Today I Hit The Metal Detecting Jackpot - 1825 George IV GOLD Sovereign!

bookfisher

Bronze Member
Jun 18, 2005
1,345
125
Long Island, New York
Being self-employed (I own an old book and antique shop on the North Shore of Long Island) I get a chance to get out hunting fairly often. Yesterday morning I was driving on a very old road (the area was settled in the late 1600s to the early 1700s) about five minutes from my shop. Like most metal detectorists, as I'm driving, I'm always looking for new spots to hunt. So I see this section of woods that looks enticing and I figure it probably had to have some activity 100 to 200 years ago. So I make a mental note to check out these woods as soon as possible.

Today was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the low to mid fifties, so I closed the shop around 3:00 PM and headed to those woods. I enter the woods and I notice some of the trees have ribbons on them, so apparently this site is going to have houses soon. For about the next hour or so of hunting, about the only thing I'm finding is shotgun shells. Since I do a lot of woods hunting, I'm real familiar with those 18-22 nickle signals, which most always are shotgun shells. But you never know so you dig them. But while I'm digging them, I thinking at least people were here years ago, so maybe they dropped some coins.

Anyway, a little while later, I finally get a good signal on my MXT. It's a strong penny reading, and I know it's not a can or something like that, since it's a small target, with a nice sound. I pinpoint and the depth is something like 4 or 5 inches, and again its a tight signal. So at this point I'm pretty optimistic that the target is a coin and I'm even hoping it's a large cent. I pull out a plug and scan the hole and the target is still in the hole, still with a strong penny reading. I pull out a decent amount of dirt from the hole and pile it on the side. Scanning the pile, I now see that the target is in the pile, and again, still reading penny.

Now it gets good. I bend down and start sifting the pile and I see some partially exposed gold color. Immediately, as I'm reaching for the object, in nano seconds, I get several thoughts: is that gold? is that a gold coin? it's gotta be gold, nothing else looks like that coming out of the ground! I pick up the object and the dirt just seemed to fall off. Now I know it's a coin and I'm staring at a crown and a shield, I flip it over and now I see a portrait with a date of 1825! I've found an early 19th century gold coin! The feeling is indescribable. When I'm out hunting, very, very rarely do I let myself daydream about find a gold coin, since the odds are it ain't gonna happen. Though, when I am hunting a very old area, I will think about finding an early 19th century American silver half or quarter, cause it might happen. But never gold. Well today, I had the ultimate feeling of finding gold, and all I was hoping for was a Large Cent. It wasn't until I got home this evening and researched the net, that I found out I had found an 1825 George IV Bare Head Gold Sovereign. So keep the coil to the soil cause it's still out there. Happy Hunting and Good Luck! Oh, by the way, the sovereign is slightly smaller than a quarter.
 

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Leon

Silver Member
Jul 2, 2004
3,836
24
Indy
Detector(s) used
Cz3d
Wow! Bookfisher, as you say there are no words to describe that feeling,,, What a find, WTG!!!
I haven't found any gold coins, but I did find a cache of (8)silver coins. It's a feeling of almost disbelief...
Get back to those woods before the developers get to it and get ya another one...
Good luck, & Happy hunting~
 

R

Royal84

Guest
That has got to be one of the coolest things i've seen someone dig up......i am so jealous.....i don't think we have stuff like that down in fl.....i wish........big congrats to ya.......WTG...
 

The Beep Goes On

Silver Member
Jan 11, 2006
3,403
207
Houston, TX
Detector(s) used
CTX3030, Excalibur II, V3i, TRX
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Awesome...what a great moment! Looks like it's worth quite a bit from what I gleaned from the web, although I would never part with it. Congrats!

HH!
TBGO
 

OP
OP
bookfisher

bookfisher

Bronze Member
Jun 18, 2005
1,345
125
Long Island, New York
Thanks alot guys. By the way, I kept hunting till it almost got dark and as a little icing on the cake, I found these three silver dimes and the key all within a couple of feet from each other and the 19th century Navy button by itself.
 

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Beautiful coin! Good for you! Reading your story, I almost thought you started talking about me, since I also am self-employed, deal in out of print books, and buy and sell antiques, so I too have alot of time to detect (when the snow melts) but unfortunately, I have NOT found a gold coin :'( in 20 years! >:(
Do you sell your books on ABE? I am looking for certain books for my personal collection. Maybe we can talk later about it?
Nice finds.
Muddyhandz.
 

OP
OP
bookfisher

bookfisher

Bronze Member
Jun 18, 2005
1,345
125
Long Island, New York
Leon said:
Wow! Bookfisher, as you say there are no words to describe that feeling,,, What a find, WTG!!!
I haven't found any gold coins, but I did find a cache of (8)silver coins. It's a feeling of almost disbelief...
Get back to those woods before the developers get to it and get ya another one...
Good luck, & Happy hunting~

Hi Leon,

Tell me more about the 8 silver coins you found, dates, ect.
 

OP
OP
bookfisher

bookfisher

Bronze Member
Jun 18, 2005
1,345
125
Long Island, New York
Muddyhandz said:
Beautiful coin! Good for you! Reading your story, I almost thought you started talking about me, since I also am self-employed, deal in out of print books, and buy and sell antiques, so I too have alot of time to detect (when the snow melts) but unfortunately, I have NOT found a gold coin :'( in 20 years! >:(
Do you sell your books on ABE? I am looking for certain books for my personal collection. Maybe we can talk later about it?
Nice finds.
Muddyhandz.

Hi Muddyhandz,

I've been in old and rare books since 1982. In the past several years I've been concentrating more on art (that's where the big hits and the money is). I don't sell on abe, what I do is list semi-rare and collectible books on ebay (books with keyword words like Parrish, Rackham, Polar, Big Game Hunting, ect) and the truly rare books are auctioned off by Swann Galleries in New York. If you want, send me an email - [email protected] and I'll give you my phone number if you want to talk.

Bill Fisher
 

tsgman

Bronze Member
Sep 13, 2005
2,139
30
Springfield, Missouri
Detector(s) used
Minelab 705, Fisher Gold Bug, MXT, Etrac, CTX 3030, GPX 5000, Troy Shadow, CZ20, Excal II, Tesoro Stingray, AT Pro.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thats a find of a lifetime! Congratulations! Tsgman
 

Leon

Silver Member
Jul 2, 2004
3,836
24
Indy
Detector(s) used
Cz3d
Hi ya,, Bookfisher,,, I thought everyone had seen my post about the cache but, you only having 59 post, it was probabaly made before you got here... Here a link to my Cache Page:
Leon's Cache Find...
The story and the dates for the coins are all listed there...
It was a once in a lifetime find for me and I think it would be very hard for me to top...
Again,, that is an awesome find, I can only hope to find something like that someday...
Good luck, & Happy hunting~
 

tlmothy

Greenie
Mar 11, 2006
10
1
Japan.
Congrats on the find. I would like to see a picture of your face when you pulled that sucker out.

Can you imagine the poor #@!$%#@! who lost that.
 

JakePhelps

Silver Member
Jul 7, 2005
3,020
16
Massachusetts
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Cibola
WoW :o Thats a great coin! you should look the area up in some history books and see what happened there in 1825 :)
 

Bavaria Mike

Gold Member
Feb 7, 2005
8,340
177
Bavaria Germany
Detector(s) used
Minelab XT70, Fisher 1280, Garrett Ace 250 and MH5
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
That is awesome, congrats on the find of a lifetime! That is a nice looking coin in real good condition. Surprised you don't get maps and history books of the area in your book store. HH, Mike
 

alwayslookin

Hero Member
Sep 30, 2004
733
17
Indy
WTG Bookfisher !!! that is soooo cool. It always lifts our hopes and reminds us why we hunt when we see a gold coin posted...at least it does mine. Looks like a best finds for W&ET to me.

Dave
 

Mirage

Silver Member
Sep 16, 2005
3,718
38
Cleveland, OH
SWWWEEEEETTTT!!!!! ;D ;D ;D That is so cool. It's still amazing to see so many people finding this stuff. Thanks for sharing your story. Maybe I will be next. ;)

Mirage
 

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