I Found a Cache!!! But Why...WHY?!!?

[romeo-1]

I got out for a full day of detecting with a couple buds and our plan was to knock on doors and get on some new land. The first door knock was for an amazing looking site which had not been hunted and was old...and I almost convinced her to let us hunt. She did invite me back in a couple weeks so that she could think about it. No one was home on the next door knock but the third was a success...only problem was the sites had been detected before and they were pretty quiet today. Undaunted we hunted for a couple hours and after a bite to eat went searching for more new land. No one home on the next two door knocks so we threw in the towel and decided to hunt a site we had on standby...and I am glad we did.

After a quick chat with the landowners daughter we were off and hunting. I went right to the back end of the field where there is a patch we hadn't hunted much. At the bottom corner of the field I got a strange and deep signal. I dug it out and saw a cut copper in the dirt. I thought that was weird and checked the hole and saw more cut coppers! Then the first large silver came out and I knew I was on something good...and very strange! All of the coppers are 1864 New Brunswick One Cents! The Silvers are an 1854 US Half Dollar, a Victorian Half Crown, a Victorian Florin and a Victorian Shilling...all in the same hole and buried deep...below the plow line.

My question is why would someone cut up all of those coppers and bend and smash those silver and then bury them? Very strange...but despite the condition I could not be happier...everything is still easily identifiable so I am thrilled with that.

Also found a 1932 2 Ore and an1894 large cent in another part of the field.

Props to Iron Patch for assisting with the British silvers...I texted him from the field!

 

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[BARKER]

Hi; Back then that is how they made change. If something cost 1/2 Cent they would literally cut out a 1/2 Cent out of the penny. On the Silver. I don't know but maybe the person thought it would be worth more as scrap silver. Only thing I can think of. Good Luck. Nice finds. PEACE:RONB

 

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[Ahab8]

Romeo do you know anybody with a PI machine? As I said previously it depends how trashy that area is but this GPX I bought is stupidly deep. I would dig every little noise with the vlf machine and then try to get your hands on a PI machine.

 

[romeo-1]

Romeo do you know anybody with a PI machine? As I said previously it depends how trashy that area is but this GPX I bought is stupidly deep. I would dig every little noise with the vlf machine and then try to get your hands on a PI machine.

I'll start asking around. I'm going to dig out a large swath this weekend and see if that produces anymore targets...

 

[Benjamin52]

Wow, thanks for posting the story.. AlthoughI would also feel a bit sad about the condition of the coins I think it is still an amazing find and you did very well! Many people would like to find just any kind of cache! Keep up the good work!

 

[rue44902]

 

[Driftwoood]

Very nice find!... I've seen cut coppers, but I have no good guess as to why someone would do that to silver coins. It'll be interesting to see what else comes up from that site!

 

[romeo-1]

I just got back from them cache site and unfortunately I found nothing to add. I'm still convinced that there is more to be found so I'll be back there once the plow gets through...heres a final pic of all of the coins with the paired coppers. Thanks for looking and for the great comments and suggestions.

 

[Benjamin52]

I just got back from them cache site and unfortunately I found nothing to add. I'm still convinced that there is more to be found so I'll be back there once the plow gets through...heres a final pic of all of the coins with the paired coppers. Thanks for looking and for the great comments and suggestions.

If I were you I would go back and do this: Take a big shovel and dig a deep and wide hole exactly where you found the cache. Be sure to go really deep. Spread out the dirt from the hole and detect it very carefully! Good luck!

 

[Appalachianman76]

Wow!

 

[Z.K.]

That is one of the cruelest practical jokes I've ever seen the universe pull. But you handled it with aplomb. : )

 

[williedigit]

I got out for a full day of detecting with a couple buds and our plan was to knock on doors and get on some new land. The first door knock was for an amazing looking site which had not been hunted and was old...and I almost convinced her to let us hunt. She did invite me back in a couple weeks so that she could think about it. No one was home on the next door knock but the third was a success...only problem was the sites had been detected before and they were pretty quiet today. Undaunted we hunted for a couple hours and after a bite to eat went searching for more new land. No one home on the next two door knocks so we threw in the towel and decided to hunt a site we had on standby...and I am glad we did.

After a quick chat with the landowners daughter we were off and hunting. I went right to the back end of the field where there is a patch we hadn't hunted much. At the bottom corner of the field I got a strange and deep signal. I dug it out and saw a cut copper in the dirt. I thought that was weird and checked the hole and saw more cut coppers! Then the first large silver came out and I knew I was on something good...and very strange! All of the coppers are 1864 New Brunswick One Cents! The Silvers are an 1854 US Half Dollar, a Victorian Half Crown, a Victorian Florin and a Victorian Shilling...all in the same hole and buried deep...below the plow line.

My question is why would someone cut up all of those coppers and bend and smash those silver and then bury them? Very strange...but despite the condition I could not be happier...everything is still easily identifiable so I am thrilled with that.

Also found a 1932 2 Ore and an1894 large cent in another part of the field.

Props to Iron Patch for assisting with the British silvers...I texted him from the field!

Possibly a tradin post or camp site with a fur trading area

 

[romeo-1]

Possibly a tradin post or camp site with a fur trading area

Question remains though...why destroy the silvers in that fashion?

 

[Jason in Enid]

Question remains though...why destroy the silvers in that fashion?

We'll never know the answer, but I think the silversmith idea seems the most plausible. It's fun thinking about it and guessing either way!

 

[romeo-1]

While coping with the snow this morning I was inspecting some previous finds from this season and found that the smaller silver in this cache is actually a later George III Shilling...not Victorian. Bittersweet...

 

[romeo-1]

Mis-post...

 

[Tpmetal]

Im thinking it had to do with someone who sold or traded items and needed lots of change. Those coins look like they were bent to be broken. Maybe they didn't understand silver is softer and couldn't get a break in it and gave up after mangling it to much. other than that who the heck knows.

 

[DannyB.]

Man! I'd love to hear the story of how that came to be.. I bet it's a whopper.

Someone was angry at those coins!

 

[Tommy G]

I find a cut coin now and then, but some real coin-haters must have occupied that site at one time. But still, those are nice finds! Congrats.

 

[Doc Arey]

See this is the kind of stuff that drives me crazy,,,All Questions no answers. Congrats!