My Most Unbelievable Find 1864 2 Cent Coin

Looks like a cleaned AU 1864 Two Cent Piece or a replica of questionable authenticity. A cheap TPG opinion might be useful to determine authenticity and grade. The reverse is worrisome as it shows similarities with the Chinese fakes, notably in the form of pits, bubbles and other casting defects. In addition, the coin is suspect because of what it DOESN'T have -- there are no die cracks/chips, no weakly-struck areas, no Machine Doubling, nor any of the other demons which plague this particular coin series.

The odds that a house built in 1840 would have an 1864-dated coin underneath a window (presumably inside) which has not suffered ANY toning or other signs of environmental degradation are highly improbable. Home windows in 1864 were mostly composed of double paned soda/potash glass made using the Leblanc process, inset in brazed lead panels, with an air gap between. When exposed to sunlight, the glass had a tendency to outgas hydrogen sulfide, and the manganese dioxide used to "decolor" the glass panes would turn increasingly iridescent light shades of purple. A silver coin stuck in the air gap between two such glass panes would color, darken and eventually tone black from the sulfur; a copper coin would convert from full red to full brown and then terminally "sulfur black" after many years. Assuming the coin was not actually inside or between the glass, but underneath the window (in the sill, in the frame, or in the woodwork/brickwork below the window) it would have to be a nearly airtight and dehumidified space to prevent oxidation and corrosion. Given the red color of this two-cent piece, unless it was stored in a dark, dry space with controlled climate, I would bet that it been cleaned or otherwise chemically recolored; it's improbable -- although not impossible -- that a mint-red coin could be left exposed to the environment and not suffer any discoloration or spotting over the span of 155 years.

Indeed, the photos above support that determination based on a complete absence of any luster at all.

100% with ''Paralyse'' that coin should have been stained, dirty and even some stages of corrosion because of it's 95% copper composition .
Just a quick question ; Did you clean this coin in any way ?

I'm seeing horizontal striations on the reverse from 8:30 to 2:30 most notably from OF to underneath AMERICA and around the 2.

Also, although the obverse pictures are not very good there appear to be similar marks on the shield and above the motto (second picture).

Nice coin, but looks heavily cleaned to me.

It is an amazing thing to find, but please save your money and don't send this coin to a TPG.
It looks like it has been cleaned and that would make it worth less than $100. same value whether it is in a plastic TPG slab or raw.


Someone hid it under a window pane at some point in time, but the age of the house doesn't tell us when the coin was placed there.

Definitely a cool find but, I also definitely appears to be cleaned from the photos provided, which would be a severe negative impact on its value.

I love this thread, the unbelievable find, and the answers to it lol, when I was a youngster, we used the cheap radio shack metal detectors to find, well mostly old coke and Pepsi's cans, but on occasion we would find some old coins, but terribly degraded.

I saw one post about all coins above water, and maybe that includes above dirt and widow sills lol, just a great thread.

Sometimes not only are you guys conservative on your grades, all though I have to admit, usually right....

Sometimes you got to be a liberal on the sense of humor, this is great stuff LOL

Was there a recent death in the family? "Arthur 1981" Dudley Moore, lol

This coin was either ruined by a harsh cleaning after it was "found", or the story is bogus.

Coin looks good to me, disregarding the story, It could go uncirculated, maybe it's very hard to tell from the photos. The one photo of the reverse at an angle shows what appears to be light wear on the horizontal shield lines, this is often the first place wear shows itself on Two Cent Pieces. If it's not rub or wear than I could see this coin in a MS62/63 BN or RB holder. I am not seeing the look of a lot of original mint luster, but that is due to the photos and lighting.

My grade from these photos? AU58 I'm basing that on what I think is light rub on the shield only, I don't see the look of a cleaned coin though.