Today Was a Good Day at Work (Vol. IV Indian Head Cent)

Granted, my shift hasn't ended for today, as I'm currently on break as of now, but I found my first Indian Head Cent in the "wild" earlier today. Even though it isn't in the best condition, I figured it was worthy of a thread considering how uncommon it is to find Indian Head Cents in circulation.

Edited with better photos

1. 1902 Indian Head Cent



2. Here are a few Lincoln Wheat Cents from today's shift as well.

 

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1 year older than my IHC found at work.
Nice

 

Here's my only find from circulation its at least XF came from a roll.

 

Nice! The oldest coin I've found at work was a 1937 wheat penny, was pretty happy to see those wheat ears looking up at me when digging through the tip jar at the restaurant I worked at

 

You got me beat. I might find a lot of stuff, most of it considered pretty cool, but I'll never find one of those. Too noticeable. I'm seeing that the coins that stand out are less circulated, like Buffalo nickels. They stand out, so i don't see many. These V75 quarters? Nobody notices them, so i find them everywhere.
Great find.

 

Do you have any photos by any chance? I'm sure it's in better shape than mine.

 

I think you have an old coin collector in your neighborhood. Maybe even a CT member that enjoys the thrill others experience when finding a cool old coin in the till that has been dropping these old coins for you to enjoy.

 

the oldest coin i ever found in the wild was a 1914 penny in good condition in change from the store

 

As much as I'd like for that to be true, I think that our most recent delivery of change from Loomis contained a small collection dump. To me, that seems to be the most likely explanation as all my finds this week came from machine-wrapped rolls.

 

No picture, but an interesting tale from years ago. When I was a kid (1953) I had already collected coins from change for a few years. When times were fat, I picked out anything 'odd'. When times got lean, I spent from my 'stash'. One of the lean days I had a few pieces from my 'stash' in my pocket when I bought a fountain coke at Walgreens (5c). When I handed the cashier five Indian-head cents, she refused them: "We can only take American money here". I replied "These *ARE* American. Look here! It says 'United States of America'". She replied "Sorry, I can't take those". My reply "But that's the only money I have" brought a call for her Manager. "This boy is trying to pass these as money." Her Manager takes a quick glance, snatches them up, and says "You got any more of those, kid?" True story. Finding one of these in-change today, almost seventy years later, is a true feat -- it rarely happened even back then. Congratulations on your lucky find!

 

Another "blast from the past" that shows my age. Back in the mid and late 50's my father owned a mom&pop grocery store. He offered free delivery to the elderly and to shut-ins. Guess who was the delivery boy! Didn't mind since I usually got tips in the form of IHC, buffalo nickels, mercury dimes, and barber quarters taken out of huge glass jars. Trouble is my father bribed me by telling me that if I gave him the old coins, he'd double my tip. Back then (to me) that was a pretty good deal. Found out later he sold his coin collection for a couple thousand dollars. Oh well, at least he kept me from spending those valuable coins on ice cream or candy!

 

I once found a 1909, no s, but it is a VDB from a bank roll. It is in better than good condition so I put it in a self stick 2x2, it's a keeper. Good post thanks for sharing.

 

I found my first 09 a week ago,not a V.D.Bbut im sure the time will come.

 

Here it is right next to a nice 1958 that I found the same day.

 

About that same time period, I was showing an IHC to a friend of my parents when he remarked that he saw them in change "all the time". I offered him $0.05 for every one he got for me. A few months later, he was amazed that he hadn't found any...

 

This is my rotated reverse 1862 IHC I got last year. Sorry for the bad photo but this is the only way I could show both sides in the same photo. The mirror image shows the reverse rotated about 80 degrees.

 

nice job when you can do that every day

 

In the wild...Love it.

as a metal detectorist I have my bucket list and for 5 years I chased the wily Indian Head penny. I often pass over penny signals but I dug thousands hoping one would finally be an IH.

Well I received a call from a woman who was interested in metal detecting and invited me to come talk to her which I did after about an hour she asked me to demonstrate using a detector so I took one and we went to the curbstrip in front of her house. I told her if we were lucky we’d find a penny or two. I made my first swing and BAM! I had a penny signal. It was practically leaning against the sidewalk and so shallow I could see it’s outline under the sand. I picked it up, blew the sand off and dropped it in her hand, saying “Here’s your first buried treasure”.

she looked at it and said, “cool! 1887!”

I said “You mean 1987!”

She said, “Nope!”

I had just found my first IH and gave it away.

‘Happily that opened the dam and I’ve found about 3 dozen or more including an 1864 Fatty.

 

That's amazing - how lucky you are!

 

Need to get a job where there are lots of circulating coins to check.....