incajoe
Sr. Member
I have been doing some intense map research lately and have a list of homes that disappeared off of the local maps around the turn of the century. Today I decided to go check out a couple of them. This was a stretch of road about a half mile long that had been closed off and bypassed. I knew there were three houses on the road so armed with a make shift map I went in search of the houses. The first one was near the modern roadway and within sight of an existing house and although this was utility company property I decided not to chance being seen by the neighbors and continued further down the old road in search of the second house. I soon found it (nothing but a cellar hole left of any of these houses) and got to work. I searched for about an hour with no good finds. The place was just littered with iron. I decided to head to the third house which I also found quite easily. This one had less junk around it but also had no good signals. By this time I was getting pretty discouraged so I headed back out and on my way figured, what the heck I'll hit the first foundation. Well about 5 minutes into the hunt a truck pulls up and the driver asks me what I'm doing which I politely explained. He then informs me that I'm actually on his private property and the Utility company land started just behind the foundation. I apologized and told him I hadn't realized that and he said "no problem, help yourself". So I continued detecting and right away started getting good dig-able signals. Within 5 minutes I dug the 1844 Bank Of Montreal half penny. Then next was the 1823 large cent. I was really psyched about this one since it is my first large cent I have found in my two years of detecting. The condition is really lousy but at least I could get a date off of it. I spent a few more hours and found some clock/watch parts, a flat button with traces of gold, a purse closure which I had hoped would reveal some coins but no such luck. All in all a great day of detecting. I found it interesting that all the finds I made at this foundation were on one side of the house between the house and the old well. Nothing was found anywhere else on the site. Here's a bunch of pics.....
UPDATE:
Here is an article I found online that may back up the notion that this 1823 large cent is a counterfeit.
In the late 1850's one enterprising soul found, in a load of scrap steel bought from the mint, several old, rusted, broken, but usable dies. Use of the precious-metal dies would be counterfeiting - a capital offense. But the base-metal dies were intended for non-legal tender coins. One can't be charged with counterfeiting what isn't money. The half cent restrike of 1811 and the large cent restrikes of 1823 and "1804" come from this batch. They deceived few collectors but turned a profit anyway. The latter (1804) was an alteration of an 1803 cent die, since collectors recognize that 1803 cents are common but 1804 cents are not. Most of these dies were bought back by the Treasury Department in 1878. A hundred years later the 1823 dies were still out there someplace.
UPDATE:
Here is an article I found online that may back up the notion that this 1823 large cent is a counterfeit.
In the late 1850's one enterprising soul found, in a load of scrap steel bought from the mint, several old, rusted, broken, but usable dies. Use of the precious-metal dies would be counterfeiting - a capital offense. But the base-metal dies were intended for non-legal tender coins. One can't be charged with counterfeiting what isn't money. The half cent restrike of 1811 and the large cent restrikes of 1823 and "1804" come from this batch. They deceived few collectors but turned a profit anyway. The latter (1804) was an alteration of an 1803 cent die, since collectors recognize that 1803 cents are common but 1804 cents are not. Most of these dies were bought back by the Treasury Department in 1878. A hundred years later the 1823 dies were still out there someplace.
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