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Been to Busy

A

Anonymous

Guest
Been very busy the last month or so. Was able to make the monthly Sunday club hunt at a local old park. Found the AU 1943-D Mercury there and a few other items pictured. I couldn't take it Monday morning when I got up to go to work. I had to call my boss and tell him a good story to get off to metal detect (my next door neighbor's Parakeet fell off it's perch and I had to take it to the Vet?) After he told me to enjoy the rest of my life, I went to another old local park and picked up the Washington quarter and Barber dime in the first fifteen minutes a couple of feet apart. The remaining four hours produced some wheats and clad change. I don't know what it is, but when I find silver, it's always in the first hour of hunting?
HH
 
What did you clean those coins with?
I found a 1906-D Barber last week too...
Jeremy
 
What do you tumble with? I have a rubber tumbler that I've had for years... only used it on rocks but never coins. I've been thinking about trying it out. Someone said to use rice and water?
Jeremy
 
You brought up a favorite subject on mine, history! Where were your great grand parents and great-great grand parents in 1883. What hardships did they suffer that year to make their children better off? What happened in American and world history that year that effects us to this day? What were the hardships and life like in 1883? Who lost this 1883 Indian head cent and how. Because a penny would buy penny candy back then. We all find old coins that were lost. But imagine losing a silver dime, silver quarter, silver half dollar or silver dollar back then <img src="/metal/html/cry.gif" border=0 width=40 height=15 alt=":cry"> A days wages back then was a silver dollar a day. Imagine back then explaining to your wife and/or children losing a portion of your wages that day or week? I like to think when I find a nice silver coin at an old park, the person / family that lost it could afford to lose it. In those days to make a trip to a desirable park required money and well being, I assume. If I could go back in time and give this valuable coin to the rightful owners, I surely would. Another thing to consider about finding old coins. Have you ever experienced a tooth ache? In 1883 what did your ancestors do? What price would they pay for any relief? If you ever had a tooth ache, money is no object... Just some thoughts from a historical point of view...
 
First, if you suspect it might be valuable, don't do anything, period! I'll refer you to have it professionally graded / cleaned. When I dig up a coin I think "could" be worth something, I put it immediately into a container filled with heavy soap and water I carry with me.
For the hundreds of wheat cents I find in the field, I collect them in a coin purse. When I get home I soak them in soapy hot water and brush them with a tooth brush to see the date, if possible. I do this now because slightly over a year ago I found a 1914-D key date penny worth several hundred dollars. I ran it through my rock tumbler not checking or knowing. Dahhhh... My mistake. Worth about a hundred dollars now...
Never mix copper, nickle or silver when cleaning, ever! The properties will have an adverse effect on each other. Always "tumble" and clean copper with copper, zinc with zinc, etc.
As far as tumbling non-valuable coins, I use a fist full of aquarium gravel, a squirt of dish soap, and fill the tumbler half full of water. Let it tumble and work for 4-9 hours, depending on patina. Drain and repeat if neccessary for heavy crud.
REPEAT: Don't do this for valuable coins...Have them professionally cleaned...
 
Even a Mercury Dime in 1940 had awesome buying power when you compare prices of thingd then to now. A Merc in 1940 would buy: 2 cokes, 2 Hershey Bars, 2 loaves of bread, a comic book, or admission to a movie. A dime in 1940 had roughly the same buying power as $2.00 nowadays.
For an older coin such as your IH, just look at a Sears catalog from 1900 or roundabouts and look at the prices. At this stage a dime had even more buying power, Let alone that Barber Quarter or Half, or, if you're lucky enough, the Morgan that gets dug up.
That to me is one of the reasons that silver gets scarcer to find as the dates get older. If you lost a Quarter in 1883 then you went looking for it if you had a good idea of the general area you were in when you lost it. It would have been like us losing a $10 Bill today.
Good thing for us that they weren't always successful in recovering their lost money.
 
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