It aint over yet! This is nuts!

The Buzzard King

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Mar 29, 2005
643
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It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Sure enough, the day after I posted my year end totals, I go out today and find this. An 1889 Mexican 8 reale coin! I couldn't believe it!
When I first found it, it was completely black, and when I saw the eagle on the back I thought I found a Seated dollar or something. Then I somewhat recognized the rays on the front from when I was was researching reales when found my 1 reale coin in August.
I found this coin about 4 inches deep, on a hillside overlooking the Susquehanna river here in Northeast PA.
At first I thought is was holed, but it wasn't. Then I thought someone had tried to solder it into a necklace or something, so they wouldn't lose it. There was what I thought was a peice of solder in the hole near the date. When I got home I cleaned it enough to see the date, and put it between 2 pieces of wood and hammered it a few times to try to straighten out the bump on the backside, and knock out the peice of solder. Then I took it and showed it to a few coin buddies, and they informed me that it had been shot, and the peice I knocked out was the lead bullet! lol.
So now I'm assuming someone must have put the coin up in a tree or something and used it for target practice. I guess nobody picked it up after it was shot.
After I was informed that it probably didn't have that much value to it, I decided to clean it up.
The first 2 pics were taken right after I did a little cleaning to see the date, and popped the bullet out, and the 3rd and 4th pics are after I cleaned it the best I could.
Oh, and that's what's left of the lead bullet, next to the coin, in the last 2 pics.
Now I gotta put this in my Year end post!
Thanks for lookin'
TBK.
 

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Captn SE

Silver Member
Apr 1, 2007
2,774
13
Southern CA
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Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Wow, TBK, that's a big silver find!! How big is that Reale compared to a half or dollar?

I just replied to your year end post, and then saw you post this.
Congrats, on yet another silver and a big one at that!!

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan
 

BuckleBoy

Gold Member
Jun 12, 2006
18,124
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Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Captn_SE said:
Wow, TBK, that's a big silver find!! How big is that Reale compared to a half or dollar?

I just replied to your year end post, and then saw you post this.
Congrats, on yet another silver and a big one at that!!

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

Should be almost silver dollar sized! Wow! And an excellent job cleaning and restoring the coin. What you did to it is most certainly an improvement.

Bravo!

-Buckleboy
 

OP
OP
The Buzzard King

The Buzzard King

Hero Member
Mar 29, 2005
643
5
N.E.P.A.
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Fisher CZ-5, Fisher 1280-X
Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Captn_SE said:
Wow, TBK, that's a big silver find!! How big is that Reale compared to a half or dollar?

I just replied to your year end post, and then saw you post this.
Congrats, on yet another silver and a big one at that!!

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

It's the exact same size as a Morgan dollar. It's the biggest silver coin I've ever dug. I've Never got a Morgan or Peace dollar yet. I'm gonna try to hit this spot again tomorrow if I can. Maybe it was a regular target practice place!
 

patpall22

Sr. Member
Jul 4, 2006
436
174
Carmel ca/ Big Sur ca
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CTX 3030, whites DFX, XP DEUS, etrac and sandshark
Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

What a beauty. Never seen a Spanish 8-real before. Great find, WTG and definitely go back.

Pat Pall
 

Thomas007

Hero Member
Aug 29, 2007
505
1
Glouster, Ohio
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White MXT
Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Interesting they would use a coin that big for target practice.

Like you said " Maybe there are more from target shooting"

Hope you find a basket full

HH

Sanat
 

Bavaria Mike

Gold Member
Feb 7, 2005
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177
Bavaria Germany
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Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Nice find, congrats! HH, Mike
 

ModernMiner

Gold Member
Jan 9, 2007
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North Carolina
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Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Geez, who would shoot a beauty like that? Fantastic find TBK. Congrats to you.
-MM-
 

Leon

Silver Member
Jul 2, 2004
3,836
24
Indy
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Cz3d
Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Very nice find, Congrats!
Glad you could get back out,,
Continued good luck, & Happy hunting~
 

goldencoin

Gold Member
Sep 27, 2005
5,669
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Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

that was a great shot :)

HH
-GC
 

davesx

Hero Member
Aug 27, 2006
544
25
essex, england
Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

What beautiful coin, but I was horrified to read you took a hammer to
straighten it, that's a definite no no over here and would take away any
value it had.
The bullet hole and the bullet is part of it's history and should not be touched.
Just my opinion.
I'm sure there are more finds to come.

HH Dave.
 

WilliamBoyd

Hero Member
Sep 22, 2007
647
341
California
Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Is the coin legend "8R Go 1889 ..."?

It's possible that someone was throwing the coin into the air for someone to shoot at, and no one could find where it landed.

The scene of someone tossing silver dollars into the air to shoot at is used in many western films, including 1950's "Winchester 73".

There may be more "targets" there.
 

civilman1

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Nov 29, 2005
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Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

willieboyd2 said:
Is the coin legend "8R Go 1889 ..."?

It's possible that someone was throwing the coin into the air for someone to shoot at, and no one could find where it landed.

The scene of someone tossing silver dollars into the air to shoot at is used in many western films, including 1950's "Winchester 73".

There may be more "targets" there.
First thing that came to my mind :o ....Sweet....Don't count your chicken's before they lay that Spanish Reale
 

texan connection

Silver Member
Sep 3, 2006
4,560
79
Texas
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Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

Man thats a great story, and the spent lead to boot, I'd say pricless
 

OP
OP
The Buzzard King

The Buzzard King

Hero Member
Mar 29, 2005
643
5
N.E.P.A.
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Fisher CZ-5, Fisher 1280-X
Re: It ain't over yet! This is nuts!

davesx said:
What beautiful coin, but I was horrified to read you took a hammer to
straighten it, that's a definite no no over here and would take away any
value it had.
The bullet hole and the bullet is part of it's history and should not be touched.
Just my opinion.
I'm sure there are more finds to come.

HH Dave.

Yes, a couple people said I should have left the bullet right in it, (and now I kinda wish I did), but I didn't know it was a bullet until I showed it to them. :-[
As far as hammering it, I didn't strike the coin directly with the hammer. I just wanted to straighten it out a bit.
I put it between 2 small boards, (2 1/2' x 3/4'), and then hit it a few times. The wood was fairly soft, and hopefully absorbed any harsh impact instead of the coin. I don't think it affected the surface of the coin at all. After I did it, it left the indentation from the coin in the wood. So hopefully it's OK.
I've done this successfully a few times before with bent silver coins, so I figured it was OK.
But, you're completely right. I should have left it alone.
Hindsight................
 

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