Scouting A New Field And Testing Stuff, Got Another Silver Coin.

[GB_Amateur]

On 1/15/2024 at 8:37 AM, F350Platinum said:

It was taco'ed when I dug it, but it straightened itself out later 🙄

All by itself -- impressive!  😏  Care to give us more details?  Appears to have some stretch marks (err, stress lines), before and after.  The reverse looks much nicer than the obverse so I assume the reverse was facing down for, oh, 1 1/2 centuries.  Very nice find, regardless.  I'm envious.  As happens a lot, it seems, the coin was high grade (XF?) when dropped but the (fertilized?) soil hasn't been kind over all those decades.  About how deep was it?

[F350Platinum]

56 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

All by itself -- impressive!  😏  Care to give us more details?  Appears to have some stretch marks (err, stress lines), before and after.  The reverse looks much nicer than the obverse so I assume the reverse was facing down for, oh, 1 1/2 centuries.  Very nice find, regardless.  I'm envious.  As happens a lot, it seems, the coin was high grade (XF?) when dropped but the (fertilized?) soil hasn't been kind over all those decades.  About how deep was it?

I was wondering if anyone would notice that 🤣 thanks GB. 😎

Developed a little trick over my experience with bent coins, I have a 4x4 pine wood block and a 2x4 block, both clean cut and shiny on the ends. I put the 4x4 block down on the garage floor end grain side up (strongest), put the coin on it, put the 2x4 on top of the coin end grain side down, and whack the 2x4 with a rubber mallet. 😬 

Practiced this on bent clad many times, figured silver might be easier so I didn't hit it as hard. 🤔 Just one hit usually does it. Haven't broken one yet. The coin doesn't have anywhere to go but flat. Worthless as a taco, better displayed "fixed".

It was ~4" deep, along what was a road according to old topos. 🙂

[JCR]

For those who might be more hesitant, Nylon jaw blocks in a vise work well to straighten metal items.

[F350Platinum]

3 hours ago, JCR said:

For those who might be more hesitant, Nylon jaw blocks in a vise work well to straighten metal items.

I have an all wood vise and I've done that too. 🙂 Crescent wrenches are great for bending metal.