1877 Indian. WOW

I havent been out in about 4 weeks due to my busy work scedule but had some time to clean some recent finds (Indians). Me and my dectecting buds have found many indians in this spectacular park ( witch is now banned to detecting). we would get 15- 30 each an outing. My best indian day was 34 and my friend Randy had a 42 indian day. Needless to say we accumulated quite a few, I myself have about 900 from this now off limits park. The east coast is horrible to Indians so I would just place them in a holder for later cleaning, most are common dates but some are the goodies. I would guess this Indian came from one of our May 2008 hunts because it was near the top of my pile of coins to be cleaned. This 1877 came from a 2 sandwich coin find (i always leave my sandwiched coins together till home and I just put a bunch in olive oil for cleaning and when  I broke them apart i was sooooo happy to see the elusive date. The back of the coin has that east coast rock hard deposit on it. I cleaned the front of with a toothpick and olive oil an it cam clean quite easily, the back appears to be a much harder job.  It has a full liberty and i would like to get it all cleaned up. Are there any professional places to clean this coin and maybe get it slabbed? I dont want to damage the back with my toothpick trick and I have tried 0000 steel wool in the past but this coin is too pretty to try that on. Any ideas on the way to get this coin back to its full beauty would be helpfull. I enclosed a pic of some of my uncleaned indians, what a job I have ahead of me but now I am driven.
NJ Marty

     Amazing!  Why is the park now off limits?

WOW!!  Congratulatins!  I too have been fortunate enough to dig an 1877.  I would try the peroxide solution to clean it although some would say just take it to a professional due to its value. 
Good Job!

Wow Thats a great find

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BANNER BANNER BANNER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     Amazing!  Why is the park now off limits?

  It is a NYC park,I guess the many many unfilled holes left by other detectorists finally got to the park commision.

Hi Great Find

Now your next project is too give that 1877 IHP a good bath in soap & water

Then ship it to NGC & have them too encapsulate it & grade it, it will run you like
$30 which includes Shipping, Insureance & such

http://www.ngccoin.com/

you will need to submite it too them

If it comes back as being VF-20 your lookin @ a $2,000.00 coin

Dave

Hi Great Find

Now your next project is too give that 1877 IHP a good bath in soap & water

Then ship it to NGC & have them too encapsulate it & grade it, it will run you like
$30 which includes Shipping, Insureance & such

http://www.ngccoin.com/

you will need to submite it too them
will NGC clean it also? There is a hard buildup of crud on the back
If it comes back as being VF-20 your lookin @ a $2,000.00 coin

Dave

Man-o-man!!!! CONGRATS!!!!!! And yes, send it in to get Slabbed!!!!

Banner!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super congrats, That is the nicest one I've seen. I found one many years ago at an old picnic grove, you had to hold it in the light juuuuust right to read the date, unlike your beauty, Super 

NGC or PCGS will send it back to you ungraded, and you will still pay the fee. ANACS will grade and put environmental damage, but they won't clean the coin

NCS is a branch of NGC, and the ANA choice for cleaning and grading coins. They can clean it as good as anyone in the world, here is their website address:

http://www.ncscoin.com/

I would try the peroxide solution to clean it although some would say just take it to a professional due to its value. 
Good Job!

Peroxide method will not work now, since he has already gotten olive oil on the coin.  


NCS is where it needs to go for restoration--and it would be well worth the fee (if they are willing and able to take on the project).




Great find!


-Buck

LOVE those $2000 holes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As Buckleboy said, the peroxide bath would not work now. Unless you clean the olive oil off with several scrubbings of soap and water with a "soft" toothbrush. My advice is pay the fee to NGC. With the value of this coin that is your best bet.

2 grand.....Sweeeeeeeet....Banner all the way!        Awesome coin!   jgas

You may want to think about getting it "conserved" before you try to get it slabbed.

Take a look at this place http://www.ncscoin.com/conservation/index.asp

I believe that they are the ones who restored many shipwreck coins to their original state.

Congrats on the key find and good luck.

Scott (MI)

I would have to just sit there and admire that baby for awhile before doing anything with it. LIBERTY is so clear! Super find and I also would consider NCS for verification, cleaning, and maybe slabbing in an NGC holder. Congrats

Amazing find Marty!  You have found the most rare Indian Head...one that most people only dream of finding.

Considering the excellent condition of the obverse, it's definately worth taking your time researching the best way to get the reverse cleaned up.  Keep us updated and let us know your progress.

Good Morning!
 Now that is an Indian Head !  That has to be the best condition 1877 anyone has ever  pulled out of the ground. I think you are wise in being very careful cleaning it. It probably would be worth investing in a professional cleaning, but I wanted to tell you about some products that are available to clean heavily encrusted coins. I have collected coins for many years, and I was curious about those lots of freshly dug ancients offered on ebay. I bought a few small lots, and for the most part, it's a lot of work, and the end results aren't that great. It's just that it's so much darn fun! The ancient metals crystallize and the edges of the platchet chip off. The metal alloys react at different rates, so there is usually a lot of pitting, or you will have one good side and one bad side. Your 1877 cent doesn't seem to have either of those problems. One seller from Texas, jrmorrow on ebay, offers a line of products that are specifically formulated for particular encrustations. They aren't real expensive either. About $5.95/4? oz. bag, plus small shipping fee. I don't have anything to work on right now, but next time I get a bunch of dirty ancient bronze, I'm going to give this stuff a try. He gets a lot of customers who give good feedback for the products, so it must work.
 The 1877 is the key, everyone knows that. I had a f-vf years ago and had to sell my collection to pay bills. I thought I'd just buy one back when I got back on my feet. Well guess what? Sometimes
when you have the money, there isn't anything to buy. When there is, it's going to cost you a heck of a lot more than what you sold a similar piece for. So, after all of these years, I am priced out of the market. Your find was better than about anything else I can think of. You have a real prize. Congratulations!!

WOW and I mean WOOOOWWWWW!!! 900 Indians, thats place must have been a mint back before it became a park... I don't know anything about coins. But I would trust the advice from all the people on this wonderful site we have! And by God if they say 2000.00 dollar penny then I believe em. Great find!!!!  HH Tom                      P.S. Isn't this the best hobby ever?!!

You have found the most rare Indian Head...

It's not the rarest IH in terms of mintage (1909S is the rarest), but that is one of the most expensive IH's to add to your collection.  Major congrats to you.....I imagine after finding over 900 of them at your park, a few would be really prized ones.   That's insane!!!!!   You said 900...right? 

The obverse of your coin looks great, the back of your coin, I can't make out a thing.  I'm curious to see how/if NCS  will conserve your coin.  Many of their examples on their website are conserving silver/gold coins...I saw a few nickels conserved too, but not as heavily encrusted as the reverse of your coin is.

Still, a fantastic find!!  If you could get 2K for that coin, I'd sell it!!

Congrats,
CAPTN SE
Dan

Nice find Marty.

I'm still looking for that 77 myself. It would take alot of power to keep me away from a park like that. Lot of sloppy hunters out there that ruin it for the rest of us.

HH Jer

Oops! It's "jrmorro" who sells the cleaning chemicals for encrusted coins on ebay.
Good Luck Everybody !!

Congrats on an awesome find....it stinks that NY just pulled two parks off their approved detecting list.  I received a letter from the NY park commission about the change about two months ago. 

NJ

Start experimenting on the common dates.

 Marty, that's one S-W-E-E-T indian!!!  Congratulations on this scarce recovery!   

     Larry

 I wonder if you were to write the park commission a letter and asked them if you were to pay a permission to hunt fee if they would change the law or just screw up all the other free hunting areas? It sounds to me though that pretty soon all the parks will probably be off limits due to the inconsiderate few out there that give our wonderful hobby a very bad name. Well good luck finding another sweet spot. HH Tom

I cant beleave this isn't on the banner yet!~!!!

Whats going on

WOW thats awesome