by far my best find, but a real mystery

[salvatorparadise]

I've found a lot of neat stuff, but this has to be the best ever. Found in a field in the vicinity of Fort Niagara (1726-1963) in Youngstown, NY. Can't believe i didn't give up on this because it's so very small. Tons of other hunters had really swept most of that area clean, one even got a WE Treasure best find (the soldier's sundial/compass). Anyway, i found this not far from where he found that. I don't know of any other examples in existance. Note the British Broad Arrow stamp. British occupied Ft. Niagara from 1759 - 1796, and then 1812-1814.

[Moonshadow]

Very cool Augusta man!

Nice addition to any TH collection!

Happy Hunting,

Moon

[True_Metal]

What is it, a bit cut from a coin? It's hard to tell for me, plus i'm an idiot when it comes to arifacts.

[bandsdean]

How deep was it and what detector do you use. Can you do a scan of the edge? I just moved to Western NY this year and am planning to do some research during the upcomming loooong winter nights.

[salvatorparadise]

The piece is up at my parent's house still. It's very thin. What it is is a small section cut from a spanish reale (i think a reale) and then broad arrow stamped to mark it as a form of currency for the british. Many historians up there had thought that the soldiers in remote outposts like Ft. Niagara were paid in ledger only, but this puts that into dispute. It realy is a fascinating piece and definetly will get researched when i get some time! And it wasn't deep at all. Almost on the surface. My guess is another dectorist tried to dig it but couldn't find it and gave up. I spent over an hour trying to figure out where the heck it was in the soil, often thinking perhaps my machine was going haywire. But i kept at it, let that be a lesson to us all!

I use an old White's Spectrum Eagle....she still serves me right

[lab rat]

Beautiful example of 'small change'! I can't tell from the picture if it is silver or gold-- it looks gold to me. Is it? Excellent find either way!

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

see if your coin dealer has a copy of merchant counterstamps by Brunk. There are three volumes of them. Identified counterstamps bring way more than unidentified ones. exanimo, ss

[Hoser John]

FANTASTIC FIND!! ID mark is soooo omportant ,if verifiable. My wierdest find was in Whiskey creek west of redding calif. when dredging i found a silver piece a eight in the creek,pieces a gold chain and a hole drilled in it.FAR outdates anything I've detected,RRRRRR pirate treasure in a bloody california creek,go figure!!Tons a au 2 u 2-John

[salvatorparadise]

Beautiful example of 'small change'!? I can't tell from the picture if it is silver or gold-- it looks gold to me.? Is it?? Excellent find either way!

Hey, it's silver, sorry about that, the light is kinda weird there.

So what's with the merchant's stamp? what does that mean, are we talking about the "M" on one side?

[lab rat]

I believe what you have here is a piece of a 'cut' coin, probably from a Spanish Reales, which circulated among the American colonies until about 1850 or so. The 'H' is a feature remnant of the original coin, probably 'Hispaniarum', Latin for the Spanish Empire, and the band with the small diamond shape is a remnant of a Spanish Crown often portrayed on their coins. If you can find a book of Spanish Colonial coins you might be able to isolate the pattern and denomination to identify exactly which coin this came from, and a close idea of the date it was minted.

When a trader didn't have small change he or the merchant would take a larger coin and cut it into appropriate sized pieces, hence 'pieces of eight'. The merchant might then put a mark of his own, verifying weight, metal content (ie silver in this case), and value, so it could continue to circulate in good faith. The 'M' and the incised arrow symbol on the opposite side are merchant's marks.

There are also counterstamps for when a coin already issued was re-weighed and assigned a new value by the government, but these look like small seals or raised relief letters, usually with a circle of dots around it. These counterstamps were used as an anti-counterfeiting measure, and to prevent undervalued coins resulting from clipping or filing by unscrupulous people who were sometimes beheaded when caught.

Sorry I don't have the resources readily available to help you further identify this piece, but this may give you a place to start. Good luck!

[nedigger]

I believe the coin it was cut from was a Spanish Pillar Dollar which has The wording Hispan above the Spanish crown (as lab rat was saying). They where minted in Mexico City (1732-1771), Lima (1752-1772) and Patosi (1767-1770). This information and some great pictures are available for comparison at http://www.newworldtreasures.com/milledpillar.htm. I think yours is from the Mexico City mint judging by the placement of the "H" above the particular part of the crown visible on your piece. See what you think. HH.

[oknorom]

nice lincoln cent! how deep was it?!!