I call this one "THE" coin...

[lordmarcovan]

This is my oldest coin found so far, but that's only part of the reason it's my favorite find. When I found it in 1998, Hurricane Earl was blowin' across the Florida panhandle to hit us from the landward side. I was out at a site in the woods that had been cleared (bush-mowed but not root-raked), and the wind was blowin' 40-50 MPH gusts, but there wasn't much rain. I wasn't getting many signals at all, and the few I did get were old iron nails. I was using a Fisher 1280-X underwater detector, which worked very well as a dry-land relic hunting machine. I was digging just about every signal.

One signal, near a big tree, was "hotter" than the rest, and I had to whack through a web of small roots to get into the soil. From a few inches down, a part of the neck of a very old black glass bottle came up, which was encouraging. Then, a a few more inches down, almost a foot deep overall, there was a little squarish piece of copper. I didn't recognize it as a coin, at first. I thought it was a seal of some sort.

My examination of the find was cut short when some men strolled into the clearing, asking if it was my van parked out by the road. I told them yes. They asked me to move it so they could clear the big tree that had fallen across the road, right in front of it! Off in my own little treasure-seeking world, I had been completely oblivious to things like dying hurricanes and wind and fallen trees! The hardwired headphones on that Fisher were very snug and shut out a lot of ambient noise.

A few months later, I met Bill Hendrick of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who was doing a story about the sinking of two tankers off our island by the German submarine U-123, in 1942. When my hobby came up in conversation, he expressed an interest in doing a little sidebar piece about my coin and its connection to the lost Santo Domingo de Asajo mission. (By this time I had identified the coin and sort of figured out the historical connection. A lot of the other details were filled in by Dr. John Worth, the scholar who Mr. Hendrick contacted for the story).

When the story ran in the paper, it was picked up by the AP and run in various places around the country. As a matter of fact, somebody I don't even know clipped it and submitted it to Western and Eastern Treasures, where it ran under the "Treasure In The News" column- I was surprised to read about my own find there!

Aside from its historical and archaeological significance, this coin has a very important sentimental value to me, as well. I was showing it and the newspaper clipping off at work, and struck up a conversation with a nice lady there. This month (October '06), she and I will celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary! So you can see why this coin is special to me on so many different levels. Even if I one day get to travel up north or overseas, and find an older coin, or am lucky enough to find a gold coin one day, this one will always be "THE" coin.

I'll let the newpaper clipping below tell the whole story of the find.






This site has a transcript of the article, if you find it difficult to read in the clipping:
http://www.swanet.org/zarchives/gotc...myj030999.html

[lordmarcovan]

PS- my coin is not the oldest found on St. Simons Island, as it turns out. Other early Spanish (and maybe Portuguese) coins were found in Indian graves when archaeologists were digging at the site that later became McKinnon Airport in the mid-1930s, but the archaeological record is rather vague about what exactly they were.

About two years ago, my friend Billy Ridenour dug a small, crude cob-style silver half-real piece that was undated but which bore the monogram of Philip III (1598-1621). I was personally able to examine this find. However, Billy's coin might not necessarily be related to the forgotten Spanish Mission period in Georgia, as mine is. Because of its proximity to Fort Frederica (Billy found it on private land near the National Monument, not in the park), his coin was more likely dropped by one of the residents of Frederica, in the 1730s or 1740s. Though it would've been over a century old in Frederica's heyday, it still would've been considered pocket change by the early British settlers.

[romeo-1]

Nicley done...and a picture in the paper to boot!

[lordmarcovan]

Yeah, scary, huh?

[Mainedigger]

Very nice coin and great story!!!!

[Blackjack77]

Thanks for the interesting and informative story
Definately a best find!!
congrats & HH

[Shamus]

So, in a roundabout way, you found your wife with a metal detector? I take it she was a keeper.

That is a very neat story.

[DJ_Quinn]

Great story! That's the reason I metal detect, for the interesting finds and the women....

[Blind.In.Texas]

That was one well put together and very interesting story. I love the historical aspect of any find. I am glad to see someone rescueing these lost relics from earthen graves. Hunting during a hurricane does have it's advantages doesn't it? I like to hunt in the dark myself.....Less compettion for me and I'll bet you had no competition that day!!

GL and HH

[Ocean7]

lordmarcovan - great find and great story! Quite interesting and amazing stuff!

[satellite]

I think I would pass right the hell out if I dug something like that! Righteous!

[hollowpointred]

Yeah, scary, huh?

that is kinda scary! call me parinoid but i would have been afraid the state archeologists would try to take it away from me. im glad they didnt get it! its a phenomanal find!

[lordmarcovan]

Yeah, scary, huh?

that is kinda scary! call me parinoid but i would have been afraid the state archeologists would try to take it away from me. im glad they didnt get it! its a phenomanal find!

I was referring to the old picture of me.

Actually, the coin was in the hands of the archaeologist, Dr. Worth, who was quoted in the article. The reporter wanted me to FedEx it to him for examination, so I did, and he sent it back with an interesting letter.

Interesting postscript: though a big, recently-built house now stands on the exact spot where I dug that coin in 1998, they have just cleared a lot adjacent to it, and my friend Billy found a Spanish Mission period button there, plus a musketball, two thimbles, and an early-1800s button (there seems to be some overlap with an early-19th century site). All I got there was a flattened musketball, but it was a BIG one, which I assume could have possibly been fired during the 1684 attack on the mission. (Billy's musketball, by contrast, looks like it might be 19th century-it's more like .58 caliber instead of .75+ caliber).

[Postalrevnant]

That is one great coin. Congratulations,

Rev

[texan connection]

Had you have found that in Texas you would likley have been thrown in Jail your equipment confinscated and been in the papers as 10 most wanted. Great find though, congratulations

[Burdie]

I would agree that would be THE coin for me.

Burdie

[Dave N Japan]

Yes,l Great find...Don't get many of them! I always think about the history with all my finds! Thanks

[Snee]

Very nice!

[ashleen]

Lordm,

WOW!!! how cool is that? Congrats!
Know what I'd like to call it??
mine!

[cheffer]

very cool, love the history behind finds like that-congratulations!