My first REALE!!! Never thought that was possible in Missouri!

[Joshc5]

Wow still shocked got a Carlos IIII half reale today along with some more early buttons and a shoulder epaulets.
Any ideas on the date? I believe the last number is a 9 but cant see the first 3 letters.
Also wasn't sure about the star its some sort of pin.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[Prairie Prowler]

Super find/s ..congrats.. I was on cloud nine when I found mine..

 

[Tin Foil]

Absolutely fantastic find! Not to mention you found it here in the midwest! I found a counterfeit pewter Mexican reale in a field recently, but I'm still waiting to find the reale thing. Can you tell us a little about the site? --Tin Foil

 

[el remolino]

Way to go. You'll be smiling for a week!!

 

[silversweeper]

Oh there's plenty of Spanish here in Missouri, but they are definitely elusive. Congratulations on finding yours. They tend to spoil you for newer silver. After a few Spanish, it's hard to get quite as excited as before over a Mercury when one pops out. I'm up to 5 Spanish in SE Missouri and am hoping to hit a few more this year yet. I can remember almost exactly, to within a few inches probably, where I found each and every one of them! (And thanks to good records....even the date of the find). We have to remember that our state was part of the Louisianna purchase. Before that time, most of the state was traded back and forth between Spain and France. Lots of Colonial history here, just hard to find sites that old which haven't been built over. Look for farms in your area that had homesteads on them, particularly around springs or fresh running water.
GL and HH.

 

[ggossage]

If you can get some of the detail on the reverse, you can figure out the date range. Do some internet searches on spanish silver to find out the mint marks, then, since you know it's a Carolus IIII, you should be able to nail down a date range. My dateless Carolus IIII one reale is from the Mexico mint and has to range between 1801-3 according to the reference book. Good luck!

 

[vpnavy]

 

[Mackaydon]

If the last digit is a '9' and it's a 1/2 R of C IIII, then the date is 1799 since the series was from 1790 to 1808.
Don.....

 

[park pirate]

Awesome..

 

[ModernMiner]

Congrats on your first reale. Great recoveries there.
-MM-

 

[Steve in PA]

Oh there's plenty of Spanish here in Missouri, but they are definitely elusive. Congratulations on finding yours. They tend to spoil you for newer silver. After a few Spanish, it's hard to get quite as excited as before over a Mercury when one pops out. I'm up to 5 Spanish in SE Missouri and am hoping to hit a few more this year yet. I can remember almost exactly, to within a few inches probably, where I found each and every one of them! (And thanks to good records....even the date of the find). We have to remember that our state was part of the Louisianna purchase. Before that time, most of the state was traded back and forth between Spain and France. Lots of Colonial history here, just hard to find sites that old which haven't been built over. Look for farms in your area that had homesteads on them, particularly around springs or fresh running water.
GL and HH.

Good advice on how to find the earliest homesteads. Regarding the Spanish, remember too that Spanish silver was legal until 1857 and during the 1830s there was more Spanish silver circulating than there was US silver. When you see a Spanish silver with that much wear on it you have to figure it was lost well into the 1800s.

 

[Steve in PA]

Nice group of finds and congrats on your first Spanish silver. May your next one be a beauty!

 

[Tigger]

Fantastic find. Replying to your star pin question, I believe you have a membership star for the Girl Scouts - represents one year of membership - scroll down on this site for the ones on khaki fabric to see the older version.

Girl Scout Girl Level Pins

 

[cjon455]

Thats a really (no pun intended) nice reale , congrats!!