🥇 BANNER 1836 Gold $5 piece

Gary Drayton

Sr. Member
Dec 28, 2007
357
663
Fort Lauderdale Florida
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur
Minelab Sovereign GT
Minelab CTX3030
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
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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trsrseeker

Full Member
May 10, 2011
249
50
FL / NY
Detector(s) used
Whites Dual Field, Excaliber 11, Sovereign, CTX 3030
Wow! Congratulations. Incredible condition - hard to believe its been on the beach for so many years. Well done!!
 

dwayne sueno

Bronze Member
Mar 18, 2008
1,103
17
upstate ny
Detector(s) used
se pro
Primary Interest:
Other
whoa!
that's ridiculous.
would love to hear the story behind the find,
and see the rest of the loot. :headbang:
 

Les West Central Fl

Bronze Member
Jun 14, 2009
2,334
1,305
Bradenton, Fl
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Aquasound, Excal 2, Excal (NY), Infinium
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Super find ! perhaps it was an officers pay. Enlisted personel usually got paid in silver.
 

jeff of pa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Dec 19, 2003
85,777
59,573
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
dwayne sueño said:
whoa!
would love to hear the story behind the find,
and see the rest of the loot. :headbang:

:thumbsup:
 

Tony in FL

Full Member
Nov 7, 2009
220
26
Gulf Coast Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Wow - nice score!

Excalibur or GT? Wet sand or water? Inquiring minds want to know. . . . . .
 

stpauli914

Sr. Member
Jun 7, 2011
406
117
Gulf Coast FL
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur 2, Minelab Sovereign GT
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hard to believe!! Other than a couple scuffs on the front, it looks uncirculated! Are those scuffs from your scoop? It didn't travel very far because if it had it would be in not as good a condition. Looks in way better shape than most of the modern clad I find.

+1 on waiting to hear the full story :notworthy:

Aaron
 

DigginThePast

Gold Member
Dec 31, 2008
10,706
86
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Wow! :o

Great find on its own but the condition is out of this World! :hello2:

Congrats!! :headbang:
 

OP
OP
Gary Drayton

Gary Drayton

Sr. Member
Dec 28, 2007
357
663
Fort Lauderdale Florida
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur
Minelab Sovereign GT
Minelab CTX3030
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tony in FL said:
Wow - nice score!

Excalibur or GT? Wet sand or water? Inquiring minds want to know. . . . . .

Sovereign GT beach find, we have had quite a bit of sand movement down here in South Florida and I guess that this beautiful coin was lost very close to the site that I dug it out of the sand along with the other older finds, buttons, musket balls etc that I have been posting recently. At first I thought it was gold colored chocolate coin cover until I picked it up and felt the weight then I started doing the Walter Huston gold dance from the treasure of the sierra madre movie!!
 

gravediggermax-vabeachva

Bronze Member
Nov 24, 2005
2,027
474
va beach, va
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
se pro, excal. II, ctx 3030
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
bought two condos last week - i see one more in my future :)

that is the 2nd G R E A T find you have found in your scoop.

i like it
 

baywalker

Bronze Member
Aug 24, 2011
1,116
432
Southwest Florida
Detector(s) used
Garrett & Fisher
Minelab Excaliber II
Garrett Pro Pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
That and the Seminole war stuff I almost voted banner yesterday definitely today :notworthy:

Jonnie
 

47thelement

Bronze Member
Jan 8, 2009
1,741
161
Detector(s) used
E-trac, Excal, ACE 250 for my son
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Stunning simply stunning!!

This is why we all walk the beaches at 3am, just because it a perfect combination of sand, wind and tide.
 

OP
OP
Gary Drayton

Gary Drayton

Sr. Member
Dec 28, 2007
357
663
Fort Lauderdale Florida
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur
Minelab Sovereign GT
Minelab CTX3030
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks for all the kind words guys, this and all the recent old finds I have made and posted more than make up for all the hours I spend hitting those ugly beaches no one bothers hunting and coming home empty handed.
 

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