Eastender
Forum Supporter
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2025
- Messages
- 637
While detecting I recently found a nice 1876 IHP that I posted on this site. It was great to see that it was a rarer year as production was lowered. The 1877 is rarer still.
I'm mostly a colonial hunter and love finding big half pence and US large cents. I have found many, although the Classic Head still eludes me and is high on my wish list. I very much like the design of the Indian Head Penny and do have a fascination with the Reconstruction Era and the age of railroads. But...the larger cents excite me more. I toss my IHPs and Wheaties into a coffee can. And I don't really give them the attention that I should. Many I have not even washed the dirt off. I have found several 1864 IHP and that year is sentimental because it was such a brutal high water mark of the Civil War. Two of them have the rarer L on the ribbon. The bronze composition holds up nicely in my soils, but they tend to have a solid veneer or crust you have to scrape off with your fingernails.
Tomorrow and Saturday I am returning to an area that yields IHPs. To get excited, tonight I started to take a closer look at the small cents that I found detecting over the past 6 years and came across some nice finds. I was happy to see another 1876. But most surprising is that I didn't realize I had an 1894 9 over 8 error coin. These are apparently quite rare so that is exciting. I also came across an Our Navy 1864 token, of which I have found two. I also spotted an 1863 NYC druggist token that also doubles as an apothecary dram weight. And I found one of my two Flying Eagle cents, which worries me because I can't find the other! One of the best things about finding IHPs is that they are indicators of areas more likely to yield silver coins and possibly a shot a gold one. So my appreciation of the small cent is developing!
I'm mostly a colonial hunter and love finding big half pence and US large cents. I have found many, although the Classic Head still eludes me and is high on my wish list. I very much like the design of the Indian Head Penny and do have a fascination with the Reconstruction Era and the age of railroads. But...the larger cents excite me more. I toss my IHPs and Wheaties into a coffee can. And I don't really give them the attention that I should. Many I have not even washed the dirt off. I have found several 1864 IHP and that year is sentimental because it was such a brutal high water mark of the Civil War. Two of them have the rarer L on the ribbon. The bronze composition holds up nicely in my soils, but they tend to have a solid veneer or crust you have to scrape off with your fingernails.
Tomorrow and Saturday I am returning to an area that yields IHPs. To get excited, tonight I started to take a closer look at the small cents that I found detecting over the past 6 years and came across some nice finds. I was happy to see another 1876. But most surprising is that I didn't realize I had an 1894 9 over 8 error coin. These are apparently quite rare so that is exciting. I also came across an Our Navy 1864 token, of which I have found two. I also spotted an 1863 NYC druggist token that also doubles as an apothecary dram weight. And I found one of my two Flying Eagle cents, which worries me because I can't find the other! One of the best things about finding IHPs is that they are indicators of areas more likely to yield silver coins and possibly a shot a gold one. So my appreciation of the small cent is developing!
