Likely the Oldest Coin I've Ever Found

[Recyclersteve]

I was going through some customer wrapped pennies tonight and found an Indian Head cent. The coin was scratched on the obverse, but the reverse was in nice shape. The coin was an 1872, likely the first 150-year old coin I've ever found in the wild and the first 150-year-old coin found by me in many years of collecting.

I won't get rich from this coin, but it brought a smile to my wife and I.

The coin is V.G. on the scratched obverse and fine-very fine on the reverse.

[shinnosuke]

Pictures or it didn’t happen. LOL. I would like to see it though.

[TXSTARFIRE]

Wouldn't it be fun to know the story of where that coin has been for the last 150 years?

[NDFarmer]

Wouldn't it be fun to know the story of where that coin has been for the last 150 years?

I would say until recently it WAS part of Grandpa's coin collection. The kids or grandkids looked at the old penny and thought that old thing isn't worth anything!!

[knibloe]

Congrats on your find.

It might be interesting to do a tracking thread with a leader page to see what is the oldest coins everyone has found.

[willy13]

Congrats!!

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

Nice.

[Recyclersteve]

Unless someone can give really simple instructions for an old iPhone 7, I don’t know how to post the photos. I do indeed have photos on the iPhone, however. Because of the scratches on the obverse I likely wouldn’t get more than about $5 from a dealer and don’t want the hassle of doing eBay or online.


Not to sound obnoxious, but I get a lot more excited when I make $1,000+ on a stock trade, so this will likely remain our little story to share.

[Silver4face]

Here's an ideal if you have a computer at home: send the photos to your personal email, then download them to your computer. Then login to realcent and upload them to here from your computer. I hope it works

[DC_Penny_Guy]

I just found this forum... My kids and I got started coin roll hunting back when the pandemic started, and in recent months we've been focusing almost exclusively on pennies. Bought a Ryedale sorter and everything. I go through between 4 and 8 boxes per week.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, my youngest (7 years old) is showing his new babysitter how to search penny rolls, and BOOM! He just happens to find an indian head penny. It's only the 2nd we've ever found, the previous one was badly corroded and barely reconizable.

This was a beauty! 1892 IHP. Worn pretty slick, no letters in LIBERTY visible, but still!

A 130 year old coin, found in circulation! In a bank-wrapped roll, no less! Definitely our most exciting penny find ever. My 7-year-old was running around the house like a tiny madman.

(I can't figure out how to make the pics appear less than gigantic in this forum, my apologies)

[shinnosuke]

Welcome, DC Penny Guy, and thanks for the great story. I see that was your very first post here. Not many 1st posts can top an Indian Head story. Hope you'll keep sharing your victories here.

[DC_Penny_Guy]

For sure! I've started keeping a Dansko Lincoln penny album. I know we'll never complete it from pennies found in circulation, the key dates being way too rare and valuable, but there's loads of findable wheaties out there.

The lowest mintage penny I've found so far was a 1928-S, only about 17 million minted. And anytime I find a teens wheat cent, it's so word that the date is a little hard to read. I'm despairing of ever finding those teens wheaties with mint marks. Everything is Philly in the mid-Atlantic, where I live.

Anyways, I'm still just trying to hoard enough copper pennies (at face value) to pay back the $500 Ryedale machine investment... With copper percentages in circulation so low, I figure it might take me 100 boxes.

[shinnosuke]

Is a new Ryedale $500 now? I used to own two of them. I think I got them both used. My high-volume sorting days are over though so they were sold off. Don't forget to do the maintenance on your machine to keep them running well for a long time.

Also wanted to comment on the "gigantic" picture you posted. Actually, it's just fine. Most of the regulars here are old farts like me. In other words, big is good.

[Slaphot]

Check out this older post.

http://realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2682

[DC_Penny_Guy]

Is a new Ryedale $500 now? I used to own two of them. I think I got them both used. My high-volume sorting days are over though so they were sold off. Don't forget to do the maintenance on your machine to keep them running well for a long time.

Also wanted to comment on the "gigantic" picture you posted. Actually, it's just fine. Most of the regulars here are old farts like me. In other words, big is good.

What maintenance do you do on a Ryedale? I watched the video on lubricating that piece that kicks the pennies down the chute, I do that every 5 boxes or so. But what else?

[shinnosuke]

Is a new Ryedale $500 now? I used to own two of them. I think I got them both used. My high-volume sorting days are over though so they were sold off. Don't forget to do the maintenance on your machine to keep them running well for a long time.

Also wanted to comment on the "gigantic" picture you posted. Actually, it's just fine. Most of the regulars here are old farts like me. In other words, big is good.

What maintenance do you do on a Ryedale? I watched the video on lubricating that piece that kicks the pennies down the chute, I do that every 5 boxes or so. But what else?

You gotta replace the blinker fluid every 60,000 miles and…LOL

Lubrication and cleaning are the main thing. Lots of gunk and oxidation and grime on those pennies.