199 year old coin found at softball field.

quicksilver82

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Decided to go to a couple of local older ball fields yesterday afternoon, my dad has hunted these fields since the 80s finding tons of silver. He keeps telling me I’ll be lucky to find silver, so I thought I’d try my luck after a good rain. He was right I didn’t find any silver but I did find a toasted 1821 large cent. My question is there anything I can do to clean it better than I have? I just want to get more detail if possible. Thanks for any suggestions! Happy hunting all!

Pic came out sideways. Sorry ladies and gents.
 

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Any more cleaning and you'll wipe out any remaining detail. With coins once it's gone it's gone. Congrats though nice find.
 
Thank you both. I couldn’t believe it when I finally got a date. It’s still hard to see but I can definitely see 21 on it. I’ll be hunting the field again to see if there are any other goodies there!
 
You could try an olive oil soak.

But often with old coppers you're better off leaving the dirt on because it contrasts with the details and after cleaning you can't see the details anymore.
 
How long would you soak in olive oil? When it first came out of the ground it was green like an Indian. Couldn’t see any detail at all that’s why I tried cleaning it. It is really thin so I assumed it had to be old.
 
No Liquid of any kind on old coppers.
These corrode and once the dirt is tooth picked off this is the best they get.

Nice one if you can gat a date.

I found an 1816 LC at a local ball field a few feet from the benches.
At a soccer field a got an 1850 Bank of Upper Canada half penny.

Both were farm fields a couple decades age and way back into the early 1700's so anything is possible.
 
No Liquid of any kind on old coppers.
These corrode and once the dirt is tooth picked off this is the best they get.

Nice one if you can gat a date.

I found an 1816 LC at a local ball field a few feet from the benches.
At a soccer field a got an 1850 Bank of Upper Canada half penny.

Both were farm fields a couple decades age and way back into the early 1700's so anything is possible.


Agree, no liquids. I had a few that were toasted and I tried a few different options from online posts. Everything made the coin almost black. Just dry it and toothpick it.
 
Agree, no liquids. I had a few that were toasted and I tried a few different options from online posts. Everything made the coin almost black. Just dry it and toothpick it.

Yeah what he said. The olive oil thing in my experience only ruins copper coins.
 
Olive oil is acidic and will gradually eat away at the coin. Every old copper I’ve soaked in olive oil has only become much darker making it even more difficult to see detail.
 
Nice find. Don't know that you can get any better details off of it; seems that once they're gone, they're gone. Olive oil, or any other liquids, will remove dirt which gives it the contrast to see any details that are left, so that's not a good idea. I have heard it suggested that maybe you could regain some of that contrast by taking graphite powder or similar to fill in those areas where the dirt was removed. I have not tried it, so I don't know for sure
 
Thank you all for the information. I’ve just left it be. It’s toasted but it’s my toasted 1821 LC and I’ll take it. I’ve looked on old maps and it seems as though the fields were indeed farm fields back in the day. The city owns the fields along with the 10 or so acres that are behind the fields. All grown up but I think I’ll be making my way into the woods at some point just to see if anything pops outta the ground remotely old. Wish me luck! Good luck to all of you as well on your hunts, it’s definitely a fun hobby!!
 
That’s a great find at a “softball field”. The word “softball” conjures up visions of “modern”, we don’t necessarily think that anything that old might be found at these places, but....and I’ll say it again....EVERYTHING was once “old land” at one point, we have simply modernized it. What was dropped by a plow team or hand harvester or hunter...it still remains. That is quite a nice find that you should be damn proud of, going back that far is hard to do...anywhere.
 
I would not try cleaning it further - it is fine as-is. Congrats on a nice find.
 
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