VERMONT COLONIAL COPPER!!!

West Jersey Detecting · Jul 29, 2007

Well I finally got out for a few hours this morning. I returned to a site I have searching for years, on and off. I have previously found colonial artifacts, but no coins older than 1887. The area around site has been inhabited since the 1660's. I spent the first hour or so in the woods trying my best to avoid the poison ivy. (I will let you know in a few days how successful I was!) I found the musket ball and the silver thing. I would have thought the silver was a modern piece of jewelry, but I found a very similar one at another colonial site about 50 miles away. It has loops on both sides, one is crushed. Does anyone know what it is? After an hour I hit the fields that have never produced for me before. I received a dime signal at 6 inches, but I knew after digging about 8 or 9 inches it wasn't a dime. I was pretty sure it was a coin. The ground is like concrete this time of year so it was no picnic digging the 10 inches or so to recover the coin, which I believe to be a very worn 1787 or 1788 Vermont Copper (http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinImages/VT-Copper/VT-Bressett10-O.2.obv.jpg). it is 27.7mm and weighs only 88 grains (about 5.7 grams). Any help with the ID is appreciated.

piggman1 · Jul 29, 2007

Neat finds, but I can't help ya.

bookfisher · Jul 29, 2007

Hey Neil,

Excellent finds! Though, from my experience it's bittersweet when you find an over 200 year old historic coin that's badly corroded. Definitely hit those woods in the winter when the growth thins out.

RUDY2003 · Jul 30, 2007

Cool finds Neil!
Definitely keep diggin that spot......

N.J.THer · Jul 30, 2007

Congrats on the coin. I have a few that look like that...the ground is hell on the coppers. Wish I could have made a hunt this weekend but next time I have some time I'll drop you a line and see if your available. Congrats again.

NJ

titan · Jul 30, 2007

congrates, i would defiantly hit that spot some more.

Nana40 · Jul 30, 2007

GREAT finds, Neil! Hope you escaped the poison ivy!

Nana

coinman66 · Jul 30, 2007

Nice find Neil! Wish i could help on the coin. HH

COUNTRY GIRL · Jul 31, 2007

You may want to check with Don and his posts in cleaning. I wouldn't want to recommend the peroxide trick on copper without rereading the post. It works wonders though. Then we can all see what a beauty of a find it is! Curious about the silver link?

West Jersey Detecting · Jul 31, 2007

COUNTRY GIRL said:
You may want to check with Don and his posts in cleaning. I wouldn't want to recommend the peroxide trick on copper without rereading the post. It works wonders though. Then we can all see what a beauty of a find it is! Curious about the silver link?

It is badly coroded. I am going to have to live with it the way it is. Fertilized farm field wreak havok on coins. The wooded area nearby has been much kinder, like the 1836 I found there a while back. Here is a link to the "WTF is it" Forum post. I now know it is a snuff Mull, most likely 19th century. : http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,99853.0.html