1810 over 9 Classic Head My first coin of any significance. I acquired it in 1963-64.

Greetings Collectors,

This is a coin my "Uncle Bill" gave me when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. He worked for the railroad and he found this coin laying between the two rails outside the little south east Georgia town of Kingsland. It was by far the "oldest coin I owned then and it's still my oldest coin I own now. I can't tell you how many times I have held this coin in my hand and wondered how, why and when it ended up at that particular location.

For the longest time the "Red Book" said it was worth $35. It and my 1916-D "about good" Mercury dime were my most valuable coins. I had it slabbed by PCI at a coin show in about 1999-2000 and they did not even label it an "over-date. They did grade it XF-45 and under that grade they put "porosity". Everytime I looked at it and would check the Red Book for its "latest worth, I would think, there is something under that second "1". Sure enough when I joined NGC in 2005 I wanted it in an NGC slab so I sent the slabbed coin in for a "crossover". I said in the notes on the submission form I thought it was an over-date and they said yes as well. The only thing was, the coin had corrosion and thus it came back with a details grade.

The planchets at the time these coppers were minted, came from Great Britain and most of them took a real beating on the Atlantic crossing. Of course for ever how long it lay there on the cross-tie between those two tracks didn't help much either. But this poor pic does not do justice to this coin as the details are exceptionally good. It's just that dam porosity, and the "darkness of the coin. I would not call this coin "brown". I would call it "black.

Anyway if any of you "copper heads" out there could possibly determine its value, I would be most appreciative. I have put off putting a photo in the gallery because the coin is so dark, the shot "NEVER" turns out worth a darn. But I have these photos that I will edit to show "just the coin" in my gallery tonight if anyone wants to see if the close-ups look any better. They probably won't. But this "very first" coin of any worth needs a picture along with the listing, no matter how crappy it is. I have tried using a flash and shot pics without. This shot is without flash. It's a shame because the coin even has some really neat colors to it somewhat. Purple & green?

So this big old copper is celebrating its "bicentennial" this year so I guess it's only fitting I finally post a pic of this very special coin, one that goes all the way back to my first year or two of being a collector. This is a coin that I probably would never part with. It's that special to me.

Happy Collecting to the rest of you.

WKF