Lucky key date find (or, Man, am I a noob, or what?)

[kansas_roger]

I was reading a forum post tonight, and I saw someone post a comment about only cleaning the dates off on their Wheat pennies to see if they are 1909 VDB or 1914-D. I keep all of my older Wheat penny finds, and I thought I might have a 1914 amongst them. I pulled them out, and much to my amazement, mine is a 1914-D. It was a metal detecting find, so it is in what I'd consider rough shape. Any thoughts as to value or whether I should get it cleaned and graded would be appreciated.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxYAlaqNwfg[/video]

 

[unearth]

I, as an ex-coin collector, would not get this coin graded and slabbed. For me, it's in to rough of condition. The value is arbitrary. How bad does someone want this coin. I think the value would fall somewhere between $75 and $125, maybe a bit more.
Good Find!!!

 

[NebTrac]

Very nice find Roger! Congratulations on your key-date. I'll sure let those with more experience deal with your question though. That is a great find! Thanks for the pictures and video.

NebTrac

 

[Pastor bob]

As a collector I agree with unearth. A lot of collectors can't afford higher grade key dates and look for lower grade options to fill slots in their collections for now. No matter what shape it is in that is a great find. If you are going to sell it I think $100 would be fair.
HH

 

[shawnIN]

Nice!!!! Great find. I don't sell any thing I find, but it would make a great hole filler for sure.

 

[rickinsdakota]

Congrats on the great find Roger. I would not slab it. I found a key date last year that I took to a coin show and asked about slabbing it. Slabbing would cost about $20 and then the slab might say "Dug Coin" on it which can actually hurt the value. If you don't need to sell it I wouldn't. It would be neat to keep it for "bragging rights".

 

[kansas_roger]

Thanks for all the comments and advice. I'm too cheap to pay to get a coin graded, and I'd never sell it anyways. I don't collect coins per se, other than the coins I dig, but I actually have a Lincoln penny book that I started when I was a kid. That penny will look pretty awesome in there. I cleaned it a little more with baking soda this morning, and I'll try to post some better pictures tonight.

 

[Goes4ever]

I would NOT get it slabbed, too much enviromental damage. I would give it a hot peroxide bath to help remove some gunk though