🥇 BANNER BUCKET LISTER!! LESS THAN 100 KNOWN!! $5 GOLD HALF EAGLE DUG!!

[Cal_Cobra]

Tom(CA) and I have been working a site that we found from hard work and research and it's produced several 1850's - 1860's seated coins, and some rogue early 1900's coins, as well as a variety of period relics.

We tried to get one more trip in before Old Man Winter completely shut us down, and it did in fact shut us down, but not before I finally, got something I've been looking for for a long time, and after watching others find them over the years, I was starting to think it would never happen.

Well it finally happened, and it turned out to be a good one, an 1865 San Francisco minted Liberty Half Eagle!!

Here she is out of the hole:

Here she is rinsed off:

Here's a video of the hunt:

Here's a bit of background on the coin from PCGS:

Less than 100 known, Mintage: 27,612

Although the mintage of the 1865-S is quite a bit higher than the mintages of the S Mint Half Eagles from 1858 to 1864, it compares in overall rarity to the 1858-S, 1860-S and 1863-S and is only slightly less rare than the others. Almost all known examples of this date are well worn with VF and lower being all one can expect to find. The 1865-S ranks second in the entire $5 series according to average grade and I do not know of a specimen that would grade better than EF. The very few specimens that I have seen were rather softly struck and the mintmark was always quite weak.

Thanks for looking, hopefully the next one comes easier

 

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[McCDig]

Very cool! Congrats!

 

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[lairmo]

LOVELY!! Congratulations!!

 

[Truth]

I’m speechless I bow down humbly to this banner find. You my friend are the Man of the Hour. Congratulations on a epic find.


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[eastcoastdetectorist]

Spectacular find! Doubt I will ever be able to check that one off my bucket list. I voted banner.

 

[gwdigger]

Seriously impressive. A 150 year old gold coin, fantastic condition and a rare date to boot, all in one coin. Thats got to be banner all day long. My vote going in now.

 

[Truth]

And you DUG IT!


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[Bartek]

What an awesome and Rare Find, Banner find!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I can certainly understand the ultra high standards of any find attaining "banner". Lest their be banner-inflation. I've seen coins that were worth thousands fail to make banner. And ........ I agree that the title *SHOULD* be one that is not passed out by mere value. But seems to me this fulfills all the high criteria. Of : value, gold coin, & play-by-play story & video. My vote went in for ya !

 

[BigWaveDave]

Absolutely incredible find!.... great video

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

Epic find! Banner all the way. Rare, old gold. A big congrats to you! Love the introduction music in the video. Is that from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly? The whip sound effect is a nice touch as well.

 

[DiggerGal]

Incredible!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!


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[Tom_in_CA]

Well well well, you made banner. Don't let it go to your head little-feller !

There was a thread here a few months back, where the criteria for banner was discussed. And I was on record there, backing up the super stringent (sometimes seemingly random) process. Otherwise it would be "banner inflation". There's SCORES of finds, weekly (esp. if you include beach hunters and their nice stones) that can be $1k or more. Lots of nice seateds, barbers, busts, colonial coppers, etc... that could indeed have great value, or provenance, or story-telling. But when you combine all of them into a single find, is when it truly merits banner. So ..... congratz on banner ! This means you buy the beer on the next trip, haha

 

[Evolution]

Congrats on the banner. Obviously very well deserved.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Just wondering what machine you were swinging when you found it and what the vdi numbers were

I was using the Nokta Impact, running @ 20kHz, in Di3 mode, with the factory 11" DD coin when I found the coin. It locked on @ an unwavering 64 TID, and had a distinctly pure clean sound (unlike anything else I dug the entire hunt), BUT I've found that shotgun butts also tend to come in around this same TID depending on orientation, depth and the type of shotgun butt. As much as I hate digging shotgun butts, it finally paid off - lol

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Ok folks. It's the bottom of the ninth in game seven of the World Series. Cal Cobra at the plate down by three runs with the bases loaded and a full count. The pitcher delivers a heater over the plate! CRACK! HOLY COW!!! It's OUTTA' HERE!!! A walk off Grand Slam of a find. Fine job on the research and recovery of a DREAM coin. The stuff we fantasize about as little kids and grown adults. You just got to live your dream. How does it feel mate? Banner............

LOL....great segue!!! Thanks everyone for the banner votes, I'm still in shock over finding this elusive coin, definitely will never forget it

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... As much as I hate digging shotgun butts, it finally paid off - lol

Well, as you know, there's places where a guy can dig one million shotgun butts and STILL never find a gold coin. So the bigger part of the recipe is: Location location location . And you have certainly "paid your dues" with research. Endless mindless geeky emails, history books bought and studied, visits to museums posing as flys-on-walls, long drives to lame-spots, etc.... Then, Bingo: Finally a spot where all yesteryear hunters seemingly missed. Muhahahaha !

 

[JackalopeZL1]

Congrats on the Banner!!

 

[Kray Gelder]

View attachment 1523144
Pricey little guys, congrats again !!

Thanks for that extra effort, Blak bart. stunning prices!

 

[scruggs]

Congratulations on getting the banner!

 

[Kray Gelder]

Oh My Invention of Man, She's gorgeous Cal!!!!!