Etrac first silver and oldest coin ever to date

46Wheat · Apr 16, 2015

Went out yesterday to a spot I have hit at least 10 times with my AT Pro . Good targets were slim but I managed to pull two silver out of the junk . One was a first for me a barber quarter . I don't have a fresh dug pic of the barber as my camera battery died after the merc popped out . So the barber is after I got home and cleaned it up . The merc is a 1917 and the barber is a 1915 (pretty isn't it ) Today I got out and explored a cornfield where there were two homesteads from the late 1600s early 1700s . The targets were very slim but I did manage to pull one keeper out of the ground . My new oldest coin to date a 1736 king George II colonial copper farthing . I was beyond excited .... The fertilizer has not been kind to it but there is still a decent amount of detail . It looked like 1756 till I looked with the loop but I believe its a 1736 . Im sure some of the colonial copper guys here can tell me way more about it then I have found in the little looking I have done since I dug it today .

Scrappy · Apr 16, 2015

Hey Wheat! Good to hear you're out! Nice half penny. I think it's a young head which makes it the earlier date! Congrats

jmastny78 · Apr 16, 2015

Nice finds

Iron Patch · Apr 16, 2015

Your halfpenny can't be 1756 for a couple of reasons, but 36 fits!

46Wheat · Apr 16, 2015

Ty Iron Patch . Im just going blind on my description based on the little info and detail I can get off the coin . It looked like the 1736 King George II farthing I found a picture of and the letters I can make out matched up . So ty for the confirmation im headed in the right direction

pepperj · Apr 16, 2015

Nice going on the silver, though the old copper is very nice indeed.

gheenoe78 · Apr 16, 2015

Great finds. Thanks for sharing.

digging440yrs · Apr 16, 2015

NICE DIG'S !! :thumbsup:

Trezurehunter · Apr 16, 2015

Great looking silvers.

Loco-Digger · Apr 16, 2015

Congrats on the old farthing and the other silvers. A very good hunt indeed.

Gridwalker306 · Apr 16, 2015

Congrats on a cool group of finds, I'd say that was a good day.

richardson · Apr 16, 2015

Very cool finds. Congrats

retire05 · Apr 16, 2015

Great piece of history!...Brad

cjon455 · Apr 16, 2015

Wow, that's amazing!, thanks for sharing!!

Rick (Nova Scotia) · Apr 16, 2015

I'd say it is above average for a copper so old, in fact for sure around here Half of those GEO II are going to be blanks.

Congrats on your oldest....and the Silver

UnderMiner · Apr 16, 2015

Yep that's clearly a very early colonial copper! Congrats! :thumbsup:

46Wheat · Apr 16, 2015

The date of 1736 seems to be right but I have heard George II half penny a couple of times and farthing at least once . Can anyone clear up for me which it is a farthing or half penny or is that just two separate names for the same colonial coin . I have zero personal knowledge of anything earlier then the USA large cents . So any help with that question would be greatly appreciated

I-DIG-IT · Apr 17, 2015

Nice digs.

Carolina Tom · Apr 17, 2015

WOW! Congrats 46W! Really nice coins. Very well played. GL&HH.

Iron Patch · Apr 17, 2015

46Wheat said:
The date of 1736 seems to be right but I have heard George II half penny a couple of times and farthing at least once . Can anyone clear up for me which it is a farthing or half penny or is that just two separate names for the same colonial coin . I have zero personal knowledge of anything earlier then the USA large cents . So any help with that question would be greatly appreciated

I already did clear it up calling it a halfpenny in my first post.

A Farthing is smaller, about a nickel in size, but more important than that, they used very different reverse dies and your coin is very clearly the type used on a halfpenny. As for the other side, that is the young bust George II which was only used on the halfpenny from 1729-1739. 1756 George II halfpennies actually do exist, but are counterfeits of course because that is an impossible date. We can rule that out for your coin though, not just because it would be insanely rare to dig one, but also because they don't look like a regular genuine George II, such as your coin does. So the bottom line is the only thing you have to be sure of is the last digit in the date, and if it's a 6, then you have a 1736 British King George II Halfpenny.