Aureus
Silver Member
Hey everyone,
Drove down to a new area I had my eyes on for a while. There was something with that part of the woods that attracted my attention as it was a small hill surrounded by crazy old trees, near a small stream and all that in an area known for early settlements. The sun was already coming down and I only had a few hours of detecting left, so I took my trusted Deus and went right to the task of exploring the site.
Within a minute or two I hit a small patch covered with iron signals with some strong high tones coming through. Took my shovel and dug the spot where the signal was coming from. A large sized copper coin the size of 1810-1820 halfpenny token fell out of the ground which made me pretty glad since I wasn't expecting much on a 2 hours hunt. Just before covering the ground decided to check the hole again and got an other good signal. Went to check it with my pinpointer and found an other copper of a similar size. Well, that's unusual.., but by reflex checked again and an other copper coin was in the ground....What the hell.... Went over a few inches of the hole with my detector and more good signals were coming through iron noise. And the story repeated itself again and again for the 1,5 hours I spent there. At the end of the day, was leaving with the pocket heavy with large coppers, 36 in all on that first hunt.
Most were in a pretty good shape, with 70% survival rate. All coins are pre 1820 with one exception of an American half cent 1828 which was a few feet a part so possibly lost separately. The coins were mostly US Cents 1802-1803, Canadian halfpennies 1812-1818, some George III, one Machin's and one beat Wood's Hibernia. The better ones are in this pic.
Couldn't leave it at that, so decided to go back for an other hunt hoping to get a few that I left behind... Wasn't expecting 28 more coppers, all within a foot or two from the first hole.
In all 64 early copper coins from the same small spot which makes me think an early cache as the total coins weight is close to a pound of copper and it couldn't possibly be part of a dropped coin purse.
Better coins from the second 2 hours hunt.
Did find a few early buttons (not nearly as many as coins) in the surrounding area but not at the coins spot. Was pretty happy to find colonial period spectacles with one lens still intact, never found those before.
Here's the whole family reunited after cleaning.
All I can say, I wasn't expecting that... Made for a great hunt, that's for sure.
Thanks for the comments.
P.S. Went back to get the temple pieces of those glasses and found 6 more coins. So that makes for a total of 70 large coppers. One of the coins appears to be a counterfeit George III ''Bull Head'' shilling (1816-1820) made of pewter of some kind. Here's the pic of the coins that aren't in a group picture and the complete spectacles.
P.P.S. Went there again for an other 2 hours (weather doesn't permit any more detecting time) and found 10 more coins. Two Spread Eagles 1813, Isaak Brock 1816, 1777 George III and 1837 Halfpenny which was a few feet away so probably wasn't part of the original cache. The rest of the coins were either too worn to ID or lesser condition George III halfpennies.
Changed the title of the post to reflect the updated number which is 80 at this point.
Drove down to a new area I had my eyes on for a while. There was something with that part of the woods that attracted my attention as it was a small hill surrounded by crazy old trees, near a small stream and all that in an area known for early settlements. The sun was already coming down and I only had a few hours of detecting left, so I took my trusted Deus and went right to the task of exploring the site.
Within a minute or two I hit a small patch covered with iron signals with some strong high tones coming through. Took my shovel and dug the spot where the signal was coming from. A large sized copper coin the size of 1810-1820 halfpenny token fell out of the ground which made me pretty glad since I wasn't expecting much on a 2 hours hunt. Just before covering the ground decided to check the hole again and got an other good signal. Went to check it with my pinpointer and found an other copper of a similar size. Well, that's unusual.., but by reflex checked again and an other copper coin was in the ground....What the hell.... Went over a few inches of the hole with my detector and more good signals were coming through iron noise. And the story repeated itself again and again for the 1,5 hours I spent there. At the end of the day, was leaving with the pocket heavy with large coppers, 36 in all on that first hunt.
Most were in a pretty good shape, with 70% survival rate. All coins are pre 1820 with one exception of an American half cent 1828 which was a few feet a part so possibly lost separately. The coins were mostly US Cents 1802-1803, Canadian halfpennies 1812-1818, some George III, one Machin's and one beat Wood's Hibernia. The better ones are in this pic.
Couldn't leave it at that, so decided to go back for an other hunt hoping to get a few that I left behind... Wasn't expecting 28 more coppers, all within a foot or two from the first hole.
In all 64 early copper coins from the same small spot which makes me think an early cache as the total coins weight is close to a pound of copper and it couldn't possibly be part of a dropped coin purse.
Better coins from the second 2 hours hunt.
Did find a few early buttons (not nearly as many as coins) in the surrounding area but not at the coins spot. Was pretty happy to find colonial period spectacles with one lens still intact, never found those before.
Here's the whole family reunited after cleaning.
All I can say, I wasn't expecting that... Made for a great hunt, that's for sure.
Thanks for the comments.
P.S. Went back to get the temple pieces of those glasses and found 6 more coins. So that makes for a total of 70 large coppers. One of the coins appears to be a counterfeit George III ''Bull Head'' shilling (1816-1820) made of pewter of some kind. Here's the pic of the coins that aren't in a group picture and the complete spectacles.
P.P.S. Went there again for an other 2 hours (weather doesn't permit any more detecting time) and found 10 more coins. Two Spread Eagles 1813, Isaak Brock 1816, 1777 George III and 1837 Halfpenny which was a few feet away so probably wasn't part of the original cache. The rest of the coins were either too worn to ID or lesser condition George III halfpennies.
Changed the title of the post to reflect the updated number which is 80 at this point.
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