.
You cannot get back luster.Once it is gone it is gone. You can get some of the dirt off of them by soaking them in olive oil. Just remember that what you take off may uncover all sorts of problems. Personnally I like them as they come out of the ground.
Only thing I do to them is put them in hydrogen peroxide. It dissolves the dirt off with out hurting the coin. It all depends how they come outta the ground. Some can clean up nice some can look worse with a cleaning its an individual coin call. Jim
Are you sure that H2O2 doesn't damage coins? It is afterall an oxidant, a bit corrosive too, if you don't believe me drop a hair or two in a thimble full and watch them get bleached (hence why people bleach their hair with it) leave it in too long and watch it dissolve.
Only think I have seen it do bad is give the coin a dried out look if you leave the coin in the peroxide to long. This is the peroxide you buy at any store for about 80 cents. Not real strong at all. Jim
Hey Jim I had a quick question. I live in Pennsylvania, 300 year of European activity here....where are good spots to search for old coins? I have a metal detector, but the beach doesn't uncover much, especially when they dump 50,000 tons of sand every summer, burying anything worthwhile.....I have really been trying to find unique places to use my metal detector without much luck. Mostly I find old farming equipment and rubbish.....any thoughts or comments from someone who seems to be pretty successful at finding cool things?
Old home sites are one of the best places to go. I do research and also just look while driving around for old homes with stone foundations. Go ask the homeowners. Most people are nice about it. IF ya don't wanna door knock try old one room school sites or old church sites. Most of these have been detected by others more than likely but ya never know what you'll find. Thats why I love the old home sites. Alot of people don't like to knock on doors and ask people to detect their property. Last of the Virgin areas to detect. Of course there are always old parks which have usually been pounded by others but they can't find em all. Jim
