Naper excavation privy to a few interesting finds

Naperville leaders have sometimes been accused of throwing money down the toilet, but somebody at city founder Capt. Joe Naper's home actually did.

When archaeologists were digging at the site of Naper's former homestead at Jefferson Avenue and Main Street recently, among the many artifacts unearthed were three pennies from an area that formerly housed a family privy.

Privy is a nicer word for outhouse.

"They were all found literally in the clay and dirt and stone that made up the feature itself," said Debbie Grinnell, director of preservation services at Naper Settlement. "It was one of six privies on the site."

The copper coins are easily identifiable, but not in the greatest condition considering where they have been stored for more than 150 years.

Kevin Wasmer, an employee at Fox Valley Coins in Naperville, has seen pictures of two of the pennies and declared them of very little value to coin collectors but priceless to city historians.

"The one that's all green has very little value, the other didn't look to be in too bad of condition, so maybe it's worth about $10," Wasmer said. "But the value isn't what's important, it's much more important where they were found and who they belonged to. That's pretty neat."

The pennies are dated 1827, 1829 and 1835. They are "coronet head designs" and about the size of the modern day half dollar, said Fox Valley Coins owner Marlon Mathre.

"They could have gone for thousands if they were mint red," he said.

But even if they were in mint condition, they would have still gone on display at the city's history museum at Webster Street and Aurora Avenue. That's because the city and Settlement have a policy against selling collection pieces.

"That's a huge no-no in the museum field and the city's fiduciary arrangement with us," Grinnell said. "They will not be sold. Absolutely not. They will become a very valued part of our collection. Who in the Naper family might have held them or used that penny or what did they sell to get them?"

The pennies have the modern-day equivalent value of about 21 cents each, according to inflation statistics from the Federal Reserve.

That means the three pennies would have been enough to buy someone a can of soda out of one of the vending machines at city hall -- if there had been canned soda, vending machines and a city hall in 1840 Naperville.

Grinnell said the pennies -- and dozens of other items excavated from the site -- have all gone back with the Missouri archaeologists who led the dig for further analysis and cleaning.

A fully intact clay pipe also was recovered, which was described as an "extremely rare" find by the archaeologists, Grinnell said.

It's unknown what, if any, items found at the site actually belonged to Naper himself. Settlement officials believe the city founder lived at the site from the 1830s to the 1860s.