1600s French Billon Coin, Pewter Britannia button

[Ahab8]

This morning I woke up to see my buddy Oxbow had found his 3rd Mass silver. My hats off to you sir. That's a hell of an accomplishment. I checked the weather and realized it was a poor day to ask the guys to get on a roof. It was supposed to rain hard around mid morning. So this gave me a rare day off. I tried to think of a close by site that had finds early enough to possibly have a Mass silver hiding in the dirt. This was a direct affect of seeing a tree coin posted. So I went to a site that's given up a few 17th century buckles and pewter buttons. I put my new 12x15 sef coil on and hunted an area that I've hunted the hell out of. I got a mid 60s signal and pulled out some weird wafer thin broken black disc. Thought absolutely nothing of it. I continued the hunt and found a pewter button....then the rains came. So home I went. I emptied out my finds and decided to rinse the the little disc just in case. A bit of the black came off and it sure looked silver. So I lemon juiced it to try to soften up the black gunk. A bit more came off and wow I could see XIII. Then I could see pellets that looked like a Mass silver. The I saw LAN and though it was for sure a Mass silver. Then I saw a crown and then LVD. Now I have no clue what the hell it is. So I text a pic to Bill and Brad. Bill sees a fleur de lis and says French silver. I had to go get new brakes on my truck but when I got home I was able to clean it enough to see a bit of detail on the back. Finally about ten minutes ago with assist from Brad and Bill I stumbled on a 1693 French Billon coin. My pics aren't oriented correctly and I'm too damn tired to fix them. Unfortunately the date portion is broken off but I'm pretty sure this is my 3rd 17th century silver. The pewter button looks to have the Britannia reverse on it. Pretty good for a very short hunt. This sef coil seems to be pretty darn good
I cannot explain the LAN outside the beaded border. But I swear it's there. It's not easy to see in the pics

 

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[doninbrewster]

Ok thanks bud that makes sense. I thought for sure it was a Mass silver when I first started cleaning it. All I could see was the beaded edge and what looked like LAN. But it was so darn thin. This thing is thinner than paper. Scary to even touch it

Great save. That's the problem with billon coinage, they are paper thin. You might try a note to Taltahull on this forum. He's from France and has found many billon coins on his trips back.

 

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[Bill D. (VA)]

I know you were hoping for Mass. silver Abe, but in a way this is a more interesting and unique coin. Had a ball trying to figure out its identity, and I'm glad that mystery has finally been solved (I think ). Killer find man!

 

[Iron Patch]

 

[Don in SJ]

Great save. That's the problem with billon coinage, they are paper thin. You might try a note to Taltahull on this forum. He's from France and has found many billon coins on his trips back.

So true Don about paper thin, my son found a 1590s Douzain years ago and it was previously dug(in the spilled dirt area of an old dig) by either me or my son on an earlier hunt and not either found or the reading made us give up, it read almost in the aluminum foil range.....

 

[curtislandry1963]

Congrats awesome find!!!

 

[Captain Caveman]

Wow! That's incredible! Congratz!

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrats Abe. Very nice find, and shiny too!

 

[Ahab8]

Just to show how thin this is here's a couple of pics. It's like tin foil. It's really scary to even touch it. I'm 98% sure a small piece broke off when I picked it up. But I literally thought it was junk. It was covered in black crap and just too thin to be anything.

The other coin is a real which is none too thick itself but much thicker than the billon

 

[Iron Patch]

Just to show how thin this is here's a couple of pics. It's like tin foil. It's really scary to even touch it. I'm 98% sure a small piece broke off when I picked it up. But I literally thought it was junk. It was covered in black crap and just too thin to be anything.
[ATTTACH]
The other coin is a real which is none too thick itself but much thicker than the billon
[ACH]

Now how much will you shake your head when you hear someone say they are a coin hunter and only dig coin signals at old sites. One of these on edge can range from foil right down to the detector not even seeing it.

 

[Ahab8]

Now how much will you shake your head when you hear someone say they are a coin hunter and only dig coin signals at old sites. One of these on edge can range from foil right down to the detector not even seeing it.

This was missed with my 12" coil. Strangely the big SEF picked it up. But it rang up low 60s where most any other silver coin is in the 80s. It's pretty mind blowing. I actually get excited at the old sites when I get a low number. Hoping it's a pewter or Tombac button. Maybe a Rev War some day. I hope these people continue to only dig high tones. I'll take the rest

 

[Iron Patch]

This was missed with my 12" coil. Strangely the big SEF picked it up. But it rang up low 60s where most any other silver coin is in the 80s. It's pretty mind blowing. I actually get excited at the old sites when I get a low number. Hoping it's a pewter or Tombac button. Maybe a Rev War some day. I hope these people continue to only dig high tones. I'll take the rest

Yep. BTW... I have dug a few of these, one really nice one. It's one of my favorite coins, oldest coins, and on top of that was found where my ancestors settled. I dug it in 2005.

 

[Jyverb64]

Very very cool, congrats

 

[mangum]

Awesome coin & very interesting button! I would love to find a coin that old!

 

[Steve in PA]

Interesting finds Abe. Never seen either of them before.

 

[Iron Patch]

It's funny about the button... I've never seen any, and then two posts in the same week.

Check these out.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/g...a-button-please-help-history.html#post4917742

 

[Iron Patch]

My French Douzain/15 Deniers. (with countermark)

 

[joeyfresh]

What a killer coin Abe and thank goodness there are knowledgeable people on here because your slow ass wouldn't have figured that one out [emoji6]. That would have been a tough one to find if it were was masked. This is why I walk and swing at a snails pace and dig every blip.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

What a killer coin Abe and thank goodness there are knowledgeable people on here because your slow ass wouldn't have figured that one out [emoji6]. That would have been a tough one to find if it were was masked. This is why I walk and swing at a snails pace and dig every blip.

Yeah, you are pretty slow . BTW - I tried calling you today. Guess you were too slow to answer ... ha!

 

[Mr. Digger]

Another amazing rare coin posted! Just an awesome find. Congrats!

 

[Ahab8]

My French Douzain/15 Deniers. (with countermark)

Wow that's a beauty man. Prob the best part of finding this has been all of the education I've gotten on em. Pretty darn cool for sure