Roadside Stuff...

[CousinEddie]

I have a dirt/gravel road that runs next to my house. It's been traveled for a looooooong time. Benn there since at least late 1800's. It's a tough road to dig due to the years of gravel build up. I hit a few spots along the road tonight and ended up with some clad, a button that says KEY, utensil handle (bends like taffy), and my oldest IH find to date (1862).....

 

[JTGOLD]

thats a nice old IH and other neat finds,wtg.

 

[freemindstuck]

That is a nice Indian head. I've thought about hunting old dirt roads in my area for a while and I think you've inspired me to give it a try. Do you hunt the ditch as well or just the road bed?

 

[CousinEddie]

I swing the coil over every possible place I can. You will be rewarded digging old dirt roads. Especially well traveled ones. The digging can be tedious on some of these roads. It took me a good bit of time just to get 5 inches down to get that IH in the heavily packed red clay/gravel that the coin was buried in. These roads are not really taken care of by the county, so the farmers simply filled and levelled over the years. The original path beside my house must be 7-10 feet below.

 

[jkress]

1862 Indian Head... <: :daydream:

I've been looking forward to and, not so patiently, waiting for my first 'fatty'. It's nice to see when they pop up from time to time. Gives me hope.

Congrats.

 

[CODY]

If the IH was there there has to be more. Congrats on some great finds.

 

[starman2]

erfect10:! :congrats: on the cool IH! Thats some tough diggin! But you got some good keepers out of it! WTG!

 

[CousinEddie]

1862 Indian Head... <: :daydream:

I've been looking forward to and, not so patiently, waiting for my first 'fatty'. It's nice to see when they pop up from time to time. Gives me hope.

Congrats.

Thanks for the replies everyone!! jkress...what's a fatty? Is it that button that reads KEY?

 

[aloldstuff]

I believe a fatty is an IH 1859 - 1864(?). They are made of a different metal composition and are fatter than your other IH's. Nice finds, but I would have to say that the tough digging would probably keep me from hunting there.

 

[Tony Two-Cent]

Al is correct, Fatty Indian Head Cents are so called because they are thicker than other pennies. They were minted from 1859-1864 just like Al said, and they were made from a copper-nickel alloy. They are also sometimes called white cents because of their color. Non-dug specimens have a light color similar to a nickel.

I'm still looking for my first too.

Great find! :clapping:

 

[CousinEddie]

Thanks for the info!!!