Nice early 1700s cut silver plus a few other interesting recoveries

Bill D. (VA) · Mar 24, 2017

With my friend Evan visiting from the west coast, I decided to take him to my new site that has produced a ton of late 1600s to mid 1700s artifacts recently. This place has been pounded by me and my other hunting buddies, plus the weeds and ridiculously tall clover has taken over most of the site, but this was our only option this late in the season. Yesterday there were surprisingly a fair number of signals to be heard, but you had to work hard for them. But then out of the blue I was able to walk over a nice mid tone that had somehow been missed before, and to my astonishment a gorgeous little cut pistareen came to light. And this one had the rarely seen "aqueduct" mint mark which identified it as having come from the mint in Segovia, Spain, in the 1720s. It was in very nice shape too, and was only the 2nd colonial coin to be recovered from this otherwise very productive site. I also found a few other items including a nice looking watch winder, a keyhole cover monogrammed with an "F", and what may be a small brass wedding ring that appears to have been resized based on the solder mark on the inside of the band.

Here's a little side story. Near the end of the hunt it kept feeling like I had a rock in my boot, but I couldn't seem to dislodge it. I decided to just leave it until I got home, and when I later went to remove my boot I noticed a rather large and very rusty nail sticking out from the bottom which was totally unknown to me. When I pulled it out I saw that a little over an inch of it had been lodged into the boot, and was pushing up through the sole. Fortunately it did not penetrate the skin so guess I'll survive. I can't imagine where I picked it up. I've dug in literally hundreds of pits and privies loaded with all kinds of rusty iron and can't ever remember getting stuck like that. Very strange!

Bill D. (VA) · Mar 24, 2017

Ahab8 said:
Wow the detail is incredibly sharp on that Bill. Some really nice finds from a hammered site.

Thanks Abe. I know you're gonna get out there this weekend and dig something that makes my cut piece look like a zinc penny. Good luck buddy!

Evolution · Mar 24, 2017

I could go for a piece of pie right about now. Nice one Bill.

Rob

Professor of Engineering · Mar 24, 2017

Beautiful cut silver and other relics! :notworthy:

Bill D. (VA) · Mar 24, 2017

Scrappy said:
Very nice cut pistereen bud. That keyhole cover is mighty nice as well. Excellent snags - it's amazing what sometimes kicks up from well-hunted sites!

Thanks Steve. As you know, if you hunker down, swing slow, dig every signal, and have great patience, you can always prove that no site is ever hunted out.

joeyfresh · Mar 25, 2017

Great finds Bill. I know you're way below your yearly old silver count but you made some really nice recoveries in the past month or so. Would you mind showing a group shot of your finds from that one site and include some individual pictures of some of your favs?

basque-man · Mar 25, 2017

Darn. Even your "cut silver" comes out better looking than our full silver coins out this way! :BangHead:

Beautiful looking piece. Congrats!! :occasion14:

Bill D. (VA) · Mar 25, 2017

joeyfresh said:
Great finds Bill. I know you're way below your yearly old silver count but you made some really nice recoveries in the past month or so. Would you mind showing a group shot of your finds from that one site and include some individual pictures of some of your favs?

Thanks Joey - good to see you yesterday. I'll try to post a group pic of my finds from this site soon, maybe tomorrow, along with some of my individual favorites. Hope you can find a couple productive spots to hit before planting..... HH.