I'm Back...With My Best Coin Yet

[Brendan M.]

Hello everyone! Long time!

As some of you know, I moved off Long Island last year, and headed upstate; I'm just outside of Lake George these days, and have been working hard to learn the new spots and do the research. After some minor wins last year (1-pound cannon ball, handful of musket balls) it's been really heating up for me lately, and yesterday I made my best coin find to date.

I was hunting some pretty dense woods that run along an old military road here that was used during the French & Indian War, close to several battle/ambush sites. I got one of those weird hunches to turn left instead of right, and about two feet after changing direction I hit a nice dime-type signal with my DFX. It was really shallow -- only about an inch and a half -- so I used my hands to brush away the dirt (didn't even bother digging), so you can imagine my surprise when a pristine 1724F 2 Reale "Cross Pistareen" popped up!

The detail on it is pretty fantastic. Although I'd like to think it was dropped during one of the battles there in 1755, I just don't know if it would've withstood 31 years of circulation and still be in the condition it's in today. But at any rate, it's now the oldest silver I've found (prior record holder was my 1738 1 Reale Pistareen) and is tied with my 1724 Charles II halfpenny as my oldest coin overall. Not a bad day of hunting!

[Rich in Central PA]

Darn thats in nice shape. Had to have been dropped, and after all there years, just under the dirt. Amazing, nice find, congrats .........................Rich

[gmanlight]

A great piece of silver.

[worldtalker]

b, Now that is worth getting excited over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!God Bless HH Chris

[Iron Patch]

Won't be easy to top that one!

[FingerGrime]

That is a beautiful coin. Congrats!

[Mackaydon]

Great find !!
Segovia, Spain mint. One sold earlier this year for over $150; and yours looks better !!
http://www.coinarchives.com/w/lotvie...d0b71093f3579f
Don.......

[bookfisher]

Hey Brendan,

I'm trying to think of some great adjectives to describe you coin - but I'll just have to settle with incredible, fantastic and beautiful! I'm still looking for my first 2 Reale. Funny, just the other day I was going to contact you and see how you're doing, but I got distracted. That's a banner find for sure! Certainly a coin to be real proud of! With the cool weather coming now, you should be able to find more good stuff, especially with the vast amount of land to hunt up there.

[Palmetto]

Wow!
Congrats on a terrific coin.

Palmetto

[dirt doctor]

Nice going , that's one incredibly nice find !!

[CRUSADER]

Good looking coin.

I've never understood how the woods keep things so shallow, but they do

[shaun7]

Stunning coin

[Brendan M.]

Thanks everyone! Yeah you can imagine my shock and the ensuing exclamations I uttered. I was figuring it was a quarter from the 1940s dropped by a hiker or something.

Good looking coin.

I've never understood how the woods keep things so shallow, but they do

Crusader, my particular theory here is recent soil erosion. This was a sloping hillside, and there was some major flooding during the recent hurricane. That could account for a couple less inches of depth...

[JW15]

Oh WOW...That's a stunning pistareen!! Congrats! Now I have to go wipe the drool of my chin

[CRUSADER]

Thanks everyone! Yeah you can imagine my shock and the ensuing exclamations I uttered. I was figuring it was a quarter from the 1940s dropped by a hiker or something.

Good looking coin.

I've never understood how the woods keep things so shallow, but they do

Crusader, my particular theory here is recent soil erosion. This was a sloping hillside, and there was some major flooding during the recent hurricane. That could account for a couple less inches of depth...

Had 100 year items under the leaf litter on flat ground I could only think of replanting activity

[Brendan M.]

Thanks everyone! Yeah you can imagine my shock and the ensuing exclamations I uttered. I was figuring it was a quarter from the 1940s dropped by a hiker or something.

Good looking coin.

I've never understood how the woods keep things so shallow, but they do

Crusader, my particular theory here is recent soil erosion. This was a sloping hillside, and there was some major flooding during the recent hurricane. That could account for a couple less inches of depth...

Had 100 year items under the leaf litter on flat ground

I've had the same! Leaves are our friends.

[bookfisher]

My first thought when I read the post this morning about the shallow depth of the coin, was that it was found on an incline or a hillside. Brendan and I then spoke by phone earlier in the day, and I asked him was it found on a incline and he said it was. It's gotta be that recent rain and soil erosion brought the coin closer to the surface.

[umrgolf]

Wow Louis I 1year issue Very nice, wonder if Phillip V fell from power I've seen earlier and later dates with Phillip V, gonna have to google this one for sure

[Capt. Brad]

Awesome find!

[Tuberale]

Great coin!

I'm not surprised at the depth. As stated elsewhere, soils grow at the rate of about 1 inch per 200 years in most of the United States. 1.5 Inches sound just about right to me.