Dual Optical Scanners Used To Find 1872 Shallow N (fs 901) Error Indian Head Cent

[John Oliver]

So... Two years ago on April 4th, I took 250 modern zinc cents and hid them about an inch deep in our sand driveway for our nephews and niece to find with my metal detectors. The detectors were too big and heavy for them so they just used my smaller pin pointer detectors and a couple of sand scoops. The had a ball for a couple hours and found quite a bit of them. Since then after a rain a couple of the modern cents will surface & I smile thinking back how much fun the kids had that day... Fast forward to tonight, I was walking back from the barn with Jody after doing the evening chores and I looked down and saw a green cent on the ground. When I picked it up, I could see that it was a worn Indian head cent and I told Jody, "Holy smokes, its an Indian head cent". She said "You must have thrown it out there that day you buried the coins for the kids". While still walking back to the house I told her "I wouldn't have thrown an Indian head cent out for them to find". When I got in the house and put it under the magnifying glass, I see that it's a 1872... I looked back at my records and old face book posts and I have never found a 1872 Indian head cent. Could this be that this 151 year old coin has been on the property all this time? Not only is this a 1872 Indian head cent, it is an error coin as well. The error is that it's a "Shallow N FS-901 1872 Indian head cent". Here is the link to the PCGS website that explains the error: https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1872-1c-shallow-n-fs-901-rb/404547 I did find some old stoneware last year on the property that was made prior to 1897, so anything is possible.

[John Oliver]

The first pic is a close-up of the date. At first I thought it was a 1878, but it's a 1872. The second pic is from over two years ago when on April 4th 2021 I seeded my sand driveway with 250 modern zinc cents for my nephews and niece to find with my metal detectors.

[John Oliver]

A year ago on our property I found some old stoneware in our pasture and it turned out to be made prior to 1897. Of all the heavy research I have done in search of places to detect, I have done extensive research on my own property and I have not found any evidence that there was a house on the property, except for the older things that keep showing up/ The first photo is the mark on the bottom of a broken plate. The second photo is some info about Alfred Meakin. The third photo is the mini horses trying to help me find treasure in their pasture. The fourth photo is the "Teamwork" poster.... Two littles trying to use the same little digger.

[John Oliver]

My excitement to think this could be a Shallow N error coin was dashed when I stepped back and thought about it... The huge crease in the obverse face probably dented the coin toward the reverse face and that is what created the shallow N... Even without the error, if it were to grade at the poorest grade of G-4, it still holds a premium. 

[Valens Legacy]

Great reading and nice coin, I also bet that the kids can now use your detector.

Maybe someday you will be able to get the to go over your yard and find some more items.

Good luck and good hunting.

[rvpopeye]

Karma giving you one of life's little surprises ! 👍

Probably for making some really good fun for your grand little surprises  .😍

On behalf of all future detector builders karma thanks you too.😉

🖖

[John Oliver]

6 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Great reading and nice coin, I also bet that the kids can now use your detector.

Maybe someday you will be able to get the to go over your yard and find some more items.

Good luck and good hunting.

Thank you Valens Legacy. I like the word Legacy in your name. Legacies don't have to be expensive. Sometimes I do stuff to not just finish the task, but to leave something behind for others to find. When I was building a barn last fall, I placed a 2022 nickel on top of each of the footings and wrote the date it was built before setting the poles on top of them. Someday someone will find these and wonder what the story was and wonder who this John Oliver guy was...

 

[John Oliver]

54 minutes ago, rvpopeye said:

Karma giving you one of life's little surprises ! 👍

Probably for making some really good fun for your grand little surprises  .😍

On behalf of all future detector builders karma thanks you too.😉

🖖

Thanks RvPopeye, I think Karma can come in good and bad varieties. It's good to have a bunch of good karma in the bank. Maybe when those kids get older they may run out of good memories, and need to think back of finding treasure...

 

[GB_Amateur]

Great sun-baker find, or was it a 'moon-baker'?

Here's what the Richard Snow reference says about that coin:

These cents were struck in quantities similar to those of 1871.  Aside from the 1977, this is the toughest date to find today.

(Possibly he's referring to Mint State condition coins in regards to his 'toughest' comment.  But most of those post-war 13 years 1866-1878 are semi-keys or better due to their relatively low mintages.

11 hours ago, John Oliver said:

Even without the error, if it were to grade at the poorest grade of G-4, it still holds a premium.

Well, there are lower grades than G-4:  AG-3, F-2, P-1 (About Good, Fair, Poor).  I'm not going to try and grade yours.  No matter the condition, I always get a thrill from finding a scarce date (which almost never happens for me -- that's why they've been labeled 'scarce'!  😁)

 

[John Oliver]

6 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Great sun-baker find, or was it a 'moon-baker'?

Here's what the Richard Snow reference says about that coin:

These cents were struck in quantities similar to those of 1871.  Aside from the 1977, this is the toughest date to find today.

(Possibly he's referring to Mint State condition coins in regards to his 'toughest' comment.  But most of those post-war 13 years 1866-1878 are semi-keys or better due to their relatively low mintages.

Well, there are lower grades than G-4:  AG-3, F-2, P-1 (About Good, Fair, Poor).  I'm not going to try and grade yours.  No matter the condition, I always get a thrill from finding a scarce date (which almost never happens for me -- that's why they've been labeled 'scarce'!  😁)

 

Thanks GB, It is one of the fun years for sure. A few years ago I found a really, really nice 1870 shallow N Indian head cent in a city park along with a gold cufflink and three percussion caps. With the environmental damage of being a dug coin, I don't know if it would be worth having it graded or not.