Recovered a great looking 1675 Charles II farthing on Friday

[Bill D. (VA)]

My friend Joey and I hooked up on his day off and made a long road trip to check out some new sites. We got lucky by quickly landing permission at a location Joey had researched, and fortunately those pesky hunters weren't around. It was a gorgeous site well back from and above the river, and it offered quite a stunning view. As soon as we walked into the field we hit a major iron patch and slowly started pulling out colonial artifacts, some which helped to verify the c1680 occupancy of this site. Joey hit paydirt first with a nice cut pistareen, and a little later in the hunt I dug what I thought was a KG copper. But it turned out to be a 1675 Charles II copper farthing, and was in unbelievably good condition for a field-dug coin. Today I dry cleaned it with a toothbrush and toothpick, and then used a little Blue Ribbon coin cleaner topped off with a coating of Renaissance wax. I was pretty happy with the results. One of my first targets was this cool looking large domed button with some interesting designs. I thought it was probably early-to-mid 1800s, but when I was cleaning it I noticed a drilled eye shank which dates it to the late 1700s. I also dug a 1600s nipple button and a couple of fragile pewter buttons. Near the end of the hunt I chased a deep iron signal that led me to a nice colonial hoe that's cleaning up nicely in the electrolysis tank. The hoe was near the bottom of a small burn pit with a lot of charcoal and brick, but I only saw one piece of pottery. Joey and I decided to wait and expand on that spot at a later date. We wrapped up our visit by showing the elderly owner our finds, and we also discussed the history of the property with her. We were invited back anytime, and have plenty of areas for expanding our searches (in addition to looking for Joey's cut silver coin that was apparently dropped in the field somewhere). Had a great time Joey, and thanks again for the invite.

 

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[Greylock]

Looks like some more good colonial finds from you guys. The detail and patina on that farthing is beautiful. Those pewter buttons are great too. With all this snow I either have to shovel my sites or stop looking at everyone's finds.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Wow! That 1675 Charles II Farthing is in amazing condition Bill!
Love the look of that beautiful button with the 'star' on it too!

I'm voting BANNER for the 1675 Charles II Farthing!
Dave

 

[Ahab8]

Wow that's an unbelievable find! 17th century coins are very hard to find. Congrats on that beautiful looking coin

 

[flatbutton]

Amazing detail on that coin! Congrats!

 

[gwdigger]

Really like those star buttons. I'd camp out at that site but I guess you have other places to get too.

 

[joeyfresh]

That turned out great Bill! Both the reverse and obverse have great detail and relief. I had a great time and look forward to doing it again in the near future.

 

[pepperj]

The dirt was very kind to those keepers, nice recovery's on the copper & buttons.

 

[detroitdigger]

Awesome finds! The copper and buttons are totally cool! Congrats on your finds! HH.

 

[calmerthanu]

awesome, same year as my charles II 4 pence

 

[SouthJerseyJim]

Bill that sure is in fine shape! It would be a challenge to see one dug in better shape! Awesome!

 

[Wes-N-VA]

WTG Bill! WOW, that coin is amazing and in wonderful shape. Man that gets me excited seeing those colonial relics coming out in that detail. You and Joey are killing it! I am to scared to clean my coppers unless they are so toasty that it doesn't matter (in hopes of trying to get something to pop) Hats off to you again! As we do not find many copper coins that look that great and that old, I am voting BANNER. Good luck and continued success.

 

[Valley Ranger]

Good stuff - love that button!

 

[johnnyblaze]

Sweet Farthing Bill

But i love that button i had a feeling it was late Colonial i found a similar one a few years ago...

Blaze

 

[mangum]

Great finds Bill. That farthing is in great shape! Great job on cleaning! How do you deal with your pewter buttons. Thanks for sharing, I always enjoy your posts (& drooling over the finds!) HH!

 

[jewelerguy]

wow that farthing is in great condition

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

You really beat the odds one that one Bill.
Any 1600's copper coin is a pretty tough find, a lot of holes in between for sure.
At least 50+ half pennies to 1 (one) farthing dug. (my personal ratio is closer to 100 HP to 1 farthing)
Relatively corrosion free (at least it looks so) pretty scarce indeed, even for a copper 100 years newer.
High grade to boot.
= A rare MD find.

For anyone who thinks this is easy just because of a general east coast location, IT"S NOT.

Good job, Nice coin find, and great site, which is most important.
I'm facing reality now, after yesterday's storm...I am done for this year.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

You really beat the odds one that one Bill.
Any 1600's copper coin is a pretty tough find, a lot of holes in between for sure.
At least 50+ half pennies to 1 (one) farthing dug. (my personal ratio is closer to 100 HP to 1 farthing)
Relatively corrosion free (at least it looks so) pretty scarce indeed, even for a copper 100 years newer.
High grade to boot.
= A rare MD find.

For anyone who thinks this is easy just because of a general east coast location, IT"S NOT.

Good job, Nice coin find, and great site, which is most important.
I'm facing reality now, after yesterday's storm...I am done for this year.

Rick - it's great to hear those comments from someone who has an appreciation for the rarity of this find, at least for me. Although colonial silver is quite abundant down this way, the early coppers are very hard to come by. Outside of about 30-35 Virginia halfpennies I doubt I've dug 10 KG coppers around here, and only one other 1600s copper (a 1670s Charles II Bawbee). And almost all of them are in poor condition as they've come from fertilized fields. So this farthing is definitely something special for me, due to both its age and condition. Thanks again for your input. And I hope you guys get a major thaw up that way to open up at least a small detecting window.

 

[Don in SJ]

Bill, that Farthing is really great, the look with that patina is superb, nice going on getting such a nice one. Out of curiosity I checked my friend's Wayne's Winter 2003 C4 Newsletter article on 1000 coins recovered in the Southern New Jersey and was surprised to see that he found 13 Charles II farthings, more than any of the other reigns he has found. I sure cannot explain that one, except he hit some mighty old sites, but even so, that is a lot. I am snake bit on Farthings on having recovered one KGI farthing. Also like that but cone shaped button, but think it might be more a early 1700s type rather than the true nipple button of the 1600s, not sure from looking at the photos.....

 

[metalev4]

That copper is in stunning condition Bill. One of the prettier patinas I have seen. Nice work! Glad to see you getting in the swing of things. Banner vote from me for sure!