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CMCC's Blog

31 Mar 2015

My Coin's Stories (Modified)

Coins-United States | CMCC

My very first blog was "My Coin's Stories: 1862 Indian Head Cent, 1914 and 1916 Barber Dimes." I did receive a couple of comments saying that I did well, but I don't think so. I am modifying it into a longer one that makes more sense:

It was 1862, and millions of coins were coming out of the mint. The penny we are talking about was taken from the mint in a $10.00 bag and transported, along with 9 other bags, to a bank in New Jersey. One man came and took our penny to his home, along with 49 others. It was nearly winter, and the Almanac stated that it would be extra snowy this year; this meant that he needed to stake markers in, that way he knew where to guide his horses. While pounding in stakes near his house, he felt the metal bar he was hitting (he made holes with them, and then put the markers in) contacting a rock. "It's just as good a time as any other," he thought as he bent down to dig out the stone. When he jerked the rock out, all his pocket change fell out! He picked up the coins, one by one, and, thinking that he had got them all, he resumed pounding in markers. What he didn't know was that one penny had rolled under a leaf of a nearby plant. The next day, instead of snowing, was a soaking deluge. The water thumped on the coin, and it went below the ground.

About 50 years later, in 1914, a dime was minted, and another in 1916. The 1914 had been in circulation a little while longer, so it was more worn down, but the 1916 was still Uncirculated.  The two dimes ended up as change in a cashier box, and they were both given to a farmer, who was the first farmers' son, and he lived on the same property! It was about hay season, and he was walking in his front yard, pondering whether to wait, or to harvest, and the sky was clear. He thought he might be seeing bad weather in the distance, so he worried all the more. This farmer had taken up the habit of jingling the coins in his pocket when he was worried. The dimes were getting pushed to the edge of his pocket. First one dime fell out, and then the other fell 2 seconds later. He decided he shouldn't harvest the hay. He was glad he did so, for it rained hard two days later, and it would've ruined his crop.

This farmers' grandson's employee's son took up coin collecting in 2013. For Christmas he was given a metal detector. It was the ACE-150, the lowest grade of Garrett Metal Detectors. He was very inexperienced, and tried in his backyard. He was rewarded by the world's worst looking 1948 wheat penny. When in the front yard the following day, he got a coin signal at 6 inches. He flipped open the plug, and checked the signal. Still in the hole. He dug out of one side, and then the other, and there was a high-grade Barber/Seated Dime Reverse (They have slightly different reverses, but when you're excited, and when it's dirty, it is hard to tell!), he flipped it over to see a dirt-covered Barber Head. he dropped his Metal Detector, and ran in the house, screaming, "A BARBER DIME!!! I FOUND A BARBER DIME!!!" He cleaned it up, and saw a 1, then a 9, then a 1, and finally a 6. He checked the reverse: No mintmark. It turned out to be a 1916 Barber Dime in XF-40/AU-50 Condition, and it resides as one of CMCCs Coins.

By September of 2014, he thought he had enough experience to try over the front yard again. About 8 feet away from where he had found the other dime, he got a signal, and dug. Thankfully he was now equipped with the Awesome Garrett Pin-Pointer. He pulled up the plug, took out the pin-pointer, and immediately got a signal. He flipped a shovel-full out of the side hole, and there was  a Barber/Seated Dime reverse! This one was cleaner, and was in a lower grade, but an older date, too! A 1914 in F-12/15 Condition. He had only gone 10 feet or so when he got a signal, he again dug, and again needed to pull some dirt out of the side wall, out popped the reverse of a High-Grade Indian Head Cent. When he saw the thickness of the coin, he knew that it was from 1860-1864. He gently rubbed around the date, but couldn't get the last digit. He knew it would be 186X, but he didn't know the equation to X = ? yet. While carefully cleaning it under running water, he finally got a green '6' on the third digit, and then managed a faint, green '2' on the fourth digit, It is an 1862 Indian Head Cent with FR-2 Details on the obverse and VF-30 details on the reverse! (Literally!) These coins reside in CMCCs*Coins' Collection!

This metal detectorist became an ANA member in January 2015, and is now known as CMCCs*Coins there!

Comments

ShriekenGriffon

Level 5

I wish I had a metal detector and a large property like you!

numi613

Level 4

Great story! It seems that a metal detector finds coins right and left, maybe I should take it up. ;)

Kepi

Level 6

Great job! I'd love to get a metal detector!

cool!

BossX

Level 5

Awsome! I want a medal detecter.

CMCC

Level 5

They are expensive; I am yet to go on my first hunt with my new ACE-250--Garrett's second cheapest at $212 ($250 from Garrett). I am now saving for the AT Pro, which is $600 ($700 from Garrett). I am more of a detectorist, so this is my favorite thing to do in summer!

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