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#41 Is A Very Nice 1919 Merc


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Nice coin! I carry a Hoover Boys "Foo Foo juice" spray bottle full of distilled water for the silvers, happy to say I've never rubbed one with my fingers 😀 probably because I watched their videos before I found any silver 🤣 my first was a 1917, I made a chain out of it.

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That is a very nice full bands coin. 1919 seems to be a common year on my current site too.

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Very nice hunt, looks like it may have been down about 6 inches and protected a little bit.

Good luck on your next hunt and stay safe.

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No need to be embarrassed with that find, that's in great shape!

Funny thing, a few years ago we had a killer scrape at a very old San Francisco park.  It was an amazing event that lasted for months and a lot of great finds came from that site.  One trip out I had dug a couple of mercs in one hunt, plus a bunch of other finds.  I didn't even look at the mercs as why waste valuable hunt time (the competition was fierce at this demo) when you can examine them at home, besides when do you ever dig valuable mercs 🤔  The next day I dump out my finds pouch to look at my finds, and as I was looking at the dates, I noticed that one merc was a 1916.  I've dug dozens of 1916 mercs over the years, but they've always turned out to be San Francisco or Philadelphia minted, and I remember thinking to myself before the flip to see the mint mark "come on, for once be a Denver mint mark!" and low and behold it was.  Here's the digs from that days demo hunt with the 1916-D merc:

  image.thumb.jpeg.18761844e8f743344af508b945ed0255.jpeg

The other merc in great condition was a 1943, too bad the condition on the mercs wasn't reversed, but we take what we get and I was just grateful to finally dig a 16D 👍

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On 11/7/2022 at 6:01 PM, F350Platinum said:

Nice coin! I carry a Hoover Boys "Foo Foo juice" spray bottle full of distilled water for the silvers, happy to say I've never rubbed one with my fingers 😀 probably because I watched their videos before I found any silver 🤣 my first was a 1917, I made a chain out of it.

I do the same with the newbie juice.  My hunt partner is always rubbing his coins, drives me crazy!  My first gold coin I dug was caked with dirt and I had to keep pulling it away from him as he tried to rub the dirt off to see the date.  I'm glad I did as it turned out to be quite a rare date/mint haha

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On 11/8/2022 at 5:57 AM, Cal_Cobra said:

I've dug dozens of 1916 mercs over the years, but they've always turned out to be San Francisco or Philadelphia minted, and I remember thinking to myself before the flip to see the mint mark "come on, for once be a Denver mint mark!" and low and behold it was.

I bet your heart skipped a few beats that day!  And did you turn it back over to make sure it was a 1916?? 😁  I do something similar with ever Jefferson nickel.  I first look at the reverse to see if it has a mintmark.  If so I know it's 1964 or earlier.  (Unfortunately it's uncanny how many times it's a 1964 -- well, the highest mintage up until then but it still seems way out of proportion.)  If 'D' I say "come on 1939".  If no MM I say "come on 1955".  If 'S' I wish for a 1938.  Hasn't work for me yet.  😞

On 11/8/2022 at 5:58 AM, Cal_Cobra said:

My hunt partner is always rubbing his coins, drives me crazy!

I'll tell you what's way worse -- when you show someone a coin you find and *they* rub it.  If there were a Miss Manners in metal detecting she'd rip that person a new one.  I'm too polite for that, but it makes me not want to show a find.  Some people carry 2"x2" plastic holders in their vehicle and put their good coin finds in those before showing them around.  Now I know why.

Sorry to hijack your thread, NCt.  Yes, that coin saw very little air time before it was lost, probably a century ago.  Common date but a good display piece.  If not for your excellent photography we probably wouldn't notice the scratches.  🤷‍♂️

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