Find a penny, pick it up....

[Robby Raccoon]

All day long you'll have good luck.Well, that isn't true.... but you do get some interesting things from your day: A lady didn't stop on red before turning right. According to a cab driver who offered me a ride, she said that the lady didn't even look.
My brakes are weak and I had the right-of-way, so I tried angling into the road around the car but ended up flying up over its hood and seeing my bike fly over me. I get up and loudly say, "Wow!" (not a happy one) to the lady in the car.
I go to pick up my pack which had flown away and grab my bike as she gets out and grabs my shovel, repeatedly asking me if I was alright or wanted to go to the Emergency room. I tell her that passengers-- correcting myself to pedestrians-- have the right of way and get asked about my bike after insisting that I'm fine. I tell her that I'd test it out-- so I did-- as more people arrived on the scene.
Unbeknownst to me, I was actually too dazed to realize that, as I stared at my front tire, it was wobbling severely and warped-- I realized that after I bid everyone at the scene a good day and left.
I then wondered on the rest of my journey to go dig whether my tire was gonna fall off or not.
I was mostly concerned, though, on the camera-- so I stopped and checked on it. xD
I later realized that-- when I was inside the building and unable to get my eyes to focus in the dimness-- I was actually rather dazed. The building I mention is the one mentioned on here. I discovered that the water-table starts 1 foot down... I hit wet clay and muddy dirt. Not fun when there are shards even in that. And this bottle had been in it. Sadly, the base is missing! [] Today I forgot to take in-situ pics, [:'(], but I did nail what is an 1880s or 1860s Indian Head cent-- my oldest coin that I've so far dug, and I found it while using a flashlight in the darkness of the windowless room. I sat and ate lunch about a foot away from 2 dead animals. Had the flashlight mostly in my mouth for 3 hours of digging out the floor and wall. Wall is wood, cement, and dirt. I love how light termite-eaten wood is... It was like foam in some places. Also I dug some shards and a paver that I brought back. There was a jar-lid insert down about a foot, so this must be an older one(?)Not sure what this was.

Maybe my luck was down because the penny was so corroded? What can I do to clean it up safely? It's either 188_ or 186_.What say you?

My first pipes.... Same hole.

Early battery? Any ideas on age and exactly what it is?It says UL / MADE IN USA. I dug this up a bit above the water-level. Not sure what the exterior exactly is. It's somewhat flexible still, but it's brittle and acid-covered (acid now neutral, thankfully.) So.... How do I clean the penny to where it's readable, what is my battery-thing (there's a glass tube in it,) and how old do you think my pipes are? The building is circa-1890s in that portion, and everything is hand-tooled (except one shard) that I've been digging.Most bottles I've dug the shards to were S. B. & G. Co.-made bottles, so pre-1906 for most glass (lots of Baltimore Loop Seals.) I dug 1 intact bottle-- a blob, or to be specific, an oil-finish tooled by hand-- and an insulator made between October (likely November) of 1906 and July of 1907. Help?

 

[RIBottleguy]

Yikes! Glad to hear you're ok for the most part. Did you get the lady's contact information? On another note, use a wood toothpick to scrape away the encrustation on the penny. They are good esp. for cleaning off the date area, as they won't scratch anything. Blow the crud off, and then use a little oil (rub your finger on your forehead, it works well!) to help bring out the details in the coin.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Thanks for the idea. Actually, no: I had thought that everything was alright with me and my bike, and too many people were showing up (I have a social phobia,) so I got out quickly.I just left to go dig and hold a flashlight dripping saliva at times in my mouth for hours. Apparently it soaked in and caused damage as now it won't turn off fully. :/ I've been doing some research on methods to use.Apparently, we can even use Easy Off Oven Cleaner to clean the coins.Scrubbing will causes scratches-- hence why I didn't wipe it down at the dig except to see that it was an Indian Head.Doing deeper research, all methods have drawback.The method in the later-following link works on some coins better than others-- depends on soil and corrosion.I'm not sure what I can do with the corrosion, though.I once (years and years ago) found an Indian Head in bank change. After years of failing to decorrode it, I finally ended up taking a tool and scrapping away till I could get the date as the thing was corroded and had a hole through it: 1890.I need to burry it in some dirt for awhile so that I can get the shiny copper to go dull (scraping.)

From http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/cleaning-preservation/22115-cleaning-large-cents.html^ A method on using 3% heated hydrogen peroxide. ^ I've compared mine to a very nice 1864 Indian Head that just so conveniently happens to have a home on my coin-shelf.It appears, based on how things line up, that mine is 1860s.My mom was arguing that the '1' looked like an '8' even though I was pointing out the amount of raised corrosion and how numbers line up on parts of the Native.So I checked out my deceased-grandpa's Indian Heads: On all his Indian heads, the date is directly beneath the neck/hair.For mine to be 1880s, the date would have to be moved to the left and thus outside the neck.So I'm pretty sure that mine is 186_. And so, on what was turning out to be a very bad day, I find my oldest find: Civil War-era penny.

 

[andy volkerts]

Looks like 888 to me, maybe it is a mistrike with an 8 over where the 1 should be??

 

[Robby Raccoon]

We'll find out as soon as I find an appropriate cleaning-method.

I think that these are clearer images. You can still read LIBERTY in the headband, and you can still see details in the feathers.See why I want to clean it right? Look at how the numbers line up with the hair and neck on Indian-Head pennies, then look at mine. It's why I believe that mine is 1860s: The numbers line up.

 

[cannibalfromhannibal]

Not to add insult to injury, but if you knew your brakes were bad, you should have not been riding something you couldn't stop in time. Also, if you have wheels under you, then you are no longer a pedestrian, but a vehicle of some sort, and with that the accompanying responsibilities and regulations apply. This includes good operating condition such as decent brakes. ( I was once a traffic school instructor so forgive me for my indiscretions.) I am glad you are only dazed, as a bicycle usually fares poorly against any motor vehicle. Jack

 

[Robby Raccoon]

It's hard to add insult to my minor-as-heck injuries, so no worries. Here are more details as my mom made me go fill out a police report anyway after she went ballistic and began shouting at me outside for all the neighbors to hear: There was only one sidewalk (which I was on) and no shoulder on either side of the road. The lady was turning right on red without looking or stopping. I was going onto the crosswalk but had to veer off. The pedestrian-can-cross light was White meaning Go. Essentially, in this case, I had done nothing wrong as pedestrians have the right-of-way and drivers are supposed to be defensive. Even if my brakes were good, I'd have likely hit the car instead of getting hit-- unless I wanted to throw myself from the bike. LOL.As I had to explain to my mom: It was an accident.Accidents aren't intended and are not really foreseen. Multiple factors from all parties involved lead up to them-- my brakes, her failure to obey traffic-laws, timing, and probably the color of my shirt which was gray-- all of these factors and more lead up to an unintended amount of damage to 4 things: My bike, her car, her mental health, and my physical health. I'm a cyclist-- I ride 30 miles when I get bored and/or am scouting out locations to dig. My last accident was months ago in which a car tore out of a parking lot and hit me on my bike-- I swore at them and kept going as I didn't fall off (my blue bike bounced off their silver-colored bumper.) Before then, I haven't had an accident involving any form of vehicle except my own (bike was falling apart) since the year before last. I recall my only other damaging accident involving a vehicle: I had looked both ways twice and was already crossing a wide road (far away from the intersection and having my turn to cross it at an unbusy time) when an ambulance came out of what was a care facility (empty now) and was on the WRONG side of the road.The vehicle turned its lights and sirens on, but I was in it's path as I was already crossing. I attempted to high-tail it out of there when I saw it coming at me, but it clipped my bike and sent me sprawling. It then stopped, and as soon as I got up a second later it continued on and turned its lights/siren off. My fire-engine-red bike was permanently ruined. I'm not sure why they were on the wrong side of the road, why they began speeding toward a red light, or why they turned the lights and siren off after not stopping to help the kid they just hit. I RARELY share that story, for I'm not sure anyone would ever believe it. It's one of the more laughable accidents that I've heard-- getting hit by an ambulance. Go figure. I am still wondering what people here have to say about my battery?

When is it from, what exactly is it, and what is the function of the glass tube in it?

 

[andy volkerts]

definitely 186o something, your last pic is clear enough to make that out.......let us know when you have decided how you are going to clean it further, the wooden scraper sounds good, I am not a coin person but I do know a coin has to be in VEEEEERRRy good condition before it is worth much, unless it is very rare, and I don't know if this one qualifies...........Andy

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Double-posted. Sorry. I'm no coin-expert at all, but mine should be a $150 penny at least (on today's market.)The chart is updated at least yearly. So... it would more than pay for the damage to my bike.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

I'll show pics later when I've finished with it, Andy, but here is some up-to-date information on my much cleaner coin and its fine details:http://www.coinstudy.com/1869-indian-head-penny-value.html It is now clear that mine is an 1869 IHP (Indian Head Penny.)LIBERTY is all there in the headband, and the details on each feather are all still visible. I'm afraid that mine has a little damage and retains some corrosion, but it might be worth having finished professionally if what I'm doing doesn't give me superior results. I'll give details on the method later when I get pics.