Nice early 1700s cut silver plus a few other interesting recoveries

[Bill D. (VA)]

With my friend Evan visiting from the west coast, I decided to take him to my new site that has produced a ton of late 1600s to mid 1700s artifacts recently. This place has been pounded by me and my other hunting buddies, plus the weeds and ridiculously tall clover has taken over most of the site, but this was our only option this late in the season. Yesterday there were surprisingly a fair number of signals to be heard, but you had to work hard for them. But then out of the blue I was able to walk over a nice mid tone that had somehow been missed before, and to my astonishment a gorgeous little cut pistareen came to light. And this one had the rarely seen "aqueduct" mint mark which identified it as having come from the mint in Segovia, Spain, in the 1720s. It was in very nice shape too, and was only the 2nd colonial coin to be recovered from this otherwise very productive site. I also found a few other items including a nice looking watch winder, a keyhole cover monogrammed with an "F", and what may be a small brass wedding ring that appears to have been resized based on the solder mark on the inside of the band.

Here's a little side story. Near the end of the hunt it kept feeling like I had a rock in my boot, but I couldn't seem to dislodge it. I decided to just leave it until I got home, and when I later went to remove my boot I noticed a rather large and very rusty nail sticking out from the bottom which was totally unknown to me. When I pulled it out I saw that a little over an inch of it had been lodged into the boot, and was pushing up through the sole. Fortunately it did not penetrate the skin so guess I'll survive. I can't imagine where I picked it up. I've dug in literally hundreds of pits and privies loaded with all kinds of rusty iron and can't ever remember getting stuck like that. Very strange!

 

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[OutdoorAdv]

That is one crisp pistareen Bill. Huge congrats man... and that's you're first Segovia piece too, right? (or at least ID able with the mint slice) That piece of silver took quite the journey from the mint here https://goo.gl/maps/LQ2rhvN6nm12 all the way over to the colonies.

I really like that watch winder too. I'm also impressed at your new nail collecting method... I haven't tried that one yet and I typically use a magnet to collect them

Excellent hunt and post man.

 

[DownNDirty]

Outstanding pistareen Bill-they don't come out of the ground any better than that. Oh and stop giving Brad nail-removing ideas; he may not be up-to-date on his tetanus shot

 

[DownNDirty]

What is the oval-shaped relic in the first picture?

 

[toasted]

Nice. About time somebody in Virginia proves cut silver are still out there My only cut Pistareen is from Segovia as well

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Outstanding pistareen Bill-they don't come out of the ground any better than that. Oh and stop giving Brad nail-removing ideas; he may not be up-to-date on his tetanus shot

hahaha. Funny you say that Glenn, because with all my pit digging in glass and nails, last year I realized my tetanus shot was out of date. Rather than waste time going to get a new one, a good family friend of ours is a nurse, so she brought me one home from work. So next time I was over I got my tetanus shot in the kitchen So I'm good for another 10 years of getting jabbed by rusty nails and glass.

 

[Relicific]

Nice finds,glad you didn't hurt yourself.

 

[DirtyPockects]

A rust nail to the foot in the old days sure was bad news.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Nice. About time somebody in Virginia proves cut silver are still out there My only cut Pistareen is from Segovia as well

Oh, they're out there .... everywhere (if you know where to look). This is my 88th cut piece - all from the Old Dominion.

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on the old silver and other finds

 

[Z.K.]

A beautiful slice of Spain right there, and really fine looking assortment of other finds. Great write up as well; I'm looking forward to your book.

 

[Ahab8]

Wow the detail is incredibly sharp on that Bill. Some really nice finds from a hammered site.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Love the super old silver. On my bucket list for sure. You may need to retrace your hunt as you were probably getting iron masking signals every other step from your nail collecting boot...

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrats Bill. well done as usual.

The silver is sharp as a tack. I like that watch winder, never seen one quite like that.

Good luck!

 

[dsdigger]

Congrats on the nice finds!

 

[Westfront]

Nice cut silver Bill! Congrats!

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

What is the oval-shaped relic in the first picture?

That's just a large, plain leather ornament. I thought it was a copper for a moment ....

 

[crabstang44]

With my friend Evan visiting from the west coast, I decided to take him to my new site that has produced a ton of late 1600s to mid 1700s artifacts recently. This place has been pounded by me and my other hunting buddies, plus the weeds and ridiculously tall clover has taken over most of the site, but this was our only option this late in the season. Yesterday there were surprisingly a fair number of signals to be heard, but you had to work hard for them. But then out of the blue I was able to walk over a nice mid tone that had somehow been missed before, and to my astonishment a gorgeous little cut pistareen came to light. And this one had the rarely seen "aqueduct" mint mark which identified it as having come from the mint in Segovia, Spain, in the 1720s. It was in very nice shape too, and was only the 2nd colonial coin to be recovered from this otherwise very productive site. I also found a few other items including a nice looking watch winder, a keyhole cover monogrammed with an "F", and what may be a small brass wedding ring that appears to have been resized based on the solder mark on the inside of the band.

Here's a little side story. Near the end of the hunt it kept feeling like I had a rock in my boot, but I couldn't seem to dislodge it. I decided to just leave it until I got home, and when I later went to remove my boot I noticed a rather large and very rusty nail sticking out from the bottom which was totally unknown to me. When I pulled it out I saw that a little over an inch of it had been lodged into the boot, and was pushing up through the sole. Fortunately it did not penetrate the skin so guess I'll survive. I can't imagine where I picked it up. I've dug in literally hundreds of pits and privies loaded with all kinds of rusty iron and can't ever remember getting stuck like that. Very strange!

that thing in your 6th picture, ifound one identical in a early 1700 site

 

[Patriot Relics]

Check out the detail on that pistareen, congrats on #88 Bill

 

[Scrappy]

Very nice cut pistereen bud. That keyhole cover is mighty nice as well. Excellent snags - it's amazing what sometimes kicks up from well-hunted sites!