Don in SJ
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- May 20, 2005
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Last Thursday I did not think I would ever find 3 New Jersey coppers in a row, in the same month, or even finding 3 in a year would be great, but I did find my 3rd one on the 17th. So today I went back to the same new site and again the unbelievable happened! I got my 4th New Jersey Copper in February and I doubt if I can ever repeat this again.
It was not my 4th copper find in a row though, I first got an iffy signal that I thought was going to be a large button, but when at a site like this you dig all repeatable signals, good or not. To my delight a copper disc appeared in the pile of dirt. Copper #1 as I called it ended up being a typical counterfeit King George III Halfpenny, it only weighs 87.3 grains, very light, even for a counterfeit.
The next target was again, slightly iffy, but then it got better when I came at it on a different angle, took a photo of the Explorer readout (crosshair location). Now all my other New Jersey Coppers I have found this year, screamed coin before digging, this one again, sounded more like a iffy coin and maybe a button so again, I was pleasantly surprised to see the round hunk of copper, it was much bigger than the first coin and very thin, now I was not sure it was a coin, but after wetting it I easily saw the horse and plow and knew I now had found my fourth NJ of the month!
Less than 3 feet away I got a low reading of either a button or shotgun casing, out of the pile of dirt I found another pair of cufflinks, plain design, but heck my 13th pair of cufflinks and most have been found in the last three years for some reason.
I called my wife after that and she warned me, you better leave some for (our son), so she recommended I leave for the day, well, I sort of left, I told her OK, time to explore some and started heading down an old overgrown dirt path from this site and about 50-75 yards from the homesite I got a decent sweet sound of another coin! After a quick dig another copper appears, this one was holed in the center, so I immediately thought of a counterfeit cancellation that some did to counterfeits, but I had no idea what this coin was going to be. I had hopes of it being a James Irish Halpenny, but it was too thick, and it was encrusted in a cement like sand/gravel mixture.
But upon cleaning, it became obvious there were no details at all left on one side, but the bust figure started to become clearer with the cleaning and eventually I concluded it was a counterfeit KGII Half Penny, Younghead, 1729-39 era.
Here is a group photo of all the finds, including a memorial found on the road walking back to the truck.
And of the finds worthy of cleaning
Two hunts at this site and still no buttons? Other than the cufflinks. Usually the coin to button ratio is more buttons to coins, but this one is now 4 to 0 unless you want to count the cufflinks….
The soil is not as kind to the coppers as I would like, but at least identifying the old pieces of our history is good enough for me.
Before and After of the NJ copper
Group photo of all 4 NJ coppers found this month, interesting, all are different varieties.
The son and I both will be hunting this site as soon as we can get together in the upcoming days. Not sure much more can be found here, but than again, it is a big area that might be hiding another undiscovered homestead.
Don
It was not my 4th copper find in a row though, I first got an iffy signal that I thought was going to be a large button, but when at a site like this you dig all repeatable signals, good or not. To my delight a copper disc appeared in the pile of dirt. Copper #1 as I called it ended up being a typical counterfeit King George III Halfpenny, it only weighs 87.3 grains, very light, even for a counterfeit.
The next target was again, slightly iffy, but then it got better when I came at it on a different angle, took a photo of the Explorer readout (crosshair location). Now all my other New Jersey Coppers I have found this year, screamed coin before digging, this one again, sounded more like a iffy coin and maybe a button so again, I was pleasantly surprised to see the round hunk of copper, it was much bigger than the first coin and very thin, now I was not sure it was a coin, but after wetting it I easily saw the horse and plow and knew I now had found my fourth NJ of the month!
Less than 3 feet away I got a low reading of either a button or shotgun casing, out of the pile of dirt I found another pair of cufflinks, plain design, but heck my 13th pair of cufflinks and most have been found in the last three years for some reason.
I called my wife after that and she warned me, you better leave some for (our son), so she recommended I leave for the day, well, I sort of left, I told her OK, time to explore some and started heading down an old overgrown dirt path from this site and about 50-75 yards from the homesite I got a decent sweet sound of another coin! After a quick dig another copper appears, this one was holed in the center, so I immediately thought of a counterfeit cancellation that some did to counterfeits, but I had no idea what this coin was going to be. I had hopes of it being a James Irish Halpenny, but it was too thick, and it was encrusted in a cement like sand/gravel mixture.
But upon cleaning, it became obvious there were no details at all left on one side, but the bust figure started to become clearer with the cleaning and eventually I concluded it was a counterfeit KGII Half Penny, Younghead, 1729-39 era.
Here is a group photo of all the finds, including a memorial found on the road walking back to the truck.
And of the finds worthy of cleaning
Two hunts at this site and still no buttons? Other than the cufflinks. Usually the coin to button ratio is more buttons to coins, but this one is now 4 to 0 unless you want to count the cufflinks….
The soil is not as kind to the coppers as I would like, but at least identifying the old pieces of our history is good enough for me.
Before and After of the NJ copper
Group photo of all 4 NJ coppers found this month, interesting, all are different varieties.
The son and I both will be hunting this site as soon as we can get together in the upcoming days. Not sure much more can be found here, but than again, it is a big area that might be hiding another undiscovered homestead.
Don
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