I found this shield nickle where a large amusement park was at the turn of the century. The nickle was about a foot deep in the sandy bottom of the lake about ten feet from the shore. I can't make out the full date except for the last digit which looks to be a "4". The coins I find buried in the lake bottom really show the effects of the sand and being walked on for 100 years. The area today is a picnic park with all evidence of the many rides gone now. The best coin I've found to date is an 1877 seated half dollar. I have found very little on land as the ground is loaded with trash signals and my 1265x has me digging everything looking for that elusive gold coin.....which I haven't found yet. Greg
It was called "Hague Park" and it is in Jackson County at Vandercook lake. If you do a Google search, you can find period pictures showing the the many rides and layout. BTW,.. who's George?? Greg
Oops! Don't know what I was thinking at the time! Sorry. Appreciate the info on the amusement park..Lucy
Awesome find! Considering how long it's probably been buried I think it's in pretty decent condition.
Pretty sure this is not the Reverse Hub II b as that diagnostic is that the top star points to the S in States Rather than the E which is doing in photo. Rather, it appears to be the Reverse Hub II c as the star is pointing to the E and the star is pointing towards the M in America. This Hub was used 1869-1883. Check out all the hubs here.
Very nice find Greg. I also metal detect the waters of Michigan, mostly Lake St. Clair. I have the pull tabs and fishing weights to prove it! -Another Greg
Wiggam007, you are correct it is hub IIc . Not enough coffee and didn't have my notes with me. Greg, pcgs definition of a hub [FONT=arial, helvetica][FONT=arial, helvetica]hub Minting term for the steel device from which a die is produced. The hub is produced with the aid of a portrait lathe or reducing machine and bears a "positive" image of the coin's design – that is, it shows the design as it will appear on the coin itself. The image on the die is "negative" – a mirror image of the design.[/FONT][/FONT]
Dies are made in a process. The working die is made from a master die. But to transfer the master to the working die, you need an intermediate step, a "hub." The hub might be touched up by hand, leaving telltales that numismatists can identify with lenses, microscopes, etc. So, the hubs become diagonistics, identifiiers. Actually, the working dies could also be finished by hand - Mint marks added, at the very least. So, they have diagnostics. There is more to it than this and the procedure was different in 1787, 1837, 1857 and 1897, and 1997. For just one thing, the Mint mark used to be added to the die by hand. Now, they are part of the hub. Also, used to be that to tranfer the image the hub had to be pressed several times and softened by heat (annealed) in between. Being a hair off would create a "doubled die" error. Now, with industrial tech, it is a one-squeeze process. We can go on all day... If you want to know, there are books about this. And the current series of Whitman Books, such as on Gold Dollars, always includes a section on the minting process.
