When we moved into the 1850 family homestead in 1990, there were generations of family stuff (still is!) in the attic. We found several bottle dumps out back. One of my brothers-in-law was a bit of a waster and lived here with his mother most of his life. He was always collecting anything he could sell for drinking money. There was a wooden crate full of old metal junk sitting by the corner of the house out back which I never bothered to look at and it slowly disintegrated. Yesterday, Jon and I decided to clean up the yard. As we started filling buckets with rusty metal bits, I started finding old coins in one corner. They are all dated 1818-1851 and nearly every one is damaged in some way. Most have random holes. I cleaned a couple to see details. I figure nothing I do is going to reduce the value any more than they are already. A clue to the source popped up when I found a 1974 penny underneath most of the hoard. Obviously, Tom left them in the crate. I just can't figure out if he damaged them or if he found them somewhere like that and why someone would do that. It was kind of exhilarating.
A new thing for me - explore the term "holed" coins. https://www.facebook.com/GoneDiggin...lieve-that-they-were-altered/759303029339764/
Numismatics is a fascinating an' often exhilarating pursuit...an' once you fall under its spell, All Hope Abandon! Very nice clutch of holed coinage, Bev...Good Luck!
What a shame, some look in pretty good shape if it wasn't for the damage. If you get copper ones that are covered in verdigris, soak them in virgin olive oil, sometimes for a week sometimes for 6 months.
Why they cut slots in some I have no idea. Drilled and holed coins are easier to keep track of. Some of them look like they went on watch chains or similar like lucky pennies.
What a cool find! The deliberate damage makes it much more interesting than a handful perfect undamaged coins.
Wow. I never knew there was such a thing as a holed coin on purpose. I'm headed out to the back yard to dig for more! Someone said white vinegar will clean them without harm. Is that true? They're pretty crusted with dirt.
Vinegar is an acid, it will corrode them, the silver ones need soaking in a jar of household ammonia, copper soak in olive oil, brass or bronze need an acetone bath. Keep the lids on when using acetone and ammonia and don't mix the chemicals and keep away from bleach, otherwise you make chlorine gas which is deadly.
I'm on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. These are American pennies. Old copper one cent coins from the early 1800s.
Does cleaning them make them sell valuable? I ask because we went to a coin show & I was told never to clean old coins, or handle them with anything but gloves ? They said the same for stamps. So it is ok to clean them now?