Coins found on Coin Beach in DE and something I can't identify

Scottdavid

Full Member
Aug 27, 2019
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New Jersey
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Hi everyone,

Today and yesterday, I found 2 coins (I think they are King George half-cents, probably from the Faithful Steward) and what looks like an old silver pendant, bracelet charm, or earring -- at Coin Beach in Rehoboth, DE. The finds were fairly close to where you access the beach, about 4 inches down in the sand, where the sand is black yielding better hits. Waves have been pounding the beach over the past few days and all these finds were where the ocean met the dunes that have been carved away, almost at the very edge.

If anyone can help me identify what the pendant or charm is (really I don't even know if it's silver), that would be great. In the picture you can see that the front of it, has an I in a square-like imprint - which I think from my research is a London date stamp for silver - they used different letters of the alphabet depending on the year it was struck and different fonts of letters. The best I can determine is this I corresponds to a strike date in the mid-1700s, consistent with the timing of Faithful Steward if it was on that ship. I haven't cleaned it but under the encrustation on the bottom of the front I'm wondering if there's something else imprinted. On the back which is slightly concave, the I is repeated at the top, and then something illegible that either looks like a 4 or an A underneath the line. This piece is really fascinating me.

I'm a new hunter, have always had a passion for history and stories and being connected with the past. I decided to rent a detector on this vacation and now I'm obsessed with learning more. My detector was a Garrett Ace 200. Any support with this mystery would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Scott

coin beach 8-27 8-28 finds.JPG
 

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Man, those are some crusty coins!
 

Oh wow! yes, I think I misjudged that one! Bank sinker indeed and I guess modern? How far back did the use of lead bank sinkers go? It's funny when your mind is going in one direction with a set of finds . . .
 

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You did very well. The shipwreck coppers mostly look wretched. Sometimes you'll get a cleaner one that has come out of the high dunes, but that generally takes a hurricane.
 

Lead object is an old sinker; they have been used for at least 100 years. One ounce is not sufficient weight for that location, but you cannot assume that fishermen past or present really knew then or now what they were doing - especially on a beach where the family might have been vacationing at a summer resort locale.

Those are shipwreck coins. I guess the beach erosion must have been enough to expose a few of these recently. Did you find them with a detector or were they sitting on the sand?

Congrats on those old coppers!
 

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You did very well. The shipwreck coppers mostly look wretched. Sometimes you'll get a cleaner one that has come out of the high dunes, but that generally takes a hurricane.

Wouldn't you love to hunt the high dunes between the snow fencing and the highway? I wonder how much bail would cost. I'm sure the detector would be seized and not returned. Perhaps there could be a market for sacrificial detectors just for such a purpose...
 

A ship wrecked copper I wouldn't care what shape it was in It
 

Lead object is an old sinker; they have been used for at least 100 years. One ounce is not sufficient weight for that location, but you cannot assume that fishermen past or present really knew then or now what they were doing - especially on a beach where the family might have been vacationing at a summer resort locale.

Those are shipwreck coins. I guess the beach erosion must have been enough to expose a few of these recently. Did you find them with a detector or were they sitting on the sand?

Congrats on those old coppers!

I found them with a detector and they were about 4 inches down in the sand, sea level, right at the bottom of the sand dune bluff.
 

Wouldn't you love to hunt the high dunes between the snow fencing and the highway? I wonder how much bail would cost. I'm sure the detector would be seized and not returned. Perhaps there could be a market for sacrificial detectors just for such a purpose...


I made sure not to detect in dunes to protect the environment.
 

Megalodon, lose the detector, I don't think lose your car, and last time I looked $600 fine.
 

I made sure not to detect in dunes to protect the environment.

I know terrapins and some shore birds nest in that area, but don't know if that is the entire reason why it is illegal. If it was, then we could hunt there in the winter when there is no nesting - but unfortunately, its illegal all the time...
 

I know terrapins and some shore birds nest in that area, but don't know if that is the entire reason why it is illegal. If it was, then we could hunt there in the winter when there is no nesting - but unfortunately, its illegal all the time...
Up on the New Hampshire coast where I hunt, they keep you out of the dunes not only for nesting birds but the erosion issue as well. Evidently some people do really stupid things given the opportunity.
 

Up on the New Hampshire coast where I hunt, they keep you out of the dunes not only for nesting birds but the erosion issue as well. Evidently some people do really stupid things given the opportunity.

Started to raise my hand :p
Actually, I wouldn't do such a thing. Many people act out of simple ignorance. Some do not feel the laws apply to them.
 

Its funny how the mind works to let us think the forbidden spots are where all the good stuff is, and its just sitting there...
 

And the park rangers run their jeeps up and down the beach all the time. After Sandy, they actually set up several lookout points on top of the dunes to make sure no one with a detector crossed their magic line in the sand.
 

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