Think I found a 1720 George 1st copper halfpence - but its hard to be sure

[Anonymous]

I was out hunting last Sunday with my 1500, on a farm near my house. This farm was first settled in about 1750 and has been farmed ever since. I have been hunting it all summer and have scads of musket balls, some ox shoes, buckles off of horse harnesses, broken plow blades, a few silver coins and lots of other stuff like that.
Anyway I got a really weak signal and decided to cut a plug off to see what it sounded like with some of the dirt removed. It hit about 2 or 3 notches below a penny. I thought it was probably another musket ball and so decided to dig it up.
I dug up a very corroded coin, or at least it was a copper disk. Neither me or my hunting buddy could make anything out of it. After I got home I started cleaning it and after a couple of soakings in hydrogen peroxide and a treatment in boiling water, washing soda and aluminum foil I started to be able to make out some details. I kept at it and gave it a few more baths and a little more detail came out. Anyway I think that the coin is about as good as it is ever going to get.
I have looked at this coin under my 20x to 40x stereo microscope and seen some detail you can't see in this picture and here is why I think this coin is a 1720 George the first, halfpense.
Below is a picture of the coin I found along with pictures of a George the 1st copper from a coin site.
First if you look at the bottom on the coin in the top picture you can see a faint double line going across the coin.
Second if you look below the double line you can just make out a "20" where the last 2 digits of the date is on the example coin. Using the microscope really makes the 20 easy to see. I think I can just make out some of the 7 under the microscope too, but it is pretty far gone to be sure.
Third, if you look at the 1 o'clock position on the coin you can see a faint diagonal line heading towards the first digit of the date and if you look at the underside of this line up near the top you can see a thicker line of metal there. I think this is Britiania's spear or staff whatever it is - and her hand holding it.
Fourth, if you look towards the 4 o'clock position you can see on the good coin a raised part of the coin that is supposed to be some of her dress I guess. The highest spot on the coin I found is a match for this area.
Fifth - if you look up towards the 10 o'clock position you can see some very faint remains of some lettering. Although you can see them under the microscope they are too far gone to be able to make them out for sure, but I think one of them is an A that matches to the A in Britania.
Sixth if you look at the other side of the coin with King George you can see on the right hand side where the bust starts to go out for his nose. If you look just above the spot of corrosion you can see what remains of the bust on the coin I found start to go out there as well. This is easily seen under the microscope.
All in all I can't really be 100% sure, but it looks like a good possibility. Too bad the coin wasn't in just a little bit better shape. The 0 in the "20" is starting to fade as I clean it now so it is time to call it quits with the hydrogen peroxide.
What do you guys think is it close enough to call it a match ? <img src="/metal/html/tongue.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":b">

 

[Anonymous]

That is a Geo I Halfpenny. You can clearly see the N in "NIA" and on the front I am pretty sure you can see half the X which is at the edge of the coin. By no means were these coins made perfect to each other. George II is a larger coin in diameter and faces the other way, George III does face right but again is a larger coin. On Geo. III the lettering would not match close to that and would be a better quality made coin (centering) As a matter of fact I have found two of those this year so I'll say you got a nice old find there Steve. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">

 

[Anonymous]

This kinda got my attention...
" It hit about 2 or 3 notches below a penny. I thought it was probably another musket ball and so decided to dig it up."
That statement leads me to believe you are walking away from some targets in that site? There are only two types of targets in a site from the 1700s... 1)the smaller iron which is nails etc. and 2) Everything else which you should be digging. Some of my best buttons, and I kid you not my oldest and one of my best silver coins gave a tone of about foil and I was hunting a site just like that.
Maybe I'm reading more into your post but next time you're at that old spot and get a so so target dig it up just for me. Remember last time what happend. <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol">

 

[Anonymous]

I can show you a quality find (or at least tell you one) for every notch on the GTI meter from the 3rd one up. DIG DIG DIG!!!!
ps Has to be spanish there! <img src="/metal/html/tongue.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":b">

 

[Anonymous]

It's funny how some people see certain things and other people see other things. I can't see the either "A" in Britania, but see the "T" clearly. And if I stare at the center of the reverse for a moment she seems to become more defined....spear,head,left leg, left arm....... I'm not sure about the date, but the rest, well like CC says, is a guarantee.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey CC,
I pretty much dig everything above iron that is more than 3 inches deep and if it is above 3 inches I may or may not dig it depending on if it smells like a modern bullet or pull tab. Fortunately this particualr field doesn't have much modern trash in it so I can pretty much dig everything that isn't a nail like target. In other words I have the 1500 set in relic mode and dig everything that dings.
It also depends on which field I am in. In the target shooting field (that's what I call it) there are tons of relatively shallow .22 and .30 and .38 caliber and 7.62 mm bullets and shells.
Around the building that used to be the bunk house there are tons of beer cans, bottle caps, pull tabs and stuff like that.
The field I have been hunting lately where I pulled this copper I have pretty much been digging up everything except nail like targets. Since the farmer doesn't really care about me keeping my holes super neat, I mostly have been using a relic shovel to dig and so the digging is easier than with a hand tool.
I would have dug this target pretty much no matter where it read cause it was so deep. It was deep enough so I couldn't image it until after I cut off the plug.
I guess I could have phrased my comment about where it ID'd better. My intention was to let everyone where it read on the meter, not so much that I was using that as a factor that I used to decided whether to dig it up or not but I can see how you read it to mean that I was being picky about which targets to dig.
The biggest factor in deciding whether to dig this target or not was deciding whether the detector was falsing or not as the signal was weak and intermittant and I was running the sensitivity at 10.5. It seemed to be repeating enough and I was able to get a weak pinpoint signal even though the imaging wouldn't lock up.
I have even been digging up the larger chunks of iron. I dug up the bottom of a car jack stand that day as well - it was about 6 inches deep.
I have also been over this field 4 times now as it and the target shooting field have been the best ones so far. I have been over it twice with the 1500 now and twice with the Minelab Explorer XS. I am going to hit it a few more times as well. I have been hunting it by going north - south and I am going to switch and try scanning it by going east - west now. Its about 1 acre so it takes a while to cover the whole thing especially if you hunt slow like I do.
I found this other pretty cool thing that day too. I think it may have been a powder measure for a muzzle loader - the farmer thinks it may have been a cap for the tip of an oxen horn (I have found 2 ox shoes in this field too) but concedes it could have been a powder measure.
Anyway, I know I have a good old site here that is going to provide me with many more hours of hunting - the best thing of all is it is only a 5 minute walk from my house. <img src="/metal/html/grin.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":grin">