Sweet Corrosion on a Lowly Cent

Grounders have a certain charm all their own. Yet, they are generally shunned by most coin collectors.
     We all know the credo of numismatic correctness: Buy the best you can afford -- and its corollary: Avoid corrosion like the plague. But the plague -- in this case, the corrosion and its salty products -- is where it is happening.

An awful beauty that is captivating. Flying Eagle cents
were 88% copper but they were still called "nicks."
They were prone to corrosion, as the copper was reactive,
particularly when the alloy was poorly mixed.

     Even the large cent master, William Sheldon, swooned to the color of his old coppers. In Penny Whimsy, he wrote "... rich shades of green, red, brown, yellow, and even deep ebony; together with blending of these not elsewhere matched in nature save perhaps in autumn leaves." He liked patina. Yet, I doubt that he was talking about cuprite and bronchantite deposits!
     These deposits are lovely -- and they add texture. They reflect a color palette that only mother nature could provide.
     Such colors strike us in the gut. They evoke an emotional response -- like a Rorschach card with red splatter: Blood! Our limbic system is triggered. We are excited. Yes, this flying eagle cent hits us deeply in the primitive part of our brain. You cannot turn away until you examine the patterns of corrosion: how the layered minerals hug the tail-feathers and collects between the lettering. Our fingertips are drawn to coins like this.
     Some collectors have learned to suppress all this nervous chatter. They suck-in their gut and tighten their facial muscles. They enlist the frontal lobes to remind them of the credo. Repeat after me: Corrosion is bad, bad, bad. 
     Too bad these collectors are missing out on the best relics (while increasing their risk for stomach ulcers) -- not to mention a collecting life full of mediocrity. I submit that this is what history looks like in the hand. Not new and shiny, not smooth, not evenly worn ... those coins have never been lost and looked for.
     Is this a marvelous coin, or what?