I misread a hand copied map (copied in the 1960's) from the 1850's and went on a bit of a wild goose chase, but it ultimately lead me to one of the most mind boggling finds of my career. It may not be the most valuable, or beautiful, or even the most unlikely find but man is is exciting.
I was going along a modern path out to an area in the woods where I was hoping to locate a cellar hole from the early 1700's. I had been getting nothing but junk since I started, but that was what I had been expecting more or less. After a couple funky signals I got a strong 5-6 vdi at 4" on my v3i. This struck me as very strange because I NEVER get steady signals that low, and it was hitting hard! I dug it and out came a flat circular disk very thin but with no mark of a shank or anything instantly the thought ran through my head "Massachusetts rolled silver?" but there was no silver showing it was pure crud looking, so I didn't think much of it. Even still I carefully tucked it away and thought to deal with it when I got home.
Fast forward; as I held it under my light at home I could see a full cross across the back of the coin and decided to try naval jelly as water and a light toothbrush with soap had done nothing.
AND SILVER CAME THROUGH
I quickly neutralized the naval jelly and read up on how to safely de-crud hammered coins, and began a diluted lemon juice bath. what came out was beautiful.
After 30 minutes or so of looking through Spanish coins I went back to my initial instinct that the cross appeared French, and shortly had my world rocked. It turns out the crest on the Obverse is made of the two keys of the papal seal, and the only match was a hammered Douzain D'Avignon from Clement the VIII rule. Clement was in power 1592-1608 and after a little magnifying glass work I found the date
so I present to you a 1595 Douzain D'Avignon
I was going along a modern path out to an area in the woods where I was hoping to locate a cellar hole from the early 1700's. I had been getting nothing but junk since I started, but that was what I had been expecting more or less. After a couple funky signals I got a strong 5-6 vdi at 4" on my v3i. This struck me as very strange because I NEVER get steady signals that low, and it was hitting hard! I dug it and out came a flat circular disk very thin but with no mark of a shank or anything instantly the thought ran through my head "Massachusetts rolled silver?" but there was no silver showing it was pure crud looking, so I didn't think much of it. Even still I carefully tucked it away and thought to deal with it when I got home.
Fast forward; as I held it under my light at home I could see a full cross across the back of the coin and decided to try naval jelly as water and a light toothbrush with soap had done nothing.
AND SILVER CAME THROUGH
I quickly neutralized the naval jelly and read up on how to safely de-crud hammered coins, and began a diluted lemon juice bath. what came out was beautiful.
After 30 minutes or so of looking through Spanish coins I went back to my initial instinct that the cross appeared French, and shortly had my world rocked. It turns out the crest on the Obverse is made of the two keys of the papal seal, and the only match was a hammered Douzain D'Avignon from Clement the VIII rule. Clement was in power 1592-1608 and after a little magnifying glass work I found the date
so I present to you a 1595 Douzain D'Avignon
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