Large cent find

[ramer]

I found my first large cent this afternoon way out in a remote pasture. I was walking down this trail heading towards where I intended to hunt and decided just for the heck of it to wander off the trail into this pasture. Five feet off the trail and my first signal and there it was 5 inches deep. Fate, luck, who knows. A thousand acres of pastures and I just happened upon that one tiny spot. Other finds at that location were a horseshoe with a nail still in it and a rather unusual looking hammer.
Can't make out the date yet, it is still soaking in warm water and dish detergent.

[milco]

That's a great find, congrats! If you are out east they are more common, further west not as much.

[SconiHunter84]

congrats on your large cent! What year was it?

[ramer]

Originally Posted by SconiHunter84

congrats on your large cent! What year was it?

I can't see the complete date yet. Still soaking it, probably for a few days and then see if a toothpick can clean it up a bit. I can see the number 8 but that's about it. I didn't realize there were so many different versions of the large cent. Seems the woman on the coin got a new hair do every few years and is either looking right or looking left and either has 13 stars around her head or 15 stars depending on the date. My coin has 13 stars and the woman is looking to the left.
Even if I can't make out the date I am really excited to have found it. I was holding history in my hand. Didn't realize how heavy the large cent was.
I'll post pics if it comes out have decent from the soak.

[SconiHunter84]

if the dish soap doesn't work, you might try olive oil for a day or so....just be sure to watch the progress of the soak...that's what i did with my 1856 LC. Looks really nice now....what you can also do is soak it for a day in olive oil, take it out, swab it with a q-tip, and then put it back into the olive oil. LOL BUT MAKE DARN SURE YOU USE [U]OLIVE OIL[U] and not canola/vegetable oil!

[pulltab crab]

Thats a nice find those large cents are a shock to the ticker when you reveal em i only ever found one and remember seeing it in the plug hole makes ya smiles for hours. congrats and HH

[NHKeith]

cool find, still looking for my first large cent..

[mrdjfeltimo]

great find, im still looking for my first "official" large cent, i did however dig up a nice NJ Copper 1786, dont know if that counts or not.
Well done
Dan

[ramer]

Originally Posted by pulltab crab

Thats a nice find those large cents are a shock to the ticker when you reveal em i only ever found one and remember seeing it in the plug hole makes ya smiles for hours. congrats and HH

You are absolutely right about smiling for hours. I don't think I ever felt that elated since I've been metal detecting which I've done off and on since 1975. I felt that way when I found my first gold ring but finding something pretty old like this had a whole different feeling for me. Not about the money but about the history and how I saved it from being buried forever.
By the way, it is still resting comfortably in its bath. Still can only see the number 8 of the date. But the head is become more visible.
I am going to try something innovative that I've not tried before. I'm going to take really high res pics of it and examine it with Photo Shop and apply different contrasts and colors and brightness to it. If you start out with a really high resolution pic you can also use the picture sharpen tool in Photo Shop to really zero in on the details. I just want to know how old it is. You don't have to use Photo Shop, just about any photo enhancing software will work just fine. Let you all know how this method works out.

[Silversmith45]

I want to see a picture of the hammer.

[ramer]

Someone posted that they wanted to see the hammer. Ok, here it is, along with the large cent.

[damar2003]

Congrats on the LC ! I hope to find one of those one day

[woodennickels]

Ramer,

Not a large cent expert but pretty sure it will fall in the "braided hair" 1839–1857 range, due to the headband peak between the stars. She looks like she will clean up quite well. My first LC was bent and dateless- I like it anyway. All week I have been staring at my large cent from last Saturday and sometimes the '6' looks like a 5 which would make it a fabled 1815 date - if you have luck with computer image analysis that would be great.
http://metaldetectingforum.com/album...ictureid=35875

[ramer]

Yes, the date is finally becoming more clear and looks like 1848. This is after a week in a bath of water and dish detergent and an occasional light brushing with a tooth brush and also an occasional light rub with baking soda using my fingers, a good rinse, and then back into the bath.

[DigginTexas]

congrats!