1844 Canadian Bank Token in Rural WV??

[chrisanddiane]

From the "you wouldn't believe it file" comes my wife’s 1844 token.
She had her grand-kids over and was trying to keep them outside by showing the older one how to use the metal detector in the front yard. She had dug a mess of newer pennies (that we know are there) when she got a weak signal about 6" down on her Ace250. She said when she popped it out she thought it was a washer and would have just chucked it in the trash if the kids wouldn't have been so excited by finding stuff.
When she brought it in she cleaned up the pennies and the 'washer' sat on the sink until I got home and noticed it. If the light coming through the window hadn't been just right I would have never noticed that the surface had a faint horseshoe shape. After some time with a toothbrush I was able to barely make out the words "Bank of Montreal" so I googled that and it's diameter (28mm) and found it was a half-penny and was produced in 1842 & 1844 with a fairly high number made in the latter (1.44 million). I am only assuming it's an 1844 as the date in illegible.
Just goes to show you never know what you will find, even in your own front yard. Oh, the real kicker when our house was built in the 80's they moved about 6' (as in feet) of dirt away from the area where she dug it. Strange? You betcha’.
Info about it here: http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces956.html

GaB

 

[jgas]

Been seeing a few of those lately. My Avatar is one of two I found last season. Yours is in great shape. jgas

 

[allen]

big congrats to your wife !!!

 

[Iron Patch]

Welcome to your new site!

 

[chrisanddiane]

Been seeing a few of those lately. My Avatar is one of two I found last season. Yours is in great shape. jgas

The second pic is from the web, to show what it looks like. The top one is mine (er...hers). It was barely visible when we found it but a little trick I figured out is making it much more visible. I'll post a pic of it tomorrow in it's current shape... much better than the prior pic.

GaB

 

[KYshooter]

I found one last year, as well. But mine was from the Bank of Upper Canada in Toronto. I dug it in the yard of a house built in the 1950's, of all places. The thing is as big as a half-dollar! Here are my equally bizarre pics:

 

[unclevinn]

hi im a mainer born and bred, except for a short time about a year we lived in martinsburg w.v. congrats to your wife on her find. a few years back i found a bank token from nova scotia. it has a man on the front and the back is in pretty bad shape. i was excited even though i couldnt get a date on it.... congrats again and hh unclevinn

 

[Mackaydon]

Uncle V: Does your token look like this?
http://cgi.ebay.ca/nova-scotia-bank...emQQptZUK_Coins_Tokens_RL?hash=item25592ef83c

 

[gmsparky]

I found one last year, as well. But mine was from the Bank of Upper Canada in Toronto. I dug it in the yard of a house built in the 1950's, of all places. The thing is as big as a half-dollar! Here are my equally bizarre pics:

i found an 1852 just like yours. mine is not in nearly that good condition. was told the banks made the money before canada was independent of england. not worth much, but they have dates on them, & we ALL love old coins. nice find !!!