How is your Indian Head folder coming along?

[lrgoodger]

Ever since I read an article in one of the treasure magazines decades ago about a guy (I think it was in South Carolina) who found an old church yard where he found a complete set of Indian Head pennies, I have been hoping some day that I could complete my set with a metal detector. I am almost there. I am missing only the 1877 and the two S mints. All but six of them have a full LIBERTY, and if you haven't seen my post on the 1864-L, feast your eyes on that!

If it had not been for the Decatur Dig (see 27 Days Digging Decatur), I would not even be close. I got many of the hard to find pieces from the 60s and 70s there. How many do you have to dig to accomplish this? Well, I have dug right close to 500 of them over the years. I found my first one in the middle 1970s. I only got two so far this year. They are getting harder and harder to find.

Here are photos of my album. Is anyone else this close?

 

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[ToddsPoint]

Thats an amazing accomplishment! Congrats!

 

[bottlebum]

I second what ToddsPoint said. I hope that you find the rest of the set.

 

[TORRERO]

I think I know the Church in Charleston, and one of the guys who dug it... Redman Signs out of Columbia SC he told me the story of camping out with a buddy in the churchyard across from the Citadel, and digging every signal... its like a mini park, and he said the church thought it was city property and the city thought it was church property and nobody bothered them... ha ha ha ...
He said they got every year of the Indian series and 2 maybe 3 gold coins and tons of other stuff... If you think maybe they left something .... they probably didn't ha ha ha in 91 or 92 when I was still in the Navy I walked through that yard and hardly got an iron signal... I don't think they left a scrap of aluminum foil behind ha ha ha ...
That's not to say we didn't dig other stuff across the street in Marian Square, Indians and Barbers ETC... and back then I was hunting Battery Park.. (now posted) where one of my Flying Eagle cents came from.... Just saying...
PS... and NO I've Never dug an 1877, though I had a friend dig one...
All I can say is... Good luck with that

 

[robertk]

That's a really impressive collection. (In all my time hunting, I doubt I've found more than four or five total, so not even close.)

 

[DIG5050]

Ow, that is an impressive collection of IHPs. I love digging them, but they are often crusty in our soil. One of them that I dug is so crusted, you can only make out a little of the headdress. No date on it. Congratson your collection, Irgoodger.

 

[lrgoodger]

Thanks for that update on the Charleston churchyard, Torrero! I remember drooling over that story. One can only dream of finding a site like that. I hunted hundreds of old church yards through the 70s, 80s and 90s. The most Indians I ever got out of one was 10. And not a single Barber or silver! I remember other yards where I got a couple of Barber dimes and no Indians! You never know. I hit Indian spills a couple of times. One was in a one room school yard. I got a large cent and four Indians out of it, including the uncirculated 1864-L. I got five Indians in one hole in an old house yard. It's funny how some dates are harder to find than others even when mintages are not that small. Like, I remember being missing the 1885 for many, many years. When I finally dug one in an old house yard, I knew when I pulled it up it was my first one (and still my only). There are quite a few others that I have dug only one of. The thick Indians were harder to find with the old White's 6000-D because I always ran it to reject pull tabs and it would miss nickels and fatty Indians that way. When I hit the Decatur Dig, there was little non-ferrous junk and I ran the discrimination all the way down, so I got all the fattys there. There was only one 1861, 1862 and 1864 in the whole town. Others I have only one of are 1872, 1876, and 1878. There was no 1871 in the whole town. I finally got TWO 1871s in the same house yard several years later. I was shocked when those came up! I was hunting with a guy who found a little metal box in an Indiana courthouse yard one time and it was rattling. I figured it was coins and I offered him $20 for it sight unseen (unopened). We had been getting a lot of Indians in that yard and I told him there could be an 1877 or 1871 or 1872 in it. He wouldn't do it and when he opened it, it had several Indians in it including the 1871. He was surprised that I had called it (so was I).

 

[michael NY]

Ever since I read an article in one of the treasure magazines decades ago about a guy (I think it was in South Carolina) who found an old church yard where he found a complete set of Indian Head pennies, I have been hoping some day that I could complete my set with a metal detector. I am almost there. I am missing only the 1877 and the two S mints. All but six of them have a full LIBERTY, and if you haven't seen my post on the 1864-L, feast your eyes on that!

If it had not been for the Decatur Dig (see 27 Days Digging Decatur), I would not even be close. I got many of the hard to find pieces from the 60s and 70s there. How many do you have to dig to accomplish this? Well, I have dug right close to 500 of them over the years. I found my first one in the middle 1970s. I only got two so far this year. They are getting harder and harder to find.

Here are photos of my album. Is anyone else this close?

Impressive thanks for showing

 

[TORRERO]

Thanks for that update on the Charleston churchyard, Torrero! I remember drooling over that story. One can only dream of finding a site like that. I hunted hundreds of old church yards through the 70s, 80s and 90s. The most Indians I ever got out of one was 10. And not a single Barber or silver! I remember other yards where I got a couple of Barber dimes and no Indians! You never know. I hit Indian spills a couple of times. One was in a one room school yard. I got a large cent and four Indians out of it, including the uncirculated 1864-L. I got five Indians in one hole in an old house yard. It's funny how some dates are harder to find than others even when mintages are not that small. Like, I remember being missing the 1885 for many, many years. When I finally dug one in an old house yard, I knew when I pulled it up it was my first one (and still my only). There are quite a few others that I have dug only one of. The thick Indians were harder to find with the old White's 6000-D because I always ran it to reject pull tabs and it would miss nickels and fatty Indians that way. When I hit the Decatur Dig, there was little non-ferrous junk and I ran the discrimination all the way down, so I got all the fattys there. There was only one 1861, 1862 and 1864 in the whole town. Others I have only one of are 1872, 1876, and 1878. There was no 1871 in the whole town. I finally got TWO 1871s in the same house yard several years later. I was shocked when those came up! I was hunting with a guy who found a little metal box in an Indiana courthouse yard one time and it was rattling. I figured it was coins and I offered him $20 for it sight unseen (unopened). We had been getting a lot of Indians in that yard and I told him there could be an 1877 or 1871 or 1872 in it. He wouldn't do it and when he opened it, it had several Indians in it including the 1871. He was surprised that I had called it (so was I).

Sounds like you have done a lot better than me, although I have never kept track of what exactly I've found... I only know that I don't have an 1877 and I have dug 3 Flying Eagles

 

[lrgoodger]

I have dug 6 flying eagles. I learned a lesson the hard way on one of them regarding the nickel composition cents. I was in a one room schoolhouse yard when it came up. It was absolutely perfect! I could see every detail. Then I made the stupid mistake of dropping it in my pocket with my modern change. When I took it back out, clashing with the other coins had flaked off a lot of the oxidized surface metal, making it a lot harder to see the detail.