Colonial Silver!!!!

Brendan M.

Hero Member
Apr 14, 2006
649
10
Warrensburg, New York
Detector(s) used
White's DFX, Bullseye II pinpointer, Gray Ghost Headphones
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello and Happy Belated Memorial Day!!!

This weekend I went back to the old park where I found all those nice coppers last week (http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,158514.msg1150241.html#msg1150241). I thought I was going to have a slim haul, when I hit a nice pocket of older finds on Monday afternoon. What happened next was beyond my wildest expectations.

What's funny about the place is that for all the coppers I've found there (4 LCs, 6-7 IHs, a CW trade token, and more), I've yet to dig a single piece of old silver, and the only silver I've found at all was a 1943 War Nickel. I would've been doing a jig over a Barber, let alone a Seated or something like that.

So, I start checking this spot with a lot of old tree roots still showing (the tree is long gone) and I get this really nice penny/dime signal at about 6 inches. I had a feeling it would be something good, so I carefully dug a decent sized plug and scooped the loose soil onto my ground sheet. Then I scanned the hole and noticed the target had moved into the dirt pile. My pulse quickened when I saw a little glisten of silver amid the dark soil, and when I reached for it out came a 1738 Spanish 1 Reale!!! I stared at it with disbelief. Not only was this my first pre-1800s coin, it blew away my prior oldest coin by 70 years!

Obviously nothing else I found this weekend even comes close to the reale (nothing else this year, for that matter), but overall it was a good Memorial Day. Here's the highlight reel:

  • 1738 Spanish 1 Reale
  • Large gilded flat button
  • Antique brass skeleton key
  • Thick men's ID bracelet
  • Heavy glazed porcelain doorknob (the metal in the socket is what triggered the detector)
  • Unknown dime-sized metal circle (could be silver). Has a hole at the top for a chain or string. Nearly thought I had another reale! Any guesses anyone?

As you can imagine. It was a fantastic holiday!

Thanks for looking.

Cheers and HH,
Brendan
 

Attachments

  • 1738 1 Reale Front LG (Medium).jpg
    1738 1 Reale Front LG (Medium).jpg
    41.3 KB · Views: 1,106
  • 1738 1 Reale Back LG (Medium).jpg
    1738 1 Reale Back LG (Medium).jpg
    47.5 KB · Views: 1,118
  • Button Gilt Both (Medium).jpg
    Button Gilt Both (Medium).jpg
    48.5 KB · Views: 1,119
  • Key1.jpg
    Key1.jpg
    16.2 KB · Views: 1,103
  • Bracelet1 (Medium).jpg
    Bracelet1 (Medium).jpg
    25.8 KB · Views: 1,108
  • Doorknob Both (Medium).jpg
    Doorknob Both (Medium).jpg
    15.1 KB · Views: 1,107
  • Whatsit Both (Medium).jpg
    Whatsit Both (Medium).jpg
    29.9 KB · Views: 1,102
Upvote 0
halfdime said:
What a beauty! I'm with Bob on the holed mystery coin.

Thanks Half. It was a real awesome day for sure. Glad you dig the digs!

I cheated a bit last night and checked to see how that holed coin would react to a light polish. It definitely looks like silver to me, so I think we all agree. I'm going to have to post new pics....

Cheers and HH,
B
 

Send some of that silver towards the midwest would ya? Ha Ha ;D jgas
 

Congrats on that colonial silver Brendan! It's going to deserve a nice place in your year's end photographs! That is a trophy silver find my friend.........in my opinion.

Best,
Ricardo
 

bmanley99 said:
Colonial Zoyboy said:
You found yourself a Spanish cross pistareen. From what I've been reading about, they did not circulate a lot in the areas north of the Chesapeake Bay (i.e., PA, NY, VT, etc.). Hunters in VA seem to find them on just about every Colonial site.

This is a great reference: http://www.numismatics.org/cnl/Pistareens.pdf

Kyle

Thanks for the info Kyle. That document is a great resource. :thumbsup:
Cheers and HH,
B

B,
What an amazing find!!! :icon_king: :thumbsup: That Colonial silver is just beautiful. You have been finding some great stuff lately, but this one is over the top! Congrats to you.

Kyle,
Awesome link. Great info you provided there. Thanks,

MM
 

jgas said:
Send some of that silver towards the midwest would ya? Ha Ha ;D jgas

Haha wish I could. I keep thinking about moving your way, but man, it's tough to leave the East Coast!

Cheers and HH,
B
 

Ricardo_NY1 said:
Congrats on that colonial silver Brendan! It's going to deserve a nice place in your year's end photographs! That is a trophy silver find my friend.........in my opinion.

Best,
Ricardo

Thanks Ricardo. As I told Tom, you two guys are the silver killers. Thanks for the inspiration!

Cheers and HH,
B
 

MonkeyBoy said:
Great find!!! I dug that exact same year Reale a long time ago... 1738 was a very good year!!!

Here is a link: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,75869.0.html

MonkeyBoy

Wow Monkey, you're not kidding -- those are the same coins for sure. Yours are in really nice shape. It's weird though that yours came up black -- mine was pretty shiny. Looks like they cleaned up good though. Thanks for sharing!

Cheers and HH,
B
 

ModernMiner said:
bmanley99 said:
Colonial Zoyboy said:
You found yourself a Spanish cross pistareen. From what I've been reading about, they did not circulate a lot in the areas north of the Chesapeake Bay (i.e., PA, NY, VT, etc.). Hunters in VA seem to find them on just about every Colonial site.

This is a great reference: http://www.numismatics.org/cnl/Pistareens.pdf

Kyle

Thanks for the info Kyle. That document is a great resource. :thumbsup:
Cheers and HH,
B

B,
What an amazing find!!! :icon_king: :thumbsup: That Colonial silver is just beautiful. You have been finding some great stuff lately, but this one is over the top! Congrats to you.

Kyle,
Awesome link. Great info you provided there. Thanks,

MM

Miner,

Isn't that something? What a trip. I think I'm still in shock... :wink:

Guess I know where I'll be digging this season. :thumbsup:

Thanks for reading, buddy.

Cheers and HH,
B
 

Congatulations an your colonial silver , I hit my first this year too. Heres hoping you find more .


Mac
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Discussions

Back
Top