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My Mom Is A Natural!


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I got to spend the day with my mom and after visiting friends and family we decided to hit one of my detecting spots because she was interested in finding some treasure. I have hit the spot several times with various other detectors. I'd given her the Fisher F-22 and put it in coin mode to make it easier. Wouldn't you know out of the first hole she digs a 278 year old coin. I couldn't believe it since I've never found anything there older than the 1920s ? needless to say I still have a grin on my face. 

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Heck of a find; congratulations to your mom!  You should send the pics and story to First Texas.  Might make their website or a future periodical. 

I recognize a US Colonial strike, but my recollection is that there are several with this same reverse, some extremely valuable.  Have you identified this one?

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1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

Heck of a find; congratulations to your mom!  You should send the pics and story to First Texas.  Might make their website or a future periodical. 

I recognize a US Colonial strike, but my recollection is that there are several with this same reverse, some extremely valuable.  Have you identified this one?

Wow that is awesome. I've only found one that was in halfway decent shape and not as good as this one so I never really look them up to see if they were valuable or not. Thanks for the info that's amazing and she's tickled pink she wants to keep doing it which is just fine with me ?

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2 hours ago, phrunt said:

She'd be thrilled, Sometimes those really low frequency detectors just love old coins.

I hear you there. I started off with a White's classic ID and one day I used my buddies idx Pro and I found 2 old coppers in a field that had been hit several times before. The wild thing is I've hit the same area with a DFX, Troy Shadow X5, and recently with my Equinox and she comes up right off the bat and finds that on the first hole it was awesome you just never know.

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Looked through my RedBook and didn't see this exact one.  It appears to show George II and the date looks like 1740 or 1749, consistent with his reign.  The North American made pieces depicted in the RedBook are typically George III and dated in the 1770's and 1780's.  Now I'm wondering if yours was actually minted in England.  I bet some of our British readers can educate us.

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14 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Looked through my RedBook and didn't see this exact one.  It appears to show George II and the date looks like 1740 or 1749, consistent with his reign.  The North American made pieces depicted in the RedBook are typically George III and dated in the 1770's and 1780's.  Now I'm wondering if yours was actually minted in England.  I bet some of our British readers can educate us.

Thanks so much for the research! From the research I did I'm leaning more towards it being made in England but like I said finding one in decent shape is definitely new to me. It definitely has been a good year because they one other one that I could read a date on I found this year and it definitely gave me the detecting bug again after taking a break to pursue fly fishing and fly tying. Here are the ones I found earlier this year and I'm freshly plowed field. They're the first one I ever found with  date on it in the top center.

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Good stuff!  The dated one (1739) appears to say 'Hibernia' which would make it from Ireland.  Upper right shows George III.  I can't see enough detail on the other coppers.  If I were you I'd continue researching.  People have found rare old coins in the US East.

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8 hours ago, foreverteachable said:

...Do you have a book recommendation?

Well, if you want to get deep into pre-ratified-Constitution US coinage, the following is where you'll find it.  Dave Bowers is both an excellent and prolific writer on all US coin subjects but also probably the most knowledgeable (overall) US coin numistmatist in history.  I have several of his books.  You can just use them as reference; you don't have to read cover-to-cover.

https://www.amazon.com/Whitman-Encyclopedia-Colonial-Early-American/dp/0794825419/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1532273660&sr=1-1&keywords=Colonial+Coins

For an overall view of US coinage, the 'Redbook' has been the go-to reference for the past 70 years:

https://www.ebay.com/i/253723373032?rt=nc&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20160908110712%26meid%3D55ce265db895489aaec3f095e2911916%26pid%3D100677%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D30%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D372268875624%26itm%3D253723373032

For online info, including *retail* prices, plus the best grading guide, this is my go-to site:

https://www.pcgs.com/prices/

Ebay is the most reliable place to find values because they effectively cut out the middle.  But don't trust asking prices, rather prices realized (used the 'adanced' search and check the 'sold listings' box).  PCGS is a grading service and their prices are not only retail but also assume the coin has been professionally graded.  That carries a premium.  But short of that there is quite a bit of info on their site, more than you'll find in the Redbook and it's free to access.  I like the Redbook for quick reference, and I'm old fashioned in that I find thumbing through physical pages easier than virtual ones.

 

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