- #1
Thread Owner
Approximately. I posted a couple pics of a coin I found the other day. Identifying it from the pictures, is well, problematic. Here is the coin.
n 
I wasn't even SURE it was a coin. The history of the area is that the Spanish were in the general area in 1556 and again, recorded in 1570. They did not put up a settlement, although in the 1570 excursion, the Jesuit priests were killed by the natives. Captain John Smith sailed up here in 1608. Maryland was officially founded in 1634.
Now to the coin. When in need of a service, go to the best source you can. I know a collector and dealer in antiquities and VERY, VERY old coins. The kind of guy who can ID a Roman coin to emperor, type, material and dates with a quick glance. And the same for colonial and European Medieval issues. I've known him for over 20 years, and he is GOOD. Now he has the set up for coin identification. Reference books we only dream we could get a copy of, heavy duty microscopes, the whole nine yards. Well, he took a LONG first hand look at the coin. I went over the history of the area. He stated it was indeed a coin, suffering some fire damage. That would account for the "ickiness" in making out detail on the coin. He matter of factly stated it was not of English origin.
As we discussed the coin, he pointed out the size, thickness, crudeness, impressions, and material it was made of. I hadn't even thought of the THICKNESS as something to consider.
In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Well, the Spanish copper small denomination coins then where a little thinner than mine, but he squarely put the coin's age in the beginning to mid SIXTEENTH CENTURY. That makes it approximately 500 years old. Heck, that's even older than I feel some days.
He also thinks it's Spanish, which is kind of what I thought, and others here have thought. Anyway, it's been sitting 20' off a main highway, which would have been an old American Indian trail for well over 450 years, assuming it was not made the day it was lost.
My thoughts were the coins was 100 years NEWER. However, I will listen to the expert in the matter. Who would have thought...and it's NATIVE. Not part of a lost collection.
n I wasn't even SURE it was a coin. The history of the area is that the Spanish were in the general area in 1556 and again, recorded in 1570. They did not put up a settlement, although in the 1570 excursion, the Jesuit priests were killed by the natives. Captain John Smith sailed up here in 1608. Maryland was officially founded in 1634.Now to the coin. When in need of a service, go to the best source you can. I know a collector and dealer in antiquities and VERY, VERY old coins. The kind of guy who can ID a Roman coin to emperor, type, material and dates with a quick glance. And the same for colonial and European Medieval issues. I've known him for over 20 years, and he is GOOD. Now he has the set up for coin identification. Reference books we only dream we could get a copy of, heavy duty microscopes, the whole nine yards. Well, he took a LONG first hand look at the coin. I went over the history of the area. He stated it was indeed a coin, suffering some fire damage. That would account for the "ickiness" in making out detail on the coin. He matter of factly stated it was not of English origin.
As we discussed the coin, he pointed out the size, thickness, crudeness, impressions, and material it was made of. I hadn't even thought of the THICKNESS as something to consider.
In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Well, the Spanish copper small denomination coins then where a little thinner than mine, but he squarely put the coin's age in the beginning to mid SIXTEENTH CENTURY. That makes it approximately 500 years old. Heck, that's even older than I feel some days.
He also thinks it's Spanish, which is kind of what I thought, and others here have thought. Anyway, it's been sitting 20' off a main highway, which would have been an old American Indian trail for well over 450 years, assuming it was not made the day it was lost.
My thoughts were the coins was 100 years NEWER. However, I will listen to the expert in the matter. Who would have thought...and it's NATIVE. Not part of a lost collection.
