1800 Draped Bust Dime!!!!!!!!!!!!

1235CE

Hero Member
May 23, 2006
663
195
The Beautiful Berkshires in Western Mass.
Detector(s) used
White's DFX
Hello all.......I cannot believe what I found tonight!!!!!.........well, let me back up 3 years to let you know how I ended up swinging a loop where I did after work tonight......my brother works with a guy who happens to own about 500 acres of hay fields (all neatly divided by old stone walls) in Western Mass. (The Beautiful Berkshires)

He learned of our hobby and said (3 years ago) to help yourself to checking out my fields anytime you want and we hit the fields hard for the first year with only a Buffalo nickel to show for our efforts. The next year (2007) I took a friend of mine out into the very middle of one field and completely out of the blue we found 3 Large Cents within about 10 feet of each other (1801,1803 Draped Bust and a really nice 1787 NJ Copper)........and so we POUNDED that one particular field for the rest of that summer and NOTHING else. I mean literally coming home with clean hands.

I did not even hit these fields at all last year and then last week, lacking for a new place to go, I decided to back to the "Large Cent Field"........this time something caught my eye near the edge of the field.......it was 4 square field stones, in the shape of a square (maybe a 20x20 shack, house, cabin, who knows?......and this "foundation" was about 200 feet from where the Large Cents came from.......so I start focusing on this area and I immediately get an 1906 Indian Head at about 4 inches and then 5 feet from that I get a quarter signal (+87 on my XLT) also at 4 inches and I was THRILLED to pull out an 1918-s Standing Liberty Quarter........it's been a REALLY slow year for me and this was only my 6th silver all year........so yes, I was VERY HAPPY!

Was thinking about that spot all week and finally got a chance to go back tonight and grid out a larger area, moving away from the 4 stones, getting closer to the spot where the large cents came from........with clean hands and daylight going away fast I was really just roaming around a little, getting ready to head home when I get a +74/+75 reading and when I checked the depth it was coming up around 5 inches.........hmmmm......that's a deep Wheat Cent I thought and dug my plug..................it fell right out of the very bottom of my plug into my hands.........thought I had Spanish silver at first until I saw "Liberty"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..........knew exactly what it was and with trembling hands and knees somehow drove home..........This is my very best find of my life and I am sooooo happy to be able to share it with you all!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a couple questions and please feel free to chime in with any grade and/or value you may think.......I am thinking Fine but that is really just a guess.........and does anyone see something odd with the "18" in the date......maybe a re-cut die?.........also, are Draped Bust Dimes attributed like other coins? I'm very curious if someone can put a rarity or variety number on this.........thank you all for reading this and looking at the pics, may you all stumble across something like this very soon.

HH all!

Greg
(yes, I'm going back to that field in the morning :-)
 

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Upvote 19
A real beauty :thumbsup:
 

One word: SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:

One more word: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!! :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:
 

Awesome find, congrats! Any out houses near that foundation? Would be fun to dig out! HH, Mike
 

Thank you ALL for your AWESOME EXCITEMENT AND RESPONSES for me and my dime, I really appreciate that!!

Couldn't sleep at all last night......basically because I never re-scanned my hole, I just floated back to my truck.....lol.

Already took the day off and gonna grab a coffee and head back to the field right now...........one funny thing I forgot to mention is that I did find another dime in that field yesterday, a 2000 P. at 1 inch.

When I turn my detector on I always throw a "test" coin on the ground to make sure my detector is working properly.........seems as though I found one of my test coins from a couple years ago that I never picked up.........there is no other reason for a new coin to be in that field other than me throwing it there, really out in the boondocks. I also find it very ironic that after finding the 2000 P I proceed to find an 1800 "P" ........exactly 200 years earlier. Crazy.

I'm taking my camera with me now and give you guys some shots of the fields and the foundation. Check back later!!

HH all, and thank you all again!

Greg
 

Congrats on a super find! Don't know much about the value of a ground found silver like that but there are two varieties for that year, one a R4 and one a R5, yours appears to be the R4 rarity, known as a JR-1. I think it has Very Fine details and if graded I bet it would get that for details but come back with the Environmental damage or improper cleaning, so it would be knocked down for value I am sure. But, that is only if you are thinking of selling it and heck, such a beautiful find of your collecting career, enjoy the coin for as long as you can!

Don
 

I also think it's pretty kool Greg found a NJ Copper in our area. He hunts in the same areas I hunt. I've found Vermonts and Conn's, but no Ma. or NJ coppers.
 

Stunning recovery. Absolutely beautiful coin. This, to me, is a no-brainer Banner find !!!

With 500 acres, I would be setting up camp in those fields.

Big Time Congrats !!!!

Brian in MA
 

Super find!! Man, that coin just makes me smile uncontrollably.
I would pound that site again and again! I agree with the banner nomination.
 

Don in SJ said:
Congrats on a super find! Don't know much about the value of a ground found silver like that but there are two varieties for that year, one a R4 and one a R5, yours appears to be the R4 rarity, known as a JR-1. I think it has Very Fine details and if graded I bet it would get that for details but come back with the Environmental damage or improper cleaning, so it would be knocked down for value I am sure. But, that is only if you are thinking of selling it and heck, such a beautiful find of your collecting career, enjoy the coin for as long as you can!

Don

Congrats and you have my vote for the banner. I don't recall seeing a dime older than the 1820's posted here for quite some time. That is truly the find of a lifetime!!

There have been some changes at NGS as far as grading. This was in the last newsletter:

Coins that previously would have been returned ungraded by NGC, as so-called "No Grades," will now be assigned a Details Grade that accords with their level of surface wear, such as VG DETAILS or XF DETAILS, when submitted for grading. Coins that have no wear but still display a problem surface condition will be labeled as UNC DETAILS or, in the case of Proof coins, simply PROOF. Following the Details Grade will be a description of the noteworthy surface condition, including, for example, Improperly Cleaned, Artificial Color, Environmental Damage and Tooled. A detailed guidebook available in hard copy and on NGC's Web site, called Understanding NGC Details Grading, will define all the terms used by NGC to describe these surface conditions.

I hope this helps!
Neil
 

1800 - 1776 = 24 years after the founding of our nation.......not too shabby a find. :laughing7:
(Did you read the condition of the coin increasing with the new messages. All of us are excited about your
great find......you can tell that, I am sure.)
For sure, send it in. Let the experts tell you what they think. Then, keep it, drool all over the plastic cover,
and let it inspire you to hunt again, and again, and again.

Banner? Of course. :thumbsup:
 

You got my banner vote, that is a super, super coin.
congradulations, peanut :icon_thumleft:
 

Banner find for sure, what a lovely and rare coin you are holding there :headbang:
 

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