What's it worth? Impossible to tell?

Hello. I dug this out of the ground. It's an 1858-0 seated Liberty quarter. It's caked with mud and I will need to gently clean the mud off. How should I do that? I appreciate any advice as I've fluked into this coin and am not an avid collector. Would this be a coin that I should have professionally graded? If the pictures aren't clear enough I'll try to take better ones. Thank you so much!!!

 

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Here are 2 better pic's. Thanks again.

 

I'd give it a soak in some distilled water for a bit. And then perhaps a dip in an acetone bath if need be.

 

Soak in pure acetone,change the solution every 8 hours to clean product. Acetone available atvWalmart or your hardware store.

 

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First of all, Welcome to CT ! As avid metal detectorist, congrat's on your find . I would listen to these guys . They know what their talking about . Remember, old Silver in the ground is very prone to scratches . Do NOT rub the coin . Just do as they have instructed and you'll be fine .
Secondly, Grading would to me would be a waste of money and time. Because it's been "dug" , it will never get a straight grade . Congrat's again .

 

What a cool find! Just want to echo what Sal said above. Do your cleaning without rubbing. Your seated lady appears to be in quite nice shape underneath the crud.

Edit.... A quick look at the PCGS price guide shows a spread between fine & extra fine like this;
F12 Value $85.00
XF40 Value $400.00
So be as gentle as you can with your cleaning methods. Big, big price spread that will be affected if you damage the piece rubbing it.

 

Amazing find, being that in 1850’s a quarter of a dollar could very well be the daily wage for a laborer.
Their loss, your gain.
J.T.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. When I was gardening, it just came out as a disk-shaped object covered in mud so I cleared it off with my thumb (big mistake but I had no clue what it'd be) . I know I created some scratches doing that which is unfortunate. I will try some distilled water and some acetone and re-post some pics when I get it cleaned.

 

According to https://westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi?money=1&first=1858&final=2019, $1 in 1858 would be worth $29.93 today. So 1/4 of that would be $7.48 in today's dollars.

 

A nice find, @Tmoney

Please let us know how it goes.

 

Do you have any friends that do metal detecting? There may be more where that came from.

 

Nice find. Soak as indicated above and don't rub, scrap or pick at the coin in any way. You don't want to cause any damage as that just lowers the value.

Welcome to CT.

 

Nice find it seems to have some nice detail/ looks like its been in the ground for at least 100 years and no don't get it certified it would get a details grade if you are planning to sell it you would have better luck the way it is.

 

Hi Tmoney and willcomen to our club.
May I recommend you borrow or somehow get your hands on a metal detector and search the area you found this quarter. You may have stumbled on a cache or a “drop” of older coins.
Just saying,
J.T.

 

I will ask around amongst my friends if they have a metal detector. That is great advice. I am curious how an American coin t got there...I live in Canada, so who knows.

 

Great,
Please keep us apprised & good luck!
J.T.

 

If you live in the western provinces, especially British Columbia, it's possible the coin was dropped by an American who went north for the gold rush in 1857; since the coin is an 1852 O, New Orleans mint coin. If you find any more do let us know.

Postscript: please don't brush the coin with anything, not even a toothbrush.

 

Maybe it was in the prospectors pocket and in the ground there somewhere is the prospector also. Lol. Who knows...

 

Here's an update. I've soaked it in acetone for quite a while and I've gently rolled a qtip soaked in acetate over it. It's a little cleaner but I'll keep going...this will be slow b/c the gunk is really caked on. It looks to be in pretty good shape though. The only obvious notable scratching is on the right wing on the tails side. I'm sure I did that when I first found it and rubbed the dirt off. I'll keep at it.