Don in SJ
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Site 151A&B Colonial finds
On Friday I went on my first hunt in almost a month and went to the site that has been producing very old coins and artifacts but the downside is that the soil is not kind to coppers.
I only hunted about an hour and half but did get two relics, one heavily worn thick Colonial copper and one big ole Key hole thingy.
I spent about two days trying to clean and see any detail on the coin and after the process of elimination by weight, diameter, thickness, appearance, some detail, and relationship to other coins found at the site, I am fairly certain, but never will be 100% certain that it is a typical worn out Regal William III halfpenny from 1695-1701 date range. The coin weighed in at 145.2 grains, too heavy to be a counterfeit unless it was cast with some lead, diameter 28.2mm and thickness was 2mm. I have a bunch of William III Halfpennies and comparing what I see and the weight and other factors, and I did find one other one at this site, I feel safe in calling the coin that, it is the best "fit".
Today, after the expected rain never really amounted to much here, I decided to go back to the site but this time hunt on the other side of the Vernal Pond, where earlier this year I did a walkthru the area and there were iron hits on that side of the pond also.
Right away I got a somewhat good coin reading, although it sounded like there might be two coppers in the hole. I dug and dug and no coin but the reading was still there. Finally I remembered that sometimes a coin on edge will give a double reading and also not pinpoint as good as usual. Sure enough, the copper was in the side of the massive hole I dug, down about 6 inches.
This one I could see detail right away and knew it was a KGII copper, but I also knew right away it was one of the minority of KGII coppers that are counterfeit. It was very thin and very light.
As Mike in NJ knows, since we both have said it, the kiss of death finding a coin right away, of course I did not find another one after that but I only lasted a little more than an hour before calling it quits. It is rough hunting in the woods in summer.
I did get a few other relics before I quit, what looks like a possible shell casing, two square nails, not pictured a heavy hot rock, and a nice inner part of a colonial era shoe buckle, which always is nice to find.
I tried to get a date off the KGII, but the fact it is a lightweight counterfeit, it may not have had a clear date to begin with, but I thought I saw about 4 different dates before I coated it with Blue Ribbon, till I decide if I want to spruce it up more or not at a later date.
I may go back there again tomorrow for one last hunt in July, before the next heat wave hits South Jersey. Ticks are bad, but I was wearing long pants and the pants, socks and shoes were all treated heavily with REPEL (Permanome) I highly recommend the stuff for protection from Chiggers and Ticks. The down side is, not good to sweat much and allow the spray on the clothing to contact your wet skin, you may get a reaction to it. But it does allow me to hunt during the Chigger season somewhat.
HH
Don
On Friday I went on my first hunt in almost a month and went to the site that has been producing very old coins and artifacts but the downside is that the soil is not kind to coppers.
I only hunted about an hour and half but did get two relics, one heavily worn thick Colonial copper and one big ole Key hole thingy.
I spent about two days trying to clean and see any detail on the coin and after the process of elimination by weight, diameter, thickness, appearance, some detail, and relationship to other coins found at the site, I am fairly certain, but never will be 100% certain that it is a typical worn out Regal William III halfpenny from 1695-1701 date range. The coin weighed in at 145.2 grains, too heavy to be a counterfeit unless it was cast with some lead, diameter 28.2mm and thickness was 2mm. I have a bunch of William III Halfpennies and comparing what I see and the weight and other factors, and I did find one other one at this site, I feel safe in calling the coin that, it is the best "fit".
Today, after the expected rain never really amounted to much here, I decided to go back to the site but this time hunt on the other side of the Vernal Pond, where earlier this year I did a walkthru the area and there were iron hits on that side of the pond also.
Right away I got a somewhat good coin reading, although it sounded like there might be two coppers in the hole. I dug and dug and no coin but the reading was still there. Finally I remembered that sometimes a coin on edge will give a double reading and also not pinpoint as good as usual. Sure enough, the copper was in the side of the massive hole I dug, down about 6 inches.
This one I could see detail right away and knew it was a KGII copper, but I also knew right away it was one of the minority of KGII coppers that are counterfeit. It was very thin and very light.
As Mike in NJ knows, since we both have said it, the kiss of death finding a coin right away, of course I did not find another one after that but I only lasted a little more than an hour before calling it quits. It is rough hunting in the woods in summer.
I did get a few other relics before I quit, what looks like a possible shell casing, two square nails, not pictured a heavy hot rock, and a nice inner part of a colonial era shoe buckle, which always is nice to find.
I tried to get a date off the KGII, but the fact it is a lightweight counterfeit, it may not have had a clear date to begin with, but I thought I saw about 4 different dates before I coated it with Blue Ribbon, till I decide if I want to spruce it up more or not at a later date.
I may go back there again tomorrow for one last hunt in July, before the next heat wave hits South Jersey. Ticks are bad, but I was wearing long pants and the pants, socks and shoes were all treated heavily with REPEL (Permanome) I highly recommend the stuff for protection from Chiggers and Ticks. The down side is, not good to sweat much and allow the spray on the clothing to contact your wet skin, you may get a reaction to it. But it does allow me to hunt during the Chigger season somewhat.
HH
Don
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But where are the pictures of the nails? 
You're the king of CC's, Don! 
At least with the wood's hunt you have a little more shade than the field hunt's,tick's and chigger's are the same here too.Great Job on some very nice Colonial's and relic's.The one I found on the 4th look's and has the same demension's....Any chance of it being a WM III (1.7 x 28.4x 140.56 grain's) I just want someone to tell me "YES" 
