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Help Identifying A Find


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Hey friends. Found this yesterday here in maine. It was sitting on moss covered bedrock next to a stream where people obviously hang out very occasionally. It's about the size of a dime but slightly thin on the edges. 

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IMG_20160929_170446653.jpg

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  • The title was changed to Help Identifying A Find

Dam you guys are good lol

only thing I can make out is the shield and a little clover  not all indian heads have the shield

 

strick

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On 10/1/2016 at 10:12 AM, strick said:

Dam you guys are good lol

only thing I can make out is the shield and a little clover  not all indian heads have the shield.

Good catch.  (And nice find, ...maine.)  All but the first year (1859) had the shield and it (along with 1860-1863 and some of the 1864) were Nickel-Copper alloy.  I've not found any of the Ni-Cu (the earlier Flying Eagles also were of this alloy) but have one in my test set for determining VID.  I've now found three of the standard alloy (95% Cu, remainder tin and zinc) Indian cents and all came out of the ground with that green color.  In fact, without seeing either obverse or reverse (which are usually caked in dirt) if I see the green rim I feel like I've got something good.  It's interesting that the Wheat cents I've found (only two so far: 1945 and 1953-D) weren't green.  They have close to the same alloy -- 95% copper -- but over the years the remaining alloys have been listed as tin and zinc.  I don't know if the relative amounts of the two minor alloys have been held to tight tolerance or whether those two vary over the map.  So possibly the green color depends upon this.  Saying all that, maybe it's the amount of time in the ground, and even the chemical makeup of the dirt and amount of moisture that determine the color.  The worst condition copper Memorial I've found came out of a bedrock crack in a creek, so that indicates that water is a contributor.  It's currently at ~80% of its birth weight.  It actually is colored a mottled (but not pretty) combination of green, reddish-brown, and black.  (Note I haven't been talking about the 1982 and later "Stinkin' Zincolns" which deteriorate almost as badly and as quickly as a tossed aside banana peel.)

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