🥇 BANNER BUCKET LISTER!! LESS THAN 100 KNOWN!! $5 GOLD HALF EAGLE DUG!!

[Cal_Cobra]

Tom(CA) and I have been working a site that we found from hard work and research and it's produced several 1850's - 1860's seated coins, and some rogue early 1900's coins, as well as a variety of period relics.

We tried to get one more trip in before Old Man Winter completely shut us down, and it did in fact shut us down, but not before I finally, got something I've been looking for for a long time, and after watching others find them over the years, I was starting to think it would never happen.

Well it finally happened, and it turned out to be a good one, an 1865 San Francisco minted Liberty Half Eagle!!

Here she is out of the hole:

Here she is rinsed off:

Here's a video of the hunt:

Here's a bit of background on the coin from PCGS:

Less than 100 known, Mintage: 27,612

Although the mintage of the 1865-S is quite a bit higher than the mintages of the S Mint Half Eagles from 1858 to 1864, it compares in overall rarity to the 1858-S, 1860-S and 1863-S and is only slightly less rare than the others. Almost all known examples of this date are well worn with VF and lower being all one can expect to find. The 1865-S ranks second in the entire $5 series according to average grade and I do not know of a specimen that would grade better than EF. The very few specimens that I have seen were rather softly struck and the mintmark was always quite weak.

Thanks for looking, hopefully the next one comes easier

 

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[washingtonian]

Wow, you don't see one of these every day, that's for sure. I know you guys put in loads of work but I'm still envious of you Californians! I can only hope a few of those old gold coins have made it this far north.

 

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[Benjamin52]

Amazing find!

 

[hbru123]

Congrats!!

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I was using the Nokta Impact, running @ 20kHz, in Di3 mode, with the factory 11" DD coin when I found the coin. It locked on @ an unwavering 64 TID, and had a distinctly pure clean sound (unlike anything else I dug the entire hunt), BUT I've found that shotgun butts also tend to come in around this same TID depending on orientation, depth and the type of shotgun butt. As much as I hate digging shotgun butts, it finally paid off - lol

Yes some old shotgun hulls sound exactly like a gold coin. I have found weird strategies to keep myself digging. I collect mining tools (could be metal container full of coins), musket balls (can be large nuggets), shotgun hulls (can be gold coins). I have piles of shotgun hulls. Plan on recessing the old ones into a table top some day. So far the only one that has not paid off yet is the old tool that turns out to be a metal container full of coins. Someday for sure.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

One piece of advice - DO NOT ALLOW ANYBODY TO HANDLE IT. Tell them politely they can look but not touch.

Last week, I handed two late 1850's San Fransisco mint double eagles to a friend so he could feel the heft. Once he was done looking, he clanked the coins together in his hand to hear how it sounded. I will admit it sounded pretty damm awesome, but it took my breath away for a minute.

Another story to reinforce my advice. A friend has an AU?? 1861S Half Eagle. He handed it to a close friend to look at (explaining it was probably a $10,000 coin). After looking at it, the friend accidentally dropped it onto a table from several feet in height.

Don't do it!!!!!

 

[hbru123]

That is a absolutely amazing find!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

....
Don't do it!!!!!

What ?? You mean Brian WASN'T supposed to clean the coin with sandpaper and ajax? Ok ok. How about a bead blaster ?

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I'm sure the first instinct was to rub the dirt off with your muddy gloves so you could read the date right?

It feels like you are bestowing a great honor to allow a good friend to actually handle a 152 year old coin...much less a gold coin...much less a rare and valuable gold coin.
It's a hard thing to resist doing.

Get that puppy in a slab ASAP.

 

[JeffInMass]

Holy crap- Congrats on the find of a lifetime! Still praying to join that club...

-- Jeff --

 

[PavelP]

Dream coin !

 

[Johncoho]

Beautiful rare find and banner all day. I already nominated for banner. A big congrats.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Yes some old shotgun hulls sound exactly like a gold coin. I have found weird strategies to keep myself digging. I collect mining tools (could be metal container full of coins), musket balls (can be large nuggets), shotgun hulls (can be gold coins). I have piles of shotgun hulls. Plan on recessing the old ones into a table top some day. So far the only one that has not paid off yet is the old tool that turns out to be a metal container full of coins. Someday for sure.

Like your table top idea, that would be neat. I dig all conductors, and sometimes incidental big iron. Coins typically on the Impact & Racers have a unique, pure sound, but relics can be bi-metal, odd shapes, broken, etc., and may not sound good, but are still fun to dig.

A can full of coins, yeah that's the dream

 

[Cal_Cobra]

One piece of advice - DO NOT ALLOW ANYBODY TO HANDLE IT. Tell them politely they can look but not touch.

Last week, I handed two late 1850's San Fransisco mint double eagles to a friend so he could feel the heft. Once he was done looking, he clanked the coins together in his hand to hear how it sounded. I will admit it sounded pretty damm awesome, but it took my breath away for a minute.

Another story to reinforce my advice. A friend has an AU?? 1861S Half Eagle. He handed it to a close friend to look at (explaining it was probably a $10,000 coin). After looking at it, the friend accidentally dropped it onto a table from several feet in height.

Don't do it!!!!!

I about had kittens when Tom was going to rub the coin I know he was simply caught up in the moment, but I quickly pulled it back to avoid that scenario

 

[Cal_Cobra]

What ?? You mean Brian WASN'T supposed to clean the coin with sandpaper and ajax? Ok ok. How about a bead blaster ?

Oh the jokes

 

[Cal_Cobra]

I'm sure the first instinct was to rub the dirt off with your muddy gloves so you could read the date right?

It feels like you are bestowing a great honor to allow a good friend to actually handle a 152 year old coin...much less a gold coin...much less a rare and valuable gold coin.
It's a hard thing to resist doing.

Get that puppy in a slab ASAP.

It's 2x2'd now....slabbing to commence shortly

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Cal_Cobra, let us know if you get it graded and appraised. Great coin by the way.
I think one of the grading companies offer an ultra high resolution scan of the coin (finger print).
That would be kind of neat to have, I would think.

This discussion gave me the idea of buying some slabs similar to what you would get if you sent it off to be graded.
Let me know if you find a source for one designed to fit specific coins. Air-tite was suggested to me, but it looked like they used the same case for the eagle as the half eagle.
I will admit I have a few coins wrapped in toilet paper that REALLY need to be protected as do several family members.
It would make a good inexpensive Christmas gift.

Per the old rusty signals...I wonder what a dutch oven full of gold coins sounds like? Similar to an old shovel or broken stove?
That's why I collect old shovels. Some day I will have an old wood shed covered in worn shovels and broken pick heads.

 

[K1DDO1979]

Dont know how i missed commenting on this find before but here it is...
WOW. Thats a amazing coin find. A huge congrats to you!!! 🤑

 

[sjvalleyhunter]

This discussion gave me the idea of buying some slabs similar to what you would get if you sent it off to be graded.
Let me know if you find a source for one designed to fit specific coins.

These are readily available online. I’ve bought them in the past for my coins that aren’t good enough to be graded, but are good enough to protect. Just Google “coin slab” and the first couple of sites that come up will have them.



Their description is, “A 3 piece PCGS style slab coin holder has two clear acrylic pieces with a pliable dark green insert. Slab holders are archival safe and free of PVC. Made in the USA”

I’m not a fan of the green insert though. In the past when I’ve bought them I got white inserts, but I’m not sure if they offer the white ones anymore.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Cal_Cobra, let us know if you get it graded and appraised. Great coin by the way.
I think one of the grading companies offer an ultra high resolution scan of the coin (finger print).
That would be kind of neat to have, I would think.

This discussion gave me the idea of buying some slabs similar to what you would get if you sent it off to be graded.
Let me know if you find a source for one designed to fit specific coins. Air-tite was suggested to me, but it looked like they used the same case for the eagle as the half eagle.
I will admit I have a few coins wrapped in toilet paper that REALLY need to be protected as do several family members.
It would make a good inexpensive Christmas gift.

Per the old rusty signals...I wonder what a dutch oven full of gold coins sounds like? Similar to an old shovel or broken stove?
That's why I collect old shovels. Some day I will have an old wood shed covered in worn shovels and broken pick heads.

If I get it slabbed, I'll make a follow-up post with the pics

I've often wondered how many cans or other containers of coins are buried at these old sites. They didn't have banks, and from diary and newspaper reports of these western frontier sites, there were more scammers than there were honest people at these sites. I guess the outlaw type just tended to gravitate to untamed, lawless frontier lands where they could con and scam with ease amidst the confusion.

That said, what were people doing with their hard earned money, aside from gambling, boozing and red lighting it away? Anyone that managed to amass any type of savings must've hidden it, and how many of those hidden caches were never retrieved for whatever reason? We'll never know, but they are out there. I guess it could pay to dig all large iron hits, I typically do it because they false into conductive range, and although they tend to be crumby signals, I still typically dig anything that creeps into the conductive range at these old sites.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Dont know how i missed commenting on this find before but here it is...
WOW. Thats a amazing coin find. A huge congrats to you!!! 螺

Thanks, appreciate it