2 Reale In A Public Park!!!

[Coinboy 113]

I went to hunt a local park this morning with my new Etrac. The ground is freezing up here and I wanted to get out before it’s totally frozen. Since I needed 1 more silver to make 100, I went to the oldest park around, from the 1840s. I went out with low expectations, since I know the park has been pounded over the years. After hunting for about an hour and not finding anything I was getting discouraged. As I was about to head back to the car, I got a very deep, VERY iffy high tone. I told myself Hey maybe they missed a rosie or something. So I dug a nice 7 inch plug and in the plug my pinpointer went off: 1 rusty nail. I rechecked the hole and got an even better high tone. I dug down to about 8 or 9 inches and out came another rusty nail. Then the most beautiful 12-45 signal sang into my ears and I eagerly dug down. At 10 and a half inches: Silver coin edge! I carefully took it out of the hole and got out my spray bottle. It seemed oddly thin for a silver quarter. As the dirt came off the coin I could not believe my eyes and yelled “HOLY $!@?” I got a couple of weird looks but I didn’t care. SPANISH SILVER!!!! I threw down my headphones and ran around doing a happy dance. My 100th silver and I could not have asked for a better one. I quickly ran home to clean it. Turns out it’s from the 1730s from the reign of King Philip 5 of Spain! My oldest coin I’ve ever found! What a way to end the year. I could not get any “in situ” pics because I was shaking so bad! But here are some from when I got home. Thanks for looking!

[calabash digger 1,410]

STUNNER!! Congrats!

[Wendell Clark 140]

I second Cal's motion! Big Congrats!!

[GaryC/Oregon Coast 372]

AND, it's an off center die ERROR coin!  NICE!!!!  GaryC/Oregon Coast

[kac 3,061]

Nice!

[matt 358]

Bad A$$!!!

[UtahRich 273]

Coinboy - 

Exceptional find - Just a walk in the park for the Etrac.  I'm guessing you're pleased with your choice.  

Rich - 

[Valens Legacy 1,009]

Wonderful find to end the year with, congrats!

Good luck on your next hunt.

[IdahoPeg 1,209]

Wow! That is so amazing! In Iowa of all places....makes you think of that coin’s journey for sure! Congrats!

[GB_Amateur 5,251]

Great find and you just never know what is going to be in the bottom of that hole!  Well done with your perseverance, finding the two nails and keeping checking.

Foreign silver coins were commonly circulated in the USA up intil 1857 when a new law stopped that.  You said the park goes back to the 1840's so this likely was lost in the first 10 or so years of the park's existence.  Just think (you likely already have...) what else might be down there at the 10 inch level....  I bet you can't wait for spring thaw.