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Help Identifying Old Coin


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So I was detecting at the same park I found a old silver capped bust dime.  Seen a dude I know who just talks to much and didn’t want this guy following me around like a puppy dog.  I got in my car unseen to him, and went to another area.
 

Looked like original ground, finding square nails in this area.  Using equinox 800 with the 10 by 5 coil using Andy’s coin program but not discriminating anything, iron bias 0, recovery speed was 8. Gain 22.  Found this, was about 9-10 inches down.  Looks like a large cent?

Thanks for any input anyone may give.

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Looks like you dug a well worn large cent, it has a hole drilled for a string to keep it around the neck. Sad that some of them are just unidentifiable, I have a couple. Anywhere from King George to mid 1800s. 👍 Nice find! You will find more, and hopefully they will have identities. You try side lighting or wetting it?

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From 1793 to 1796 ("Flowing Hair" obverse), the weight at the mint was 13.48 g and the diameter varied between 26 mm and 28 mm.  From 1997 onward the minted weight was 10.89 g.  1797-1836 the diameter was in the 28-29 mm range.  After that (through the last year of mintage -- 1857) the diameter was held to tighter tolerances -- 27.5 mm.  (All of this info is in the Redbook.)

If you have a large cent, the diameter should not have changed since it left the mint.  The weight will be less due to wear.

Did you check the digital Target ID after getting it out of the ground?  Should be in the low 30's on the ML Equinox if it's a USA Large Cent.

 

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Vdi is 28-31 it’s worn to crap.  I have a really crappy cheap scale that’s used for food prep it was saying it weighs 8 grams.  My buddy was saying it could be a slave token or something?
 

I figure it’s worn out so I’m soaking it in peroxide for 8 to 10 hours wash it off with water lightly brush it, let it dry Vaseline it, let it dry and see if I can see any markings.

 

Went back to the same spot today, I see people were digging around that area because there’s a bunch of dead grass, circles,  and crappy plugs all around that area.

Thanks for all the input.

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3 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Looks like you dug a well worn large cent, it has a hole drilled for a string to keep it around the neck. Sad that some of them are just unidentifiable, I have a couple. Anywhere from King George to mid 1800s. 👍 Nice find! You will find more, and hopefully they will have identities. You try side lighting or wetting it?

Yeh I tried both of those, even put a piece of paper over it and lightly went over the paper with a pencil, still couldn’t make out any markings.

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Measure the dia. Might be a hair smaller but GB and F350 I think are right, looks like a roasted large cent, found plenty here. Also a possibility of being a state coin, little older than the large cents.

Sometimes if you wet it you can see some bit of detail.

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It’s still drying from the peroxide. No I am mistaken it’s about 28 mm
 

 

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19 hours ago, Troy E said:

That’s about 31.75 millimeters if I’m not mistaken?

1 1/8 inches is equivalent to 28.6 mm, so still possibly a large cent.

 

21 hours ago, Troy E said:

Vdi is 28-31 it’s worn to crap.  I have a really crappy cheap scale that’s used for food prep it was saying it weighs 8 grams.

The VDI is in the ballpark for being pure copper -- the composition of USA Large Cents.  (Brass would be in the low 20's -- maybe 22-24.)  8 g could reflect how much wear has occurred.  That would be roughly 25% loss if it were a 10.89 gram Large Cent when it left the mint.  That's a lot of wear but likely possible, particularly since all of the coin's detail is now gone.  (That's assuming it was a coin to begin with....)

Everything so far seems consistent that you've found an extremely well worn USA Large Cent.

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Front and back pictures after it’s cleaned, still not dry from the Vaseline. Well, I’ve learned a lot about large cents diameter, weight, vdi.  
 

Also learned to look for the black soil in parks, original ground, instead of the rocky, clay, compacted soil.  That’s where I found this.  I was there twice today and I’m definitely not the first person in these areas with the dark soft soil.  Tons of previous detectors have gone through these areas. 
 

I see all the dead grass where people were digging in iron, probably get false readings or pulled out a lot of the good stuff. Then where the fill dirt is the grass is fine.  I’m sure come fall and winter I’ll see more detectorist here. 

Thanks for all the input.

 

 

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