where to find a spanish coin close to so cal ?

[H-2 CHARLIE]

any where maybe in the santa susana pass , san pedro ?

 

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[Mackaydon]

My impression of San Pedro is all freeways and concrete; maybe in Santa Susana Pass. A few years ago we did discuss gold being buried in the Pass; this may interest you:http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/treasure-legends/154624-santa-susana-ca-stage-robbery.html
Don....

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

any where maybe in the santa susana pass , san pedro ?

Because you're in a metropolis big city (urban sprawl) it's going to be hard to find places that old, that are not paved over with newer things. Up where I'm at (Salinas, Ca) is more rural and farm-land/agriculture. So we're able to research out old adobe sites (1810's to 1840's ranchos, landgrant habitations, camps, etc...) that ........ to this day ..... are sometimes just in cow pastures, row-crop land, orchard land, vineyard land, etc.... And yes, we've found spanish & Mexican reales in these locations.

Even though So. CA mission lands got "diced up" into the same type land grants, all of which would have had their associated habitations, yet odds are, in the urban sprawl, all such good real-estate locations are paved over.

I'm sure there are some lurking in the high desert to the east of you somewhere

 

[Vpbrian]

I'm in sonoma county , nor cal. , I'm new but I've been reading a lot the past few days of the 1800 era here in Santa Rosa , rohnert park , Petaluma area, and a lot of Indian history

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I'm in sonoma county , nor cal. , I'm new but I've been reading a lot the past few days of the 1800 era here in Santa Rosa , rohnert park , Petaluma area, and a lot of Indian history

Welcome VP-brian. Yes there was pre-statehood activity in your area. Hence theorectically, you might be able to research out adobe-site locations, where hopefully nothing but a cow-pasture is now. I've heard of reales being found up your way

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Vpbrian]

Yes and we have a very large unincorporated area with state and regional parks that have a lot of history , to Spanish , and Indians , at a large cross roads of the gold rush with several rivers like the Russian river , very close bodega bay , dating back to sir France's drake ,

 

[gollum]

Let's see......... down near OC, you have to head South from where you are.

Near Trestle's, for several years a local guy found a lot Colonial Spanish Jewelry and coins. A friend told me the story, and the docent of a nearby museum verified. Seemed like a wagonspill. If you know the trail down to the beach from the parking lot by Carl's Jr, you can still see the old overgrown trail. I never spent a lot of time detecting the spot because the brush is EXTREMELY dense and there are a bunch of rattlesnakes in there.



Further inland, there is a high bluff on the North and South side of the canyon. On the tops of those bluffs, I know of a lot of Colonial Spanish artifacts and old campsites that were found (the South side is actually on Camp Pendleton property).

Mike

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

... , dating back to sir France's drake ,

VP-Brian, with all due respects ....... your odds of finding something that date back to the "explorer" era, are next-to-nothing. You're thinking of the "colorful" stories of someone getting off their ship, planting a flag, but then getting back on the ship and heading back to Mexico. Sure, there was a few land-falls, naming spots along the coast, etc... But REALISTICALLY speaking: you're not going to find something fumble fingers they dropped. I mean, to find a trade item or something they dropped is a needle-in-a hay-stack improbable.

The first European toe-hold here wasn't till the missions. And then realistically, unless you could right right up next to a mission itself, there really wasn't any significant # of Europeans here till the 1810s or so. Prior to that, the ENTIRE non-indian population, in the entire state of CA, was numbered only in the 100s. But starting in the 1810s, then travel between the missions was happening, and for the first time: persons living outside the walls of the missions and presidios.

Thus unless you're hunting at a mission itself, the reales usually found in CA are ones lost in the 1820s, 30s, etc.... at adobe sites, for example. And yes those can date to the 1700s easily. I've found about 100 reales in CA over the years. Oldest was in the 1750s. But typically 1770s to the late 1840s. After mexico got ousted as a colonial power, very few reales came up after that. Some with the gold rush miners coming up from Mexico. But even those tended to be early 1850s at the newest.

 

[Vpbrian]

The location I'm in does happen to be a mission area , and I've found some 1906 and 1917. I really would like to find maybe some late 1800 coins. To add to my collection that will make me very happy any thing even 1899 lol

 

[Vpbrian]

Went back to the trail I found that 1917 merc and found these today along with about 30 more wheats ranging from 1906-1952 , I will be back there tomorrow

 

[Vpbrian]

I have found all of these in the last 4 days along the same trail ,, I have to be on to some thing ?

 

[gollum]

I have to agree with Tom here for the most part. The spot I posted is a fairly well known place where Ships put ashore because of the freshwater creek that runs to the ocean.

If you want colonial Spanish stuff, then you are going to have to do some research and find the places that were habitated during the years you want to find.

Mike

 

[el padron]

Double post

 

[el padron]

TMI

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... I have to be on to some thing ?

If you're finding that many wheaties and silver coins, yes: something had to have been going on there in the past. some sort of camping or picnicking ? Congratz!

 

[Desert Don]

I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to put in my two cents. The initial post was asking where to find Spanish coins in California. Well, back in 1979 I was living in Merced California, up in the San Joaquin Valley. I was using an old (but at the time... new) Bounty Hunter TR 550. I was out by the airport in an open field to the south. I got a hit and dug up an 1812 Mexican 2 Real copper coin, and an interesting pure copper bowl. (See photos) All of California was under Mexican rule at the time. You could probably find Mexican or other Spanish coins all throughout California. Click on the image for a larger view.


I hope somebody is still interested in this thread!

Desert Don

 

[Mackaydon]

Because of the many varieties in the Morelos coinage, a book could be written on this one subject alone. (His monogram, SMo, is above the '2 R'.) The majority of his coinage was copper in the form of IOUs to be redeemed after the War of Independence. I can't speak to the authenticity of your coin, but I have become suspect to all cast copper Morelos coinage. To me, the educational (historic) value of that coin far exceeds its numismatic value.Thanks for the post.
Don......

 

[Desert Don]

Because of the many varieties in the Morelos coinage, a book could be written on this one subject alone. (His monogram, SMo, is above the '2 R'.) The majority of his coinage was copper in the form of IOUs to be redeemed after the War of Independence. I can't speak to the authenticity of your coin, but I have become suspect to all cast copper Morelos coinage. To me, the educational (historic) value of that coin far exceeds its numismatic value.Thanks for the post.
Don......

Wow...this thread is still alive. That was quick! agree that the historic value is all it's worth. I checked a few years ago, and found that it was worth only a few dollars at best. No matter, I keep it anyway.

DD

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Wow...this thread is still alive. That was quick! agree that the historic value is all it's worth. I checked a few years ago, and found that it was worth only a few dollars at best. No matter, I keep it anyway.

DD

Don, did you know of something from Mexican era, that was going on in that area of Merced ? Or technically, some reales and coppers circulated up through the start of the Gold rush.

Coppers are hard to find in CA. Whenever reales are found here, they are mostly always silver. I have a theory that it's because back in the day, when cargo space/weight was at a premium, they would take the higher denomination coins when getting ready for permanent travel to another country. Same logic for large cents: Very few made it to CA. But many early seateds and some busts of the same era DO make it here.

Of course this doesn't fully explain your copper though: Since it's a 2-reale, and and a "fractional' copper. Great story! I wonder what was going on there at your Merced site during mexican or very-early CA times ?

 

[stefen]

The location I'm in does happen to be a mission area , and I've found some 1906 and 1917. I really would like to find maybe some late 1800 coins. To add to my collection that will make me very happy any thing even 1899 lol

Unless you accidently happen upon an old coin while MD'ing, yur best alternative is by trading with a friend or buying from a coin store, ebay or the like.