muttandjeeps

Last week, my son and I went on another “Treasure Coast” trip, this time armed with our new Equinox 800’s.

Our last trip to St. Augustine had me finding the only “old coin”, an 8 Reale, that I was sure was authentic, but my 21 yo son had the opposite opinion. For the last 6 months, I have been hearing it from him about my “lead slug”.

Fast forward to last week. It’s about 11:30 pm on 3/27, and he comes up from behind me and tells me he found a “fake” coin, and jokingly accuses me of planting it, so he could have the heart attack/heart break of finding a worthless piece of junk… So, Sam pulls the “coin” out of his junk pouch so we can both give it a better look.

Upon inspection of the coin, its mint appearance gave the impression of a newly minted souvenir, but the coins details were so fine, and weight so heavy, we really did not know what to think. Back at the hotel we researched, compared pictures of actual coins, and did everything we could at 3 am to prove or disprove its origin.

The next morning we went to the West Bay Trading Company in Vero Beach to have the coin seen by folks who know much more than we do. The guys at West Bay were really helpful, determined that the gold content is just under 90%. 21 carat (by all records we found, 87.5 % was what the coin were supposed to be), Both Ron and Scott looked at the coin in disbelief of the condition, and determined that it was indeed genuine, and Scott, with his loop, discovered that the date was an over stamp 1787 over a 6.  We were advised to have the coin graded and slabbed, and that is where it sits now.

Needless to say, we had a great trip. The Equinox has proved to be a great, fast, deep machine. Small brass/bronze/copper bits at 8 to 12 inches ring up VERY loud and clear on the wet sand (Beach 2), leaving no doubt that you have a non-ferrous item under the coil. Yes, aluminum rings up as well, but as we all know, that is just the cost of doing business… Battery run time is all of 10 hours plus, the wireless headphones worked well, the backlight on its lowest setting is perfect, and the machine preformed very quietly in the dry sand, and even in the surf. Very happy with the Equinox!