206 yr old, BIG!, foreign, SILVER in Northern California!!

JackalopeZL1

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Location
Tennessee And California
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030, Deus 2, Soon to be manticore
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Good Evening folks, Let me start off by saying I am freaking out right now, Literally, shaking and I never do that.:tongue3: So on to the story, I was at my friends house today hanging out like I have done for the last 20 years and he has about 10 acres of land. We are in a area that was a huge area during the gold rush here in Ca. I have always wondered about his pasture that the horses feed in. A few times over the years I have walked in the field and thought I should detect this sometime. The way the land lays I have always thought this would be a great spot for a old house. Right up the road is what is left of a rock building that was a stage stop on his neighbors property so that further made me think I should detect it. Not sure why it took me so long to do it?? lol

So today I told my buddy I was going to detect in the pasture and he said go for it. That was in the morning and I had my detectors but not my shovel and the ground was already hard even with all the rain we have had. I went home for a while, Watched my supercross races and went back in the evening with my trusty digging tool :) The grass is getting pretty tall in most of the field since the horses are not out there right now so I figured I would detect in the lower grass areas. About 45 minutes into the hunt of digging square nails I got a very scratchy sounding one way 97 on the Deus. I figured it was a can and almost did not dig. Matter a fact I started to keep going, got a couple feet past it and decided to go back and investigate again. The signal sucked but I decided to dig

I started to dig the hole flipped out a 4" deep plug, I immediately found a square nail and I swore under my breath like I normally do if I get fooled by iron. For the heck of it I put my pin pointer in the hole and found another nail or part of the original one. Pulled it out and checked with the pinpointer again. this time I was getting a slow beep in the bottom of the hole. At this point I stood up and used the dues to scan the hole again. But this time I was getting a banging 97 in all directions

I did not know what to think, I figured there was a big hunk of iron sounding off. I re-dug the plug this time going down about 8 to 10 inches and flipped the dirt out and when I did I saw what looked like a far rim in a dirt/rock clod.. Picked it up and saw a big rim with writing on one little section that was exposed. At this point I was thinking some kind of big old token? But figured it might be old so I put the hole clod in my pocket and walked to the house to clean it up..

I got to the sink and started hitting it with the water and quickly saw a unfamiliar face on the coin and saw 5 francs on the back. Rinsed a little further and saw 1811 and instantly starting shaking. this coin was heavy!!! It is a 1811 5 francs with a little wear so I figure it was dropped in the gold rush time!!

I am still freaking out that I found a monster OLD foreign silver in Northern Ca!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very Bummed I did not video but frankly It never crossed my mind while digging this to video.. I hope you guys enjoy this!!! And I am super happy I used the Deus today. I have a pretty good assumption the ctx would have nulled over this with the Iron in the hole :)















 

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Upvote 57
Great story! Great hunt! Great find! Thanks for the pics..
 

That is a big hunk of French Silver. Dates to the Napoleonic Wars too. I once dug a silver washed pewter counterfeit 5 Francs dated 1845.
 

Beautiful coin! Congrats on a great find. Much more likely to find a coin like that in a coastal state.
 

Thanks Mike! Find of a lifetime for this California guy:)
 

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