A Shield Nickel, A Nova Caesarea, and an Auctori Connec

GKman

Full Member
Mar 15, 2011
141
522
Dutchess County
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Minelab Equinox
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hello Folks
It was a beautiful morning here in the Hudson Valley. The skies were clear, the air was cool, and the fields, the fields have been cut! Seriously can it get any better? Why yes it can. For some time now I have been trying to detect the field across from the mid to early 1700's farm house but the grass was just too high. I had mentioned in an earlier post about beating my way through the grass with the seventeen incher, but thankfully those days are no more since all that is left is stubble. Time was not on my side though since on Thursday's I have to get my daughter on the bus, and get my eighteen month old to day care which leaves me an hour and a half before I had to be home to get ready to work.

Starting from the car the first signal I dug was a shield nickel reading at 12/12. I debated at that time of putting a quick post online about on one hand starting off great but on the other hand about being cursed with the "first find is the best find type of hunt", but since I had no time for joking around I just stashed it in my treasure container and moved on. I worked my way along the windrow of soon to be harvested hay, and decided to dig up an oddball type of signal. It was crisp and clear but was not ringing up in the 12/40's, but it was smooth and repeatable and so I dug it and was rewarded with one ugly chewed up Auctori Connec which dates to the 1787 era . There is very little detail left on the coin. and the only thing that clued me in was that I could see a seated Brittania, and DE and ETLA on the reverse. Once I got to work I was able to take a bit of time to look at it a little closer and piece together what I had. This area has given up five of these already so I guess I should have realized what it was more quickly.

Working my way down the hill I was debating turning around and heading the other way back towards the house, but, I have been rewarded more than once by telling myself that I would work my way to this point or that point in a field, or tree in the woods. Today, was no exception since near the bottom of the field I was detecting I got an iffy signal. It was 12/42 but not crisp and clean. I circled it a couple times with the signal fading in and out of being worth digging and then decided I was wasting more time trying to decipher the signal when I could have had it out of the ground already. Out popped the Nova Caesarea, which again dates to approximately 1787 give or take a year or two.

By now it was time to quickly make my way back towards my car. As I was leaving I saw the farmer working the fields that he and his family have for close to a hundred years. He recalls when they first ran electric down the road in the 30's and the damage caused to his farm by the Great New England Hurricane of 38. A great guy all around and a wealth of information on the area. It is sad to think that folks like that aren't much longer for this world.


As Always Happy Hunting:unhappysmiley:
 

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Upvote 6
Two phenomenal coppers to join your amazing avatar piece! Congrats! Have you showed your finds to the farmer, and if so, what is his take on the history of his land going back so far? True, his generation is fading out - which makes it all the more important for those of us who care about these things to sponge as much knowledge up as we can, and share it in turn. Amazing the things that are only passed down through oral tradition and are lost forever on a daily basis... food for a lot of thought. Great digs...
 

Hey Colonial
I have shown and told him about past finds but didn't interrupt him today. Usually when I do stop in he will simply say "Good for you!" and you know, he does appear genuinely happy for me.
 

Nice coppers. A shame they're so chewed up. That picture of the field is great. I can almost smell the coppers looking at that picture. :laughing7:
 

Excellent finds as usual! The broken CT copper is odd--I'm wondering if it's a counterfeit. Regards, Erik
 

Great finds, beautiful field to hunt!
 

Hey Colonial
I have shown and told him about past finds but didn't interrupt him today. Usually when I do stop in he will simply say "Good for you!" and you know, he does appear genuinely happy for me.

That sounds about right. I got a farm field permission this year and brought a good friend out to hunt it with me - as luck would have it he dug a very sweet capped half... Showed it to the farmer as it was a valuable piece, and he responded about the same - was more interested in the old tack buckles and crotal bells we'd found... I thought it was a very fitting and wonderful response - they were items that he could relate to...
 

The story is worth a million because while at work I realized how fleeting our weather is here in New England, nice job! And yesterday was top ten...Good on you /super finds.
 

That is what I call an inspiring hunt . Great site , & great coin finds !




8-) dawg
 

Nice Digs for sure!!!! It is great to meet the older landowners like you said they are always full of great stories to hear.
 

Looks like the CT was coming apart like a delamination. Would love to see more pictures of it. Nice finds! I picked up an 1867 shield nickel over the weekend. It was the first I've found it a long time.
 

Hi Don
I was looking at it closer last night. I will take some more photos and get them online. It appears to be splitting right down the center of it.

Congrats on your nickel
 

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