Exceedingly rare Caribbean Countermarked Silver Coin Found (1 of 3 known)!
I've been fortunate during the month of March and been able to get out metal detecting at my new spot one day each week. In fact last week I was able to get out twice! This new area is close to where I found many French war buttons a few years back. In my last post I had finally dug a cuff 18 (Gatanois regiment) This was a number I had never dug before. Well last week I found myself my second one! This one was practically lying on TOP of the ground ....just under the leaves! It turned out to be a beautiful cuff 8 (Bearn regiment). Although I did find a coat 8 in 2012, I had never found a cuff 8!!! Not more than 10 inches from the cuff 8 I got another reading which turned out to be a solid silver knee buckle! The soil is almost 50 percent sand at this site so I could immediately see the WC and what looked like 2 lions stamped in the back. Other finds that day included a cuff eagle button, a couple of brass pieces to a Civil War shoulder scale, a brass very early, crude set of cufflinks and a small kepi buckle. Now to the the previous week. At the same spot I had barely turned onmy Nautilus DMC IIb when I dug a dropped Gardner, followed by a beautiful engraved brass keyhole to either a large chest or door. Now is when things get interesting. The only coin I had dug in this spot was a 1736 - 1795 Kao T'sung (Chien - Lung Dynasty) Chinese Coin. This was a strange find to dig here and the first I had ever found. Well, in the immediate area where I had dug my cuff 18, I started to move all the fallen logs out of the way. You don't realize how many good finds I have found over the years by doing this! Well not more that 8 feet from where the cuff 18 was found I got that good brassy two tone beep I love to hear! After digging down just 4 inches out popps a silver coin!!! Again because of the soil conditions I could immediately see a crown, the number 3, and another symbol counterstamped in the coin . The coin was also holed and from the design on the back I knew I had either a French, British, or Spanish coin (even though it was heavily worn). I can remember thinking "Could this be some sort of regimental Rev War ID tag?" I couldn't really detect anymore after finding this coin and I immediately went home. Once home I posted my finds on my Facebook page and not more than 5 minutes later my good friend and dealer Paul Chandler wrote what I wanted to hear. "You are correct! This is only the third Rev War regimental ID tag I have seen in 35years of dealing and digging! I was speechless. I have never found a Civil War ID tag after 30 years of digging and here I had just found a Rev War regimental ID tag! Well I immediately needed confirmation from Don Troini, the authority on Rev War artifacts. If you dig and ever find a rev war relic of importance he is the man to contact! I posted on his Facebook Rev War page and the discussion was intense! He, however, is unsure as to what this is. He did say the crown was not in the shape of a British crown so he didn't think it was British. Others said it was a bale seal or a coin weight. Well friends....... I've been digging, as I said for over 30 years, and I know whithout a shadow of a doubt this is no bale seal, or coin weight. Coin weights are always made out of brass...... and this was a silver coin at first ! And a silver bale seal ....HAHAHA. Now back to the silver knee buckle I just dug. After I got home I immediately posted this on facebook and within minutes another friend sent me a link to early 1700's British silversmiths. This link is a wealth of knowledge. All the initials of British silversmiths were shown. Listed clearly was the silversmith WC. William Cripps .....circa 1757!!! Also shown were all the other marks associated with early British silver smiths. Suddenly I knew what the mark below the 3 was on my counterstamped coin. It is a assay mark OR Towne mark showing purity of silver and is associated with a town or city in a country such as Britain or France! I am going to send some pictures of the tag over the internet to some people over in England and see if they can help me decipher what mark this is........ I still feel this could be a Rev War soldiers regimental tag. Whether it is British of French or Hessian ........ I don not know. What I do know is it is DEFINITELY NOT a bale seal or coin weight. If I had an authority on early world silver coins, they could also probably tell me based on the reverse of the coin what country the coin is from and what dates. You can bet I will be metal detecting at this site again soon!!! HH Devonrex
Last edited by Devonrex; Mar 26, 2016 at 05:32 PM.
The hallmark will not tell you that much because the Assayer & date letter are missing. All you have is the Lion for the standard silver mark & the makers mark, although where the maker lived would help.
I'm not convinced its a tag at all, looks like a silver smiths counterstamp, to prove the worn coin is tested as silver, many of these were holed.
'Time isn't money it's finds, unless your finds are money' 08/12/17
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A real man thinks about detecting every 6 seconds.
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Great hunt and not sure about your Rev War id theory . Your last pic is called a blinder, these are also known as peepers.... alum. devices fitted to, or through, the beaks of poultry to block their forward vision and assist in the control of feather pecking.
Wow those are truly killer finds DRex! Love them all. Great buttons and relics with an early military connection....hell yeah. I'm curious to hear more about the silver piece
"Life which is lived without zest and adventure-is not life at all."
-F.A. Mitchell-Hedges, British Explorer
2017 BEST FINDS
-1723 KG1
-Colonial Cufflinks
Oldest Coin To Date: 1652 Pine Tree Shilling NOE 29
Colonial Silver To Date: 11
Hammered Coins To Date: 1664 Potosi Mint COB
1653 Copper Cob
Wow those are truly killer finds DRex! Love them all. Great buttons and relics with an early military connection....hell yeah. I'm curious to hear more about the silver piece
Thanks AHAB. I am very happy to find the two cuff buttons. It's been almost 4 years since I dug the last I found. THat site was phenomenal. I dug 56 French buttons there!!! I have dreams about it still!!!
Thanks AHAB. I am very happy to find the two cuff buttons. It's been almost 4 years since I dug the last I found. THat site was phenomenal. I dug 56 French buttons there!!! I have dreams about it still!!!
They really are an incredibly special find. I can see why you would dream about a spot like that my friend. 56 French buttons....that is hard to wrap your head around. Did the have the birdcage shank?
"Life which is lived without zest and adventure-is not life at all."
-F.A. Mitchell-Hedges, British Explorer
2017 BEST FINDS
-1723 KG1
-Colonial Cufflinks
Oldest Coin To Date: 1652 Pine Tree Shilling NOE 29
Colonial Silver To Date: 11
Hammered Coins To Date: 1664 Potosi Mint COB
1653 Copper Cob
They really are an incredibly special find. I can see why you would dream about a spot like that my friend. 56 French buttons....that is hard to wrap your head around. Did the have the birdcage shank?
Every single one of them had the turret shank! And once it was all over with I had buttons from 16 different regiments! Don Troini joked with me and said I have found buttons from the entire French army! LOL I believe it was a hospital site for the wounded. THe camp was as virgin as they come! HH Devonrex
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Originally Posted by Ahab8
