Spanish coins

[Cherokee65]

I have a question about a Spanish coin. A friend of mine lives in Glasgow, Missouri. He and his dad were removing an old cedar tree in his yard. When they dug up the stump and roots they found a large silver coin. If I remember correctly he told me it was about 3” in diameter. He did some research on it and said it was a “Spanish galleon(sp?)?” I’ve never heard of anything like that. Any ideas about it?

 

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[LandSeig]

Does he have pics?

 

[Mackaydon]

IMO, there is no such thing as a three- inch diameter Spanish 'galleon' coin.
As LandSeig requested, a pic should quickly get you a response.
Don....
PS: The description sounds like a souvenoir replica may be what is referred to.

 

[Cherokee65]

Does he have pics?

No, not that I know of and he didn’t show it to me either. He just told me about it. He just said that it was silver and about 3” in diameter

 

[Cherokee65]

IMO, there is no such thing as a three- inch diameter Spanish 'galleon' coin.
As LandSeig requested, a pic should quickly get you a response.
Don....
PS: The description sounds like a souvenoir replica may be what is referred to.

Yeah, he wasn’t known for telling the truth sometimes. I just wondered if anyone ever heard of such a coin. I know his neighbors found a lot of coins in the area. Glasgow is right on the Missouri River and back in the 1800’s it was used for barge traffic. A lot of people passed through that town.

 

[Mackaydon]

Did he say he was told the coin came from a Spanish galleon OR was the image on the coin a Spanish galleon.?
Don...

 

[villagenut]

When I was a youngster I had a big Indian head penny that was 3 inches across. They were for use as a paperweight or a coaster. Here are just a few examples I came across.

 

[villagenut]

Perhaps he made up the silver part.....and under a tree part.

 

[Cherokee65]

Did he say he was told the coin came from a Spanish galleon OR was the image on the coin a Spanish galleon.?
Don...

I think he said it came from a Spanish ship called a galleon.

 

[LandSeig]

It’s not completely impossible, Spanish coins are not super uncommon and were used as currency until the 1850s. Glasgow from the looks of it is on the Missouri River, so a lot of traffic. Not really sure about the 3” part, an 8 reale is around 1.5” or so I guess. Not sure if that is the largest coin, others on here would know exact sizes. All comes down to a guess without actually seeing it though.

 

[Cherokee65]

It’s not completely impossible, Spanish coins are not super uncommon and were used as currency until the 1850s. Glasgow from the looks of it is on the Missouri River, so a lot of traffic. Not really sure about the 3” part, an 8 reale is around 1.5” or so I guess. Not sure if that is the largest coin, others on here would know exact sizes. All comes down to a guess without actually seeing it though.

My thinking at the time was that a 3” coin would be a pain to carry around just because of its size. Over the years I’ve thought that he might have exaggerated the size. The largest coin I’ve ever seen is a silver dollar. To me those would be a pain to carry around rather that paper bills.