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The Numbers 1837 Hit Me Right Between the Eyes.

JW, I wanted to send you a picture of a couple of my recent finds with my Minelab X-Terra 70. These were found at the site of an old Stage Stop here in the Midwest. As you know, I like to hunt for the old stuff. In fact, I would rather find a couple of coins from the 1800's than a whole pocketful of clad. And, I think you will agree that these are definitely old.

When I first passed the coil over the Hard Times token, it read like a half dollar. Solid 42 with each pass of the coil. When I dug it out of the ground, I thought it was a large cent. I learned my lesson long ago about cleaning coins in the field. So, I placed it in a small bottle of water and continued the hunt. Checking occassionally to make sure it was still there. OK. More than occassionally!

The 1865 IH cent came out of the ground unlike most of the IH cents I dig around here. Usually, the copper has oxidized to a beautiful green patina. This one, however, came out of the ground with a glint of copper as if it had been cleaned. I attribute that to the fact this site is in a sandy area and is farmground. I would imagine that this coin has spent as much time laying on top of the ground as it has underground. Fortunately for me, it now resides in my coin book.

When I got home and rinsed off the token, I quickly saw that it was not a large cent. DARN! I have been hunting for over 30 years and am still waiting for that first large cent. But, this part of the Country wasn't settled until the mid-1850's. So finding coins older than that is quite rare. Anyway, when I rinsed off the token I could see that it had a turtle on one side and a donkey on the other. I couldn't make out all the words, but the numbers 1837 hit me right between the eyes. A quick search on the web informed me that I had found a Hard Times Token, dated 1837. The running jackass was a "tribute" to Andrew Jackson for his "work" to eliminate the use of copper in our American coinage. This is the first time that the donkey was used publically to represent the Democratic party. So, not only did I find the oldest dated token I have ever found, it is a part of history that commemorates some pretty important events.

The crops are now too tall to hunt. But, you can bet that as soon as that corn crop is harvested, I will be back there with my X-70. Hunting for that illusive large cent.


RTH

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