217 year old silver in Southeast Missouri!

[silversweeper]

Have been hunting the farm of a newly acquired friend over the past several months. It had an old 1800's homestead on it at one time so I knew there were goodies to be found. I have meandered over large parts of some of the fields and found a few small hot spots. No major finds really, though. On one of my recent hunts I found a small area that I figure must have been a camping spot for settlers close by an all weather spring. I had found several flat buttons and some small caliber round ball, a few 44 colt bullets, and some odds and ends. Headed back there today to hit it a little harder in the hopes of finding some coinage. Found several more buttons, none with designs on the face, a few small pieces of lead and that was about it. Was getting frustrated and decided to head up the long hill back to my vehicle when I hit that last signal.......turned out to be my first piece of cut Spanish silver! And a prayer that I had kept muttering off and on for something with a date to go with my button finds was answered. The cut silver has the last two numbers of the date '97, which makes it a 1797 cut 8 Reale! Awesome find for Southeast Missouri! I've decided to concentrate more on quality and old finds this year as opposed to a large number of silver. Heading back to the same property next week. Probably not many finds left in this small area but there are several more acres to hunt.
And if anyone has seen a HEAVY duty stirrup like this one, let me know. It was deep in the field. I rarely dig deep iron but I just had a feeling about this one. Am working on cleaning it up some but can't imagine subjecting a poor horse to having this thing slapping it in the ribs!!

 

[Dig-N-VA]

Nice finds

Man, i gotta get out and do some diggin tomorrow LOL


Dig-N-VA

 

[detroitdigger]

Cool finds!!!

 

[NoBootyYet]

pretty amazing haul you have there, thanks for sharing

 

[ggossage]

I don't know spanish silver, but just to clarify, are you sure it's not a 1797 piece? 1897 seems a little new.

 

[cott1300]

wow thats a good day there

 

[borntohunt460]

congrats! spanish silver has been on my bucket list since i started-----What range did it register at and how deep was it?

 

[Argentium]

Great find ! we know you miss typed the 1897 bit - What is the piece with the "Great Seal " eagle motif on it ?

 

[silversweeper]

I don't know spanish silver, but just to clarify, are you sure it's not a 1797 piece? 1897 seems a little new.

Yes, I meant 1797. Hit the wrong key and then had to put my toddler to bed so did not realize that I had put in the wrong date until I was otherwise occupied.....

 

[silversweeper]

congrats! spanish silver has been on my bucket list since i started-----What range did it register at and how deep was it?

I divided my time today between my CTX and Etrac. Was hunting with the etrac when I hit the silver. It was about 7 inches deep and registered 12-42 with a little bit of bouncing around on the numbers because I was hunting wide open, manual sensitivity of 27 and using the 13 inch Ultimate coil. Finds in this area were mostly shallow. Even found one flat button laying on the surface! Very strange as the soil here is wet, soggy wet, most of the year. The buttons were anywhere from a few inches to 10 inches deep. The area has been farmed but probably not plowed deep except seldom because of the soggy soil. Surprisingly most of the finds were right in the wet area along the bottom of the ridge. Hardly anything up on the dry side of the ridge. Guess the settlers/travelers were camping right up close to the spring there.

 

[silversweeper]

Great find ! we know you miss typed the 1897 bit - What is the piece with the "Great Seal " eagle motif on it ?

I'm not real sure on that Great Seal piece. It is obviously post Civil War. Was found along the creek on the property and about 8 inches deep. It was either a fob or keychain piece. The bail was broken off. On the back is stamped "Genuine Bronze" but you can barely read it, took me a while to figure it out. I thought maybe it belonged to the present owner who was in the Marines in the Korean war but he says it wasn't his. Great old guy. I wish all property owners were like him!!!!

 

[Qball]

If you have not tried two tone ferrous on the e-trac I suggest you go over the area again. I found an 1868 seated half dollar two weeks ago in an area I had previously pounded with conductive mode. Just saying.

 

[screwynewy]

Congrats on a great day of digging. Pretty lucky to find the one piece of that cut Spanish Reale that had the date on it.

 

[silversweeper]

If you have not tried two tone ferrous on the e-trac I suggest you go over the area again. I found an 1868 seated half dollar two weeks ago in an area I had previously pounded with conductive mode. Just saying.

Thanks for the tip, Qball, but TTF is all I ever hunt with on the etrac. Don't think I have ever switched since I got used to it. In fact, I use the etrac in TTF with wide open screen and high sensitivity pretty much every where I hunt with it. I even go over areas I've hit with my CTX/stock coil and find things that I missed. Am saving for the big coil for my CTX, though. Am anxious to see how it stacks up against my etrac and the Ultimate coil then!

 

[treblehunter]

Very cool silver

 

[SilverDreams]

Awesome silver!

 

[Sooper Dave]

Awesome cut piece of 8! And a lot of nice relics you found there! Keep hitting it hard more old finds will come up, and you got some great machines to hunt with!

 

[silversweeper]

Congrats on a great day of digging. Pretty lucky to find the one piece of that cut Spanish Reale that had the date on it.

Did I mention that I had just picked up a crusty old horseshoe?? Didn't really want it, just thought it would be bad luck to leave it there......lol.

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

Well Done great Missouri digs , reminds me of someone who left here a while ago

 

[Stan_the_Man]

Great find im frm the lake of the ozarks and ive yet to find something that amazing!