George III Halfpenny, 1862 & 65 IH, 1913 CDN Dime

[ANTIQUARIAN]

On Friday, I headed to a new archeological site that my farmer friend showed me the week previous. The arkies last dug here in the fall of 2020, so the 12 - 18" of dirt the excavator had scrapped off the top of the homesite was for the most part weed-free. This is the site standing alone in the field marked by a green 'X'. You'll notice this site is not identified on my c1870, which means that it likely burnt sometime before this date. I also found evidence of a melted pewter teaspoon and a lot of 'red' square nails here, which is evidence of the building having burned. I found the 2 IH's in the dirt piles at the sides of the site, several flat-buttons and lots of early porcelain and pottery fragments. I also found an early axe head here, unfortunately the back portion where the handle ran through was split wide open, so I left it at the site.

On Sunday morning, I head back to another arkie site in the adjacent field (marked in green on the maps) that I've been detecting for the past few weeks. It was here that I found a 1913 Canadian Dime and the 1821 George IV Halfpenny. The GEO IV initially looked to be in rough shape when I found it, but he cleaned up surprisingly well for a 200-year-old-man.

George IV Halfpenny - 1821
The King George IV era UK halfpenny obverse features the laureate head of George IV facing left, with the date below. The reverse shows the helmed Britannia, seated facing right, holding a trident, her hand resting on a shield. George IV ascended to the throne in 1820, after his father?s death (George III). Prior to ascension, George IV served as Prince Regent from 1811 until 1820, due to his father?s ill health. Dubbed 'the first gentleman of England', he was disliked by the general population for his extravagance and lack of leadership during the Napoleonic wars. The first King George IV era UK halfpenny was minted in 1825, and the last in 1827. Dates not minted: 1820 - 1824, 1828 - 1830.

Thanks very much for looking,
Dave

 

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[ANTIQUARIAN]

Just a bit of information regarding the archeological assessment of properties prior to development here in Ontario...

Archaeological assessments in Ontario
Before approving a land development project regulated by legislation, the approval authority for the project requires an archaeological assessment of all lands that are part of the project. Assessments are required when the land is known to have an archaeological site on it or has the potential to have archaeological resources. Archaeological assessments must be carried out by consultant archaeologists. Provincial criteria for determining areas of archaeological potential, what triggers an archaeological assessment. Areas of archaeological potential are areas of a property that could contain archaeological resources.

What happens during an archaeological assessment
Stage 1: Background study and property inspection
Stage 2: Property assessment
Stage 3: Site-specific assessment
Stage 4: Mitigation of development impacts Report to the ministry

What triggers an archaeological assessment?
Housing subdivisions and other land development projects. The approval authority under the Planning Act, usually the municipality where the new subdivision is located will include the requirement for an archaeological assessment as one of the conditions for development approval to ensure that the development proponent meets their legal obligations under the Ontario Heritage Act.
Public development projects such as power projects, highway or road construction, or sewer construction require an archaeological assessment under the Environmental Assessment Act directly or through a Class Environmental Assessment. In many cases, an environmental assessment determines the need for an archaeological assessment, and it is completed as part of the overall environmental assessment process.
Renewable energy projects such as wind farms and solar farms may also require archaeological assessments in order to obtain a Renewable Energy Approval from the Ministry of the Environment.
Quarrying, forest harvesting, installing pipelines and other land use activities also require archaeological assessments.
Lands owned by the province. The Ontario government, through Infrastructure Ontario, has its own environmental assessment process, including archaeological assessment, for its properties.
What happens during an archaeological assessment?

During the first three stages, the consultant archaeologist will
Discover any archaeological resources on the lands that are being developed.
Determine the degree of cultural heritage value of any archaeological resources found on the property.
Recommend the most appropriate strategies for conserving archaeological sites prior to land development activities.
The consultant archaeologist will recommend a fourth stage mitigation of development impacts where warranted. Not all stages will be necessary for all projects.

Report to the Ministry
After completing an archaeological assessment, the consultant archaeologist develops and sends a report to this ministry, with assurances that any archaeological sites found were properly conserved.

I consider this last statement to be a joke and is simply bureaucratic lip service to the government here in Ontario. These sites are often left with the dirt piled at the sides, making the land unusable for the farmers. The amount of modern trash and archeological finds I've found left or actually dumped here by the arkies is truly disturbing. These so called 'history experts' are paid by the land developer to produce a report for the Ontario Government regarding early archeological activity on these properties. The arkies do this as quickly as they can with little to no regard for the artifacts they leave behind, this is why I do what I do on these sites.
Dave

 

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[DigToChina]

100% Dave. When the developer pays the Arkie, they are the client and what the client wants is a quick in and out with a report that supports their development... The arkies next job relies on this in this model.

 

[erfranks]

Very Nice Finds!!, great stuff, thanks

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

100% Dave. When the developer pays the Arkie, they are the client and what the client wants is a quick in and out with a report that supports their development... The arkies next job relies on this in this model.

Most definitely Dallas, the arkies don't give a darn either way about our local history here in the Durham Region, all they care about is filing the report and getting their paychecks.

Very Nice Finds!!, great stuff, thanks

Thank you Sir.
Best of luck to you in NC,
Dave

 

[lenmac65]

Yet another old copper! King George cleaned up nicely. Love the Civil War Indians, and the old dime. Enjoyed the post, Dave. Congrats on all the finds and the good time out.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Yet another old copper! King George cleaned up nicely. Love the Civil War Indians, and the old dime. Enjoyed the post, Dave. Congrats on all the finds and the good time out.

Thanks so much for your post and support Steve.
The IH's cleaned up very nicely too, I also feel there's so much more to be found here.
The farmer has offered to take a tractor with a bucket to this remote site in the fall after the beans are harvested and smooth out the dirt piles left by the arkies.

Hope you're doing well in Mass,
Dave

 

[Elvis]

Awesome score!!!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Awesome score!!!

Thanks Elvis, I appreciate you taking the time to post.
Dave

 

[Silvermonkey]

Great finds! Those IHP's are oldies and in fantastic shape to boot. Congrats!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Great finds! Those IHP's are oldies and in fantastic shape to boot. Congrats!

Thanks for your post Silvermonkey, hope you're keeping cool during the latest heatwave in MA.
Dave

 

[jewelerguy]

those indian head pennies have a little environmental damage, but you can tell they were practically new when lost. They are both incredible

 

[CRUSADER]

Congrats.
Actually a Geo IV coin over here is a scarce find. (not to be confused with a scarce coin)

 

[thrifty76now]

Very nice coins ,and they cleaned up great.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

those indian head pennies have a little environmental damage, but you can tell they were practically new when lost. They are both incredible

Thanks for your post jewelerguy.
Finding US coins on these early sites here in Ontario is always exciting for me, it's just amazing how many 'Fatty' IH's I find here each year.
It's almost as if a bank or retailer brought a few thousand of them back from a trip to the US to use due to our coin shortage in the 1860s.
Dave

Congrats.
Actually a Geo IV coin over here is a scarce find. (not to be confused with a scarce coin)

Thanks for posting Cru.
I like to imagine the voyage a coin like this took to arrive at a relatively remote site like this.
It did look like much coming out of the ground, but Britannia cleaned up nicely.
Best of luck to you and your Dad,
Dave

Very nice coins ,and they cleaned up great.

Thank you thrifty, the deep verdigris on the IH's I find is always a bonus.
Keep cool in Indiana,
Dave

 

[Hunk-a-lead]

such great finds, running out of superlatives for your posts. you are kicking ass

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

such great finds, running out of superlatives for your posts. you are kicking ass

Thanks BP, I appreciate your kind words.
I'm running out of fields to hunt as all of my permissions are now all planted, my next post in Today's Finds will likely be from the local tot lot.

Best of luck to you out there,
Dave