🥇 BANNER I LOVE THIS HOBBY.

[Mi$terG]

I have only been at this for a little over a year and a half but I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to find some amazing old coins and some really nice jewelry while at the same time meeting some interesting and genuinely good people. I am also a big history buff and I love researching my finds. I have been working a 350+-year-old farm field that I was fortunate enough to get permission on- for about a month now. I have found some cool buckles and a few World War II era coins ('43 Merc, some wheats, etc) but what I've been really hopeful for is my first LC. So this past Sunday I got to the field at around 7 AM with my AT Pro. I was running in Pro zero mode with iron disc at 35 and wide-open- just listening for repeating mid and high tones. It's common for me to make my best finds of the day either in the first 20 minutes or my last 20 minutes of the hunt and this day was no exception. Only 15 minutes after I started sweeping the coil I got a solid silver dime hit at about 4 inches. As I dug the hole I was excited about the possibility of finding another Merc or maybe even a Barber. When I pinpointed the target it was an odd shape and bigger than a dime. It was also very thin. When I held it up to the sunlight I immediately recognized the Pinetree- then flipped it over to see "1652 XII." At that time I dropped to my knees and realized that I had a once-in-a-lifetime find- a colonial Massachusetts Pine Tree Shilling! Someone dropped this coin in this field a century before the Declaration of Independence! I will be going back to the farm again soon but I doubt that I will ever top this amazing piece of our history. I have already rinsed it off and put it in my son's collection where it has now taken over as the centerpiece. I wish you all the same luck that I had this past Sunday on your next hunt. Thanks for reading.

 

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[VERMONTPACKRAT]

There is nothing more to be said

VPR

 

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[huntsman53]

Congrats on an amazing find and also for getting the Banner! Truly a once in a lifetime find but who knows, maybe you will find another and we will keep our' fingers crossed for you! If the coin stays in your son's collection, then he is going to be pretty well off someday.


Frank

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Many congrats from Virginia on your recovery of that gorgeous tree coin with great detail. It's unreal how many have been dug recently by you folks up north. We might have tons of the pedestrian colonial silver coins around here, but for some reason those just never show up this far south. I've hunted enough early sites to prove that it would be an even more rare find down here than up your way. Anyway, I'm sure you'll be hitting that site again soon and I hope you can make a 2nd find of a lifetime in the near future. Good luck!

 

[jarhead0341]

Seeing finds like this is what drives the rest of us on every hunt-GREAT FIND!!!!!!!

 

[matt092079]

Beautiful find!

 

[Valley Ranger]

Congratulations! I share your excitement. That AT Pro is an amazing machine, that's for sure.

 

[Bubba65]

Congrats on making the Banner and for an Awesome coin find

 

[detectahead]

It's all been said but I will say it again, WOW!!! I would have fell to my knees to. Big congrats! We all love this hobby very much

 

[detectahead]

Big congrats!! We all love this hobby very much and this is exactly why. Again, congrats on your well deserved banner find. What a beauty!

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

Congrats on a fantastic find! A well-deserved banner post. Some dedicated hunters having been looking for Mass Silver for many years, but that doesn't mean you won't find another on your next trip. You just never know.

 

[Mach1Pilot]

That's such an awesome looking coin and a sweet piece of history! Congrats on the find and on making the banner!

 

[dgaughan]

Absolutely amazing find! I would live on that field after this kind of find congrats and continued good luck

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

If someone were to have only started looking at this site a year ago, it may seem like Massachusetts Silvers are popping up everywhere and aren't that hard to find. That is not the case at all. This year has been an anomaly with the burst of Tree Coins. Most years there are 1 or 2 found and posted about. Out of 60 pages of Banner finds, there are only 9 Tree Coins that I counted that have made it up top. Yours is definitely one of the nicest of those in my opinion. There are 5 tree coins that I can think of that were posted that didn't make the banner or were not qualified to make the banner. (SilverTreeChaser's Pine Tree and Cut Oak Tree, Bill Ladd's Cut Pine Tree, Bill.D's Cut Pine Tree, and my Cut Pine Tree). I'm sure there are some that I have missed, but 14 threads featuring Tree Coins out of 80,000 in the Today's Finds section should give you some perspective on how rare your find really is!

Oxbow - A little background - The cut piece of Mass Silver that I found this year was a cut Oak Tree Shilling (Noe-1 - scary close to the famed Willow Tree even for a cut piece). I didn't think it was worthy of a banner vote. I was happy to find a cut piece, but it was bitter sweet. The complete Noe-14 (Spiny Tree) Oak Tree shilling was posted as part of my thread on the cut piece, as members had asked about it; it's also my avatar. The whole specimen was found back in 2006, and I had never posted it previously on T-Net, so it wasn't submitted as a new find for a banner vote.

Regardless, I'm intent on my one Oak Tree not being my once-in-a-lifetime find, as long as I'm still at it. I'm perfectly willing to keep researching, walking lots of fields, and digging hole after hole to once again feel the way I felt when I dug up Mass Silver.

 

[Mi$terG]

I just want to say thank you to you all- I'm humbled by your generous comments. I hope to have more to post before the ground freezes this year. Thanks again and best of luck on your next hunt!

 

[pepperj]

Congrats on the beautiful looking coin and the well deserved Banner, best of luck on your return hunt.

 

[Sooper Dave]

What an Incredible Find! And what an amazing piece of early American History! That is one to be proud of, Congrats!

 

[Limitool]

Wow Wow Wow! Congratulations! That is so cool to see on here! The greatest part of your post is where that rare piece of history will be going. Says a lot about you and the type of person you are. That is awesome and it sounds like it couldn't have happened to a better person! Great job all the way around

I ABSOLUTELY TOTTALY AGREE.... GREAT JOB....!!!!!

 

[Showtime2385]

Incredible, what a high to keep you coming back and dreaming big.

 

[Foot hill]

JEALOUS!
JEALOUS!
JEALOUS!
Way to go!!

 

[Trezurehunter]

Super, Super find.