Tom_in_CA

If you ask me, I'd find better place to hunt. That's just too junky for my blood. The sites that are much more fun, are the sites where a stage stop (or fort, or picnic site, or whatever) closed down/vacated by 1900, and no human has set foot there since. Yeah Yeah, I'm spoiled rotten. Doh ! But if I were hunting that , seeing as how it only date to the 1910s, I'd crank the discrimination and cherry pick for only high conductors. Yup, kiss nickels and gold rings goodbye. But .... that's just me.

Awesome !! How many gold coins total does this make for your career now ?

deathray is right : What is often called "Chinese cash coin". They came over with the Chinese coolies by the barrel full during the Gold Rush, and RR building days. Heck, they even came over before all that, during west coast colonial times since they were simply foreign coins that passing ships had. We've found them in CA coastal mission-era sites where there was no more human influence after 1840 -ish.

I never argue with IH's

Great pictures. Those type bayonets can be bought in military surplus stores.

Good pictures. Thanx for sharing.

Yup. When I read the O.P.'s post, I thought : "Hey ! Cal_Cobra and I did that too !". But you beat me to the draw. 😜 Yes, it has come in handy on some sites. And a few nice coins can be attributed to it. I used it a week ago as matter of fact, where a lady thought she might have lost her ring in some deep grassy iceplant. 10 minutes with that thing allowed me to get my coil closer to the ground (but her ring wasn't there durnit ).

Try the device on a myriad of locations where you are relatively certain that no "fabulous treasures" are. And see if you simply get similar blotches elsewhere, that mean nothing.

Good write-up

Fun little story. Thanx for bringing us along.

The good news is, that you are now ~ $3.50 richer, and that you are loved ! 😍

Great story. I love crawling around under the crawl-spaces of old buildings. It's amazing what could slip through drip grates and vents and so forth in-the-old-days.

I dunno, but I like it !

Good pictures. Nice history.

Yes, there are a few dates where the Philly is actually the better numismatic choice. Granted. But all in all, S and CC tends to be the better ones. Hey, you gotta allow us some consolation. You guys east of the Mississippi have Large cents in every sand box, so ... this is our one consolation 😂

Ah, it took you a little while to chime in Brian. Glad we can all see your buckle. Dated to 1875-1885, via our subsequent research. And : The late 1870s fits nicely with our known history of the site (when it went vacant). My wrap-up was in this post : https://metaldetectingforum.com/index.php?threads/rare-az-token-found-half-dime-buckle-etc.302407/

I see others beat me to the punch. Yes, it's the highly coveted N.Y.L. button. And as caprock points out, one of their bivwac assignment locations was Monterey, CA (where I live) I've found 2 so far. And I've seen 3 or 4 others found by buddies in this coastal CA area. And they get found in G.R. sites , and are highly prized. They were only here in Monterey for a short time , before the gold rush broke out, and they all headed to the gold rush 🙂 Not sure of a value, but way-back-when, when I had found one, was offered something on the order of $300 for it, if I recall. Others have been found since then, so I'm not sure of what current collector demand ($$) would be. But just that : They are a niche-unto themselves to find, amongst button enthusiasts and CA history buffs. Congratz !

Thanx Doc. How many Phoenix buttons total have you found in your career ? And : Are you at liberty to say what type site you found that in ? And was that in CA or OR ? Near the Columbia River perhaps ??

Wow, a Phoenix button ! And a very rare one at that. Here's a rarity chart I wrote. Yours is a Type 1 Style 2 And although you don't have anything in your picture for size, yet it appears to be a large. Right ? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rX9XFCFw-SKRiUFZfdtzFg7GIjUwzoJJ/view?ts=6182e46f As you can see, yours is amongst the rarest. An easy $300 to $500 to the right buyer (although there's not a lot of collector / buyers out there these days, last I looked). Are you at liberty to say what type of site this came out of ? And : How many total P.B.'s in your career so far ?

You are now a member of the exclusive & elite "wheatie" club. Next month it will be a merc. Then a few more months till a barber. Then a seated, etc... Bucket listers will fly past ! Within 2 yrs : Any gold coin newer than 1850 will bore you to tears ! 😉

great pix. Welcome.

That is an amazing find. I've never got larger than a 4 reale. An 8 reale is still on my wish-list. Green with envy !!

Good show ! Love those key date S mints that show up on our west coast 🙂

And my answer was that it doesn't mimic the norm of medallions we find at alta CA mission period medallions. (1770s to ~ 1830s) But heck, nor does a lot of the medallions they find in Britain necessarily mimic the type that seem to show up in our CA mission sites either. But as we know : They're super old. You say "found on a beach", so do you mean : On the beach itself ? Then in THAT case, 50 or 75 yrs. of perpetual in-out surf action can create the effect of making an otherwise modern medallion, look old. Even if you found it in the higher dry sand, yet : That sand could have been prior inter-tidal zone (since beaches erode out and sand-back in, such that was is sand dunes NOW was not necessarily dry in the 1950s, for example). So if you found it on the beach, then my guess is modern. Well, I mean it could still be 1920s or 1950s or whatever, but it's not unusual for regular wheaties to take on an "ancient look" and emerald green after getting beach kissed for 50 to 90 years. Also, you gave me the name of the mission, and I pointed out to you there's not actually a mission where you pointed out. Oh sure, it was within the realm of influence (place names, outlying ranchos, etc...) of a CA mission. But so too can the same be said of most all of the coastal real estate from So. CA all the way to north of SF, and the coastal valleys .

wow, a pentagram wiccan symbol and Christian medallion on the same hunt. kind of ironic 🙂