1877 Seated Liberty Half Dollar!!!!!!

bookfisher

Bronze Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
1,345
Reaction score
125
Golden Thread
0
Location
Long Island, New York
Today was my second most exciting day I've ever had metal detecting! My most exciting day was when I found the 1825 George IV Gold Sovereign back in March, 2006. I got to the field today where I found the 1737 King George Copper, the 1877 Seated Liberty Quarter and the 1821 & 1817 Large Cents at around 2:30.
I entered a section of the field off one of the dirt roads and in about 10 minutes I found a real corroded 1891 V Nickel that was just about on the surface. I looked down after getting a surface signal and saw the edge of the nickel sticking out of the dirt. I thought okay, good start. I then slowly headed deeper into the field where the growth gets thicker - not thick with weeds, but with these craggly crab apple trees that grow close together in places and which makes it difficult to move around. But still I kept going and at this point it's around 4:00 and I really haven't found anything worth mentioning or for that matter haven't even had any good signals.
It was at this point when I was hemmed in by the trees, that I said to myself, "why am I wasting time in this area, when I can hunt some better open areas near the dirt road where I've found some good coins." So it takes me a few minutes to get out of this growth, and after a little while I get back to a spot where I feel comfortable hunting. I swear to God, just a couple of minutes after getting back to this spot, I get an iffy, 1/4 bar or maybe a half bar quarter reading at 5 or 6 inches. At this point, I have no reason to be excited. I figure it's probably some deep iron or some other piece of farm implement. So I cut a deep plug and pull out the plug and some loose dirt with it an sling it on the side. I then, swing the coil over the plug and the extra dirt (now it gets real weird) and I get a full bar penny or quarter reading, (I can't remember exactly) but just for an instant, the signal disappears! I'm thinking, what's going on, where's the signal? So I think maybe I knocked the target back in the hole, so I check to hole, and I'm getting an eratic signal. So I pull more dirt out of the hole and check the dirt.
At this point, I'm having trouble remembering exactly what happened because it was a strange dig and kind of a blur, but when I checked the new pile of dirt, I got the signal back and I think it was reading full bar quarter. I bent down and sifted the dirt and I find this large disk covered in dirt. Though through the dirt I see a few hints of silver! Now I'm starting to get real jazzed up, because I'm starting to believe I found a big silver coin! I start lightly rubbing some dirt off and images are taking shape, and I'm becoming more and more convinced it's a coin, but at this point I don't know what kind or from what country. A few more light rubs and I finally see the Seated Liberty and the date of 1877! To be honest with you, I didn't know if it was a half dollar or a dollar (though I guess I was leaning in my mind towards half dollar) until I lightly rubbed the reverse and saw the HALF DOL. Let me tell you, it was one of the happiest moments in my metal detecting career. No simple, bingo, this time, but a full fledge whooping Rebel Yell and a Happy Dance, those Irish dancers would be proud of! A Seated or Capped Bust half is one of the coins I really have been trying to find in the last three years, and to actually find one, blows me away! By the way, this is the first Half Dollar I ever found, and coincidentally 1877 is the same date as the Seated Quarter I found in this field two weeks ago. Happy Thanksgiving!
 

Attachments

  • seatedhalf.webp
    seatedhalf.webp
    20.4 KB · Views: 1,663
  • seatedhalf2.webp
    seatedhalf2.webp
    20.3 KB · Views: 1,666
  • seatedhalf3.webp
    seatedhalf3.webp
    42.2 KB · Views: 1,675
  • seatedhalf4.webp
    seatedhalf4.webp
    45.1 KB · Views: 1,663
Upvote 0
WOW, super nice coin for sure, and in what looks to be a decent grade as well...i grew up on long island as a kid...was transported to fla when i was 7 y/o along for the ride with my parents so to speak....and to think all i had to do was pull out my trusty detector(had i had one at 7..haha) and go to that field and locate it...lol...almost like my coin...hehe...great job , and thats some field you got there...good luck in your future hunts...with what you have found so far....just a matter of time before you find another great coin...WOW!!!
 

That is a superb find Bookfisher, congratulations.
 

That's an 1877-S half and may be a micro S. Have it looked at.
 

That's one beauty. Your heart must of skiped a beat pulling that baby out...
 

This is one of those finds that is tough to imagine. I mean, it's "beyond the typical wish list" by a damn sight.

I will try to imagine it now, and it adds up to a HELL OF A LOT OF FUN FOR YOU.

Congratulations! It's a spectacular find!!
 

Man that would have been one of my best days ever too. What a great story and coin, and the accompanying photos are superb.

Thanks for sharing and HH.
 

holy smokes !!!!!!! awesome piece there....... :o :o :o :o :o :o
 

WOW-a seated half ! :o

Nice.

I've never even daydreamed about finding one of those.
 

very nice finds keep up the good diggens
 

A liberty seated half. Wow! That's just a fantastic find. I'd settle for a Kennedy half at this point :-)

Jake
 

Great find Bookfisher!!! I know exactly how you felt as I found my first seated half this year(1858O),what a feeling!! I actually sat down for about five minutes to take it all in and have a smoke to calm my nerves and when I got up I was swinging away for about five minutes and then I realized I forgot to turn my detector back on LOL! A big congrats, Bootstrap
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom