"She" was a "He", and it didn't say Liberty

[Michellets]

I have been searching for that early coinage for a while now, and have had plenty of luck finding all kinds of copper coinage, but the early silver has eluded me. I still had hope though, and spent the late afternoon in the bush and heat. I finally had a good signal on the Ace and dug a wide plug......the result was this 1791 Bolivian 4 reale . When I came home I tried in vain to get a basic value on it, history, or find other examples of it but couldn't find anything like it. I believe it is Bolivian. Anyone have any info on it? BTW, it is also my oldest silver to date and I am a happy dirt fisher.... HH M.

[MT]

Very, Very nice.
HH,
MT
Tom

[stoney56]

Yes it's from Bolivia.
http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=nmc2/24-72&desc=Bolivia%20km72%204%20Reales%20(1791-1809)

KM# F VF XF ASW
72 60.00 175.00 350.00 0.3899

[Merf]

Congrats on that good looking 4 real

[Goldiver]

Wow! Sweet 4 Reales!

Steve

[BuckleBoy]

That coin is a Beautiful example--it should grade at least F-12, if not higher (I don't know a thing about grading non-U.S. coins--but if you can still read some of the inscription on the drapery on the reverse of the coin, it's a nice one in terms of condition.) I wouldn't be surprised if this were more than a $150 coin.  It's a far cry from the old, beaten, worn-smooth Reales we usually find. 


Well Done!

[treasurefiend]

Awesome find!!!

BANNER FIND!!!

[Bartman]

*cough* Banner. Amazing coin in amazing shape!

[time4me]

That's a beauty! Nice job!!

[stillgottawork]

Great find......hope you get more..........

[eathan]

Wow! That's an amazing find! Congrats on the banner!

[ModernMiner]

Holy smokes!!!
What a fantastic old coin. Congrats on your find & making banner.
-MM-

[Michellets]

I woke up this AM to see if there was any info on the coin and was greeted by the picture of the 4 Reale in the banner.... Thanks Guys!! Does that make me a queen for the day? And also thanks for some info on the coin. It does show some wear from being in the ground. It took about 36 hours of hard looking at the area where I found it, and it was deep. I was very relieved to get permission from the owner to detect at the sight (even that took a bit of searching and perseverance) and have found more than 16 copper coins in that area with the newest one being a 1820 large cent and the oldest being a George II. Here's the previous post on this sight:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.p...,163391.0.html
Yesterday I put my Ace in "all metal" mode and anything that even remotely rang as anything other than iron was dug (got some nice relics and a mound of flat buttons . I was thoroughly determined to get that Early American silver that dreams are made of..... after my usual prayer consisting of asking (begging) for that draped bust silver. After all I had sacrificed and suffered for hours under the hot sun, dug hundreds of holes, and been bitten by countless bugs in this place, if anyone deserved some early silver it was me. I was into detecting for about an hour when the detector sounded off. It was obvious there was something silver in the ground and dug about the biggest plug of dirt I ever dug. It was a total relief/surprise to finally see silver and feel that my hopes, persistence, and hard work had paid off.....
HH M.

[Iron Patch]

That's a super find. I sort of did the same thing when I started detecting. I was having some good success on coppers and buttons, but the silver just wasn't showing up. A coin like that was just a dream and something I never thought about, or expected. Off to hunt one day my friend and I hit a field we had found a few old goodies but on this day there just seemed nothing to be found. 20 minutes into the hunt without getting a single target we had given each other the "get out of here" glance, but for some reason just kept on swinging. It was at that point I thought to detect along a small creek on the side of the field and hit a signal, assumed just a piece of junk but to my amazement out popped a 1777 8 reale. It must have been in a fire because one side was near destroyed but man what a rush! I made my poor friend guess what I had found.

You'll never forget that day but guess what, youll have many more like it. Not necessarily big Spanish silver but at the old sites there are plenty of finds that can rival it. For the record it is much more difficult to find a 4 reale than an 8.

[dgaughan]

fantastic find congrats on the banner as well

[N.J.THer]

Congrats on the silver and the banner. The coin is in excellent shape and you should be very proud that all your hard work has paid off so well.

NJ

[romeo-1]

Nice find! A 4 reale is the rarest of the milled reales. Like Iron Patch my very first old silver coin was an 8 reale...

[X-Terra70_TreasureHunter]

Hi heres some research links about your Find

http://www.archontology.org/nations/..._1700_1808.php ...Spains Head Of States
http://www.bolivian.com/cnm/ciiifvii.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_IV_of_Spain
http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColC...-milled.2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currenc...panish_America
http://coins.ha.com/ .... you can reseach old coinage here
http://www.search.com/reference/Charles_III_of_Spain
http://www.coinsite.com/content/articles/Spanish.asp

[rodgerdodger]

Very nice find and congratulations.

[Detectingfreak]

Holy COW! I have never heard anyone finding such an old coin with an Ace 250!! That machine is not as expensive as the SE and if you have old area's around your town..I guess it seems to get the job done!

Thats truley fantastic! CONGRATULATIONS ON THE BANNER!!!