Equinox finds Spanish treasure!

muttandjeeps

Full Member
Jul 11, 2008
239
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Moved from the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts t
Detector(s) used
The Equinox 800 is the only one I need...
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Last week, my son and I went on another ā€œTreasure Coastā€ trip, this time armed with our new Equinox 800ā€™s.


Our last trip to St. Augustine had me finding the only ā€œold coinā€, an 8 Reale, that I was sure was authentic, but my 21 yo son had the opposite opinion. For the last 6 months, I have been hearing it from him about my ā€œlead slugā€.


Fast forward to last week. Itā€™s about 11:30 pm on 3/27, and he comes up from behind me and tells me he found a ā€œfakeā€ coin, and not so jokingly accuses me of planting it, so he could have the heart attack/heart break of finding a worthless piece of junkā€¦ So, Sam pulls the ā€œcoinā€ out of his junk pouch so we can both give it a better look.


Upon inspection of the coin, its mint appearance gave the impression of a newly minted souvenir, but the coins details were so fine, and weight so heavy, we really did not know what to think. Back at the hotel we researched, compared pictures of actual coins, and did everything we could at 3 am to prove or disprove its origin.


The next morning we went to the West Bay Trading Company in Vero Beach to have the coin seen by folks who know much more than we do. The guys at West Bay were really helpful, determined that the gold content is just under 90%. 21 carat (by all records we found, 87.5 % was what the coin were supposed to be), Both Ron and Scott looked at the coin in disbelief of the condition, and determined that it was indeed genuine, and Scott, with his loop, discovered that the date was an over stamp 1787 over a 6. We were advised to have the coin graded and slabbed, and that is where it sits now.


Needless to say, we had a great trip. The Equinox has proved to be a great, fast, deep machine. Small brass/bronze/copper bits at 8 to 12 inches ring up VERY loud and clear on the wet sand (Beach 2), leaving no doubt that you have a non-ferrous item under the coil. Yes, aluminum rings up as well, but as we all know, that is just the cost of doing businessā€¦ Battery run time is all of 10 hours plus, the wireless headphones worked well, the backlight on its lowest setting is perfect, and the machine preformed very quietly in the dry sand, and even in the surf. Very happy with the Equinox!
 

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Upvote 59
4 escudos with a Madrid mint mark....Mexico City mint would be more plausible if it were an older drop. it does have damage on the rim that COULD be from a mounting, but not definable. nice coin, there is one on ebay right now in that condition for nearly 1800$
 

Every detectorists dream right there.
Wow Congratulations to you both!
:occasion14:
 

Remarkable! Your son and the EQ800 deserve it's place as a BANNER find! Congrats.
 

Wow. I just saw another gold coin come out looking like that. Amazing.
No Wait. Iā€™ve never ever seen a beach coin like that.
Simply amazing. Maybe it was buried in a
Sand free salt free chest that broke open and it tumbled to shore that day.
What a great find. I vote banner all day. !!
 

That is killer!! Banner all day!
 

Look at some of the gold coins recovered from the Atocha and tell me the can't be in the ocean that long (or longer) and look that nice. Outstanding find, a once in a lifetime coin and a bucket list item to be sure.
 

Sorry to say I am a tad bit skeptical of this find due to the condition the coin vs where it was found.
 

Congrats on a Great find, I'm very jelly. I've seen the pix of the gold coins found just a few years back on the Treasure Coast, a few of them were worth over 100,000 a piece. They came out of the sand , they were in salt water resting on the bedrock.
https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/world/2015/08/19/32005107/

I'm voting banner
 

Lmao. WHY IN THE WORLDwould someone put that in the trash pouch.
Thatā€™s funny ��
 

Lmao. WHY IN THE WORLDwould someone put that in the trash pouch.
Thatā€™s funny šŸ˜„

It was ā€œtoo nice to be realā€, I think was his quote at the time. And after my fiasco last trip with the un-real Reale, and the fact that at the time, he suspected me of putting it there to ā€œgetā€ him.
Neither one of us believed it was an actual coin, beacause we ā€œwere sureā€ that nothing that nice could come out of the sand.....Itā€™s funny how sometimes we get a good lesson on how much we donā€™t know šŸ˜„

BTW, here is the fake Reale I got 6 months of crap for....
 

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