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Old Woods Pays Off Again! 1778 Spanish Silver 1 Reale!

bookfisher

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Well the ole woods had me working hard today, but it paid off in the end. Got there about 5:00 PM and for the about the next hour and a half wasn't finding anything worth keeping. Finally, a little later, I find a small 19th century silver plated button; okay it's a start. Then, about a half hour after the button, I get a strong quarter reading; getting excited and cutting the plug, and extracting some dirt from the hole, I came up with a large and heavily dented colonial copper, but it was too corroded to ID in the field. Then came the creme de la creme. It was starting to get late, with about an hour of light left, so I decided to turn my direction towards the car and begin to slowly exit the woods. About 5 minutes into my slow exit, I get a strong penny/dime reading at about six inches near a small tree. Using my 26" garden shovel (which is ideal for woods hunting) I cut and pull out a decent size plug. Scanning the hole, the target is still in the hole, but I get a bit disappointed, since the signal is now weaker, but still bouncing around screwtop to penny dime. Now I have to deal with roots. Standing up and using the shovel I start cutting roots, making sure I'm safely on the perimeter of the hole, so not to damage the object that's still down there. But since it's getting late and I'm tired, I'm working like a madman, cutting roots and pulling dirt from the hole. Finally, when I think I've extracted enough dirt from the hole, I scan the pile, and praise be to God, the object is in the pile and now its back to reading penny penny/dime! I grab my pinpointer and start probing the pile, hoping I'm going to come up with a 19th century dime. Well I did better than the 19th century! What I found was a 1778 Spanish 1 Reale! My oldest dated coin I've found so far. I have found several pre 1760 King George II colonial coppers, but they're to far gone to read the dates. There's no better feeling when your out MDing, then finding a coin that exceeds your expectations. Also, when I got home tonight, I cleaned the large copper, and it appears to be a post 1760 George III Farthing, since I can just about see the image of Britannia on the back and the inner rim circle on the front. Coppers are bittersweet - exciting to find, but usually frustratenly corroded. Looks like I'll be back in the woods tomorrow!
 

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Upvote 0
great find there,
 
What a fantastic sight that must of been to unearth such a historic old coin.
Job well done.Congratulations!
 
Mona Lisa said:
That it! The next TreasureNet hunt is in Bookfisher's woods. Do you have spare bedrooms? ;)

Another great post, fisher....and thanks for showing the size comparison of the reale. I always think they're alot bigger than they really are. Good stuff!! :)

Hi Mona Lisa,

I also found (and posted on the forum a couple months back) an 1810 Spanish 1/2 Reale, which is smaller than a dime. I'm not sure, but I think the 8 Reale is about the size of a Silver Dollar and the 2 Reale is about the size of a quarter.
 
Nice find Book! Thats the kind of stuff I would love to find!!! WTG!!!
 
groundfisher said:
What a fantastic sight that must of been to unearth such a historic old coin.
Job well done.Congratulations!

Hi Groundfisher.

To use an old cliche, it's definitely a natural high and a great feeling of acomplishment. The headphones come off and you just sit there staring at it and flipping it over a few times, and saying to yourself (or sometimes out loud), Wow, Wow. And the best part is, like I mentioned in the initial post, I was only hoping for a 19C dime, so to pull out a coin like this is such an unexpected bonus.
 
Just some of the things that happened in 1778:

jul 08 - Gen. Washington sets up headquarters at West Point, New York.
jul 10 - France declares war against Britain.
aug 08 - American land forces and French ships attempt to conduct a combined siege against Newport, Rhode Island. But bad weather and delays of the land troops result in failure. The weather-damaged French fleet then sails to Boston for repairs.
sep 14 - Ben Franklin is appointed to be the American diplomatic representative in France

http://din-timelines.com/1777-1778_timeline.shtml

Congrats on a great find.

Dave
 
holy cra---- cow,, that is totally AWESOME !! WOOOOOOW...... ;D ;D ;D ;D
 
Hard work does pay off!! Great coins . I would do three back flips to dig one of those!! :)
 
awesome coin. i was just on long island today dropping a car off. should have brought the detector ;D
 
Re: Old Woods Pays Off Again! 1778 Silver Spanish 1 Reale!

bookfisher said:
lou423 said:
Take me with you...That is a great place to hunt...

Come on up!

He says as 500 of us show up at his front door...
Great spot, keep them coming!
 
That's a great coin! Where I'm from we couldn't possibly find anything that old.

Suzy
 
A completely fabulous find Your Excellency

Many CONGRATS!
 
Thats a sweet coin, made two years after the U.S.'s b-day.
J Dubs
 
NIceeeeeeeeeeeeee finds, I thought the 1858 flying eagle penny I found
today was neat, but it can't hold a candle to your find. Love all your finds.

Keep us posted on any new finds you might come up with.

HH, Ringfinder
 
ringfinder said:
NIceeeeeeeeeeeeee finds, I thought the 1858 flying eagle penny I found
today was neat, but it can't hold a candle to your find. Love all your finds.

Keep us posted on any new finds you might come up with.

HH, Ringfinder

Yesterday I checked out a different section of the woods, I had briefly searched about a month ago. Didn't find anything. I went back this evening, about an hour before sunset to the general area where I found the Reale and found a livestock tag with the No. 6 on it and and a suspender clip marked "Police Brace." I'm going back tomorrow and hit it hard for a couple of hours.
 

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