Ivan the Terrible in suburban NJ

[JerseyDigger19]

Last night I had one of the craziest finds I've ever happened upon! I had an hour and a half free to dig, and I had two places in mind that were both close by - a large sledding hill that's been hammered to death but still occasionally has a flat button or other old keeper, or a 1940's school park where I've found plenty of wheats and a few silvers but nothing really old. I started out with the sledding hill but after 30 minutes of getting bupkis, thought I wanted to see some coins of any kind so I packed up and went to the school. 15 minutes later I had some wheats and a 1943 Mercury dime so had a big smile on my face. Then I switched to the other side of the field, where the better coins seem to run deeper, and my first great signal psyched me out with a 1971 clad quarter at 6 inches. I started looking for deep squeakers to dig, and 15 minutes later I found a very tiny item, gave it a brush, it looked like silver so I thought it was scrap or maybe a small religious medal so I threw it in my pocket and kept going. I finished the hunt with a couple more wheats and a Girl Scouts pin. I got home, rinsed off the Merc, showed it to my wife who gave me her "yeah great, you found another Merc" roll of the eyes, then almost got ready for bed before I remembered the silver thing. So I went to the kitchen and emptied my pockets, and was absolutely shocked when I saw this... (the first picture is a re-enactment!) Rows of cyrillic letters... a Russian wire kopek! Turns out this one is from Ivan the Terrible and probably dates to the 1560's or 1570's. It blows my mind how it got there... it probably was a kid who brought it in for show and tell in the 60's and lost it, but I didn't see any evidence of a coin holder in the hole, such as the plastic sheath. And I know a lot of people of Russian descent live around there, but there really wasn't much emigration out of Russia until the 90's, so I can't completely rule out the fact that someone much longer ago brought it over and it circulated alongside the Spanish silvers we were using back then (and some older dirt got mixed into the 60's layer.) In any event it's probably my most unexpected find ever!

 

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[trapperart]

Couple of years between those silvers. Great find on the Russian coin any 1500s silver is surely treasure. CONGRATS

 

[ivobg]

 

[Aureus]

That sure is unexpected...Russia was a very secluded country with very little trade with West at the time of Ivan and all the way to Peter the Great and Catherine (early to late 1700's). I doubt these coins circulated much in 1700's as they were very primitive and uneven compared to English,Spanish or French ones. Probably your theory about a collection lost is the best one. But in the 60's, before the use of metal detectors, those coins were extremely rare, so that would be a great loss for it's owner. In any case, that's an awesome coin. Big congratulation on an exceptional find!

 

[Kurios1]

HOLY SHEETS! That's insane! Congrats on that tiny silver TREASURE imported from Russia! Not sure about it's value but, it's got to be a find of a lifetime. Not as regal as some other more "popular" treasures perhaps but, if it's a legitimate silver from the 1500's I will say it's BANNER worthy! Good on you mate. Gonna' vote BANNER for ya'.

 

[Mzjavert]

Oh, yes, I believe it. My oldest coin was a 1600 yo Roman coin that I found in the woodchips of a school tot lot. Congratulations on a great find.

 

[A2coins]

Thats what its all about I vote banner also that thing is very old, so is that hand in the picture LOL just kiddin I like your post the wife rolls her eyes at another Merc while the honey do list gets longer!!! Your not bringing that thing in the house are you?LOL Im very happy for you!!!!!!!

 

[Old Pueblo]

That blows me away. Its a great find. And some Russians did make it over in the 1800s and even before, if you consider their colonies on the West Coast. That or some kid lost his father's coin collection in the play ground.

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Cool find! No matter how it got there, even though it's a mystery...SOMEBODY dropped it and YOU found it...congrats...Ddf

 

[screwynewy]

I hate to be "that guy" and suggest this but has it crossed anyone's mind that this could be a souvenir copy. That might help explain how it ended up on a school playground. I sure hope I'm wrong and if I am I will be entering my banner vote. Maybe you can have it authenticated by an expert.

 

[4x4x4]

....Holy Smoke , a great save and thanks for the research !

Mark.

 

[Honest Samuel]

You did good.

 

[dirtlooter]

you just gotta love it when the "cool" factor skyrockets up this unexpectedly. way above awesome in so many ways. congrats on the find of a life time

 

[A2coins]

I hate to be "that guy" and suggest this but has it crossed anyone's mind that this could be a souvenir copy. That might help explain how it ended up on a school playground. I sure hope I'm wrong and if I am I will be entering my banner vote. Maybe you can have it authenticated by an expert.

I did think that but I didn't want to be that guy and that guy is you!!!LOL I agree ya never know I was going to wait a day or two let him float on cloud 9 for at lest a day!!! I hope it is real and if he doesn't take it in then it is real, Its real till an expert tells ya it isn't LOL

 

[Scrappy]

Unbelievable. Well, I can't say whether the coin is authentic or not, but it must be pretty exciting nonetheless Steve. There's a few good coin shops in the area - if you need a recommendation just text me.

Congrats

 

[fano169]

Could have come over , in a ships ballest . Dirt was dredged then put at the school

 

[JerseyDigger19]

Thank you so much for the great comments and well wishes everyone! As for the authenticity I'm actually pretty familiar with these coins and the style of both the letters and flan (as well as the K B A mintmark on the reverse under the horse) make me believe the coin is authentic - in fact a dealer shot me over the PDF of a book on Russian wire kopecks (written in Russian) and this is number 30 for Ivan of the Novgorod mint in that book. Also, I never say never when it comes to the potential of it being fake, but the small size of it (about half dime size) would also be something that fakers are less likely to copy. That being said it is a SUPER common coin and since so many detectorists are hunting in Russia these days, you could get one for 3 or 4 dollars. I still wonder how it got 6 inches down in that park however. But that doesn't stop the thrill of the hunt and the thrill of the dig for me - it will always be right up there with the best of my finds for its age and just the sheer excitement of digging 1500's hammered in suburban NJ. So to me it's priceless!

To make the story just a tad more interesting, today I went back for an hour and got another faint signal about 8 inches down which turned out to be a corroded copper disc that you see in the second picture. That sure looks like a beat up flat button to me. Then I got another sweet, sweet signal 20 feet away at the same depth - out pops a silver disc - heart started beating thinking it was old - 1948 quarter. So there is deep new stuff but also deep old stuff perhaps... a really interesting location!

 

[JerseyDigger19]

Here's a cutout from reference book... looks like one of these two!

 

[Kurios1]

I hate to be "that guy" and suggest this but has it crossed anyone's mind that this could be a souvenir copy. That might help explain how it ended up on a school playground. I sure hope I'm wrong and if I am I will be entering my banner vote. Maybe you can have it authenticated by an expert.

That's a good point. I am honestly clueless about these old coins. We do have a few pretty well researched members on board that may be able to assist in figuring out if it's a real genuine treasure or copy.

 

[Gridwalker306]

Now that's a cool find!