Spanish coin in my yard...

[Dodqe]

Whenever I think it may rain I tend to stay home and detect my yard. I have found 11 copper colonials, tons of buttons, and one '27 merc dime over the past year or so.
Today, the clouds were brewing since dawn. It was chilly, so I really wasn't looking forward to going out. But I did.
Last night I made my Ace 250 water resistant, so I put fresh batts in it and walked to my field. I searched a trashy area along a fenceline that I have been avoiding because of tons of false signals and an iron carpet from years of fences rusting away. I decided to just go slow and investigate any questionable signal.
Within 1/2 hour, this is what I found:

I know it's Spanish... Slightly smaller than a dime... Silver... What is it? 1/2 Reale?

My second silver at my house, and it's a 1780.
I love my yard. Literally every time I go out there I find something I like. Granted, some days it takes 10 minutes, some days it takes 4 hours... Worth it every time IMO.

 

[jabbo]

It's a half Reale. You have a great yard, gotta be more old coins there. I found two half Reales, about same condition as yours.

 

[Dodqe]

I think I need a deeper machine... I seem to get a lot of 'whisper' signals with my Goldmaster II that are just out of disc range. I really am curious as to what's down there...
Also I think I should start digging some of the bigger iron signals just to see what's there.

One thing I noticed is the deer seem to sense where the good targets in my yard are. They put little brown pellet markers right on them. It's amazing...

 

[GunnarMN]

great find , I think they lost more stuff years ago than they did in the 20,s

 

[tomtomnc]

Great find,Keep on looking in that yard.

 

[Digger70pa]

Nice find

 

[Tom_in_CA]

holy snot dude, a spanish reale in your OWN front yard?? How old is your house pray-tell? Reales aren't usually ever worth anything, but they are so fun and cool to find. No doubt you are from the east coast. Here on the west coast, reales can only be found in the super oldest of areas (usually pre-gold rush sites).

 

[Dodqe]

My house was built in the 1970's. Before that this whole area was farmland. One house within 1/4 mile is from the late 1700's. Judging by the square nails I have found, there was a structure in my back yard. Not a large house... probably a small, one or two room deal.

And yes... I'm near the NY/NJ border.

The only 'bad' part about having such good hunting on my own property is sometimes I stay out till 2am. The only things I have to worry about are the black bears and my wife. Dunno which is worse to deal with...

 

[matthias]

1780! Wow! Nice find! HH. Matt

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yes, I would say you had some sort of structure there, on your land, prior to your modern home being there. "1/4 mile" from a location of that age, doesn't seem likely have that many fumble fingers drops, at that distance. There had to have been some sort of activity there, where you're at.

And you east coast guys do have 200 (to even 300) more years history than us west coast guys. The Europeans didn't make permanent toe-holds here till starting in 1769 at San Diego. And a few other spots during the 1780s. But for all practical purposes, CA was still the "remotest edge of the earth" even into the early 1800s. The entire non-indian population, for example, of CA, even into the 1810s or 1820s, was numbered in the low 1000's, for the entire state! That would be a rag-tag groups of persons (soldiers, padres, a few handfuls of immigrants here and there at pueblo and presidio attempts, etc...). It wasn't till the mid 1820s, that persons started to venture outside these outposts, to homestead, start actual cities, etc.... So to get a reale out here, is difficult. Sometimes they show up in very early western sites (like sidewalk demolitions, or gold rush sites, etc...) because they circulated till the 1860's. But to get the crisp earlier ones from the 1700s, you gotta be one sly cookie

While we don't get the older coins as often as you guys (and never find colonial state type coins, etc...) yet a consolation prize we get, is that when we get seateds and barbers, they tend to be the better S mints There's places on the east coast, where even the best hunters can't get S mints, since the population movement in those years was always east to west, not vice-versa.

 

[fowlercharles]

Hi Dodge, That is a Sweet find, and I'd say you done won the Lotto with having such great dirt to dig in right there at home! Absolutely I can see why you are staying out late! I have found 3-4 Reals myself,over the years, as has a couple of my Digging Budies, and they can really stirr ones fever for digging! I bet you would really improve your perspective and chances of some more great digs if you could do some serious research on just what/who may have brought those goodies to be thereabouts.For many years the US did not mint any coins of our own and coins(especially silver) from wherever were used in trade. Spanish Colonials were widely used and probably more available than most others.Many were literally "cut", thus 2Bits, 4Bits, 6 Bits a $ originated. and served the need of smaller coins.. How about Camp sites on Settler trails?Most folks don't know that the old timers were about traveling and setteling this great country much earlier than is realized. I have hunted several old (Ms) roads/river crossings that were active by 1812 or even earlier.Your area would surely have been much earlier. Be cool to check the land Patents/Original Surveys to see who may have been living there way back.I would also study up on the older(Compass) 100 Khz detectors that work the really bad iron trash well. Depth will not be a factor when the (fence) iron is really thick. With the opportunity to hunt such a rich area, it would be worth it to study on an old 100khz. Do a Google just to see what comes up and if you could become interested."Monte" can tell you all about them, as I think he still hunts fairly regular with one. I have a Couple of Coin Hustlers, but need some dirt like yours to put them in. HH, Charlie

 

[Dodqe]

Went out again after work today... I had about 10 minutes of light left. I figured, "What the heck... I'll give it a go." Hit the same area real slow, and I overlapped my swings by 50% and my path by 50%. Within 50 feet of the 1/2 reale find, I found this button.

Thinking about renting a backhoe this weekend...

Tom, another thing you West Coasters have over us Noreasters is gold in the ground... Not many nuggets around here.

 

[Dodqe]

Hey Charlie...
Yeah, this town has tons of history. The first settlers here came in the year 1719, and within 30 years it really started booming.
You can read a little about it here.
I really, really, really need to take the time to go to the library. They have a whole room devoted to the history of the town of Warwick. Old maps and everything....

 

[fowlercharles]

Wow Dodge,you did hit the Lotto! Your library sounds a lot like mine.If so, I imagine there is plenty of Genealogy info along with the History info. I have found a great deal of info in the family histories of not just my area, but it will almost always reach into other areas as well. Colder winter days and hot summers always find me trying to visit the library for those bits of history not to be found anywhere on my PC. Ya got some sweet diggins there Dodge! Hammer Down and HH, Charlie

 

[Steve O]

Dodge, if your in Warwick Pa, you have thousands of places to hunt for old coins in the surrounding area, but I'm sure you know that already.

 

[Dodqe]

Warwick NY. There are lots of places here as well... Just need the time to research them.

I didn't know there was a Warwick in PA... Google says there are a couple. One in Bucks co, one in Chester co and one in Lancaster co. They appear to have 1700's history as well.

One other thing to keep your eye out for here is Indian artifacts. A guy up the road from me finds arrowheads all the time. He's got an eye for them. He walks the farmers fields after they plow and finds several every time. It's amazing.