🥇 BANNER Beyond Epic Colonial Hammered Coin Cache!

[smokeythecat]

Or, perhaps call it a spill. How many coins does it take to make a cache anyway? A friend of mine has a nice colonial site which has been totally hammered for years and years and years. At the end of the year I got a HUGE iron signal on the XP Deus, and decided to go for it and dig it. Well, it was a nearly intact colonial hoe. Now that's something you don't see every day. It was about 15" deep. I noticed some shells and charcoal in the hole, so covered it over and determined to come back and dig some more. I did that a couple weeks ago (I really lose track of time these days). In the hole was a little piece of exquisite yet broken late 17th century Venetian glass. The ground was so muddy, and the cat so out of shape, I recovered that and a couple buttons and called it a day and covered the hole back in and left.

View attachment 1674974 View attachment 1674975 These are finds from then and the piece of glass.

Well, the ol' cat was just itching with curiosity as to what was in the hole? There was a lot more metal there, for sure. So my buddy Tommy couldn't go Friday, so I went by myself and started digging the same dirt out...now for the third time. The owner came by and said hi, and the sight of me sitting in what amounted to a mud pit with a newly found piece of the glass had to have him laughing for hours. Well, the first thing out of the hole, didn't want to come out of the hole. I keep prying and banging and banging and prying and finally this big iron thing plopped out of the side and into the bottom.

View attachment 1674976 View attachment 1674978 View attachment IMG_1535.jpg A side plate with frizzen to an extremely old flintlock gun! Amazing! But Wait! There's more! I found a few buttons, late 17th to early 18th style, and a few tiny buttons (which were not buttons) with no shanks. It's coming, hang in there. The oyster shells were huge. Check it out. View attachment 1674979 View attachment IMG_1536.jpg View attachment 1674980 That's my HAND holding it! Bigger than my outstretched hand they be!

Then some pipe stems started falling out of the sidewall, along with some ceramics. I was actually looking for the ceramics, and glass, I wasn't expecting much else. View attachment 1674981 View attachment IMG_1540.jpg View attachment IMG_1541.jpg View attachment 1674982 Redware, Delftware, stoneware, and a piece to a pancake onion bottle.

View attachment IMG_1545.jpg View attachment IMG_1546.jpg

View attachment 1674983 View attachment IMG_1539.jpg At that point I'm excited. I noticed another icky button (not a button) and a grey lead disc pop out, and put them in a pouch. Again, not a lead disc. When I quit, leaving the huge hole open, I started cleaning up stuff.

I had SEVEN HAMMERED COLONIAL COINS, TWO IN SILVER! From one tiny (but huge to me) hole! I had six, then a last one came tumbling out. Including the one, shown below, the old German one, that's EIGHT in 2019.

So Tommy and I went back Saturday (yesterday). The glass and ceramics had disappeared. We started finding "rocks" in a place that should have not had them, and we also detected after we got tired of the hole. Hidden in all my "stuff" were three little square pieces of metal. One was just a square little piece of metal, the second, a late 17th century to early 18th century brass hand made nut and the third - I couldn't believe it! A Spanish 1/2 reale cob! The first one I ever found! Actually these are pretty much firsts of everything.

I got 1 broken buckle, a nice 1575-1700 buckle, and from another spot a couple hundred yards away while just detecting a complete tombac button and broken late 18th century shoe buckle.

OMG! Thank you Lord! If this isn't the best day detecting and digging I have ever had, I do not know what is.

And to boot, one of the rocks looks like a sharpening stone, and the roundish rock I think is an American Indian game ball or other stone. Your comments appreciated. I have a lot more iron, I do not THINK I have the hammer to the gun, but one of those larger pieces looks really odd.

View attachment IMG_1547.jpg View attachment IMG_1542.jpg View attachment IMG_1543.jpg

View attachment 1674993 View attachment IMG_1551.jpg


I hope nothing is upside down. Iphones are not picture friendly for me.

The coins again: View attachment IMG_1531.jpg German 17th Century token or jetton and Charles I Shilling

View attachment 1675001 And since the other one won't load again, Two Charles I rose farthings, one Charles I Sixpence and a 1702-1728 Spanish 1/2 Reale cob, minted in Mexico City. Plus Another copper Charles I something or other.

I can't believe I dug the whole thing. I gave the shilling and token/jetton to Tommy. We only got 1 coin Saturday. Same hole.

SEVEN HAMMERED COINS IN TOTAL, ONE HOLE! View attachment IMG_1540.jpg View attachment IMG_1539.jpg View attachment IMG_1541.jpg View attachment IMG_1535.jpg View attachment IMG_1536.jpg View attachment IMG_1542.jpg View attachment IMG_1547.jpg View attachment IMG_1466.jpg View attachment IMG_1543.jpg

 

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[JerV3]

Congrats

Thats some really old coinage. Follow your hunches and they usually pay off.

Jeremy

 

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[smokeythecat]

I only have one picture that's not behaving. Tommy in the hole! It's on post #39, upside down. Maybe tomorrow. And just for fun, here's a picture of the cob on my fingernail! These coins were TINY!

 

[lairmo]

Congratulations Smokey!!! That is an AWESOME DIG!!!

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

So much awesomeness, hard to comprehend such a tremendous amount of history in that Cache! Congrats!!!

 

[smokeythecat]

Think on it: In one hole, site dating 17th into early 18th century, redware, delft ware, Venetian (or Bohemian) glass, part to an onion bottle, stoneware tavern tankard piece. Then: lock to an ancient flintlock (at least I determined it was not a wheellock, firelock or doglock), lead, lead and more lead, 17th century buckle and pieces, 17th and early 18th century buttons, clay pipe pieces some over 3" long, buttons! and a 300 year old whetstone! And a SOLID QUARTZ Indian game ball! I looked at it under magnification and the sucker is solid quartz, now how long did THAT take to make! Plus hand forged nails and on and on. Plus those little coins. Itsy bitsy coins. Tiny. Very tiny. Microscopic. Plus oyster shells bigger than my hand (like over 9" long), I think the minimum legal size to harvest oysters in Maryland right now is 3"! and I kept some of the 300 year old charcoal!

 

[P.ALLEN]

Banner

 

[lairmo]

Do you think trash pit with accidental coinage or possible privy that may yield a LOT more?

 

[Peyton Manning]

Time to boot the smokester

No one can keep up

 

[smokeythecat]

Lairmo, way back in the day, the colonists just threw the trash out the back door for the most part. They didn't have much trash. No McDonalds bags. Later they threw the trash in the privies, as privies could only be used so long then had to be moved. I have dug privies before, short term ones. The soil takes on a particular color at the two small privies I dug up. This was absolutely NOT a privy. On the east side of the hole, there is a 5" thick layer of ash and oyster shells 18 INCHES or so underground. So they did burn some trash here. There are some big non native rocks 3' underground at the bottom of the hole, but the trash does not go down that deep (or we really messed up). All the pottery was on the south and west side of the hole. Most of the buttons and coins came the first day on the south side of the hole, just ABOVE a peculiar yellowish clay layer over a foot thick that had NOTHING in it. I think there was a fire pit area on the west side of the hole and the rest of the items were deliberately tossed on the ground near the fire area. The best stuff was just above the fire level. The coins I think were in the dead center, with one exception. The hoe (still yet to be photographed) but now in the SINK was in the dead center of where we dug. I think if you could take 12" of dirt off, your machine would go berserk! I think on this site if we began a new hole just to the south or west of the current dig, we'd be in the good stuff again, however, I think most of the coins were pretty much together.

PLUS I located another one with a 4' probe. It hasn't been touched yet. Could be a gold mine, could be just an oyster shell dump.

 

[DirtDigginDan]

Absolutely epic hunt, congrats!!! You have my Banner vote!

 

[lairmo]

just wondering the circumference of the hole you dug? I might have missed it if you have already said...

 

[smokeythecat]

Look at post #39. It is upside down, I haven't figured how to "fix" it. Taken with an Iphone 8. Although we didn't measure it 4' across? I at first thought 3' but it had to have been bigger. There was enough room for both of us in the hole. It was so deep...how deep was it?...water was coming in from the bottom. At least it wasn't magma.

And Jeff-Gordon - I am now retired. The English translation of that word is dig dig dig dig dig.

 

[lairmo]

Thanks..for some reason I can only see about half of your pics...post 39 is one that says invalid attachment..I'm using MS explorer..maybe I should try it on Chrome or firefox...?

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Outstanding hunt...BANNER Vote In!

 

[smokeythecat]

Lairmo, I'm using chrome, but today has been a nightmare trying to respond to PM's and attach pics. I can see everything here. And FYI there are 17 pics in the first post.

My mom got me into archaeology. That was back in the 1960's. If she would have still been around to see this stuff, well, nuff said. On great occasion I think for a millisecond I'll call her and let her know what I found...oh well. Then I remember what century I'm in.

So let's see, since the first items were tossed at this place, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century and now 21st century. At least I am labeling everything by location at least. The better coins by type and date found.

I am going to reload all of the pictures into the big computer again this pm and see if I can load the Tommy in the hole picture correctly.

 

[Johncoho]

You have an awesome bunch of finds, Smokey. Congrats.

 

[washingtonian]

What the heck? This is crazy! Did you get hacked by CRUSADER? Haha, amazing stuff man. I think this is banner worthy!

 

[Red James Cash]

Smokey old crap eventually turns to clay,you just may be digging in a shallow one.also your lock could be a snaphaunce.

 

[Carolina Tom]

Awesome Smokey! Such a killer variety. You just dont see hammered coins around here. Wow.

 

[smokeythecat]

Washingtonian, I was also thinking only Crusader gets stuff this old. I'd to go across the pond and dig, but...

Red James Cash, yes, it could be a snaphause lock. I will be cleaning some more this pm. I'm going to start "picking" at it. A lot of the rust is loose.

That other odd thing which is also being cleaned could be part of a gun, but I don't really think so.