Jump to content

I'm Calling It Spanish Silver.... Maybe


Recommended Posts

About six inches down in the ankle-deep surf.  It's very thin and worn almost beyond recognition.  But it's obviously old, round and silver, and it was found on a treasure coast beach.  You can almost make out a date on one side, 1720-something...if you hold it at just the right angle in bright light.  One side is completely gone...as in slick as a billiard ball.  The yellowish coin is a modern US dime. Anybody have any ideas?

20171016_170837.jpg

20171016_170916.jpg

20171016_170925.jpg

20171016_171706.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites


8 minutes ago, MontAmmie said:

Anybody have any ideas?

Intriguing, for sure.  It seems quite circular.  Aren't the early Spanish American-Colonial coins way out-of-round?

Does it ID close to the dime?  (Looks a bit smaller than the dime, but if silver it should still hit pretty high.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Intriguing, for sure.  It seems quite circular.  Aren't the early Spanish American-Colonial coins way out-of-round?

Does it ID close to the dime?  (Looks a bit smaller than the dime, but if silver it should still hit pretty high.)

I got it with the Infinium, so no ID.  I'm thinking it may be what's left of a half reale. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part! :laugh: The date is really close to the edge, so the outer circular decorated part is totally gone, if it is.  The diameter is right at about 15 mm. Did I mention that it's really thin too?  Here's one on FleaBay.

s-l500.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I stand corrected.  By 1738 they obviously were using better presses, dies, equipment in general.  So your slug has a chance of being the real deal ('real' as in 'authentic' not Re-al, the spanish denomination.  Then it's only half-real?  :wacko:)

You seem to have gotten into a good relationship with that Infinium since you purchased it earlier this year.  Well done.  Goes to show one doesn't need a $5k PI to find good stuff.  Hope you have a true 18th Century or earlier Spanish coin there, even if it's deteriorated to the point of no detail.  Always fun to pull things from the ground that were lost over a century ago.  Certainly thrills me on the rare occasions I do that, and Spanish shipwreck treasures are way more 'romantic' than what I've found.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

You seem to have gotten into a good relationship with that Infinium since you purchased it earlier this year.  Well done.  Goes to show one doesn't need a $5k PI to find good stuff.  Hope you have a true 18th Century or earlier Spanish coin there, even if it's deteriorated to the point of no detail.  

I love my Infinium and I think it's an awesome machine to hunt our beaches where the targets and scarce and deep.  I sadly put my "maybe coin" in my "never know" ziploc bag.  Just makes me want to go find a better one when/if it quits raining!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MontAmmie,

You could take it to a coin/jewelry shop that has an XRF analyzer, to see if it is 90%, sterling, etc.  That would narrow it down quite a bit for foreign or US, then a good diameter measurement would help further.  With that much metal gone, weight is obviously out the window for ID.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/16/2017 at 5:54 PM, MontAmmie said:

About six inches down in the ankle-deep surf.  It's very thin and worn almost beyond recognition.  But it's obviously old, round and silver, and it was found on a treasure coast beach. 

Welll, they don't call it Half-rial Beach for nuttin', if that's where you were.. :cool:
Even wiped & pitted clean they are still nice finds..!

Swamp

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/18/2017 at 9:42 PM, rod-pa said:

MontAmmie,

You could take it to a coin/jewelry shop that has an XRF analyzer, to see if it is 90%, sterling, etc.  That would narrow it down quite a bit for foreign or US, then a good diameter measurement would help further.  With that much metal gone, weight is obviously out the window for ID.  

I'm not that curious, Rod.  It was an interesting find, but I'm after gold when I'm out there digging.  I learned something today that I'll share with ya'll.  When you encounter a tent stake graveyard.....like 10 of them all in one little area in shallow water... sloooow down and search every inch of it.  Sometimes it holds other goodies, like 14 K men's wedding bands.  :biggrin:

 

20171020_092952 (800x450) (2).jpg

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Swampstomper Al said:

Welll, they don't call it Half-rial Beach for nuttin', if that's where you were.. :cool:
Even wiped & pitted clean they are still nice finds..!

Swamp

I'd rather have a big gold ring. :smile:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, MontAmmie said:

I'm not that curious, Rod.  It was an interesting find, but I'm after gold when I'm out there digging.  I learned something today that I'll share with ya'll.  When you encounter a tent stake graveyard.....like 10 of them all in one little area in shallow water... sloooow down and search every inch of it.  Sometimes it holds other goodies, like 14 K men's wedding bands.  :biggrin:

 

MontAmmie, you SOOOOO make me wish I lived near a beach...

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...