Found these 2 interesting items yesterday

[Bill D. (VA)]

In my junk box! The first one was found many years ago at a construction site in the original downtown Norfolk area which dates to the 1600s. It appears to be some kind of token that was cut in half for some reason. I can plainly see the word "Benedict" plus the number "8". Did a little research but didn't have any luck. But I feel this is probably a 19th century token of some sort that doesn't hold much significance. The other item was a toasty, gritty old copper than appears to be a liberty cap cent from the few details I can see. But the date is gone as is just about everything else so this is probably nothing more than a worthless copper slug at this point. Anyway, just goes to show that you need to be highly scrutinous of all your finds to make sure something doesn't slip through the crack. My very first oversight of this nature occurred over 15 years ago when another copper slug turned out to be my first Va halfpenny. Thought I'd learned my lesson but I guess not.

 

[doninbrewster]

Thanks a bunch for that info Don. Very informative. Do you know if these coins were commonly counter stamped like mine?

Not sure if they were commonly counterstamped and I believe yours is the first I've seen this way. I'm not surprised though as I've seen almost every common colonial counterstamped as well as loads of large cents, bust half dollars and a host of other coins. There is a book on the subject Greg Brunk, but it's NOT cheap.

 

[matt092079]

Bill has so much silver he just throws it away! Cool discoveries and awesome teamwork to help I.D. the coin.

 

[BuckleBoy]

One is never too seasoned to catch everything. That's my thought. In fact, the more one knows, the more confident they become (for better...or sometimes worse when it comes to junk bins!) I didn't know that I had a 1722 Colonies Francoises 6 deniers copper, and would've tossed it in my junk box because it was holed in the center of the coin. A hole in the center meant "brass washer" to me, not "holed coin." I've got an interesting article coming out in WE Treasures this upcoming issue about saving finds from the junk bin. It seems that a lot of valuable and interesting finds get tossed or end up in junk bins every year. Great that you go through them. I'm embarrassed to say that a few years ago I recycled the square brass base from a Georgian candlestick as shown in Noel Hume's colonial artifacts book because I thought it was a modern brass mount from a bath towel bar. Best thing is to keep studying and always learning, which I know that we both do--and always will.

Congrats on the junk bin finds, my friend!

Best Wishes,

Buck

 

[Iron Patch]

It appears what you have is a French billon coinage which was imported here c.1709-1760. Billon is an alloy of silver and copper although sometimes includes mercury. These coins were very thin when they were made. I have a friend who is in my metal detector club who is from France. He has found numerous billon coins in France and tells me that they are usually broken because of the metal they were made with and because they are so thin. I've added a link to a photo he had sent me of some of the pieces he has found in France.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t116/bowlski_bucket/treasure%20hunting/billoncoins.jpg

Agree it looks billon, but countermarked French issued colonials are pretty rare, of course with the exception of the fleur de lys and some Tobago Sous. They're rare enough that if anyone googles and finds some I'd be curious to see them because I don't recall even a single one from the past dozen or so years - the time I have followed these. Obviously anything is possible, but I would personally lean towards it being something else.

The weight might be a good indication to whether it's billon as even whole coins are extremely light. If silver, it would probably have to be paper thin to be in the billon range.

 

[treblehunter]

Aw, the mystery's of metal detecting? Cool stuff, very interesting.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Sometimes we just lose track of our goodies! I have learned not to toss anything with out a full inspection of it.
Nice saves!

 

[ynpto804]

Is the copper a clipped planchette?

 

[Ahab8]

Good eye catching those babies Bill. When my first year is up I'm going to go thru a pile of interesting items that I dug and didn't know what they were. They just looked too interesting to throw out. I have learned sooooooo much during these first 9 months and it's good to see that even the most seasoned hunter can still be pleasantly surprised on occasion