Found 2 old coins in the river

[jabbo]

1831 U.S. cent and a well worn no date Spanish half real. Shallow area of Raritan River, only 6" to 18" deep and 250 feet wide, flat red shale bottom, no mud in this fast moving water but the shale is as slippery as ice. Rev war troops crossed here. These coins are pretty much toasted but the hunt was exciting because of the Rev war activity in this area. I searched only a small area, gotta be more old coins farther down stream from the house. The Van Sickle house built in 1722 is located right there and the sign mentions the fording area. The half real might have been lost by one of the troops but we will never know. These coins were found where the small stones gather in the grooves and crevices in the shale along with fishing sinkers and some pull tabs. Was fun, might go back before the cold weather comes.

 

[mcb613]

Are you 100 percent sure on the silver? Reverse looks like a very well worn Barber dime. Just a thought if not sure. Awesome finds. Never have done river hunting , as it seems like the rocky bottom would be a pain. Do have very old activity on several areas in Northern , De. Congrats!

 

[jabbo]

Not a Barber dime, can see part of pillar and part Georges head.

 

[scottso]

its not george... its carlos. it looks like a half dime or dime to me.. but i could be wrong

 

[dougj7]

You can see part of the pillar on the bottom of the coin in the 1st picture. It's definitely a reale.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

nice finds jabbo.... your research is paying off... looks like half reale to me..... those half reales get paper thin when worn and kink .... happy huntin...

 

[jabbo]

are in decent shape. This one is paper thin and dented as usual. Jabbo

 

[mudpuppy]

Awesome Job Man! Work that crossing to old Glory! I hope you find a gold coin down in there...
Mud

 

[jabbo]

I went back there yesterday for over 3 hours. Found only a zincoln and a clad dime, plus a bunch of sinkers. I know more is there wedged in the cracks of the shale. Lots of aluminum pieces down deep in the cracks, mixed with the sand. Maybe next time I will be luckier. Funny how I found those 2 old coins my first time there.

 

[kschae4]

Dave-
Nice saves there. I did notice commuting to work last week, how low the tide can get.

 

[JimmyCT]

Jabbo nice finds! Amazing how worn they are, then again, if my face was scraped along the rocks for the last 181 or so years I would look just as bad lol. If you found these, just think of what else can be at the bottom of river. Good luck and keep us posted. - Jim

 

[Swingbeepdig]

Not to far from there I found 1892 barber and 1880 indian.great find dave.

 

[knarfj]

1831 U.S. cent and a well worn no date Spanish half real.

Good eye Jabbo! Looks good to me.

 

[jabbo]

half reale. Wish I knew the date on mine.

 

[luke3026]

I live 3 blocks from that same river (upstream from that site). Never really thought of hunting the banks/river down there, but I may give it a shot one of these days. They just took out a couple small damns downstream of me, which brought the water level down a bit. I walked down last night just to see what the conditions are like, and I found a 100-year-old bottle, made in Kingston, NJ, circa 1920, sitting right on the, newly exposed bank. Pretty cool.

 

[duckriverdigger]

nice