Hammered silvers from unbelievable depths!!

Bill D. (VA) · Feb 6, 2011

First, I want to thank my friend John from Montana who graciously offered to let me use his Minelab GPX-4000 to go back over the site here in SE Virginia where 23 hammered silver coins from 1563-1640 were dug about 3 years ago by my friends and I. I just knew after finding 2 scattered caches at this site, more could be found if a very deep seeking machine could be utilized. And John's claims of extreme depth were definitely validated today. After reading the manual a few times, adjusting the settings for this site, and making a couple of practice runs, I finally took it today for the first time to my old site. After about 30 minutes of going very slow over the exact area where one of the caches had been found, I got a very weak and somewhat erratic hi/lo tone, but it was for the most part repeatable. Definitely one worth investigating. Well, I kept digging and digging and the target was still in the hole. Finally the target popped out in the last shovel-full, and to my shock it was a 1606 James I sixpence. And it came from a measured depth of 22 inches!! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself. It's probably 10" deeper than any coin-sized object I've ever dug. Very, very impressive!! Then about 20-30 min later I got another similar signal but it was a little more pronounced. Again, I dug and dug, and eventually pulled out another sixpence, this time a 1594 Elizabethan. And this one was 18" deep. I had several "close calls", but they were all larger and very deep iron. I've only just started to cover the area, so hopefully more will surface. Eventually I plan to take the time to dig some of the lo/hi's, which are usually small iron, but could also be a gold coin. Can't wait to get back!

Noodle · Feb 7, 2011

The Roanoke colony disappeared in 1588, too early for some of these coins, but what about some other early settlements around there? Finding pockets of coins like that is unusual, unless someone was buried there with coins in their pockets. Interesting idea... I'm not up on Virginia history, though; too far removed. Still curious though. :dontknow:

extractor · Feb 7, 2011

Wow that is some great digs :icon_thumleft:

Wtg

CRUSADER · Feb 7, 2011

Noodle said:
The Roanoke colony disappeared in 1588, too early for some of these coins, but what about some other early settlements around there? Finding pockets of coins like that is unusual, unless someone was buried there with coins in their pockets. Interesting idea... I'm not up on Virginia history, though; too far removed. Still curious though.

Bear in mind the wear on the coins, they were both likely lost around 1630s (at least) 8)

Bill D. (VA) · Feb 7, 2011

Let me tell you what I know

CRUSADER said:
Noodle said:

The Roanoke colony disappeared in 1588, too early for some of these coins, but what about some other early settlements around there? Finding pockets of coins like that is unusual, unless someone was buried there with coins in their pockets. Interesting idea... I'm not up on Virginia history, though; too far removed. Still curious though.

Click to expand...

Bear in mind the wear on the coins, they were both likely lost around 1630s (at least) 8)

I've done a bunch of research on this site, and have uncovered some very interesting info. I believe the owner of the property where the coins were found (who I cannot name for obvious reasons) was a supporter of Charles I of England who was overthrown and beheaded in 1649 during the English civil war. Many of his supporters fled the country and some headed to America to escape punishment or death. Some of these folks were quite wealthy and brought their hoards of gold and silver coinage with them. So I'm quite sure the coins were buried at the site for safekeeping. Additional research revealed that in the early 1700s a slave found an extremely large hoard of gold and silver coins in an abandoned home across the creek from where I found my coins. The owner had apparently died unexpectedly, and nobody knew the whereabouts of his fortune. This person had also come to Virginia as a result of the English civil war. (I actually have permission to hunt that site too, but have found only one 17th century cob so far.) Anyway, I feel there could be many more coins at the site where I found the others, and that is why I've borrowed a GPX-4000 so I can go deeper and maybe find a larger hoard(s). Gonna be fun to try anyway. By the way, the previous poster (Noodle) might be intersted to know that around 7-8 of the coins I found 3 years ago at this site predated the 1588 date he mentioned.

CRUSADER · Feb 7, 2011

Re: Let me tell you what I know

Bill D. (VA) said:
CRUSADER said:

Noodle said:

The Roanoke colony disappeared in 1588, too early for some of these coins, but what about some other early settlements around there? Finding pockets of coins like that is unusual, unless someone was buried there with coins in their pockets. Interesting idea... I'm not up on Virginia history, though; too far removed. Still curious though.

Click to expand...

Bear in mind the wear on the coins, they were both likely lost around 1630s (at least) 8)

Click to expand...

I've done a bunch of research on this site, and have uncovered some very interesting info. I believe the owner of the property where the coins were found (who I cannot name for obvious reasons) was a supporter of Charles I of England who was overthrown and beheaded in 1649 during the English civil war. Many of his supporters fled the country and some headed to America to escape punishment or death. Some of these folks were quite wealthy and brought their hoards of gold and silver coinage with them. So I'm quite sure the coins were buried at the site for safekeeping. Additional research revealed that in the early 1700s a slave found an extremely large hoard of gold and silver coins in an abandoned home across the creek from where I found my coins. The owner had apparently died unexpectedly, and nobody knew the whereabouts of his fortune. This person had also come to Virginia as a result of the English civil war. (I actually have permission to hunt that site too, but have found only one 17th century cob so far.) Anyway, I feel there could be many more coins at the site where I found the others, and that is why I've borrowed a GPX-4000 so I can go deeper and maybe find a larger hoard(s). Gonna be fun to try anyway. By the way, the previous poster (Noodle) might be intersted to know that around 7-8 of the coins I found 3 years ago at this site predated the 1588 date he mentioned.

So the coins condition back up the history well, as well as explaining the wealth of a fleeing Royalist during one of our more famous period of history. Our CW has the same kind of colt following as your RW & CW.

Just had a discussion with Don about Gold Hammered, never heard of any being found in the US? But your research tells me there maybe a possibility :headbang:

I've only had 1 in 20+ years & my Dad was lucky to get 1 in just over 12 years, so I know 1 in the US would be something very special :icon_pirat:

Woodland Detectors · Feb 7, 2011

Good history Bill. :icon_thumleft:

That silver is going to shine real pretty on top here, as soon as they move it up. Congrats on the Banner friend.

MKnTenn · Feb 7, 2011

Makes you wonder how many are left at greater depth. Have you thought about asking permission about scraping the the field down inch by inch with a tractor? Do you think there was a tavern or store maybe there, or a scattered cashe? It's possible that main portion has not been found, just a suggestion but try the woods next to the field, along the edge. Fantastic find and love seeing those coins. HH

KOOTNEY KID · Feb 7, 2011

WICKED!

theviking · Feb 7, 2011

Killer finds. 22" WOW. Great history lesson as well. I love this state. Thanks for the view, and the great info.

Bill D. (VA) · Feb 7, 2011

MKnTenn said:
Makes you wonder how many are left at greater depth. Have you thought about asking permission about scraping the the field down inch by inch with a tractor? Do you think there was a tavern or store maybe there, or a scattered cashe? It's possible that main portion has not been found, just a suggestion but try the woods next to the field, along the edge. Fantastic find and love seeing those coins. HH

We thought a good while back about asking the farmer to scrape a foot off that part of the field, but felt he would not be interested and it would draw too much attention. Decided that the only other viable option would be to use the deepest machine available, and I think that's what I have now. About 75 yards from the coin area I found the original house site, and I probed out a few trash pits immediately behind it. They were chock full of huge oyster shells, although we did get some nice pottery, pipe stems, an ornate buckle and other stuff (see pic below). But the tavern sites I've dug the pits generally contained large amounts of black glass, and I found very little of that here. Plus, my research bears out that this was a home and not a tavern or any other kind of structure.

gravediggermax-vabeachva · Feb 7, 2011

hey bill

i would never come to va beach ever again

o m g

that heater.......probably over 3ft. in the sand....... :icon_pirat:

u had a great spin for sure.

ReidMan · Feb 7, 2011

Doesn't get any better then this!!!

When have you ever seen coins from the 1500 anywhere else in this country? This is an amazing find.

Banner for sure!! :hello2:

Roland58 · Feb 7, 2011

This may be sort of OT, but, do coins continue to sink the longer they are in the ground or do they level off at some point? I'm thinking it may be dependent on the amount of moisture penetration and depth?? Hmmmm. Of course, I've still not figured out how a disk shaped piece of thin foil can sink at all, let alone 5" or 6"!

september · Feb 8, 2011

Nice finds!! :icon_thumright:

tinpan · Feb 8, 2011

very nice coins." Zip - Zip Close Induction " thats the sound of gold with a GPX with a small mono coil and iron sounds the same. I don,t think so. When using a small mono coil with a GPx one gives up a great deal of depth for sensitivity and to get the best out of your machine makes for some changes to your settings. threshold just and gain up. So where are you getting your depth from

?

tinpan Try using the nose of the mono coil as a pinpointer saves a lot of digging

SkyPirate · Feb 8, 2011

great finds!

Bill D. (VA) · Feb 8, 2011

tinpan said:
very nice coins." Zip - Zip Close Induction " thats the sound of gold with a GPX with a small mono coil and iron sounds the same. I don,t think so. When using a small mono coil with a GPx one gives up a great deal of depth for sensitivity and to get the best out of your machine makes for some changes to your settings. threshold just and gain up. So where are you getting your depth from ?

tinpan Try using the nose of the mono coil as a pinpointer saves a lot of digging

The soil at this site has very low mineralization and is nearly iron and trash free, and after the auto-tune and GB processes, I get very stable operation. I have the threshold turned down rather low so I can hear the faintest bleep, or any slight change in threshold. I also have my gain maxed out to 15 without any issues, my iron reject is low, my sensitive setting is "extra", and I'm set up for slow motion swinging. Basically, all my settings are adjusted to achieve max depth, and it seems to be working at this site.