4 Injuns and a surprise 1942/1 D Merc dime :bouncy:

[Mike Moutray - St.Louis MO]

Hi everyone. Too busy to get out much, but had a nice morning last weekend to stop by the local ghetto park for an hour before work. I was hoping to find at least one old coin where I started, but it was so trashy with bottle caps all over the ground, I had to kind of work around the peremeter, where I could at least hear a threshold once in a while. I started getting real crappy, deep indian hits and lo and behold they were! 4 of them - 1889, 1903, and 2 1904's that were in the same hole with a small copper pin. Also got 2 wheaties and for the first time in a long time the old pennies out numbered the modern bullets!!! The big problem with these ghetto parks is that a nice soft, deep indian/wheatie hit turns up a freshly fired bullet from the ongoing Ghetto Wars more and more often.

[attachment 101295 02aug08finds.JPG]

And now for the best part. I was going through some of my Mercury Dimes looking for varieties. I had about 90 1942D dimes so I got out the magnifying glass to check for the famous 1942/1 D overdate and about 2/3 of the way through... Bingo! I had one! What a shocker! I have been collecting coins for 30+ years and searched thousands of 1942 Merc dimes without success for overdates, so this was really sweet. I think they estimate about 10,000 - 20,000 were minted out of a total of over 60 million so the odds are 1 in 6,000 of getting one, and realistically more than that since they've been searched for by collectors almost from the date they were minted. You never know what you can find! I tried to take a good pic through a magnifier and this was the best I could do. The extra long tail on the bottom of the 4 and and 2 little spurs on the 2 at the left and bottom is all there is of the 42D overdate. the 42 plain is the more famous overdate since the entire 1 is visible under the 2, but the 42d is just as valuable, and much harder to detect.

[attachment 101296 1942over1Dmerc.JPG]

Take care and HH, Mike.

 

[RandyNorthridgeca]

Nice finds and congrats on finding a key date coin. I was going through my coins this weekend too. I was playing with my new Digital Blue QX5 Computer Microscope. I didn't find any key dates but it was fun using the microscope. One of these days I'll get lucky. WTG!

 

[weston]

n/t

 

[James N.D.]

Did you do a little dance when you seen what you had? I think I would have and I would have been calling up buddies and bragging about such a find. You should have it Graded also, then the Value will be determined and then you will have it protected and can put it away in a safe. Keep up them great finds and Good Luck and HH when you get another chance at that Park.

 

[king-ghidorah]

What did it feel like when you realized that it was "the one" you were looking at?

 

[Mike Moutray - St.Louis MO]

I didn't get too excited.... the wife was watching tv next to me and the first thing she would have wanted to know was how much it was worth, then she would have forced me to sell it so she could go shopping.... It grades VG and I'll eventually slab it. Take care, Mike.

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

Congrats on the nice fonds Mike. WTG...............

 

[James N.D.]

how women can hear the slightest wisper when they want too so be careful or you will be in the Dog House without a 42/1 Merc. Continued Success, Good Luck and HH Mike!