Colonial Silver - I think

[NJ Garrett]

Hi all!

It's me again. We had wonderful weather today in NJ, so I decided to go on another treasure hunt on my parent's property. As I've mentioned before, this is a piece of property that my family purchased in 1902...and the house dates back to the 1700's. The road is named after the house, which used to be a tavern. My parent's are selling the house, because they cannot afford the taxes, and this sparked my interest in metal detecting...in a quest to be able to pass some of the history down to my future generations, even if we no longer own the property.

Today was a real surprise. I came upon a signal (in an area that I've searched many times over). I dug it up, and about 3 inches down, I discover the most unusual silver coin! Upon cleaning it off, I discover that this little guy was minted in 1770! I did some research, and I think that it's a spanish "milled" half real. Can anyone confirm?

I have no plans on selling this, but I'm curious if anyone has an idea of the value of this coin. I'm so excited to have recovered this treasure, nearly 250 years after it was minted! *feeling proud*

 

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[HomeGuardDan]

I doubt seriously that anyone drilled coins and put them on a string to keep them. This removes metal and makes them worth less in metal value. Coins were drilled with holes near the rim for jewelry use and you can find necklaces of multiple old drilled coins at antique shows, etc. You do mostly see this done on smaller coins. Nice find by the way!! Many old large copper coins were center holed and used as washers on old slate roofs, but I don't know why someone would center hole a small silver.

Crusader is 100% correct - there has been little to know historical references to coins being worn as jewlrey in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and even 19th centuries - point was it was simply too expensive. Coins were made into buttons more than a necklace, that has been more of a recent fad to collectors. They were sewn in, turned into buttons, hung for goodluck (or made into love tokens) and yes some were worn as jewlrey I am sure - but far less than the others mentioned.

 

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[Msbeepbeep]

Nice find, hope you find a lot more before time runs out! HH!

 

[gunsil]

Yes, now it seems pointless to remove a bit of silver like that. But 150+ years ago? you were removing little in terms of value in currency. Would you turn down a modern coin in change just because it had a hole in it? And what would be worse, drilling the little coin, or losing 5 or more cents, which could well have been a days wages! All about perspective!

Milled edges, edges with lettering, etc. were put on coins because people used to get a coin and shave a little metal off the edges and then reuse the coin. After a while they could accumulate another coin's worth of metal. Milled edges prevent that, and most folks didn't like seeing coins with metal removed by any means. Crusade is correct that many were punch-holed as the OP coin looks like, and I have certainly seen coins made into buttons. But I also believe edge drilled coins were for jewelry use, and I have seen early 1800s dimes and half dimes done thusly in necklaces.

 

[NJ Garrett]

Thanks so much for all the comments, everyone! I was very excited to find this piece of history. I will definitely keep you posted on anything else that I find! If you have any suggestions on strategies for hunting, I'd love to hear them! I am using a CTX3030, using Gone Hunting's 50-tone setting.

 

[Mackaydon]

Best strategy I can offer you (from experience) is to invest time in your research to be thorough before heading out.
Don........

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Fantastic find for sure. Congrats on the silver and it's too bad about having to sell the house due to Taxes. It's a real shame.
ZDD