Coin condition question

Bioheat1969

Senior Member
Joined
May 4, 2021
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Location
Dudley, MA
So I have a question, I see images on here of large cents, Indian head pennies and such where the condition looks like this:
picture.php

I don't get it, why are these coins in such bad condition after 100-200 years when a Roman coin looks like this after 2000 years?
picture.php
 
Well, when it comes to LC's, you have to remember that the east coast guys are throwing dirt on them, and making them appear to be cruddy and dug.

Does that answer your question ? :?:

:sissyfight: :sissyfight:
 
Well, when it comes to LC's, you have to remember that the east coast guys are throwing dirt on them, and making them appear to be cruddy and dug.

Does that answer your question ? :?:

:sissyfight: :sissyfight:

OMG !🤣... Some are more elaborate. Like sticking them in the side of a plug and rebury. Then come back 3 weeks later after it's rerooted and make a video of the redig. Lol...
 
The difference is the metal each of them are made of. Silver stays pretty much the way it looked when it was lost but copper deteriorates in the ground.
 
Well, when it comes to LC's, you have to remember that the east coast guys are throwing dirt on them, and making them appear to be cruddy and dug.

Does that answer your question ? :?:

:sissyfight: :sissyfight:
Wow! Amazing how you nailed that Tom


Hmmm.....I guess the metal they're made of makes sense, it's just so odd how these coins deteriorate so badly.
 
Rome and antique bronze and copper coins, they are often in a terrible state and often only the circle of the coin remains, without pic. If there is a silver rome coin in the ground, then it will have a black color. Sometimes horn silver is formed on the surface and the coin is corroded. Finding a Roman coin like the condition in your photo is possible only in a closed jar or in a sacrificial tomb. Almost all silver, if lying for more than 100 years, is black. Only the gold coin has no changes and looks like new. if lying in the water for 2000 years
 
Fertilizer and acidic soil, at least around here, really toast coppers. My best coppers have been found on land that has never been farmed.

Silver apparently reacts to saltwater and arsenic (used as a pesticide back in the day), so coins in that environment can come out toasted, but in general, silver is not very reactive to too much, which is why it comes out of the ground pretty good (in fact, being buried protects it from light, which can also damage it).

I am not a chemist, but this is how I understand it.
 
So I have a question, I see images on here of large cents, Indian head pennies and such where the condition looks like this:
picture.php

I don't get it, why are these coins in such bad condition after 100-200 years when a Roman coin looks like this after 2000 years?
picture.php

That is how they looked after I brushed off all the cow manure I marinated them in for the last year.:laughing: Believe me I wish they were in better condition for my first ever Large cents but what are you going to do? I have two that I bought as a coin collecter as well because I never thought I would have the chance to dig one out of the ground myself. My friend on the same day dug a silver Rosie and at first glance it looked nothing like the shiny coins dug on Utube.
 
I have a Buff, year unknown, that I dug over the summer, that I just can't get to not be black. It was the 1st I ever found metal detecting, so I'd really like it to be silver. It's part of what prompted me to post this, the other part is I found an 1893 IH penny that is absolutely beautiful, only 100 yards away.
 
OMG !🤣... Some are more elaborate. Like sticking them in the side of a plug and rebury. Then come back 3 weeks later after it's rerooted and make a video of the redig. Lol...

Yup. They're pretty durned sneaky. And it's the same 7 or 8 LC's they pose for their pix and videos. They use the same coins over and over, mailing them back and forth to each other.

Tsk tsk :sissyfight:
 
OMG !.....

I mean, seriously ....You detect A LOT in southern CA, right ? I detect a LOT in central coast CA, Right ? Now .... ask yourself : Do you or your buddies ever dig LC's ? After all those hours put in ? NO !

So that, right there, is proof that this is all a giant con game. Tsk tsk. :cool3:
 
I mean, seriously ....You detect A LOT in southern CA, right ? I detect a LOT in central coast CA, Right ? Now .... ask yourself : Do you or your buddies ever dig LC's ? After all those hours put in ? NO !

So that, right there, is proof that this is all a giant con game. Tsk tsk. :cool3:
Come to think of it , I believe you're right. I only know of a couple guys that found 1 , near very old properties. I don't think I've ever found 1. Even when I was on that beach spot decades ago finding seateds and barber's. And my only gold coin , but no LC's.
 
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