Best Find (of a lifetime) in 2023- Roman coin found on NJ Beach??!

[JB Hunts]

I don't post on here often but this treasure that I pulled from the sand has an unbelievable ancient history to it, so I'm sharing this, as by far my best find of 2023 and probably in my lifetime!

I hunt remote shipwreck beach locations off the Coast of New Jersey. And after a strong coastal storm in late Fall I was hunting one of my top spots with my Deus 2 in Beach Sensitive mode and it rang up a 99-- a sure sign of something good. But little did I know what this round disc was when I pulled in from the deep sand....I've included a photo timeline for all to see what I was dealing with, which was a highly worn, oxidized coin. I couldn'teven visualize that it was a coin, except for when i started to pick at the verdigris with a toothpick i was in awe to see a bust on the obverse!!. I then shared it with a few of my local MD hunters. Everyone thought it was 1700's British Copper, but time after time when the diameter and weight were compared, everyone was wrong. No one knew what it was!

So on a whim I shared the post on a Reddit ancient coin forum before going to bed. I wake up the next morning and to my surprise not one, but three separate ancient coin guys- one a real expert who eventually identified both the obverse and reverse design (see the last two photos for what a less worn detailed version), all chimed in and said that it was a Trajan Dupondius. I had NO CLUE what a Trajan "anything " was. So after Googliing the coin and looking at all of the specs- especially to determine if it was hammered by closely examining the rim, I couldn't believe that this was (especially with the spot on weight that was an exact match to the 11.40gm of a Trajan Dupondius which i learned in Roman times that the weights were very strict on hammering coins) a genuine Roman coin dating between 98 AD and 117 AD during the reign of Emperor Trajan!

I then thought, how on earth did this coin wash up on a beach in NJ. After talking to a couple of coin dealers, one of them told me that these Roman coins that were not precious metal were widely circulated for Centuries afterwirds because the metal used was of such high quality (todays clad is very poor in comparison) and that they were often used as substitute coins in Colonial times, with European commoners often using them when they reached land in the original 13 Colonies.

So the likelihood was that this coin was on a Colonial era ship that went down off the NJ Coast hundreds of years back. Quite an amazing 1900+ year old journey for this coin, and a find that may dwarf anything else that I may every pull from the sand!! Happy Hunting!

- JB

 

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[Digger RJ]

I don't post on here often but this treasure that I pulled from the sand has an unbelievable ancient history to it, so I'm sharing this, as by far my best find of 2023 and probably in my lifetime!

I hunt remote shipwreck beach locations off the Coast of New Jersey. And after a strong coastal storm in late Fall I was hunting one of my top spots with my Deus 2 in Beach Sensitive mode and it rang up a 99-- a sure sign of something good. But little did I know what this round disc was when I pulled in from the deep sand....I've included a photo timeline for all to see what I was dealing with, which was a highly worn, oxidized coin. I couldn'teven visualize that it was a coin, except for when i started to pick at the verdigris with a toothpick i was in awe to see a bust on the obverse!!. I then shared it with a few of my local MD hunters. Everyone thought it was 1700's British Copper, but time after time when the diameter and weight were compared, everyone was wrong. No one knew what it was!

So on a whim I shared the post on a Reddit ancient coin forum before going to bed. I wake up the next morning and to my surprise not one, but three separate ancient coin guys- one a real expert who eventually identified both the obverse and reverse design (see the last two photos for what a less worn detailed version), all chimed in and said that it was a Trajan Dupondius. I had NO CLUE what a Trajan "anything " was. So after Googliing the coin and looking at all of the specs- especially to determine if it was hammered by closely examining the rim, I couldn't believe that this was (especially with the spot on weight that was an exact match to the 11.40gm of a Trajan Dupondius which i learned in Roman times that the weights were very strict on hammering coins) a genuine Roman coin dating between 98 AD and 117 AD during the reign of Emperor Trajan!

I then thought, how on earth did this coin wash up on a beach in NJ. After talking to a couple of coin dealers, one of them told me that these Roman coins that were not precious metal were widely circulated for Centuries afterwirds because the metal used was of such high quality (todays clad is very poor in comparison) and that they were often used as substitute coins in Colonial times, with European commoners often using them when they reached land in the original 13 Colonies.

So the likelihood was that this coin was on a Colonial era ship that went down off the NJ Coast hundreds of years back. Quite an amazing 1900+ year old journey for this coin, and a find that may dwarf anything else that I may every pull from the sand!! Happy Hunting!

- JB

Outstanding Find!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Mackaydon]

JB,
Great find !!
Here's an interesting article on a coin similar to yours.

A Trajan temple coin with a bit of a mystery

[ATTACH] Hello everyone, One of my latest acquisitions is an interesting (and in my opinion absolutely lovely!) AE As of Trajan, with a temple...

www.cointalk.com

Don in SoCal

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Wow ... what a fantastic find - congrats !

 

[Centsless Detecting]

Clearly proof that the Romans were here first! Sweet find for sure!

 

[Gare]

Fantastic finds Thanks for sharing

 

[JB Hunts]

Tks for all of the replies! I'll post more of my old coin finds on the shipwreck beach as they come up.

I'm pretty sure that this coin is the oldest shipwreck coin ever found on a NJ beach, though not the most expensive (I'm not into the "wow" factor of an expensive gold coin as much as I'm in to the touching history part of the hobby). A stroke of luck and grinding the hunt out on the sand is what I love . Got to grind it to find it!! JB

 

[scruggs]

Congratulations with that little treasure!

 

[mjb Mike]

wow very cool for sure

 

[Fugio]

Tks for all of the replies! I'll post more of my old coin finds on the shipwreck beach as they come up.

I'm pretty sure that this coin is the oldest shipwreck coin ever found on a NJ beach, though not the most expensive (I'm not into the "wow" factor of an expensive gold coin as much as I'm in to the touching history part of the hobby). A stroke of luck and grinding the hunt out on the sand is what I love . Got to grind it to find it!! JB

Touching history indeed! What an amazing find and incredible journey from the hands of a Roman to yours; now that is why I do this.

 

[ganthercage]

Great find ! Congrats

Tutuapp 9Apps​

 

[JB Hunts]

JB,
Great find !!
Here's an interesting article on a coin similar to yours.

A Trajan temple coin with a bit of a mystery

[ATTACH] Hello everyone, One of my latest acquisitions is an interesting (and in my opinion absolutely lovely!) AE As of Trajan, with a temple...

www.cointalk.com

Don in SoCal

Appreciate the article Don. Yes, almost identical to my coin! HH

 

[Rhapsody]

I don't post on here often but this treasure that I pulled from the sand has an unbelievable ancient history to it, so I'm sharing this, as by far my best find of 2023 and probably in my lifetime!

I hunt remote shipwreck beach locations off the Coast of New Jersey. And after a strong coastal storm in late Fall I was hunting one of my top spots with my Deus 2 in Beach Sensitive mode and it rang up a 99-- a sure sign of something good. But little did I know what this round disc was when I pulled in from the deep sand....I've included a photo timeline for all to see what I was dealing with, which was a highly worn, oxidized coin. I couldn'teven visualize that it was a coin, except for when i started to pick at the verdigris with a toothpick i was in awe to see a bust on the obverse!!. I then shared it with a few of my local MD hunters. Everyone thought it was 1700's British Copper, but time after time when the diameter and weight were compared, everyone was wrong. No one knew what it was!

So on a whim I shared the post on a Reddit ancient coin forum before going to bed. I wake up the next morning and to my surprise not one, but three separate ancient coin guys- one a real expert who eventually identified both the obverse and reverse design (see the last two photos for what a less worn detailed version), all chimed in and said that it was a Trajan Dupondius. I had NO CLUE what a Trajan "anything " was. So after Googliing the coin and looking at all of the specs- especially to determine if it was hammered by closely examining the rim, I couldn't believe that this was (especially with the spot on weight that was an exact match to the 11.40gm of a Trajan Dupondius which i learned in Roman times that the weights were very strict on hammering coins) a genuine Roman coin dating between 98 AD and 117 AD during the reign of Emperor Trajan!

I then thought, how on earth did this coin wash up on a beach in NJ. After talking to a couple of coin dealers, one of them told me that these Roman coins that were not precious metal were widely circulated for Centuries afterwirds because the metal used was of such high quality (todays clad is very poor in comparison) and that they were often used as substitute coins in Colonial times, with European commoners often using them when they reached land in the original 13 Colonies.

So the likelihood was that this coin was on a Colonial era ship that went down off the NJ Coast hundreds of years back. Quite an amazing 1900+ year old journey for this coin, and a find that may dwarf anything else that I may every pull from the sand!! Happy Hunting!

- JB

super cool find! One of my buddies in a treasure hunting club I used to be a part of found a roman coin on a great lakes freshwater beach. We theorized some kid dropped it after a coinshow but who really knows, you never know what you are going to come home with in this hobby, why we do it! Great job!

 

[JB Hunts]

Touching history indeed! What an amazing find and incredible journey from the hands of a Roman to yours; now that is why I do this.

I couldn't have said it better myself!! Touching the coin just makes you want to transport yourself back into the time of it's striking! JB

 

[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

This is an excellent find, congratulations. There is another possible suggestion for how the coin arrived here. During WW2 there was a huge influx of US shipping to Europe. When the war ended and the ships returned they would fill up with ballast, which was often sand dredged from the bottom of European harbors. Well, there were often Roman coins and even wrecks buried in these harbors which would be caught up with the sand. When the ships returned to America, they would dump the ballast into the ocean. Here's an interesting article on the subject of ancient coins in the New World: http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp364-fs21/files/2012/08/Epstein-1980-Current-Anthropology.pdf

 

[JB Hunts]

This is an excellent find, congratulations. There is another possible suggestion for how the coin arrived here. During WW2 there was a huge influx of US shipping to Europe. When the war ended and the ships returned they would fill up with ballast, which was often sand dredged from the bottom of European harbors. Well, there were often Roman coins and even wrecks buried in these harbors which would be caught up with the sand. When the ships returned to America, they would dump the ballast into the ocean. Here's an interesting article on the subject of ancient coins in the New World: http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp364-fs21/files/2012/08/Epstein-1980-Current-Anthropology.pdf

You REALLY know your history!

The ballast theory was indeed put forth by two other people to whom I spoke. It could go either way, but when I had a Philly area Roman coin expert examine it, he thought that, because of the way that it eroded, where the excessive wear was on both sides, the type of salt water composition off the US Eaat Coast with the heavy amount of verdigris built up, and most importantly, how there is known history of these non precious metal Roman coins were circulated in the Colonies of the New World (because of how ultra high grade the base metal composition was, they lasted like an old Mercedes car of the 1970's) it was hard to tell the difference between this type of coin, and say a KG I or III. These factors in his opinion made it more plausible that the coin was brought over on a Colonial era ship and carried by a commoner.

This is of course one coin exprrts subjective theory... Now if only this coin could talk, then the mystery could be solved!! Tks again for your spot-on insight! JB

 

[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

You REALLY know your history!

The ballast theory was indeed put forth by two other people to whom I spoke. It could go either way, but when I had a Philly area Roman coin expert examine it, he thought that, because of the way that it eroded, where the excessive wear was on both sides, the type of salt water composition off the US Eaat Coast with the heavy amount of verdigris built up, and most importantly, how there is known history of these non precious metal Roman coins were circulated in the Colonies of the New World (because of how ultra high grade the base metal composition was, they lasted like an old Mercedes car of the 1970's) it was hard to tell the difference between this type of coin, and say a KG I or III. These factors in his opinion made it more plausible that the coin was brought over on a Colonial era ship and carried by a commoner.

This is of course one coin exprrts subjective theory... Now if only this coin could talk, then the mystery could be solved!! Tks again for your spot-on insight! JB

I have to say, I do prefer the colonial circulation theory because it is more fun. If you've ever read "Innocents Abroad" by Mark Twain, he talks about a trip he took to North Africa in the 1870s where he exchanged a single US coin (it may have been a half dollar) for a quart of local currency. He said most of the coins were over 400 years old. So clearly it was commonplace even 150 years ago to see ancient coins circulating in other parts of the world.

 

[JB Hunts]

I have to say, I do prefer the colonial circulation theory because it is more fun. If you've ever read "Innocents Abroad" by Mark Twain, he talks about a trip he took to North Africa in the 1870s where he exchanged a single US coin (it may have been a half dollar) for a quart of local currency. He said most of the coins were over 400 years old. So clearly it was commonplace even 150 years ago to see ancient coins circulating in other parts of the world.

A man of the letters too. Outstanding. I did my Senior thesis on Twain. Yes, I remember that snippet.
One other thing to consider is that if the coin was in the ballast filled belly of a ship then it would likely had grinding and/or streak marks due to the extreme weight put on the coin with the rocks and debris that enveloped it...
Great discourse here! It turns the hobby into a prismatic learning experience! JB

 

[unclemac]

odd as it may seem, but Roman coins were occasionally passed as coppers in Canada in the early 1800's. The British were very unconcerned with supplying coinage to their colonies so anything that could pass as a coin did... including buttons!

 

[JB Hunts]

odd as it may seem, but Roman coins were occasionally passed as coppers in Canada in the early 1800's. The British were very unconcerned with supplying coinage to their colonies so anything that could pass as a coin did... including buttons!

Makes perfect sense. The Brits expanding into new colonies seemed not to ne as strict on currency protocols then say the Spanish when they were colonizing and minting their reales and escudos in Petosi and Mexico City. Of course all of that seemed to change in the New World when the US Currency Act of 1792 came around....