D’artagnon Jackson, Long Time Customer Of Doc, Scores First Beautiful Gold…

[mn90403]

A very unique first gold but you are still a nugget virgin.

Better 'luck' next time!  ?

Keep trying.  You will find a little, tiny $50 nugget soon.

Mitchel

[Mark Gillespie]

I'm both happy and excited for you.  Gold coins are very rare to dig up.

I'm still waiting on my first one.

[deathray]

Awesome!! And not trying to be a downer, but something to keep in mind...DONT rub any gold or silver coin!. It's hard not too, we all want to see that date, what it is , etc. I just throw them in my mouth? Can't be any worse than Copenhaegen??. Congratulations to the finder.

[GB_Amateur]

Finding a gold coin is rare enough, but one from the Dahlonega, Georgia mint is orders of magnitude more unusual/fortunate/lucky. 

The Dahlonega mint was in operation from 1838 to 1861 (when it was confiscated by the Confederacy, only ever minting a single denom, 1861-D dollar after that).  It was created to mint coins from locally recovered gold.   (Charlotte, NC mint was similarly formed and used.)  $5 'Half Eagles' were minted every year the mint was open, and struck in the largest quantities.  $2.50 'Quarter Eagles' were next, minted in consecutive years 1839-1857, then 1859.  The $1 version (as found by Dar) was minted in continuous years 1849-1861.  A single year, 1854, saw the minting of $3 pieces.

The approximate total mintage for all years, by denomination:

$1:  75,000.

$2.50:  175,000.

$3:  1,000.

$5:  1.1 million.

Totalled, less than 1.4 million D mintmarked coins (not to be confused with the later Denver mint issues) were made.  If all done on one year on one modern denomination coin that would make it already scarce.  For example, the 1914-D Lincoln and 1921 (plain) Merc each saw 1.2 million minted.  Given that most gold coins minted in the US were later melted (here or on foreign lands), the surviving Dahlonega coins are likely fewer than 10,000 pieces in all denominations.

Bottom line:  find of a lifetime for Dar!

[Swampstomper Al]

17 hours ago, deathray said:

Awesome!! And not trying to be a downer, but something to keep in mind...DONT rub any gold or silver coin!. It's hard not too, we all want to see that date, what it is , etc. I just throw them in my mouth? Can't be any worse than Copenhaegen??. Congratulations to the finder.

Yeah, about that... May be too late to heed this sage advice..

Take another look at the obverse.. It didn't register in my brain either the first time I saw the pix..  I keep hoping it came out of the ground like that, but...
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Probably the best way for D'art to find out what the numismatic community sees / thinks is:

If he deceides to get this coin graded & slabbed, I know that PCGS will / does encapsulate and grade both cleaned and/or scratched coins.. If the graders determine a coin has been cleaned (they differentiate between 'rub marks' vs 'scratches') the coin's grade information within the slab will read: "<Problem> -- <Grade> Details" rather than showing grade only.. The coin's numerical ID will include a two-digit No Grade Code as well..

An example: Let's say this $1 gold coin graded XF-40..

The grade line instead of reading only: XF-40,
would instead read: Cleaning -- XF-40 Details..

The numerical ID line instead of reading: 123456/12345678,
would instead read: 12345692/12345678,
92 being the numerical code assigned to any type of cleaning attempted on a coin..

It's possible for this coin to come back without a Details grade.. I am, after all, looking at a photo.. There could be nothing there at all.. Or if there is any, it might be so minimal that item scarcity over-rides.. It's impossible to predict how bidders / buyers will react period, much less how they might react to any type of a damage on any given item.. Bidding might be slightly lower; may be more than slightly lower.. In cases of extremely rare pieces, price realized could be more than estimated.. Ya just never know..
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See all PCGS Holdered / Un-holdered "No Grade" designations & examples here: 
https://www.pcgs.com/grades  click on No Grade..

Swamp

[Lanny]

 

What a superb surprise! Absolutely amazing, and congratulations on sticking with the hole on the second dig to recover such a fabulous find, truly incredible!

Nicely done, and all the best,

Lanny

[Shasta gold hunter]

Congratulations!  Awesome find!

[MSC]

Cool ! glad the pick didn't hit it when digging.

[rusty1212]

great job  thanks for showing the gold

[DolanDave]

Doc,

  Congrats to your friend , that is a fantastic find. I personally believe Gold Basin area was being mined before 1861, being a trail to take people back to the Colorado. A few years ago, I found an old engraving on a rock with a date 1851 out at Gold Basin, and with your buddy finding an 1852 gold coin, I believe prospectors started prospecting the area in the 1850's. The oldest coins I have found at Gold Basin date from 1920's...

Dave