🥇 BANNER Found...The Holy Grail!...on the second try

[PlzBSeated]

Jmastny78 and I headed back out to the old honey hole. The tear-out is progressing towards downtown. We spent a while exploring new territory with little luck. "If you can't find them where you are...go back to where you found them before...you're bound to have missed something." So I told Jer I was headed back to the church. I had gridded this patch of ground twice in the last two nights. We had found some older coins over the last two nights but I noticed we weren't finding any of the oddball coins (trimes, flying eagles, half-dimes, or any of those coins that seemed to circulate after the large cents). So I decided I was just going to dig everything.

Came across a signal in the foil range. The dirt had already been disturbed around the signal so it was obvious that the signal had been dug by someone previously. Yes, that someone would be me the night before. Obviously I gave up on the target figuring it wasn't worth my while. Well it was giving a signal between 42-46 on the ATPro. Same signal I got earlier this year when I dug up a three cent nickel. Poked around in the dirt a bit. Ah, a piece of foil. "Man that's a shiny piece of foil". Flipped it over and rubbed the dirt off of it. OH...MY...GOD! I recognize that bust!



$1 Gold Coin, Indian Princess Head, Small Head Variety(let me know if you disagree)...minted 1854-1856. Unfortunately, or more interestingly, depending on your vantage point...it had been modified into a love token.



I raised my hands in victory as I walked towards Jmastny to show him. ...and received the "What did that ******* find now?" look.


I realize this has been modified into a love token and was probably worn around someone's neck for a number of years...but someone please assure me that I can now claim to be a member of the gold coin club...a membership I have aspired to for the last 20+ years. A lofty goal, if you're hunting in Michigan (and probably a number of other places).



Today's digs...

Love token crafted from a $1 Gold Coin (1854-1856)
1898 Barber dime
(2) Wheatbacks 1911, 1939

 

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[ivan salis]

some gal really cried upon losing that I bet ...but now its back with the living...once again

 

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[cjon455]

that love token is a very cool find indeed, id rather that than your typical 1 dollar gold coin!

wow! enjoy your 1st banner because that's where this belongs!!!

 

[DirtStalker]

Love it. Fantastic Banner find.

 

[Vino]

Awsome find PPS..
mam oh man a gold love token/ gold coin!!! Thats 2 great finds in one!
I bet you are still flying high?
George.
Ps my vote is going in Banner baby.

 

[reednc]

Congratulations on such an awesome find. I applaud your persistence with digging all the 40's signals. So far all of my digs in the foil range have been junk so I tend to get lazy and stick with the higher signals.

 

[g-olden years]

Persistence pays off again - congrats! Spectacular find! Andi

 

[treblehunter]

You got my vote, banner, old gold coin, congrats!

 

[pepperj]

Great looking Love token and congrats on rechecking the signal and going for it. It looks like the remaining chain links were only gold filled.

 

[RelicMedic]

Banner vote is in! Finding a gold coin is incredible in itself, but a gold coin that was worked into a love token makes it very personal. Congratulations after 20 years of digging!

 

[Z.K.]

Absolutely beautiful, and a very special, singular find after 20 years in. Banner!

Of course, given the level of reinforcement involved, I see a LOT of foil being dug in your future.

Cheers!

 

[Carolina Tom]

Very well done. Love token/ gold coin... it just doesn't get any better. Congrats on the find of a lifetime.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Excellent find! I have a bunch of silver love tokens, but I've never dug one... hopefully one day I will. I just think they are cool personalized relics. Your gold love token is just awesome. Gonna vote this one up top

 

[jgas]

Thats a great find. And even as a love token makes it even better in my opinion! I say put her up top! jgas

 

[jmastny78]

So...let me start off by saying I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be MY gold coin!!! LMAO JK! That was such an awesome find and, to truly honest, seeing someone "actually" pull a gold coin out of the ground is about as good as it gets, aside from actually pulling one yourself! And, yes, when I saw hands raised walking towards me those were definitely the correct eyes looking at you! LOL Such a great hunt and I can't think of a more deserving guy! As for whether or not it's a coin and deserving of joining the club, hands down its a yes! You can dress a pig up and put lipstick on it, but it's still a pig. That was originally produced as legal currency in the U.S. Just because somewhere down the line someone decided to alter the appearance of it doesn't change the fact that it is a coin! And as a last lil factoid, doing a quick bit of research on eBay I was amazed to see how many of those $1 gold coins were made into necklace charms! So, you are definitely club worthy and have my vote Banner! Thanks for letting me be part of it!

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

A really fantastic find!! Have you been able to decipher the monogram on the reverse? Looks like "A-E-?" to me. Definitely deserves to be up top, and it will get my vote.

I hope you don't mind, and I'm not trying to hijack your thread, but thought you might be interested in checking out a gold coin love token I dug about 15 years ago. It's shown in the pic below next to my only other gold coin. Both are mid-1800s $1 gold pieces, and both came from Civil War camps here in eastern VA. The love token has the monogram of J-M-J, which after some research I feel confident that it represents "Jesus-Mary-Joseph", and was a religious token probably given to a soldier by his wife before he left for the war. Be interesting to know the story behind yours too. If the church where yours was found dates back to the date of your gold coin, maybe there are church records that list its members. If that's the case, maybe you could actually track down the original owner's name based on the initials. Wouldn't that be ultra-cool? Again, congrats on an incredible and unique find.

 

[dansalata]

awesome!!!

 

[releventchair]

Oh Man! That's it, I need to head farther south,l.o.l.
Congrats on a great recovery . A love token trumps a plain(ha! plain) coin.
But gold.... sweet.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Awesome recovery! The fact it's a "love token" makes it much greater find, congratulations!

 

[Captain Caveman]

I don't know if I get a vote, but if I do, it is a resounding YES, you are in the gold coin club!!! Awesome, Awesome Find! Congratz!!!

 

[Pointman]

Your only an "associate member" of the gold club, because you can't quit claim to be a full member and there are no "half members" due to your coin only having half a coin side.