Beautiful 1778 2-Reale, Cufflinks, and Buttons

[Steve in PA]

This past Saturday I went out to one of my well pounded sites that had been recently plowed. My brother from Colorado was in town, so I armed him with my Garrett AT Gold and away we went. Even though this place has been hit hard by me and others I have brought here, it is a large site, with deep targets remaining and fringe areas that have not been investigated thoroughly. There is also a good chance of finding early silver here since it had already given up 16 Spanish silvers, a Draped Bust dime, and a Capped Bust half dime. After about an hour of not finding anything, the plowed zone started to give up some buttons. My brother dug a tombac and I dug a flat button, then I found cuff links on back to back signals. Finds continued on a slow but steady pace for the next several hours, then I heard my brother, who was working in a fringe area, where I had never went, yelling that he had Spanish Silver. I walked the 80 yards or so to where he was digging expecting to see a half real, but there he was with a 2 reale in his hand, and a nice one at that.

Here are our finds before cleaning (mine on the bottom two rows)


After cleaning


Here is the 2-Reale. Turns out it was minted in Seville, Spain rather than one of the New World mints. Of course we see lots of Pistareens which were minted in Spain, but it is uncommon to find a Pillar or Bust type over here that was minted in Spain.



The other notable finds were the two cufflinks which I hit on back to back signals about 4 feet apart. the first one was a running fox "Tallio" in poor shape. The "Tallio" is almost cut off the edge of the cufflink and the fox is not the best image either.


Here is a "Tallio" cufflink I dug at another site for comparison.


The second cufflink I dug has a scalloped border and what looks like faint letters in the center. They are easier to see with the piece in hand. Here are a couple views.



This cufflink has a drilled eye wedge shank which is unusual for these late 18th century oval cufflinks.


I have only seen this type of shank on two other cufflinks - one was an Admiral Rodney cufflink dug by Bill D. The other was on this G. Washington cufflink that I dug.



Finally, here are some ceramics I picked up.


Enjoy the pics and HH to all

 

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[Steve in PA]

Great hunt guys! Its amazing how moving a little dirt around can make all the difference. Unfortunately that never happens down this way. And BTW - I like that joint assayers mark (CF) on the 2 reale, and it represents Carlos Jiminez Alvarez (C) who was a Seville assayer from 1764-1788, and Francisco Lopez Amisa (F) from 1767-1783.

Francisco Lopez Amisa

Bill, it looks like they may have plowed down about 8 inches. Once the ground settles and compacts we should be able to pull more out.

 

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[johnnyblaze]

Stevie boy that Reale is a real beautyNice Colonial digs there your back in action..Now the holed silver coins is said to be for putting the coin on a string in a jug of milk to keep the bacteria down..It does workj as i use Colloidal silver myself..Also it is said they carried them on a string..I do get holed coppers too..But the milk theory on the string makes sense...

~Blaze

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Killer hunt Steve! So I'm staring at that 2 reale and wondering why it looks so weird with the III on the front on the other side and why the reverse is totally different with a weird shield, no columns and the 2R in the middle... Then I see you said that it's from Spain and not the New World. That's just awesome man. I didn't even know that style existed. Great links and buttons as well. Crazy what's left down there after a plow.

 

[Steve in PA]

Stevie boy that Reale is a real beautyNice Colonial digs there your back in action..Now the holed silver coins is said to be for putting the coin on a string in a jug of milk to keep the bacteria down..It does workj as i use Colloidal silver myself..Also it is said they carried them on a string..I do get holed coppers too..But the milk theory on the string makes sense...

~Blaze

Well JB, aka Johnny Fuego, that's the first time I've heard that theory. I have heard that they were put on strings for teething babies, sewed into jackets, and strung on a cord. You don't see many holed coins after the 1860s though.

 

[Z.K.]

Great stuff!! So cool to see a Spanish coin that came from the motherland, new to me on the site.
Would love to see how you approach displays by site if you care to.

 

[johnnyblaze]

Well JB, aka Johnny Fuego, that's the first time I've heard that theory. I have heard that they were put on strings for teething babies, sewed into jackets, and strung on a cord. You don't see many holed coins after the 1860s though.

Notice how holed silver coins are much more common than coppers...That says something right there Mr Steve Dobalina..
I make my own using .999 silver,distilled water and Electrolysis powered by 3-9volt batteries..

~Fuego

 

[Steve in PA]

Great stuff!! So cool to see a Spanish coin that came from the motherland, new to me on the site.
Would love to see how you approach displays by site if you care to.

ZK, I just put the finds from different sites in site specific display cases. Stuff that won't go in n the cases or aren't "display worthy" go in labeled boxes or bags. The glass frames get a clear label stuck to them. The labels have a number that is cross referenced to a site description that I keep on file. Here are Spanish silvers from four different sites, including the site from this post. Here is another pic of various cases in my relic cabinet.

 

[Scrappy]

I've come back to your post several times to look again Steve. That real is a beauty. I've found a bunch of 1/2 and 1R's, but a two is just so big. I hope to find one some day.

 

[Z.K.]

Jeepers. What a might museum you must have. Just wonderful to see all that treasure, the work it took to recover, and the stories it tells us about history. Thanks

I'm working on the deeper curation habits (like indexing or using excel) but for display have tended to simply group things together by time or quality rather than site. -Ken

 

[Silvermonkey]

Killer finds!!!!! Congrats!!!!

 

[Steve in PA]

Jeepers. What a might museum you must have. Just wonderful to see all that treasure, the work it took to recover, and the stories it tells us about history. Thanks

I'm working on the deeper curation habits (like indexing or using excel) but for display have tended to simply group things together by time or quality rather than site. -Ken

If you need display cases, try Indian River Display Case Co. They have a wide variety and reasonable prices.
IndianRiver-Home

 

[Steve in PA]

I've come back to your post several times to look again Steve. That real is a beauty. I've found a bunch of 1/2 and 1R's, but a two is just so big. I hope to find one some day.

Your 2 reale is just around the corner Steve.

 

[Patriot Relics]

Congrats to you both Steve, the 2 reale is killer but the cufflinks are just as high on my list.

 

[scruggs]

Your looking good again....you just keep on turning them! Good job!

 

[Palmetto]

Good to see you digging that silver again Steve!

Russ

 

[Old Dude]

It is great to see someone in Pa getting out and making finds. What an awesome site to keep giving like that.

 

[Evolution]

Sounds like an amazing place to hunt. I'd be thrilled if finds like those were turning up. Your brother's 2 reale is pretty sweet.

 

[Gridwalker306]

That's a beauty of a 2R, and the cuffs are really great too. What a good site you guys have. Congrats!

 

[Calabash Digger]

man you guys are killing it! 2 reale on my hit list.

 

[MrBlueSkyNM]

DANG!!! You lucky dogs! Love that Colonial Silver! I'm dying to find some!