Help with a half coin? - SOLVED

[Chitlin]

A neighbor tore up some of his yard over the weekend and I asked if I could hit it today. Month long monkey off my back. Found 2 older buttons (one with a pin like hasp on the back), coupla relics and this half coin. One side you can see * HI?(P?) ANI... and the other side looks like a shield (1/2) then the R above the building....

Felt good to find something again even with all the beer can slaw and the 6 Beagles barking at me the whole time I was there...sheesh..

 

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[PBK]

Re: Help with a half coin?

It's a cut Spanish real. The "aqueduct" (indicated by the red arrow) beneath the "R" to the left of the shield is the mark of the mint in Segovia, Spain. There appears to be a very faint "V" (circled in blue), which would identify it as a coin from the reign of Philip V, c. 1700-46. (This would be the final "V" in "PHILIPPVS V.")

http://www.segoviamint.org/english/history.htm

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[BuckleBoy]

Re: Help with a half coin?

Oh, and even though yours is dateless, a BIG congrats on getting a 1700's silver coin!

Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[DCMatt]

Re: Help with a half coin?

Congrats on the GREAT find!

I was surprised to find that these coins were legal tender in the US until 1852. 1 Reale was originally worth 12 1/2 cents.

DCMatt

 

[Chitlin]

Sweet, thanks for that date approximation..... 1740 or earlier, wow.... never know what is in the ground around here....This is my first real, my first half coin and my first old silver all in one deal....neighbor said he is gonna tear up the other side too...this is out of not a whole lot of dirt and only hunting a little over an hour this morning....

 

[BuckleBoy]

Yeah, I figured if you had to ask about the coin, it was probably one of your oldest. Congrats on that one! I wanted to make sure you knew how old it was.

If any of that dirt is gonna get hauled around, you need to be spending some serious time there.  Those finds all indicate colonial occupation.  After dirt is pushed around, things get a little tricky on finding items--some get pushed below the depths at which detectors can find them, and others to the surface.  I'd try my best to find as much as possible at the site--there could be many more relics and oooold coins there--judging by your successes in just an hour's hunt.  By the way, I think you have a colonial cufflink in the photo just above this reply.  Bottom of the photo, next to the Real.  

Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[Chitlin]

I'll humor me and show these off too then. Both found close to each other. One has that backmark and the other with the hasp looks smooth.. I like the buckle too. The "all metal" mode on the Tesoro picked it up good but "disc" mode not so much. Glad I dug it anyway...

 

[dg39]

The reason the coin was found cut in half. In the early formation days of the U.S. coinage was scarce. Small denomination's were almost non existant. To make change a silver coin was cut to represent a smaller coin. Hence the phrase two bits four bits etc. I have a half of a turban fifty cent i found that would be two bits or twenty five cents.
DG