What The Heck Is That...lol

[Tometusns]

Well the title says it all. I was detecting at an old town that is mostly gone. We got the permission from a really nice older couple that gave us plenty of info about the town and it's history. They cut hay off an area that used to have houses on it so off we went. Only found two coins but both were old. The first was the what is that coin and the second a shield nickel. 

I had dug an old barrel spigot on my first pass and wasn't really finding much at all. Then about the third trip across I hit some really big numbers that sounded good. I was thinking perhaps another spigot or relic of some type. I popped out the plug and could see the side of what I thought could be maybe a silver dollar! I pulled it out of the plug and wiped off some dirt and thought what is that..lol I was pretty sure it was silver and an 1829 Mexican coin but other than that...clueless. My detecting buddy looked at it and told me I had found a Mexican 8 reales. I thought it was cool before being the oldest coin I had found but after realizing what I had found I got reales happy!! 😁

I was told they were used as American currency until 1857 which made it even more special to me. Ya just never know. Oh, Equinox still pk1 ib3 recovery7.  

HH! Tom

[Joe D.]

   And the coin is holed! Cool! Great find! And finds, in excellent condition!! Thanks for sharing!!👍👍

[matt]

Really cool find!

[Valens Legacy]

Good finds for your first time there, hope that you get to go back and find some more.

Good luck hunting.

[FloridaSon]

That is a fantastic find. Never seen that symbol so must be very rare. Well done. 

Curious how the two of you search that large area? Do you grid it off and use a lawnmower pattern back and forth? Do you then search it over from a different direction? Never had a large field to hunt so just wanted to ask.

HH

[Chase Goldman]

I found an 1830 half Reale version of that coin last year (slightly smaller than a dime)...in PA.  It's a Mexican First Republic 8 Reale coin.  The smaller denominations are not particularly rare in relation to their US silver counterparts of the same era (still any nearly 200 year old coin found silver or otherwise is always great), but any time you find an 8 Reale silver be it Spanish or Mexican, that is an amazing find, akin to finding an old  silver dollar or similar big silver.  Probably around a $30 to $50, un-holed in VF to XF condition to give you a sense of its collectable value and rarity.  Awesome save and in great shape! 

PS Tom you should place it next to a known common object/coin to give folks a sense of scale.  I know that is a huge chunk of silver.  Also, a great "find of the month" candidate when Steve gets that contest going.

[Rick N. MI]

Condition is great. Nice find.

[Tometusns]

7 hours ago, FloridaSon said:

That is a fantastic find. Never seen that symbol so must be very rare. Well done. 

Curious how the two of you search that large area? Do you grid it off and use a lawnmower pattern back and forth? Do you then search it over from a different direction? Never had a large field to hunt so just wanted to ask.

HH

Yes, I use a kind of back and forth search method like I was mowing.

[CPT_GhostLight]

Awesome finds! The 8 Reale is Mexican, not Spanish. Mexico won their independence from Spain in 1821. That's a very cool piece of history you found.

 

[Chase Goldman]

3 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Awesome finds! The 8 Reale is Mexican, not Spanish. Mexico won their independence from Spain in 1821. That's a very cool piece of history you found.

 

True.  It is an important historical distinction.  Folks tend to use the term “Spanish silver” rather loosely, one reason being the late 18th and early 19th Century Spanish and Mexican silver currency most commonly found in North America were mostly minted in Mexico City.