Found strange copper item tonight - Answers appreciated !!

[fairtradeguy]

I was digging in an 1860 yard on a street that goes back to the late 1700's. About ten inches down I found this copper disk. It is very smooth, about 1 & 1/8th in diameter. It is only about 3mm thick. It was down about 10" in the ground. The edges are slightly rounded and the uniform. I have no clue what it is, someone suggested a "knock out" from an electrical box, but I have never seen a copper box or service, and besides it has no tab where it would have been attached to a box. "knock outs" have sharp edges too, this item is very rounded on the edge - though no reeding.

Update I measured it: 29mm in diameter and 1.25mm thick - so my guess it's not a coin.

Thanks folks!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[traderoftreasures]

welcome to the t'net fairtradeguy. i've seen this disk before let me do some backlog searching

 

[Badfrog]

Does that seem familiar ?

It's a really worn down cooper, no patina left. I have found a couple...

 

[fairtradeguy]

Does that seem familiar ?

It's a really worn down cooper, no patina left. I have found a couple...

I don't know what it is, I have never found a copper, it is thinner than any coin I have ever seen. I'd say it is 2/3rds the thickness of an American or Canadian quarter - as you can see it is nearly as big as a half dollar.

Update I measured it: 29mm in diameter and 1.25mm thick - so my guess it's not a coin.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

welcome to the t'net fairtradeguy. i've seen this disk before let me do some backlog searching

you thinking of this post? http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,265000.0.html

 

[traderoftreasures]

welcome to the t'net fairtradeguy. i've seen this disk before let me do some backlog searching

you thinking of this post? http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,265000.0.html

yes that's the one. Thanks bch i knew i'd seen that somewhere.

 

[Badfrog]

Hello again,

For reference, the four coins you see behind the hibernia (all found in the same place by the way) are 28 mm by a little over a mm thick. Not far from yours right. Out of the four in bad shape, two are George III and one is GEorge II. All are half-penny I believe. CHeck this link for size reference :
http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/coins.html#size

I've put bees wax on them so the details pop out more. You might want to try it.

I do believe it's a coin you have.

 

[IronSpike]

I agree with Badfrog on coin ID and it's a cool find

Bees wax Thanks for the tip and the pic of the coins mentioned on your thread in today's finds with the awesome buttons

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,267080.0.html

 

[Don in SJ]

Although your 29mm is a tad bigger than any of the counterfeit KGIII Halfpence I have, the thickness is consistant with most worn down counterfeit planchets that were thin to begin with. I have some that are less than 1.25 and they still have some bust details left.

Cannot say for certain but I would consider it a worn down counterfeit KGIII Halfpenny. Always possible it was one of the many other coppers/tokens that were in use for ever, but the most common find would the the KGIII Halfpenny.

IF you live in the Northeast, especially New England area or there abouts then a strong possibility is a Conn copper, which are also in that range.

Don

 

[Badfrog]

I'm curious, why would you consider a counterfit ? Official english coins certainly circulated in New England.

 

[Don in SJ]

I'm curious, why would you consider a counterfit ? Official english coins certainly circulated in New England.

I have done a survey on KGIII Halfpence found in the states and 99.9% have been counterfeits found by detectorists. Of the 130 that have been found here in NJ by myself, my son and two friends, 100% have been counterfeits. Only one Regal has been posted on this forum found in the States that I have seen over the years. Odds on favorite a KGIII found here will be counterfeit.

Don

 

[Badfrog]

How do you tell the difference ? I have found a couple (I'm in Canada) and I have never asked myself the question of being counterfit or not.

 

[Don in SJ]

How do you tell the difference ? I have found a couple (I'm in Canada) and I have never asked myself the question of being counterfit or not.

It is well documented in books and articles about how the vast majority of KGIII coppers were counterfeits, both in England and even more so here in North America. A lot of knowledge can be gained by joining the Colonial Coin Collectors Club (aka C4) or at minimum joining the Yahoo website to read their posts on the subject.

The Notre Dame site has some good information on counterfeit colonial coins and also some other websites.
http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/CtfBrit.intro.html
http://www.geocities.com/copperclem/Counterfeits_page1.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BlacksmithTokens
http://www.colonialcoins.org/

A book "Forgotten Coins of the North American Colonies" by Anton and Kesse is another good source of informtion, if you can find a copy (out of print)