🥇 BANNER 1836 Gold $5 piece

[Gary Drayton]

I have found some awesome old finds on the beaches of South Florida recently but none more exciting than this 1836 gold half eagle, classic head type 1834-38. What started out as just another Sunday evening beach hunt turned into an unexpected beach relic hunting adventure covering several more evenings over a three week period. I spend countless hours researching and metal detecting at what I refer to as ugly beaches, places that do not get searched as much as the well known over hunted sites. I hoped that one day this beach hunting strategy would pay off and I would find a site that had never been searched for a long time. That is exactly the situation I found myself in as some terrific sand movement on a less glamorous area of a popular South Florida tourist beach had put relics left over from the Seminole indian wars within my metal detector search coil range. I began finding musket balls and military uniform buttons along with other interesting finds from the 1830s as I gridded the beach every evening until I finally found the ultimate beach hunters dream find, a gold coin. I will never forget the thrill of seeing the gold coin laying on top of the sand and picking it up knowing that I was the first person to hold that gold coin since the 1830s, an awesome end to an awesome beach relic hunt.

Happy Hunting
Gary T. Drayton

 

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[Bum Luck]

Nice job on the $5 piece!

Keep on going on!

 

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[PI PETE]

WOW!

 

[desert dog]

 

[narragansett]

Wow, awesome!

 

[Michigan Badger]

Congrats.

I have a friend who has gained some level of fame in finding Florida Spanish galleon treasure. Some of his finds are in amazing condition. Up here in the north on the Great Lakes most beach finds look like someone took a power sander to them.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Thats amazing Gary.

 

[BOXING63]

WTG Congratulations Gary your the best

 

[CoinSituation]

Still the best looking coin on the banner! Well deserved!!

 

[tarpon192]

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

 

[PI JOE]

Brother Gary, If they only knew where to look!

 

[DewGuru]

First coin i've ever seen come out the ground with mint luster on it.

 

[Elario]

First coin i've ever seen come out the ground with mint luster on it.

I think he said he found it in the sand! I magnified the picture and when you do that it actually has quite a lot of micro scratches and abrasion on it. My guess is that it did not travel far from where it was lost. If it went in and out with the surf (like some coins do) it would be scratched. Sand movement can be very odd. I have seen some strange things. In one case I watched the tide come in and erode a layer of sand to show graffiti scratched in the hardpack sand from the 1920's. It was at 3:00 in the morning and really freaked me out for a bit until I realized what was happening. If you do not believe me I will not be offended. I was there, I saw it and I still have trouble believing what I saw. The handwriting was different back then. Much more cursive and much loopier. They wrote numbers different too. After that night I started carrying a camera with me.

 

[mad4wrecks]

Fantastic discovery Gary. Give me a call next time you are in the Jupiter area.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

That's a killer button! I think I can see some gilt showing through. Might be worth a shot to apply some aluminum jelly. But that's your call.