Key date standing liberty quarter

[lrgoodger]

I own 26 acres of woodland in SW Michigan that used to have a mill on it. The mill site is on property south of the road and is not mine, but one of the more well to do owners had a house on my property about a 1/4 mile back off the road. I noticed years ago that there were wagon ruts going back there. Well, I got it in my head to clean out the brush from the wagon trail and see if I could locate the old house site. After much work, it started looking like a city park back there with all the undergrowth cut and mowed. Still not sure I have found the actual house site, but I think I'm close. I was finding a lot of iron stuff with the old Minelab Sovereign, but I didn't hit any coins. I'm trying out a Deus and it has been getting stuff around the old house up front here that has been gone over many times, so when I got tired of fighting the chatter from the power lines, I went back in the woods where I had cleaned out and there was no interference. I had only been scanning about half an hour when I hit a 95 signal in the midst of a bunch of iron. From 8 inches down came up a standing liberty quarter. I had already been over it with the Sovereign and missed it in the iron. There was no date on it, but the S was clear. I brought it to the house and got it under a magnifier and could see a bit of the top of the last digit in the date. I finally resigned myself to the fact that If I really wanted to know what the date was, I was going to have to use date restorer. I did that and the last digit came out clear as a 3. There was only one standing liberty with a 3 as the last date, and it was 1923. The S meant I had the key date.

Figuring it was not worth anything after using date restorer, I was shocked when I saw them selling over $100 on ebay with restored dates! This one has a more clearly restored 3 than the others currently listed at $130 and $140, so maybe it would go for $200. I'm not sure that makes all the clearing I did worth it (worked on it all summer), but it is a nice start, and a fantastic first coin from the area! I was hoping to scrounge up an indian head or two back there since the house that was back there was built just before 1870, but that remains to be seen.

I added a close up of the restored date with the 3 outlined in case you were having trouble locating it. You should be able to see it clearly in the other date closeup.

 

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[Mackaydon]

Great save. congrats!!
Don in SoCal

 

[Digger RJ]

I own 26 acres of woodland in SW Michigan that used to have a mill on it. The mill site is on property south of the road and is not mine, but one of the more well to do owners had a house on my property about a 1/4 mile back off the road. I noticed years ago that there were wagon ruts going back there. Well, I got it in my head to clean out the brush from the wagon trail and see if I could locate the old house site. After much work, it started looking like a city park back there with all the undergrowth cut and mowed. Still not sure I have found the actual house site, but I think I'm close. I was finding a lot of iron stuff with the old Minelab Sovereign, but I didn't hit any coins. I'm trying out a Deus and it has been getting stuff around the old house up front here that has been gone over many times, so when I got tired of fighting the chatter from the power lines, I went back in the woods where I had cleaned out and there was no interference. I had only been scanning about half an hour when I hit a 95 signal in the midst of a bunch of iron. From 8 inches down came up a standing liberty quarter. I had already been over it with the Sovereign and missed it in the iron. There was no date on it, but the S was clear. I brought it to the house and got it under a magnifier and could see a bit of the top of the last digit in the date. I finally resigned myself to the fact that If I really wanted to know what the date was, I was going to have to use date restorer. I did that and the last digit came out clear as a 3. There was only one standing liberty with a 3 as the last date, and it was 1923. The S meant I had the key date.

Figuring it was not worth anything after using date restorer, I was shocked when I saw them selling over $100 on ebay with restored dates! This one has a more clearly restored 3 than the others currently listed at $130 and $140, so maybe it would go for $200. I'm not sure that makes all the clearing I did worth it (worked on it all summer), but it is a nice start, and a fantastic first coin from the area! I was hoping to scrounge up an indian head or two back there since the house that was back there was built just before 1870, but that remains to be seen.View attachment 2101175View attachment 2101176

Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Bamasteve]

Great find, congrats!

 

[Almy]

I find extra pleasure in finding relics on my own land. It's a tie back in history of the other people who lived here.

 

[scruggs]

Congrats on a nice recovery!

 

[dognose]

Congratulations.
Any find is a good find. That key date is icing on the cake.

 

[DownEast_Detecting]

umm what the heck is date restorer? i've gotta know

 

[lrgoodger]

Here is a good discussion on how to restore dates.

Restoring Dates To Silver Coins- Help! - Page 2 - Coin Community Forum

Restoring Dates To Silver Coins- Help! - Page 2 - Coin Community Forum

www.coincommunity.com

 

[oldmxrat]

Glad your efforts paid off with a cool find, congrats!

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

SLQ's are my favorite coin - congrats on a great find !

 

[RelicFinder77]

I own 26 acres of woodland in SW Michigan that used to have a mill on it. The mill site is on property south of the road and is not mine, but one of the more well to do owners had a house on my property about a 1/4 mile back off the road. I noticed years ago that there were wagon ruts going back there. Well, I got it in my head to clean out the brush from the wagon trail and see if I could locate the old house site. After much work, it started looking like a city park back there with all the undergrowth cut and mowed. Still not sure I have found the actual house site, but I think I'm close. I was finding a lot of iron stuff with the old Minelab Sovereign, but I didn't hit any coins. I'm trying out a Deus and it has been getting stuff around the old house up front here that has been gone over many times, so when I got tired of fighting the chatter from the power lines, I went back in the woods where I had cleaned out and there was no interference. I had only been scanning about half an hour when I hit a 95 signal in the midst of a bunch of iron. From 8 inches down came up a standing liberty quarter. I had already been over it with the Sovereign and missed it in the iron. There was no date on it, but the S was clear. I brought it to the house and got it under a magnifier and could see a bit of the top of the last digit in the date. I finally resigned myself to the fact that If I really wanted to know what the date was, I was going to have to use date restorer. I did that and the last digit came out clear as a 3. There was only one standing liberty with a 3 as the last date, and it was 1923. The S meant I had the key date.

Figuring it was not worth anything after using date restorer, I was shocked when I saw them selling over $100 on ebay with restored dates! This one has a more clearly restored 3 than the others currently listed at $130 and $140, so maybe it would go for $200. I'm not sure that makes all the clearing I did worth it (worked on it all summer), but it is a nice start, and a fantastic first coin from the area! I was hoping to scrounge up an indian head or two back there since the house that was back there was built just before 1870, but that remains to be seen.View attachment 2101175View attachment 2101176

congratulations

 

[Coinstar magnet]

umm what the heck is date restorer? i've gotta know

Me too!

 

[lenmac65]

Such a great coin. Glad all your effort paid off. Good luck and congrats!

 

[DownEast_Detecting]

Me too!

Seriously, I had never heard of it. But that Link could be better. It’s people arguing the merits of doing a date restore. If it makes a coin worthless or not. Pretty much, I think they use acid to etch the date back so you can see it.
I’m going to look into it more. I would think there would be different chemicals for copper, silver, nickel, etc. but I could be wrong. I personally would love to use that on some coins If it works. The coins wouldn’t be worthless to me.

 

[Coinstar magnet]

Seriously, I had never heard of it. But that Link could be better. It’s people arguing the merits of doing a date restore. If it makes a coin worthless or not. Pretty much, I think they use acid to etch the date back so you can see it.
I’m going to look into it more. I would think there would be different chemicals for copper, silver, nickel, etc. but I could be wrong. I personally would love to use that on some coins If it works. The coins wouldn’t be worthless to me.

I saw that....I was also wondering about what steps to take towards getting a coin certified...I have a barely legible 1918 buffalo nickel...and was thinking of having it certified....

 

[DownEast_Detecting]

I saw that....I was also wondering about what steps to take towards getting a coin certified...I have a barely legible 1918 buffalo nickel...and was thinking of having it certified....

i dont think it is very hard. All you do is send in your coin to either PCGS or NGC they grade it and send it back bricked. But i think you need to have a coin thats worth something and in a good condition, so it will receive a good grade. I believe they mark all dug coins as "environmental damage" so it would have to be a super key date and in good condition for me to even think about it. Because it cost money to have it graded and bricked. Im not sure how much, since i have never done it. But i would have to think it would at least 50-100 bucks.
from NGC
"According to the NGC Price Guide, as of August 2023, a Buffalo Nickel from 1918 in circulated condition is worth between $4 and $160. However, on the open market 1918 Nickels in pristine, uncirculated condition sell for as much as $45000."
so unless you buffalo is crisp, uncirculated and un cleaned i wouldn't think it would be worth sending in.
Lets see if one of the coin experts chime in here.

 

[Coinstar magnet]

i dont think it is very hard. All you do is send in your coin to either PCGS or NGC they grade it and send it back bricked. But i think you need to have a coin thats worth something and in a good condition, so it will receive a good grade. I believe they mark all dug coins as "environmental damage" so it would have to be a super key date and in good condition for me to even think about it. Because it cost money to have it graded and bricked. Im not sure how much, since i have never done it. But i would have to think it would at least 50-100 bucks.
from NGC
"According to the NGC Price Guide, as of August 2023, a Buffalo Nickel from 1918 in circulated condition is worth between $4 and $160. However, on the open market 1918 Nickels in pristine, uncirculated condition sell for as much as $45000."
so unless you buffalo is crisp, uncirculated and un cleaned i wouldn't think it would be worth sending in.
Lets see if one of the coin experts chime in here.

Thank you DownEast,
I'll heed your advice.

 

[pjad57]

Thank you DownEast,
I'll heed your advice.

Nice find. Any chance you can get permission to detect near the former mill across the street?

 

[Clad2Silver]

The fact that you dug a Standing Liberty Quarter is nice and so is the "S" mint mark but if you try to sell this coin to a coin dealer it's about 99.99% sure that he won't buy it for anything other than silver content. I've collected coins since the 1950's and was a dealer from 1971 to 1995. I owned my own shop in addition to setting up at coin shows all over New England so I have knowledge of things like this. The same is true for Buffalo Nickels with restored dates.