Hendo0601
Sr. Member
- Jul 30, 2014
- 257
- 455
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab CTX 3030
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
My brother was visiting from Idaho and we decided to go hit a spot that we had hit together several times before along the South Fork of the American River in Northern California. We had both found incredible gold rush-period relics and coins on this site before so we knew there had to be something still left lurking. The day started out slow and stayed that way. The relics were coming in slowly, I found a pewter spoon bowl, a brass candle holder base, a cool hand forged hook, a trade hatchet, and a really cool bowl to a gold or opium scale. I thought it was a pocket watch cover at first but the three holes evenly spaced around the perimeter gave it away as being for a scale! Period trash was found in abundance, as well as some unfortunate modern trash from adventurous picnic goers and rafters on the river. Nothing gets your heart going than solid coin signals in a gold rush site only to pluck 7 modern pennies off the surface. That part was irritating it?s like they seeded the ground intentionally haha! It was a hot day and the sun was taking its toll and we were about to hang it up when I took one step to the left and swung and got a banging little high tone on my CTX and I brushed about a half inch of dirt away and there was this tiny little black disc, paper thin I mean PAPER thin. I hollered at my buddy that I think I did something and he came over confused asking what I did and I pointed and he knew too. I plucked it and with a little water and saliva was able to clean off the black schmutz enough to see that it was worn almost completely smooth but right there down at the bottom plain as day you could read 1784. 1784?!?! WHAT?!? With now incredibly shaky hands I was able to determine that it was a 1784 half reale of unknown origin because the reverse is too worn to see the mint mark. This was my first piece of Spanish silver ever, as well as my first 1700s coin ever so even though it?s tiny it takes up a huge place in my bucket list haha! I detected around for about 3 or 4 more minutes before I said I have to end my day on that reale haha!
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