hbru123
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2016
- Messages
- 1,120
- Reaction score
- 1,023
- Golden Thread
- 1
- Location
- San Diego California
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Equinox 600
- Primary Interest:
- Relic Hunting
I was metal detecting at a early 1800’s-1920’s homestead. The Mormon battalion camped there, Union soldiers camped there and so did General Kearny’s troops. After about five minutes I got my first signal which was a small mule shoe, I took a few steps and got a solid 77-78 signal that was only half an inch deep so I expected it to be a beer can or something like that so I flipped the plug and out flew a quarter sized silver coin, I picked it up and the back was completely blank so I flipped it over and saw a bust that looked like a barber so I thought it was a Barber quarter, I went to rinse it off in the creek and immediately I knew it was not a barber quarter, I saw a few words around the rim and one said “Napoleon” so I looked up Napoleon coin and there it was! It is a Napoleon I 1 franc (these coins stopped being made after Napoleon Bonaparte’s defeat, subsequent governments pulled his coins out of circulation and melted them which makes these quite rare) ! These coins date from 1807-1814, why I find this coin amazing is that it predates California’s statehood, there is also a chance that is was dropped during the California Fur Rush in the early 1800’s which went right through this area. This is definitely not a common coin to find in the US (I have only seen one other found in the US) and even more rare to find on the west coast!
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