FIND OF MY LIFETIME!!! Are you ready for this??

JeffInMass

Silver Member
Jan 14, 2006
4,678
7,095
Cape Cod
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Minelab Manticore, Minelab Equinox 600, Minelab Explorer SE Pro, Explorer XS, Fisher CZ6A
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hi All!

Obviously, gotta tell the story first- I actually found this Saturday March 15, but have been shaking too much to type!

I started working with a new guy at my job two weeks ago. As we got to know each other, I told him about my hobby and asked him where he lived and he told me a pretty old nearby town. I asked if he knew of any old parks, etc. to hunt and he told me that his house was built in the 1700's, so of course I asked him if my hunting partner Mike and I could hunt it.

He agreed, and we decided to sell and split if we found anything significant. We planned on hunting this past Saturday, but of course it had to rain, like it does every Saturday (which is my only full day off of the week!), but since it was clearing up about noon-ish, we headed up.

BTW, I Google-earthed his house and it looked huge, and it appeared to have a large front yard bisected by a circular drive. We were both pretty psyched.

When we got there, we saw the front yard was much smaller than it appeared on Google. The back of the house was huge, but overgrown with pretty high grass, small trees and so on- not easily huntable.

I decided to do that front section and gridded it up and down. First few passes yielded 2 wheats, 2 Indians and an assortment of old junk. I was pretty much done with the yard when I got a signal that sounded silverish, and although it didn't repeat perfectly, sounded definitely good enough to dig. I was down about 8-10 inches when my next handful of dirt told me I had the coin. I checked the hole, nothing else, so in my bucket went the dirt. Mike was with me at this point and he sifted through the dirt- VOILA!

As soon as he lifted it, I swear I saw 1652. I thought- SHILLING. But as he turned it over a couple of times, it looked like a Spanish coin. I took it over to a nearby puddle, rinsed the dirt off and sure as s#$%, there was a Pine Tree staring at me. PINE TREE SHILLING!!!

I still can't believe it to this very second- it's in amazing shape and I'm sending it out to PCGS to be certified, then we're doing as I promised- selling and splitting.

The third pic is of the coin in a holder in my hand- just to prove (to myself!!) this actually happened.

If I never find another coin....................

HH all,

Jeff
 

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Upvote 9

CRUSADER

Gold Member
May 25, 2007
40,850
45,368
ENGLAND
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XP Deus II v0.6 with 11" Coil
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Gypsy Heart

Gold Member
Nov 29, 2005
12,686
339
Ozarks
If you never find another coin in your lifetime.... it wont matter!..... You hit the jackpot....congratulations!
 

rebelinmass

Jr. Member
Aug 3, 2005
59
0
Lunenburg,Ma
Detector(s) used
Ace 250, X-terra 70, sandshark pi, vibraprobe 560 and 580
Sweet, Sweet Finds. Way too go. need to post this on the Mass site.

Rebelinmass
 

Don in SJ

Silver Member
May 20, 2005
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832
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CONGRATULATIONS JEFF!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup: It looks to be in great shape and that is the dream find for anyone living in the New England area. Glad to see another one showing up........

Don
 

Baggins

Bronze Member
Jan 2, 2007
1,541
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TEXAS
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Amazing! That my friend is a find of a lifetime!!
WTG!
Baggins
 

Captn SE

Silver Member
Apr 1, 2007
2,774
13
Southern CA
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Minelab Explorer SE; X-1 Target Probe; Pro Coil, 6x8 SEF, Coiltek Platypus Elliptical, Sunray X8, Expl. 1050 coils
Wow, what an awesome find, Jeff!! I can just imagine how excited you must feel. :thumbsup:

You're going to sell it? I don't know if I could sell a precious coin like that. Could be thousands of dollars there!!

Major congrats to you! :hello2: This is a "BANNER FIND"!!!

Here's some history about the actual minting of the Pine Tree Shilling:

As early as 1650, the colony of Massachusetts Bay was a commercial success. But an inadequate supply of money put its future development in jeopardy. England was not inclined to send gold and silver coins to the colonies, for they were in short supply in the mother country.

Taking matters into their own hands, Boston authorities allowed two settlers, John Hull and Robert Sanderson, to set up a mint in the capital in 1652. The two were soon striking silver coinage-shillings, sixpences, and threepences. Nearly all of the new coins bore the same date: 1652.

This was the origin of America's most famous colonial coin, the pine tree shilling. The name comes from the tree found on the obverse. It may symbolize one of the Bay Colony's prime exports, pine trees for ships' masts. Massachusetts coinage not only circulated within that colony, but was generally accepted throughout the Northeast, becoming a monetary standard in its own right.

Why the 1652 date? Some believe that it was intended to commemorate the founding of the Massachusetts mint, which did occur in 1652. Others believe the choice was a reflection of larger political events. Coinage was a prerogative of the King. In theory, these colonists had no right to strike their own coins, no matter how great their need.

But in 1652, there was no king. King Charles had been beheaded three years previously, and England was a republic. The people in Massachusetts may have cleverly decided to put that date on their coinage so that they could deny any illegality when and if the monarchy were reestablished.

The mint’s first silver shillings bore simply the letters NE (for New England) on the obverse and the values XII (12 in Roman numerals), VI (6) or III (3) on the reverse. Easily counterfeited or clipped, these coins were quickly replaced by ones featuring a tree on their obverse. Three styles of trees were used over the thirty years of production: a willow (1652-60), an oak (1660-67) and, most familiar of all, a pine (1667-82).


HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan
 

rhedden

Sr. Member
Mar 23, 2003
363
451
Eastern NY
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Simplex
Wow, what a great find! Congratulations on an exciting recovery.

Some advice regarding submission to PCGS.... if they return it to you uncertified in a flip marked "environmental damage," then try NCS as a second choice for certification. PCGS is hit or miss with the early coins if they have been in the ground. Sometimes they will slab an early colonial piece with a little bit of corrosion or pitting, and sometimes they will not. NCS is the service used by Heritage and other major auction houses for colonial coins if they have some surface problems from burial.
 

Natman

Bronze Member
Jan 8, 2007
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Hazelwood, MO
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OH MY GOD !!! :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

When I read what you found I gasped..then I saw the pic and got goose bumps.

What a find! I had a replica of that coin when I was a kid, and even as an adult I could never think of EVER owning one of those, let alone finding one! It looks to be in awesome shape too!

Congratulations, :thumbsup:
Nat
 

chrisplay2004

Hero Member
Feb 28, 2008
679
70
New Mexico
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WOW...that is an awsome find... :thumbsup:
Parting would be hard for me... 8)
 

CRUSADER

Gold Member
May 25, 2007
40,850
45,368
ENGLAND
🥇 Banner finds
27
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
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Detector(s) used
XP Deus II v0.6 with 11" Coil
Primary Interest:
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I would find the best offer & give your friend half the money to keep it.
 

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