1730 Counterfeit British Half Penny, Tombac Button and Little More

Bubba65 · May 31, 2013

Hi All,

I got out for a couple hours after work. I went to hunt the woods next to a field that has produced many 1700's coppers and Silvers. Anyway I was in the woods last week and got integral shank button. I sent an email to Don SJ and he confirmed it was a mid 1700's button or even could be a little earlier. So I hit the woods again today. I dug 1730 half penny fairly early in the hunt. I put it on my scale and it weighs 8.5 grams. I dug the Tombac button next. Then a little more junk and I do the pewter spoon bowl. Not to long after the spoon bowl I dug the little button which was a cool find have no idea what it is or how old it is. Last but not least I eyed the white thing that looked like a shell to me it had a pretty cool design, so I took a picture in the woods and then when I got home. I don't know if I am right on the shell idea or not so if anyone can confirm it that would be cool. Overall not a bad hunt today.

Bubba65

romeo-1 · May 31, 2013

Nice finds...the shell is nature's design!

Evolution · May 31, 2013

I love the pics of the copper coins fresh out of the ground. :love4:

That's a sight we all like to see. :thumbsup:

Congrats on the KGII. The counterfeits are more interesting than the regals in my opinion.

Wildcat1750 · May 31, 2013

Plenty of nice finds there. You have a great site!

CASPER-2 · Jun 1, 2013

vpnavy · Jun 1, 2013

Nice finds Bubba6.

CRUSADER · Jun 1, 2013

My non-dug Regal weighs 8.4g, so nothing unusual about that dug coin. A 1730 counterfiet would be outside of the norm & it looks fine to me.

Zodiacdiverdave · Jun 1, 2013

Some nice finds for sure, I really like the little wagon wheel thingy. I am not sure if it a button or from a kids toy, can you post up close ups of it?
You site has all the right signs of being a great area to hunt.
ZDD

Bubba65 · Jun 1, 2013

CRUSADER said:
My non-dug Regal weighs 8.4g, so nothing unusual about that dug coin. A 1730 counterfiet would be outside of the norm & it looks fine to me.

Thanks Crusader, I was going to just title it 1730 British Half Penny. Looked on a site that says they where more like 9.5 grams to be Regal, so that is why I went the counterfeit way. I also see Don agrees with you. That works for me either way. Thanks for correcting me on the half penny. I don't know how to change the tittle I would if I did.

Bubba65

Bubba65 · Jun 1, 2013

Zodiacdiverdave said:
Some nice finds for sure, I really like the little wagon wheel thingy. I am not sure if it a button or from a kids toy, can you post up close ups of it?
You site has all the right signs of being a great area to hunt.
ZDD

Thanks Zodiac I went with a button because the back has what looks like a shank broken off. I will post what pictures I have not sure if any better.

Bubba65 · Jun 1, 2013

I want to thank all for the good words and for looking.

Bubba65

JohnnyMac · Jun 1, 2013

Very nice finds

steelheadwill · Jun 1, 2013

Nice Finds! What did the half penny give you for a conductive reading ? Thanks, Herbie

CRUSADER · Jun 1, 2013

Bubba65 said:
Thanks Crusader, I was going to just title it 1730 British Half Penny. Looked on a site that says they where more like 9.5 grams to be Regal, so that is why I went the counterfeit way. I also see Don agrees with you. That works for me either way. Thanks for correcting me on the half penny. I don't know how to change the tittle I would if I did.

Bubba65

Don't worry, since we started this new forum you can't change the title anymore, something to do with it screwing up the references :dontknow:

Iron Patch · Jun 1, 2013

Could easily be counterfeit, not all were poor quality. That said, it's sort of like innocent until proven guilty... Regal until proven ctft..

Bubba65 · Jun 1, 2013

steelheadwill said:
Nice Finds! What did the half penny give you for a conductive reading ? Thanks, Herbie

Thanks Herbie I swing a 14 year old Explorer XS, the only year they put the 1/8 inch headphone jack on. It gave me a 27 reading which is right when I have dug other half pennies too.

Bubba65

Bubba65 · Jun 1, 2013

Iron Patch said:
Could easily be counterfeit, not all were poor quality. That said, it's sort of like innocent until proven guilty... Regal until proven ctft..

Thanks IP. Did the Regal ones come in not so perfect round shapes too?

Bubba65

Iron Patch · Jun 2, 2013

Bubba65 said:
Thanks IP. Did the Regal ones come in not so perfect round shapes too?

Bubba65

Usually the Regal ones were pretty good. For George II there was a lot of struck counterfeits as well as cast ones, which is different than George III where they were almost all struck. (A nice condition George III cast would be a fairly uncommon find) For George II the easy ctfts to pick out are the struck ones as they're often thin/underweight and have many small differences in the design as a result from being struck with a die that was not really close to matching a genuine coin. The cast counterfeits on the other hand which are often out-of-round, look much more Regal and the more obvious signs at first site tend to be the shape and metal used. Some are actually white or grey looking, probably from having some lead content. So with all that said what you might have is a cast counterfeit, but one made with a little better quality metal. I do have to question that because given the weight it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense from a counterfeiters perspective, but there's also non dug counterfeits that exist that are beautiful quality coins and over 10 grams... so you never know for sure.

Bubba65 · Jun 2, 2013

Iron Patch said:
Usually the Regal ones were pretty good. For George II there was a lot of struck counterfeits as well as cast ones, which is different than George III where they were almost all struck. (A nice condition George III cast would be a fairly uncommon find) For George II the easy ctfts to pick out are the struck ones as they're often thin/underweight and have many small differences in the design as a result from being struck with a die that was not really close to matching a genuine coin. The cast counterfeits on the other hand which are often out-of-round, look much more Regal and the more obvious signs at first site tend to be the shape and metal used. Some are actually white or grey looking, probably from having some lead content. So with all that said what you might have is a cast counterfeit, but one made with a little better quality metal. I do have to question that because given the weight it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense from a counterfeiters perspective, but there's also non dug counterfeits that exist that are beautiful quality coins and over 10 grams... so you never know for sure.

Thanks IP for all the information. Either way it is ok with me just trying to learn more about them. I have found a decent amount of half pennies from the 1700's, but I didn't have a scale to weigh them back then. So I thought that would be a good winter project to go back weigh them and give them a closer look. Thanks again for all the information and come winter time I may be knocking on your door for more information :laughing7:

.

Bubba65

Iron Patch · Jun 2, 2013

Bubba65 said:
Thanks IP for all the information. Either way it is ok with me just trying to learn more about them. I have found a decent amount of half pennies from the 1700's, but I didn't have a scale to weigh them back then. So I thought that would be a good winter project to go back weigh them and give them a closer look. Thanks again for all the information and come winter time I may be knocking on your door for more information .

Bubba65

Counterfeits are great, just too bad we seldom see the better stuff dug and posted. But as long as everyone keeps finding them we'll see something killer at some point. Feel free to write me anytime about your copper finds, I don't have all the answers (not even close) but have some good go-to guys if needed.