300 year old coin found in Northern Il.

Merf · Jun 19, 2009

I had an hour to kill late yesterday afternoon and with few spots left to hunt I went back to a very trashy 1800s site. Started digging every signal except iron and got lucky.
I dug the beat up indianhead first and after digging lots of trash I got a steady 50 on the VDI and dug up this Chinese coin. I posted it on the What is it forum and was almost floored when Mackaydon and Fast Dave IDed it as a coin from the Ming Dynasty 1662 to 1722. Thanks Guys.

""""Lower image resembles Emperor SHENG TSU
AD 1662-1722
reign title: K'ANG-HSI, AD 1662-1722
"BOO YUWAN" (Board of Works mint). The Manchurian mint name translates to Pao-yuan or "The Source of all Currency".F $2.00 VF $3.50
Scroll down to "S1422"

Don.......

Source:http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/china/china8.htm """"

I put it in the tumbler for 1/2 hour and it cleaned up well.
It is not worth much but it is sure a thrill to find a coin that old.
Best luck my friends. :hello:

jgas · Jun 19, 2009

What's next....Romans in Illinois? Wow...That is a cool find.. Congrats..jgas

Merf · Jun 19, 2009

jgas said:
What's next....Romans in Illinois? Wow...That is a cool find.. Congrats..jgas

Thanks J-------It was a shocker as this area wasn't settled til about 1800.
Might have been a family keepsake.

Lookn4Seated · Jun 19, 2009

Once again...Great find! I always look forward to your posts, because you never know what your going to find! Congrats!

makton · Jun 19, 2009

Merf,
I too always look forward to your posts. You aways seem to find some amazing stuff for N. Ill.
Keep em coming!!!

Makton

HomesteadHunter · Jun 19, 2009

Nice find, odds are it was carried by a Chinese immigrant who was in the area during the railroad boom. It was very common for the immigrants to be used as laborers, and they brought their coinage with them. I'd say it was more than likely dropped in the 1800s, when they were busy working. Last year, I found a pair of identical cash coins at a spot very similar to the one you described. I found out later that their was a railroad that used to run thru the area. Like I said, nice find. Its a genuine 300 year old coin, and its in good shape to.

James.
Homestead Hunter.

dwayne sueno · Jun 19, 2009

cool!

found this on one of my favorite md'ing websites (metaldetectingworld) maintained by metal-detectorist supreme sergei in upstate ny:

"The Chinese coins ended up in the US in big quantities in mid-1800s. The explanation for that is very unusual. The American merchants started importing the woven baskets from China around that time. The center-holed coins were attached to the baskets for decorative purpose."

perhaps, perhaps... dwayne

Corpsegrinder · Jun 19, 2009

Nice find.. Where could one find more inforation on the rock tumbler cleaning method? Curious to see how that works..

maceman66 · Jun 19, 2009

I have dug 3 or 4 of those in Iowa, i was told them same thing, they were used for decorations on sewing baskets etc and were used when the dynasty was changed and the coins became worthless!!

Bruce Ct · Jun 19, 2009

It's interesting how these turn up now and then. My guess is that alot came from random sea trade years ago and many came back during WW2. I've found a few individual ones in the past and I also found a cache of them a few years ago. I was hunting in back of a late 1700's house in Ct - found a lc and a few silver dimes. I also found about 9 of the Chinese in the same general location. On my 2nd try in that area I located another Chinese and as I kept rechecking the hole, I kept getting more readings and more Chinese coins. Long story short I took a spade to the hole location and wound up with 77 Chinese (various sizes) and one Japanese. All ranged in age from mid-1700's to early 1800's. They were probable originally buried in a cloth sack or something. I'd love to know the "story".
It's stuff like this that drives "nuts" like us isn't it?
Bruce in Ct

wyattrr · Jun 19, 2009

Nice Score Merf...WTG!!! :thumbsup:

civilman1 · Jun 19, 2009

Hey Merf.......Want to trade WISH LIST

Too Cool Congrat's!!

Merf · Jun 19, 2009

Thanks Jon :thumbsup:

Thanks Makton :thumbsup:

Merf · Jun 19, 2009

HomesteadHunter said:
Nice find, odds are it was carried by a Chinese immigrant who was in the area during the railroad boom. It was very common for the immigrants to be used as laborers, and they brought their coinage with them. I'd say it was more than likely dropped in the 1800s, when they were busy working. Last year, I found a pair of identical cash coins at a spot very similar to the one you described. I found out later that their was a railroad that used to run thru the area. Like I said, nice find. Its a genuine 300 year old coin, and its in good shape to.

James.
Homestead Hunter.

Thanks James :thumbsup:

Merf · Jun 19, 2009

dwayne sueno said:
cool!

found this on one of my favorite md'ing websites (metaldetectingworld) maintained by metal-detectorist supreme sergei in upstate ny:

"The Chinese coins ended up in the US in big quantities in mid-1800s. The explanation for that is very unusual. The American merchants started importing the woven baskets from China around that time. The center-holed coins were attached to the baskets for decorative purpose."

perhaps, perhaps... dwayne

Thanks Dwayne :thumbsup:

Very interesting facts :read2:

I never would have thought of that.
The farmstead was owned by a widow in 1871.
The basket thing is very possible.

Merf · Jun 19, 2009

Corpsegrinder said:
Nice find.. Where could one find more inforation on the rock tumbler cleaning method? Curious to see how that works..

Thanks Corpsgrinder :thumbsup:

I use a harbor freight tumbler---2/3 full of white aquarium gravel, fill with water to about 1/2 inch below the gravel, add 1/2 OZ of white vinegar.
I tumble and check the results every half hour.
It works great on large cents and tokens.
The indian heads shown came out of the ground in good shape. [sandy soil]
I just scrubbed them lightly with a toothbrush and a bar of lava soap.
Most indian heads I find are crusty and in bad shape.
Usually tumbling improves them but not always.

Merf · Jun 19, 2009

Thanks Wyattrr :thumbsup:

Thanks Civilman1 :thumbsup:

I spend a lot of hours in the fields.
Love this hobby :hello2:

silverfreak · Jun 19, 2009

Wouldn't 'ya like to know the history of that thing? :icon_thumleft:

wonder how in heck in ended up in No. IL??

cool find indeed :headbang:

Merf · Jun 19, 2009

Bruce Ct said:
It's interesting how these turn up now and then. My guess is that alot came from random sea trade years ago and many came back during WW2. I've found a few individual ones in the past and I also found a cache of them a few years ago. I was hunting in back of a late 1700's house in Ct - found a lc and a few silver dimes. I also found about 9 of the Chinese in the same general location. On my 2nd try in that area I located another Chinese and as I kept rechecking the hole, I kept getting more readings and more Chinese coins. Long story short I took a spade to the hole location and wound up with 77 Chinese (various sizes) and one Japanese. All ranged in age from mid-1700's to early 1800's. They were probable originally buried in a cloth sack or something. I'd love to know the "story".
It's stuff like this that drives "nuts" like us isn't it?
Bruce in Ct

Yes it is a great hobby, I compare it to fishing in a lake with 1000 different kinds of fish.
Hunting the old field sites is like Musky fishing, You might not find a lot but what you do find can be quite impressive.
I have found several foreign coins. Until now my oldest was this 1751 Swedish 1 OR coin.