My first shipwreck coin

[McCDig]

Bound for Philadelphia from Londonderry in 1785, The Faithful Steward ran aground on shoals off the coast of Delaware, just north of the Indian River inlet. Coins from its cargo of 400 barrels of British pennies and half pennies still wash ashore. I found my first on August 17th. It is a George III Hibernia half penny with enough detail to make out a figure facing right on the obverse and the left side of the harp on the reverse. I took it to the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum in Fenwick Island and the curator, Dale Clifton, examined it and authenticated it as from the Faithful Steward wreck. For point of reference, the towers in the second pic are at the bridge over the Indian River inlet.


Have to give a plug for Dale's museum. Check it out. https://www.discoversea.com/
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[Tuberale]

nice find!

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Great save, McD! The cool factor due to the history and subsequent authentication is way cool! Congrats, Ddf.

 

[gheenoe78]

I learned to surf at that same spot many many years ago while working on the Delaware and Ocean City shore. Very cool. I had no idea that old coins like that still wash up.

 

[toasted]

Congrats. Some british gold coins have washed up there too I believe

 

[alaskaseeker]

Well done...

 

[islamoradamark]

Really good find

 

[Trezurehunter]

Great find McCdig. That has to be exciting knowing it came from a shipwreck.

 

[Jamie1993]

Great find.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Big congrats! The quest for shipwreck coins got me into this hobby.

 

[RVRoamer74]

Congrats on that very cool find. I have hunted the Treasure Coast until my arm about fell off( talking years and hundreds of trips) looking to find some old ship wreck coin....no luck though. They are hard to come by. You did well.

 

[Megalodon]

Congrats on your first one! I stopped going after being turned away every day for a week by the National Guard after a hurricane. Wet sand or dry?

 

[smokeythecat]

Nice find. They are VERY hard to get this time of year. And that is a very, very clean beach. I have quite a few but another big storm is needed to make it really worth the effort. I'll wait until it's cooler to go there. Winter is best. Did you find ANYTHING else? It is a clean beach all year long.

 

[McCDig]

Wet sand. Was using Beach 1 more on Equinox 600.

 

[McCDig]

Thanks. Yes, some metal pieces that are of the same color. Clad coinage. No jewelry.

 

[McCDig]

Thanks ddf! We had been to the museum the day prior and I figured if I had one more opportunity to detect before going home I'd go where there was potential to find something old.

 

[McCDig]

Thanks gheenoe78! The museum has a display of hundreds of these coppers and a couple of the rose guineas as well.

 

[McCDig]

Thanks toasted! Hope to head down there again later this year to search for more.

 

[McCDig]

Thanks Trezurehunter. Sure is. With the proximity of the find to the location of the vessel. It's pretty certain that it came from The Faithful Steward.

 

[McCDig]

Thanks RVRoamer66! Found this connection to the Lee family from an article in the Santa Cruz Daily Sentinel of 29 Jan 1886.
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11069062/faithful_steward_general_lee/[/FONT]