My First Gold Coin - and Best Find to Date

saanich2018

Sr. Member
Apr 25, 2018
283
533
Atlanta, GA
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My best finds to date. I have just had this certified. Found this earlier this month buried in sand on a beach about 15” deep. Waited until I knew it was real to post. How it got there or why it was there is a mystery. I was told this is called "Pirate Gold". These type coins were stolen from the Spanish by pirates in the Caribbean. I plan to go back to the area and do a more extensive search.

The facts of this gold coin are:

Pedro II gold 4000 Reis 1702 UNC Details (Surface Hairlines) NGC, Lisbon mint. This type was minted in Lisbon 1683-1706 and was the largest gold coin prior to the introduction of the peça (6400 réis), at which time the moidore was reduced to 8.06 g. The reduced size moidore was struck only in Brazil. For 1702, medal and coin rotations are known. Specification: 10.78 g, .917 fine gold.
 

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Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,302
54,458
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Threads merged and moved to Beach and Shallow Water Forum
 

billb

Silver Member
Sep 23, 2010
4,569
10,145
New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Excalibur2,,silver sabre
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My best finds to date. I have just had this certified. Found this earlier this month buried in sand on a beach about 15” deep. Waited until I knew it was real to post. How it got there or why it was there is a mystery. I was told this is called "Pirate Gold". These type coins were stolen from the Spanish by pirates in the Caribbean. I plan to go back to the area and do a more extensive search.

The facts of this gold coin are:

Pedro II gold 4000 Reis 1702 UNC Details (Surface Hairlines) NGC, Lisbon mint. This type was minted in Lisbon 1683-1706 and was the largest gold coin prior to the introduction of the peça (6400 réis), at which time the moidore was reduced to 8.06 g. The reduced size moidore was struck only in Brazil. For 1702, medal and coin rotations are known. Specification: 10.78 g, .917 fine gold.
Outstanding recovery Voting Banner
 

ArfieBoy

Silver Member
Aug 11, 2011
3,342
5,530
N.E. Oregon
Detector(s) used
Compass X-70, Compass X-80, Compass X-90, Compass Judge 2, Garrett AT Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Wow! What a great find! Congratulations! You give us all hope on finding a piece of gold coinage! Thanks for sharing with us all.
 

eyemustdigtreasure

Silver Member
Mar 2, 2013
3,596
5,576
California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug Pro
Tesoro Cibola
Nokta Pointer; Phillips SHS5200 phones
Nokta Macro SIMPLEX +
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Okay, Peyton wants the story.
I am not going to say to where - just yet - other than it was beach in the south USA. I was using my Equinox 800, Beach 1, Noise cancel on "0". Ground Balance on automatic, but it was on"0" as well. It was not a busy beach, but still had some foot traffic walking through the area. I had been out for about two hours and it almost dark. I was walking along the waters edge going in between the dry and wet sand. I had been digging up a few coins, and had found a nice silver ring (see image), but I thought this was just another quarter. I was shocked at how deep it was and I got a strong signal. As I said, it was almost dark, so when I dug it up I just put it in pocket - but I know the location where I found it. However, I remember it being a different color than a quarter and thought it might be a dollar coin. It wasn't until I got back to my room, and started looking at my finds, that I discover it. At first, I thought it must be fake, but after lightly brushing the sand off and then doing some quick research, I was pretty sure I had found something very unique. There have been a number of storms in this area this year, so I am wondering if it just got washed in. It was a good day. Planning to go back very soon!
Great story, thanks...! :icon_thumright:
Whatta hunt that was...!
 

hamiddetecting

Gold Member
Feb 22, 2012
6,398
2,510
North Pole
Detector(s) used
Sovereign GT and Excalibur II, Whites, Garrett, Fisher, Alert, MD,Cscope,Tesoro, Compas, XP, Long Rs
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Very nice :hello2:Congratulations 🎊🎉🍹🍹🙂
 

noluckyet

Greenie
Jun 1, 2017
15
16
Scotland
Detector(s) used
none
Primary Interest:
Shipwrecks
My best finds to date. I have just had this certified. Found this earlier this month buried in sand on a beach about 15” deep. Waited until I knew it was real to post. How it got there or why it was there is a mystery. I was told this is called "Pirate Gold". These type coins were stolen from the Spanish by pirates in the Caribbean. I plan to go back to the area and do a more extensive search.

The facts of this gold coin are:

Pedro II gold 4000 Reis 1702 UNC Details (Surface Hairlines) NGC, Lisbon mint. This type was minted in Lisbon 1683-1706 and was the largest gold coin prior to the introduction of the peça (6400 réis), at which time the moidore was reduced to 8.06 g. The reduced size moidore was struck only in Brazil. For 1702, medal and coin rotations are known. Specification: 10.78 g, .917 fine gold.
Thank you for sharing your luck, as this will give hope to the rest. I hope the weather is good where you found it as I am sure you are going to be spending a lot more time there.
 

jboomer

Greenie
Jan 17, 2021
14
49
West Chester Ohio
Detector(s) used
Garrett 250 and Pro Pointer AT
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My best finds to date. I have just had this certified. Found this earlier this month buried in sand on a beach about 15” deep. Waited until I knew it was real to post. How it got there or why it was there is a mystery. I was told this is called "Pirate Gold". These type coins were stolen from the Spanish by pirates in the Caribbean. I plan to go back to the area and do a more extensive search.

The facts of this gold coin are:

Pedro II gold 4000 Reis 1702 UNC Details (Surface Hairlines) NGC, Lisbon mint. This type was minted in Lisbon 1683-1706 and was the largest gold coin prior to the introduction of the peça (6400 réis), at which time the moidore was reduced to 8.06 g. The reduced size moidore was struck only in Brazil. For 1702, medal and coin rotations are known. Specification: 10.78 g, .917 fine gold.
That is amazing !
 

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