Incredible! 1788 8 Reales and 1786 Vermont Landscape Copper!!!

[paleomaxx]

I'm absolutely floored; I would have never expected to find so much at this site! Just a little background first: I met with a local historian on Saturday who was a friend of a friend. We had an absolutely great time swapping maps and talking about local lore and stories. He has this fantastic hand-drawn map from 1714 that has just 5 houses on it and the rest is wilderness and hills. Super cool to look at, but probably not much use for finding old sites. After awhile he walked me around his property which is a beautiful early 1800's house and across the street is an 1830's barn. In all honesty I had no intention of detecting that particular day, but offhand he mentions that there's oral history that a 1750's house was next to where his barn stands now. He hasn't been able to find any official record of it with the county deeds office though, so it's just supposition at this point. I smile and say: I can probably help with that!

A few minutes later I'm detecting the small patch that's was already mowed (a good portion is still under tall grass) and within minutes out pops a Georgian shoe buckle fragment! Next an iron reigns guide, and third is a CT copper. At this point I know something was here and ceramic and brick fragments in the ground are also a good sign, so I start a grid and the next three hours are pure heaven!


Within the first hour I turn a plug over to see this:



I swear; my very first thought was that I had found a pewter counterfeit so I held it up to the sun and the little bit of silver around the edges gave it away. Genuine silver 8 reales and it is a monster!



I'd never seen one in person before, much less held one in my hands, and I have to say they are super thick. I can't imagine how they managed to cut these into quarters and eighths with such accuracy.

The dirt was a little strange since it wasn't just clinging to the coin, it was well cemented on there. I didn't mess with it in the field and when I got home I did some research here on the forum and that firm crud buildup seems to happen to many of these 8 reales. I tried the long soap/water soak and that didn't do much so I eventually used the dilute lemon juice method and very slowly q-tipped away the crud. By constantly swapping q-tips I was able to avoid scratching the silver with captured dirt. I did leave some crud on the obverse that was particularly stubborn but I didn't want an obviously cleaned look. I think it turned out pretty well though and the details are all very sharp. It must not have circulated much before being lost.



I found a tremendous number of coppers for such a small area. Also very much of note was a King George hat-trick!



The King George and King George II are pretty well worn, but the former does have a visible date of 1724 which is my new oldest dated coin! The KGIII may be 1778 and, despite having good details, it is quite thin so possibly a contemporary counterfeit. It actually wasn't the only counterfeit coin too. I found what appears to be a pewter cast of a silver half-dollar:



A good portion of "United" appears clearly around an edge, but the rest is completely gone. No trace of a design or more lettering. Strangely there's also no trace of edge reeding and no coins from the mid 1800's at the site so I'm inclined to think it would have been a counterfeit draped bust half. Too bad it wasn't genuine.

That's okay though; the two state coppers came out of the ground in stunning shape and I couldn't ask for more than that! The CT copper was the first coin to pop out and some careful toothpicking revealed this:



The design on both sides is strong and the date, 1788, is very clear. I believe it's a Miller 11-G which makes is scarce so that's a bonus! The Vermont copper really takes the cake though:



Right out of the plug it was in great shape and some very careful toothpicking with no water or peroxide brought the details out the rest of the way. Its definitely a Ryder 6 which is common, but the preservation on both sides is exquisite. I'm not sure I could ever hope to dig a better one and I absolutely love the design of these coins so I'm happy!

The dig was a blur, but there were plenty of good relics between the awesome coins. Of course I turned up a bunch of buttons including two really nice dandies and a great pewter.



There were also some buckle fragments, but no whole buckles this time:



The one on the right is the first dig fragment. I also eventually turned up the tongue piece and the broken tack buckle with the chape. The barrel tap key was a nice find since it's only my third ever:



I also managed to find two dropped pistol balls.



I think all the ones I have found before had been fired so these were a nice change of pace. I actually found quite a bit of melted metal blobs, some lead, but others of pewter and one of brass. Given the amount of coinage in the small area I wonder if this was a small-scale foundry.



There are two mystery pieces that I'm hoping people can help me with. The first is this strange brass ball. The metal is quite thin and there are no work marks or seams. I found out accidentally that it's bell metal and it has a very nice sound to it. The second relic is a small brass piece that looks to be quite old and is almost familiar, but I can't quite place it:



I still can't believe how much was in such a small space. I'm definitely going back, although there's not much rain in the forecast so I may have to wait until we get just a little and that way I don't ruin the grass. The ground was hard-packed dust and gravel and it's on a little rise so I don't think the ground ever stays wet for long and that's why the coins were so well preserved. It does make signal isolation hard and I plan on gridding with a couple of detector setting to make sure I don't miss anything. Also in the Fall when the grass flattens the site will more than double in size so I can't wait to get to that ground too. With so many firsts for me in such a small spot; who knows what else could be hiding!



Update

I played around a bit with lighting and managed a group shot of the coins. It's a little tough to get the detail on all seven to show at the same angle, but this one turned out okay with full sunlight.

[GB1]

very nice finds i'm voting banner for this awesome hunt

[xr7ator]

Fantastic TREASURE you have! Thanks for sharing and HH ALL.

[grasshopper]

Dude. Incredible.

You found more in one day than most people do in a year.

Fantastic finds. I want to comment on each individually but they're all really amazing.

Speechless

(I'm available weekends )

[Jeff H]

YOW! Great hunt. OK the 8 reales is awesome, but the VT copper is spectacular ! Congrats on day that will be tough to beat !

[CMDiamonddawg]

Two incredible coins , plus all the other good stuff , that's an amazing site !

[Steve in PA]

Amazing. It sure pays to know the right people. The Vermont and Connecticut coppers are stunning. The 8 reales is really neat too. They sure are big and heavy. Overall a banner hunt!

[Racso]

Congrats on the great hunt. That 8 reale looks quite nice. Hope you can keep hunting that place so we can see more amazing finds. Good luck

[DocBeav]

Absolutely stunning! What a hunt! You have my nod for banner as well!

[Shakakka]

I'm definitely going back

YA THINK!?!?!?!?!?!?

Congrats on a dream hunt! I never knew the edges of an 8 reale were so beautiful.

[pepperdawg]

5th'd (or whatever we up to now) call for the mighty Banner

Love the VT!

[paleomaxx]

I never knew the edges of an 8 reale were so beautiful.

Same here the 1 real I dug up a while back had a plain edge so I didn't think they did anything on the edges, but it's super cool with the different sized boxes; it's almost like a design you'd see in a Mayan temple.

[Steve in PA]

Was the property owner following you around while you dug? When I got my 8 reale, the property owner was watching my brother and I until he had to go in to eat dinner. That's when the 8 reale, 2 New Jerseys, some KGs and half cents started popping.

[paleomaxx]

Was the property owner following you around while you dug? When I got my 8 reale, the property owner was watching my brother and I until he had to go in to eat dinner. That's when the 8 reale, 2 New Jerseys, some KGs and half cents started popping.

He actually had just left to go into town when the 8 reales turned up, but I've been good and shown him everything from the hunt. I even sent him all the high resolution photos I've taken as well as a write up with descriptions for his records. He's super cool and it's the history that he's the most interested in, but I'm definitely going to be putting something together to give him as a huge thank you for the hunt. And he's already invited me back for as many digs as I want to do too!

[Rubka888]

Epic hunt! That Vermont is the nicest I have ever seen! Such great patina. And an 8 real? My mind is spinning! Thanks so much for sharing! Banner!