One Indian - two questions

[apinballer]

This is truly embarrassing, but I just got back from my first hunt of the year. A school that was built in the 1930's maybe 40's. I pulled lots of clad and wheats last year, and some silver. Today I got 50 cents of clad, and an Indian Cent. Two questions ... 1) the front is pretty crusty - can't read the date - would anyone suggest a method to clean it enough to get a date? 2) How long do you think Indian Cents stayed in circulation ? I realized the numbers would gradually drop, just as wheats become less common in circulation. I ask because I was surprised to find a Indian Cent at a school that was first opened in the 30's or 40's ...
Thanks, Neil

 

[Andy Sabisch]

The best thing to get the date readable and not damage to the coin is to soak it in olive oil for a few days and most of the crud will have come loose.

As far as the second question . . . . . collecting coins from circulation did not take off until fairly late . . . my parents immigrated here in 1952 and remember finding all sorts of coins such as Indian Heads, V nickels and silver dollars in circulation until the 1960's. There may have been something older on the site which means you might find more and older coins or someone may have had it in theor pocket along with some of the wheats you found or brought it in for show-and-tell.

Nice find though . . . . any day you find an Indian is a good day

Andy Sabisch

 

[NealNoIN]

n/t

 

[Bart]

As a general rule, older design pennies remain in circulation much longer than the other denominations of U.S. coins.
There are several reasons for this. 1. The copper alloy used for pennies has remained almost unchanged since the mid 1860's, (excluding the stinker zincer), so the overall look and tone is the same. 2. Children carried, spent, and lost far more pennies than all the other coin types combined. 3. The lowly penny just doesn't garner as much attention to the non-collector types as the silver coins do. 4. As the pennies age and darken with wear, the design details are not as vivid as the brighter coins, so their age is not as noticeable at a quick casual glance. Look at a roll of pennies on edge, and you can't tell the post 1864 IHs from the wheaties, from the copper memorials. Also, during the heyday of the IH cent, it was rare for a kid to have any silver in their pocket. Unlike today, where most kids have plenty of clad coins to lose. And lastly, the great depression helped to keep the IH in general circulation for several additional years. I have gotten several wheaties from the teens and twenties in change over the last few years. And a friend of mine who gets $20 of penny rolls from local banks every week, has found 3 IHs in 2008. So here we are......100 years later, and the IH is still in circulation..........barely!

 

[treasurefiend]

I Coin Roll Hunt as well as metal detect and just this year I have pulled:
1-Indian Head penny (1899)
351 - Wheaties
1 - Barber dime (1905)
25 - Merc's
205 - Silver Rosies
1 - SLQ (dateless)
6 - Walking Liberty halfs (best is a 1938d vf-xf key date)
5 - Franklin Halfs
and a bunch of 90% + 40% Kennedy's


People also find V-Nickels from time to time and Buffalos arn't common but they arn't that rare to find in circulation. Oh to get my totals above I went through $54,370 in change from my banks starting New Years Day.

 

[apinballer]

First - Thanks all !
Andy,
I bet your theory of the Indian being in circulation yet in the 30's or 40's is the best bet, with show and tell second. A local historian wrote loads of information about the town in live in from personal experience, and wrote an article about the building of this school and noted that when built, it was on the very outside edge of town and was an undeveloped pasture on a dirt road. My wife got an Indian cent at the grocery store here about 3 years ago (her only one). Also jives with my experience growing up near a small town in the 70's - I would see older people in the grocery store paying for items, and would spot them paying with a silver coin or two. I would then ask the attendant if I could trade them for those coins and they had no problem with trading a clad for silver. I RARELY get a silver coin in change now. I asked my parents recently (they would have been in their 30's in 1964) why they didn't have any collection of silver coins and they said a coin was a coin then - didn't matter to them.
Treasurefiend,
Holy Cow - your coin roll hunting is impressive to me ! both in finds, and the total $ you have went though to get those finds. I tried it a little last year ... I went and got all the 50 cent coins from banks I could for a few months - maybe $300 TO $400 worth ... not a keeper in the bunch ... maybe I'll have to step it up a little after seeing those numbers.
Thanks all,
Neil

 

[Ron Y]

Hey Pinballer,

He is a good site for coin info:

http://www.coinfacts.com/?Coin+Facts=http://www.coinfacts.com/

Good Luck,

Ron

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

Most coins circulated for quite awhile after the type was discontinued. I always enjoy finding coin spills; gives you an idea what was in circulation at the same time. Seateds were probably common through the 1910s-20s, barbers into the 50's, Indian heads into the 30's and 40's.

As far as cleaning I would boil some store bought hydrogen peroxide in the microwave, then dump the coins in. Wipe with soft towel. H2O2 will clean most dirt, but nothing I've found will take care of the copper crusties, including olive oil. If one side is nice and the other bad you are probably screwed. And I swear most coins like this have the obverse(head) side worst. Makes you wonder about coin flips.

Chris

 

[Buddysox]

My first and only Indian head cent was a 1904 that I pulled from 2" down right next to a curb in a park built in 1935! My research revealed that the park site was a farm field before that. This Indian was worn somewhat flat on both sides indicating it had been probably in a pocket against other coins for a while. I can only assume that it had been in circulation for some time. One of the neatest things about detecting is finding something and thinking " how the heck did that get here". I would love to hear the story of some of the stuff that's pulled out of the ground. I have even found military dog tags from the 60's. I knew they were Vietnam era because of the serial number type. Bet those would have a story to tell!

 

[treasurefiend]

I tried it a little last year ... I went and got all the 50 cent coins from banks I could for a few months - maybe $300 TO $400 worth ... not a keeper in the bunch ... maybe I'll have to step it up a little after seeing those numbers.
Thanks all,
Neil

Half's aren't producing very well for me either, as a matter of fact I was on a 2 month long break from them. My longest streak of no keepers was like 13 or 24 $500 boxes of half's. So not finding anything in $300 isn't bad at all. Just keep at it and you will find oldies. Dimes are way more productive for me and a box of them is just $250 so I can do 4 a day no problem. My banks don't accept customer rolls so I can only order boxes, next time your in your bank ask if you can place an order for a half's box - they are $500, then once its in just buy what you can until its all gone. In my prime I was doing 12 boxes of half's a week. Good luck and happy hunting.

 

[dippodigger]

Probably something there before the school was built.