Top Shelf '24

[ironhorse]

Hey hey diggers!
Here it is, the end of 2024 and what a year it has been. Day one way back in March to the last digging day back a couple of weeks ago has been sprinkled with amazing and historic finds and the most wonderful recoveries that I've found in thirty years of detecting.
Yeah I guess I say that on the regular every year at this time but it's so amazing that every year I have such an array of finds that it blows my mind when I see it all in one place. The coins and the relics and all the other little bits we claim from the ground to become part of our collections to display, learn from, and share with others is a testament to our determination and passion as detectorists.
I feel there is still a lifetime's worth of things for us just waiting out there to be found, but that will begin when the ground thaws again in spring . For now we will focus on the past season with all the fun finds I've had this year.

Due to sensory overload I'll break down the finds over the next few days and post to this thread each day each category of find.

So here is Day 1..
Coppers
Not a bad year for coppers this time around. My 'jar' coins included the wiped, worn, and corroded coins that did not make the cut for album keepers but are a great study group . Theres a couple of hundred of those plus the keepers...some oldies, some foreign coins, tokens, modern era decimals, and many other interesting bits.
Some of my favourites included my earlier European and British coppers which are among some of the better coppers I found this year.
If was going to pick a favourite out of this batch it has to be my 1797 2 pence cartwheel...not the prettiest example but a first for me and a highlite of the year. I'm proud of the rest and will treasure them all equally.

Tomorrow...it will be silver!
Stay tuned for the rest of the best..you wont be disappointed!!

 

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[Blackfoot58]

Great stuff. I look forward to more posts.👍🏼

 

[Almy]

You must be in an area that had a dense population of early, fairly wealthy, settlers. I find similar types of coppers but in much fewer numbers because the sites I detect are single dwellings separated from one another and I believe most of my sites were the homes of middle class farmers and tradesmen.

 

[Jeff-in-SC]

You must be in an area that had a dense population of early, fairly wealthy, settlers. I find similar types of coppers but in much fewer numbers because the sites I detect are single dwellings separated from one another and I believe most of my sites were the homes of middle class farmers and tradesmen.

I know what you mean. Same for me. They were too poor to lose a lot. Had to be careful with their coinage.

 

[Nathan W]

You must be in an area that had a dense population of early, fairly wealthy, settlers. I find similar types of coppers but in much fewer numbers because the sites I detect are single dwellings separated from one another and I believe most of my sites were the homes of middle class farmers and tradesmen.

That's with me poor to middle class churches and homesites for me

 

[ironhorse]

You must be in an area that had a dense population of early, fairly wealthy, settlers. I find similar types of coppers but in much fewer numbers because the sites I detect are single dwellings separated from one another and I believe most of my sites were the homes of middle class farmers and tradesmen.

Early fairly wealthy settlers....I like the sound of that! I feel our earliest settlers were not the poor underappreciated class but were just what you said, fairly wealthy or at least willing to gamble all they had at a new life in an emerging economy...not a lot different than today really...enterprising people with the means to travel and start a new life elsewhere isnt a foreign concept.
But as they were working class and basically in a barter or cash situation, money changed hands every day and where there is money there is lost money too.
There was no real density of population where I hunt but I hunt a lot of sites and sometimes they are close to others within walking distance and I also look for areas that held multigenerational families there...some old large farms might have two or three previous house sites still on the land they possess and others on land they control.

Some old places are only around for a decade or two then forgotten until I get there....or until I get beaten to the punch...being first counts for a lot, although it's never bothered me being second or third to a site....theres still stuff to find.

Some of the longer lived sites are so infested with iron that it makes sense to go back after the plough every year or two...hidden and good targets masked by iron in the past are now repositioned and are now exposed to the detectors reach.
Good sites that have produced well in the past always draw you back.

 

[oldmxrat]

That is simply amazing to my eyes IH. Not much of that out west to be found. You're in an excellent area no doubt. Fantastic year! Can't wait to see the next category.

 

[Gare]

GREAT FINDS

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

A monster haul of old Copper - congrats !

 

[Silvermonkey]

Wow...that's a lot of old coppers. Can't wait to see the silvers! Looks like you had an outstanding year!

 

[ironhorse]

Hey hey diggers!
Here we go Day 2....so much shiny!
What a haul of silver this year, fifty six pieces total!
Luck and persistence filled my loot bag this year with all kinds of silver.
Lots of relatively modern decimal silver coins, a few nice oldies, jewelry, and some silver nitnoids to round it all out.
Ten silver quarters, ten silver five cent fishscales, and twenty four silver dimes and a hand full of some older coins...1834 six pence, a reale sized silver disc, a slap token, and my very first pistareen ( more on that later)!
The nicer pieces of jewelry included a nice bracelet, a 1963 silver grad ring , and the beautiful WW l sweetheart pin from the 219 battalion Canadian Expeditionary Forces.

Of course my favourite of this bunch is the pistareen...how could it not be! Unfortunately its holed but I feel it only adds to its charm and character. Minted at the Segovia mint in Madrid in 1724...that's right exactly 300 years old!
Luis l of Spain was the son of Philip V of Spain and grandson of King Louis XlV of France..
Pretty good pedigree! His father left the throne to allow him to take the throne in 1724, but sadly he passed away within months from smallpox and his father then assumed the throne again in the same year. A single year issue of one of the shortest reigns of a monarch in history.
Being my first ever pistareen in thirty years of detecting ( itll be 30 years in 2025) and such a scarce coin to find in remarkable condition it will always be one of my favourite finds in all that time.

There were also some very close second place contenders, they included a pair of 1858 US seated quarters ( found months and miles apart from one another) and a super key date Canadian 10 cents 1887. Any one of these finds would have been a day/month/ year maker on their own but being eclipsed by the Spanish was an obvious choice.
One can only hope that next year will produce finds of this calibre to share with you all again.
I had some really great detecting days in the fields this year but also had a couple of exceptional days park hunting...something I'll definitely be doing more of next year! I might even head back the beaches to see what I've been missing, it has been years since I've beach hunted so we will keep our fingers crossed for some success when the time comes!

So I'll change it up again tomorrow with the third installment...relics!

More fun stuff in store !

 

[Gare]

CONGRATS and WELL DONE !!!