Return visit to the token field produces a colonial surprise

[Bill D. (VA)]

Last week my friend Reid and I hit a new field in search of a 1700s home site I had researched. We never found the early relics, but stumbled into an area where we were digging loads of mid-1800s to very early 1900s coins and tokens, most likely from a small store. We tried hitting that area again today and weren't having much luck so we started to slowly expand our search radius. Things were a bit slow with an occasional button or two, but I finally got a nice signal that I suspected might be a silver dime. And I was dead on as a 1906 barber popped out. Two rows over I got a similar sounding signal, and after flipping a shovel-full of dirt over it looked like another silver dime. But I was quite surprised when after closer examination it turned out to be a great looking 1759 1/2 reale. That made me feel much better about being on the right spot for the colonial site I was seeking. Later I did a bit of roaming and was digging buttons pretty consistently. Then on the way out we passed through the token and coin area that we had pounded, and somehow we started getting quite a few hits. I dug several more keepers including one token before we had to force ourselves to leave. Looks like we know where we're going back to on trip #3. As was the case last time, the ground here has been very unkind to coins and buttons and there's not much you can do with them. In the 2 trips I've dug 15 IHs and can only get the date off one of them. Right at the end I also dug this interesting thin piece of brass with imprint of an owl. Not sure what this came from, but its kinda cool. Hope to make another trip back to this site next week.

 

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[Scotdixon]

Hek yea! your on it.

 

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[swamp yankee]

Nice finds and congrats on the1/2 reale. I got a 1736 in pretty decent shape recently myself.HH this year.......

 

[joeyfresh]

My gosh you sure can sniff out old silver....and that coin group shot is probably the prettiest thing I've seen besides my wife and daughter. That would make a great motivational poster!

 

[BosnMate]

Great finds, you have me eating my heart out.

 

[matt092079]

Here's the pic Matt. Make sure you click on it to enlarge so you can see more detail of the individual coins. I'd love to take an updated one with the extra 43 silvers. Maybe when I'm bored after the season is over I can do a later version.

View attachment 749776

Simply amazing, Bill! The big one close to the middle that's 4 sided is awesome and what's the one 3rd over from the bottom left?

 

[JmCraz8]

Wow fantastic finds Bill, keep up the great work!!!

 

[gravediggermax-vabeachva]

klondike spin

keep digging

 

[bountyhunter]

GVreat finds.. Love the silver.. Pops out!

 

[artyfacts]

Love when that silver comes out of the ground.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Simply amazing, Bill! The big one close to the middle that's 4 sided is awesome and what's the one 3rd over from the bottom left?

Matt - that large coin is a heavily cropped Charles I half crown that dates to around 1640. It was part of the hammered silver caches I found 5 years ago. The other coin you're talking about is a late 1700s silver rupee from India. It's quite thick and has a loop soldered to it. I found it at a War of 1812 site. My take on it is that it was likely a souvenir that a British soldier acquired while in India, which was a British colony at that time, and probably wore it on a chain around the neck. Somehow it got lost in the camp, and I found it almost 200 years later. Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[relicmeister]

Just Awesome,Bill. Love the Owl piece.

 

[Ifoundit69]

Man Bill , that is a heck of a nice collection !

 

[Goldirocks]

Awesome finds Bill! My Gosh that is alot of silver in that one picture. Did you find that all at the same place or just over the years. They are simply beautiful to look at Congrats!

 

[jewelerguy]

sweet finds!

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Awesome finds Bill! My Gosh that is alot of silver in that one picture. Did you find that all at the same place or just over the years. They are simply beautiful to look at Congrats!

That pic shows the first 100 colonial silver coins I'd found as of about 3 years ago. They came from a large number sites.

 

[wvwildman]

nice finds congrats HH

 

[stretchmodel]

Bill, Is that a bent coin above the owl int the group photo? Jim

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Great finds as always Bill


However, move those pesky silver coins so I can see the map would ya. . I need to locate my house!

 

[detroitdigger]

Great finds.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Bill, Is that a bent coin above the owl int the group photo? Jim

Nope, that's a bent general service eagle button from the early-to-mid 1900s. Those things always seem to pop up everywhere.