Epic early colonial water hunt: Cobs, coppers, buckle and more

[toasted]

Awesome day out on the river today. I started out where I found the 1892 Barber a week ago. Found a little clad and three indians and a little tombac button. Love the patina on them when they come from the clay bottom and with dates too

So I moved on as the tide was beginning to come in and I wasnt finding much. I decided to hit another spot on the way back that I knew looked good to try. One of my first signals was the beautiful 17th century spectacle buckle. Ended up with a William III, KG I, mystery dime sized copper with a shield and crown on it, trade weight? that I think is period, button and some leather ornaments. I hit the half real cob at the end and figured I wasnt going to top that today so I headed toward the boat. My next signal ended up being another cob which looks to have been a one real cut to half real size. I will be going back very soon

 

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[toasted]

I don't know enough about them to make a judgement, but if cut, I think that is a rare beast.

I think they were clipped a lot more than you think

 

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[CRUSADER]

I think they were clipped a lot more than you think

Clipping is completely different, than cutting into equal pieces.

 

[Javadroid]

I have no words....

 

[toasted]

Clipping is completely different, than cutting into equal pieces.

I never meant to imply that they were cut into equal pieces as that would be difficult but merly cut or clipped down closer to a smaller denominations weight. From the few that I have been lucky enough to recover, though, I can say that they did a pretty good job of making an equal cut. I have what I believe was a two reales cob that was clipped down to within a few tenths of a gram of a full weight 1 real. Same can be said for the two 1 reals cobs recovered this weekend. Their clipped weight is within a few tenths of a gram of a full weight half real

 

[CRUSADER]

I never meant to imply that they were cut into equal pieces as that would be difficult but merly cut or clipped down closer to a smaller denominations weight. From the few that I have been lucky enough to recover, though, I can say that they did a pretty good job of making an equal cut. I have what I believe was a two reales cob that was clipped down to within a few tenths of a gram of a full weight 1 real. Same can be said for the two 1 reals cobs recovered this weekend. Their clipped weight is within a few tenths of a gram of a full weight half real

Interesting. As the practice of clipping a silver or gold coin has been happening since at least Roman times & was very popular in the medieval. However, this was done to pinch small pieces off & collect them together to melt down into a usable chunk. They did this mostly in the hope that the face value stayed the same. Of course savvy merchants had coin weights & would not accept at face value, however it may pass throw many everyday men. So was this clipping down in the same way??
What you stated above suggests not, as they are trying to match a known weight, so it begs to question, what where they doing?

 

[Steve in PA]

You are doing great in the water and you are on a really old site. How deep is the water where you are making these recoveries and do you have any idea what went on there like river crossing, dock, etc?

 

[toasted]

Interesting. As the practice of clipping a silver or gold coin has been happening since at least Roman times & was very popular in the medieval. However, this was done to pinch small pieces off & collect them together to melt down into a usable chunk. They did this mostly in the hope that the face value stayed the same. Of course savvy merchants had coin weights & would not accept at face value, however it may pass throw many everyday men. So was this clipping down in the same way??
What you stated above suggests not, as they are trying to match a known weight, so it begs to question, what where they doing?

Perhaps they had simply clipped them so much that they would no longer pass as a 1 real, so they were further clipped into a half real. Some of my clipped cobs do appear to have multiple clips on them so wether done over time or all at once who knows. It makes sense to me to only have coins of certain weights circulating otherwise everyone would need scales. I did Id be curious to find out the weights of some recovered clipped cobs elsewhere too.

 

[toasted]

You are doing great in the water and you are on a really old site. How deep is the water where you are making these recoveries and do you have any idea what went on there like river crossing, dock, etc?

Thanks. Some of the finds have been below the high tide line on the beach and others have been in near waist deep water at low tide. There is a circa 1750 house way up in the field off the river but all the finds are older. I know the opposite side of the river had significant activity circa 1700 so maybe a river crossing

 

[BLK HOLE]

Wow what a super hunt!

 

[RiverRat3]

Awesome finds!!!

 

[islamoradamark]

Thats one hell of a honey hole congrats

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

Two cobs in one hunt - that's a good day! You're the man!