First Milled Spanish! First Cob! First English Silver!

[Lost Signal]

This month marks the beginning of my 3rd year detecting. My interest is in colonial and early US coins and relics. I've found a number of coppers, strap guides, furniture tacks, gun parts, sword parts, civilian and military buttons (including a USA), but until a few days ago I had never found a colonial-era silver coin - no reals of any kind. Now, with the beginning of 2021, I have found a silver coin on each of my last three hunts.

I haven't weighed the cob coin, so I’m not sure of the denomination, but from the research that I managed, I think it's Philip IV between 1618 - 1636. I could be totally wrong and would appreciate any information anyone could add.

The smallest coin is a Charles II Two Pence. It had me stumped. I did not expect to find English silver, so I was looking up 1/4 reals, thinking Carolus II must be Carlos II of Spain. Couldn't believe what I had found, when I finally figured it out. Sadly, it has fire damage, but the date of 1675 is visible. Seems like a very rare find in this country.

The milled 1/2 real is least impressive, I suppose, but it is in great condition, and I’m excited to have finally found one.

The cob was a bucket lister for me and the English silver was not even something that I had considered.

I've also included a grouping of other recent finds including an octagonal dandy button, a couple of shoe buckles, and a small (maybe) 17th century buckle.

Thanks for looking.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[pepperj]

When it rains it pours, congrats on the productive hunts.
Getting a Cobb, and milled silver is great.
What a start to the 2021 season.

 

[Blak bart]

Very nice....congrats on finding those bucket listers !!

 

[vpone]

I think they all are INCREDIBLY impressive - wow you are on a roll (no pressure )

huge congrats!

vp

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Wow ... fantastic finds - congrats !

 

[HIGHSTRUNG]

Very nice! Congrats!

 

[xr7ator]

Wow! I'm interested in that same history, dang it! lol Fantastic silver's, grats and thanks for making me jelous!

 

[toasted]

Awesome stuff. Kinda looks like a D assayer on the cob. That would put it at either early 17th century or more likely 1724-28 period. The Charles II silver is unbelievable. Didnt even know the 2 pence was meant for circulation at that time. Google Maundy silver

 

[Aureus]

Love that English silver coin and the cob! Big congrats!

 

[Lost Signal]

Thanks, toasted! Apparently, I didn't research enough. I had not read anything about "Maundy money." That is very interesting! I'm wondering how often those coins are found by detectorists in England. Maybe Crusader will weigh in.

I'm still trying to learn about the cob. I found a description on a site called "Introduction to Coins of Colonial and Early America" that mentions the possible dates for the Mexico mint and assayer D, and the author, Louis Jordan, says that the D with the Hapsburg shield suggests the earlier 1600's date range. There's not a lot of image on my cob, but it definitely has the edge of that shield. I'll keep reading and looking.

If I hadn't found the coins, I would have made a post featuring the octagonal button. I think it's pretty cool and the less ornate of the two shoe buckles is made of pewter, which is another first for me.

Thanks again for your comments.

 

[Underwonder]

What an exciting set of finds! Way to begin the year....I’ll be watching for your continued posts!

 

[Tony in SC]

Good stuff!! I hunted a lot down there in the 70's.

 

[billb]

WTG. Keep up the good work ,,you are really getting a good signal on your detector now...

 

[awdw]

New pinpointer has helped with his lost signals.

 

[Lost Signal]

toasted pointed me toward "Maundy money" so I thought I would share what my research turned up, and by "research" I mean wikipedia. It was probably Charles II who first gave out sets of four denominations (including 2 pence), which seems to be the tradition today. But, prior to the early 18th century the silver coins that were given out, as part of the Royal Maundy service, were coins from general circulation. My 2 pence is 1675, so likely it is just a regular 2 pence. It's a very interesting subject, though.

 

[Lost Signal]

New pinpointer has helped with his lost signals.

Indeed. But, I lost the new pinpointer for about 20 minutes on the last hunt, so it really was a lost signal.

 

[cuzcosquirrel]

Nice coins.


Mexico 1727-Mo D 2 reales - CoinFactsWiki

 

[Silvermonkey]

Lost Signal ...you are absolutely killing it in 2021!!! What a tremendous set of coins, with a tremendous amount of history. I look forward to reading your future posts if this trend continues ( and I hope it does).
PS- Thanks for the history lesson on Maundy money. Quite interesting!

 

[Lost Signal]

Nice coins.


Mexico 1727-Mo D 2 reales - CoinFactsWiki

Thanks for the link. That's it.

 

[CRUSADER]

The 1675 2 Pence could have been part of a Maundy set given by the King to the poor. It's seems very common that the smaller denominations were holed.
These are rare finds in the UK, but most of them are holed, & I have a theory other than the usual reason.
There has been a tradition in England of 'Touch Pieces', they were holed coins touched by the King/Queen thought to have direct links to God & therefore carried a protective nature or heal the sick. The Kings/Queens were thought to be the direct link to God, not even the Church had a better route.
Therefore, my theory is that if you were given a Maundy Set on Thursday by the King & you were the poorest of the poor, you might decide to do the following. Spend the higher denominations on food like the 3 & 4 pence & protect your family with the 1 & 2 by holing them & wearing them around your neck (maybe for a sick child).
Buy the late 1600s we had had 100s of years of Touch Piece tradition & hundreds of years of Maundy Money, it's not that greater leap of faith to put a higher value on a 1 or 2 pence from the King than its worth to spend, including it's 'magical powers'. You could theories that it would protect them on journey's, because they were needing protection from the evil eye. (they were scared stiff to travel on a footpath from 1 village to the other without protection)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Maundy