Back to a site I first detected in 2014 and it’s still producing!

[ANTIQUARIAN]

On Friday morning I returned to one of my permissions where the beans were only cut last week, which is late for this farmer. I first detected this site in 2014 and it always surprises me what pops up after the growing season. I arrived dark and early at 7am and had to wait until 7:30 before there was enough light for me to safely walk into the field.

The c1845 homestead survives and sits about 30’ from this field. There’s obviously been a lot of traffic in and out of this field over the past 175 years due to the number of finds I’ve made here over the past six years. My first couple of coin finds were two early 20thc Canada LC’s from the top of a small rise. The two early 19thc coins came out of a lower part of the field where drainage isn’t the greatest. These coins are very thin and came out of the dirt a ‘rusty’ light brown colour, but they still cleaned up nicely. I found the Lone Ranger badge on my last pass before leaving, it’s very thin and was almost a surface find. I can’t believe it survived living in this field for the past 60+ years!

“The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend, Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in a radio show on WXYZ (Detroit), conceived either by station owner George W. Trendle or by Fran Striker, the show's writer. The radio series proved to be a hit and spawned a series of books, an equally popular television show that ran from 1949 to 1957, comic books, and several movies.”

Thanks very much for looking,
Dave

 

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[pepperj]

Great morning hunt Dave, the site still produces like a first hit. Well done congrats.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Great morning hunt Dave, the site still produces like a first hit. Well done congrats.

Thanks very much Jim.
This field has always been a good producer, what it needs now is a deep chisel plowing.

 

[WannaDig3687]

I can barely remember watching The Lone Ranger with my dad. It was one of his favorites as a kid. I’m glad you are still finding the goodies at your site. Congratulations!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I can barely remember watching The Lone Ranger with my dad. It was one of his favorites as a kid. I’m glad you are still finding the goodies at your site. Congratulations!

Thanks for your post WD.
Unfortunately, I don't remember The Lone Ranger.
When I was a kid my TV watching was Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Gumby and Pokey, Captain Kangaroo, Spiderman and The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour.

 

[Aureus]

The coins are indeed in a very good condition. That bust and harp is one of my favorite designs, there are so many different varieties of them. Congratulations, hopefully that field will still produce 6 years from now.

 

[islamoradamark]

Thanks for the pictures tells a story

 

[No gold in NY]

I've always thought there is no such thing as a hunted out site That is another nice haul. The Lone Ranger has always been my favorite Western. Been watching since the beginning.

 

[villagenut]

I have spots too that continue to give it up even after many years of searching. Plowed fields must be like new hunting spots after each season.. What exactly is the coin with the bust facing left?

 

[Wildcat1750]

Great hunt, Dave!
I remember the Lone Ranger growing up but I was more interested in watching cartoons back then.
Nice collection of copper coins, as usual. How do you prefer to clean them?
Nick

 

[CASPER-2]

Keep it up

https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-2/6831910253/

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

The coins are indeed in a very good condition. That bust and harp is one of my favorite designs, there are so many different varieties of them. Congratulations, hopefully that field will still produce 6 years from now.

Thanks for your post Anton.
The Bust and Harp Halfpenny must've been very popular in the early part of the 19thc, as I've probably found six of these all at different sites this year.
Hope you're having another great year,
Dave

Thanks for the pictures tells a story

Thanks for posting Mark.
The way I figure it, if you're going to post two pics, you may as well post 10.
Dave

I've always thought there is no such thing as a hunted out site That is another nice haul. The Lone Ranger has always been my favorite Western. Been watching since the beginning.

I agree, especially when it's a farm field that's seen regular activity since the early 1800s.
Best of luck to you in NY,
Dave

I have spots too that continue to give it up even after many years of searching. Plowed fields must be like new hunting spots after each season.. What exactly is the coin with the bust facing left?

Thanks for your question villagenut.
I've found so many early coppers over the years, that I now forget to include the background history.

Harp and Bust Halfpenny Token - History

"Numismatists have currently identified 24 varieties of this particular coin. Canada did not become 'official' until its confederation in 1867. Before then a wide variety of privately minted coins supported commerce. Most were copper pennies and halfpennies. This one is known as the 'Bust and Harp' token. It is a fascinating collectible classified as a 'Blacksmith Token' by coin experts.

Blacksmith tokens are a form of evasion currency that was in circulation primarily in Lower Canada and Upper Canada along with neighbouring areas, such as the northern parts of New York and New England in the mid-1820 to 1830s. They were not, strictly speaking counterfeits, but instead skirted around the laws of the time by being similar to officially circulating coinage, but bearing different legends, or bearing no legends or dates at all, so it could be claimed that they were truly imitating circulating coinage fully. The tokens were designed to resemble worn examples of English or Irish copper coinage, most often with a crude profile of either George II or George III in profile on the obverse and an image of Britannia or an Irish harp on the reverse. They were typically underweight when compared to officially sanctioned halfpenny coinage, but were accepted along with many other unofficially issued tokens due to a lack of sufficient small denomination coinage in circulation at the time.

Most examples were issued in copper, with a few examples struck in brass. Due to the deliberately poor nature of the images carved into the dies for these tokens, it is rare for a Blacksmith token to be graded higher than Very Fine, with most examples falling into a Good or Very Good grade. While first mentioned by noted Canadian numismatists Eugene Courteau and R.W. McLachlan, there were first fully described as a separate type of evasion currency by American numismatist Howland Wood with the publication of his pamphlet The Canadian Blacksmith Coppers in 1910. These coins, along with many other underweight copper tokens, were eventually driven out of circulation by the late 1830s as Canadian banks began to issue officially sanctioned copper tokens of the proper weight for their value.

It is not known how many of these coins were made, as the creators faced possible prosecution if they were discovered. Evidence from hoards suggests that some of the blacksmith tokens were relatively common, and examples of various Blacksmith coppers have been found during archaeological excavations along with other coinage contemporary to the 1830s in the Saint John River Valley in Nova Scotia, on the grounds of Fort York in Toronto and Place Royale in Quebec City. Another common feature to most of the Blacksmith coppers was that their designs were the opposite to that of the original coin being imitated. If the coin were imitating the bust of George III on its obverse, it would face left in the Blacksmith version whereas in the officially issued coinage it would face right. Wood believed that the reason for this was the inexperience of the die cutter, who created the die facing the same way as the original coin being imitated. The reverse of many of these coins featured an image of Britannia who faced the opposite way from the original, though Wood notes that when the reverse featured a harp, it faced the same way as it did on the Irish regal coinage it was imitating. Most of these regal imitations were created using copper, though he notes a few that were done in brass. Though Wood had no conclusive proof, he thought the regal imitation Blacksmith tokens were created in the first quarter of the 19th century, noting a particular specimen that had been struck over a George IV half-penny of 1825, so clearly not struck before that date, and was likely struck sometime soon after that date. This has been further corroborated in more recent times with the discovery of a Blacksmith token that had been struck over an Upper Canadian token dating to 1820."

Great hunt, Dave!
I remember the Lone Ranger growing up but I was more interested in watching cartoons back then.
Nice collection of copper coins, as usual. How do you prefer to clean them?
Nick

Hi Nick, great to talk to you again.
Isn't it funny how seeing any old Looney Tunes cartoon takes us back to being a kid again.

I've become fairly proficient at using a variable speed bench-mounted polisher with a fine brass wire wheel.
I carefully remove the corrosion, without destroying the look of the age. I then use a museum quality Conservators Wax to polish the surface.

The LED lighting in my basement tends to wash out the true color of the coins when I photograph them.
So if you were to actually hold these coins in your hand after I've restored them, they're actually dark brown or in most cases a green verdigris color.

Also, once you're removed the surface corrosion and the metal is exposed to the air, the coins naturally darken down to the color of unpolished brass.
Dave

Keep it up

https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-2/6831910253/

Thanks very much for the link to your article Don, it looks like very interesting reading.
Dave

 

[Trezurehunter]

Very nice hunt Dave. Those Canadian Large Cents, are a very nice looking coin. Do I remember the Lone Ranger ? Uh, yes. I probably saw every episode as I was growing up. It was a fun show to watch.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Very nice hunt Dave. Those Canadian Large Cents, are a very nice looking coin. Do I remember the Lone Ranger ? Uh, yes. I probably saw every episode as I was growing up. It was a fun show to watch.

Thanks Ron, these guys didn't come out all that nice, which is surprising considering where I found them too.

Unfortunately, I don't think the Lone Ranger series was still on TV when I was a kid.
I used to watch Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Petticoat Junction, The Walton's, Gilligan's Island, The Beverly Hillbillies and Get Smart... you get the idea.

 

[unclemac]

at the rate you are going you will have a whole Breton set in no time!

 

[Brian C.]

Well done, the old sites are out there.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

at the rate you are going you will have a whole Breton set in no time!

Thanks very much buddy, I seem to find the same coins from this period of Canadian history in almost every field I detect.
Dave

Well done, the old sites are out there.

Yes they are Brian.
As I'm sure you know... the secret though is taking the time needed to do some solid research.
Dave