Key date 1869 Indian Head or 1869/69?

[terpfan]

Stumbled upon my best find ever Wednesday. Had a couple of free hours after work and decided to search the same 1800s farmhouse that I've hunted about fifty times before. I've pretty much removed all of the obvious targets from this site. I keep going back to "old faithful" hoping to find something that I had previously missed. There are no more clean signals here, only iffy ones and whisper signals. This particular signal was just a whisper. After digging out a six inch plug, the target was still in the hole but the signal was nice and strong. Down another inch or two I came across a dirt-encrusted penny. Please, let it be an Indian! Indian heads are one of my favorite finds, and the soil around here is usually pretty kind to them. Sure enough, a key date 1869 in pretty good condition. Definitely the most valuable coin I've found to date. The amazing thing is that my coil had probably passed over this coin more than ten times in the past, but I had not picked up the signal. On this visit the lawn was mowed short, the soil was moist, and I moved really slowly. Now I'm stoked that there might be more targets left here.
Steve

 

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[history hunter]

Re: Key date 1869 Indian Head

great Indian head penny!!!

 

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[West Jersey Detecting]

Re: Key date 1869 Indian Head

Nice find. You sure took advantage before the rains came. Looks like the rest of the weekend is a washout!

Congrats on the banner!

 

[kane23]

Re: Key date 1869 Indian Head

I believe your coin is the 1869/69 worth a lot more than the 69,take it to an expert and let them look. I'm pretty sure yours is the overdate, way to go! Kane 23

 

[terpfan]

Re: Key date 1869 Indian Head

I believe your coin is the 1869/69 worth a lot more than the 69,take it to an expert and let them look. I'm pretty sure yours is the overdate, way to go! Kane 23

Thanks Kane 23. I think you may be right. Do you think it is an 1869/69 overdate?

 

[DigginThePast]

Can't tell for sure.
This is what we are looking for:

Congrats on making the banner.

 

[creeper71]

When I first seen this posted on here I thought it might be a overdate but couldn't tell from pic.. it has alot of corroion on it to be able to tell for sure... You would need to take this to a coin dealer you trust an know he wouldn't try to jip ya an find out what he says...

 

[halfdime]

Congrats on that key date Indian!

 

[birdman]

Awesome key date coin. I sold my only keydate that I have ever found and have been sorry ever since.

 

[terpfan]

Awesome key date coin. I sold my only keydate that I have ever found and have been sorry ever since.

Thanks Birdman. I readily cash in clad, but hope to never sell any other finds. I'm sure I would be sorry too!

 

[Bartman]

Congrats on a great IH. My buddy found the 1877 IH a few weeks back in MD also. I still can't figure out how his didn't make the banner. Good luck, there has to be more out there.

 

[tomharris76]

Love those IH's, we don't get many here.

 

[1491]

I love hearing about sites where someone has hammered it 20 or more times and persists, and continues to come up with 'fringe' signal targets like yours.

 

[terpfan]

I love hearing about sites where someone has hammered it 20 or more times and persists, and continues to come up with 'fringe' signal targets like yours.

I've learned a lot about metal detecting while at this site. If I'd left this place after I stopped finding easy targets I would have left a lot of good coins in the ground. And the funny thing is this--I probably would have stopped hunting this site if I had had any other goods sites lined up. I kept going back to the same place and new coins would keep turning up, albeit at a pace of about one per hour. Its was very humbling this past summer when I found an 1811 large cent in a small area I'd hunted a dozen times before. How could I have missed it so many times? Did I just ignore the "undesirable" sounding targets? I've still got a lot to learn about this hobby. I do know that once the (easy) shallower targets are gone, there's a lot more to be found on an older site. Steve

 

[Ricky1601 aka pull tab king]

great coin, what method did you use to clean it up? hh

 

[terpfan]

great coin, what method did you use to clean it up? hh

I soaked it a few days in olive oil, and worked out the crud with a toothpick.

 

[lostlake88]

great coin, what method did you use to clean it up? hh

I soaked it a few days in olive oil, and worked out the crud with a toothpick. Wish I could have gotten a little more of it off, there is still more in the crevices that I could not reach.

I clean mine with a toothpick and a binocular microscope. The devil is in the details...

 

[silverfreak]

What a BLAZER Injun'

 

[terpfan]

What a BLAZER Injun'

Thanks Bryce. I've only found seven of them since I've returned to metal detecting, and was lucky to find this one.

 

[terpfan]

great coin, what method did you use to clean it up? hh

I soaked it a few days in olive oil, and worked out the crud with a toothpick. Wish I could have gotten a little more of it off, there is still more in the crevices that I could not reach.

I clean mine with a toothpick and a binocular microscope. The devil is in the details...

That is a great idea. Where did you find the binocular micropscope, are they expensive?