Fairly certain 1st silver of 2015 is a Half Real Spanish Cob!
pcgs69
Posts: 4,324 ✭✭✭✭
5/30/15 Updated Pics
I know, I know, don't clean your coins, yadda yadda. But there really wasn't much detail showing before, and I think it looks great now. It's not an expensive coin either way, so being able to see the details was better than keeping it "original"
It was absolutely beautiful yesterday! Warm, great sunshine, and not a cloud in the sky. I was visiting friends out of state, and they showed some interest in metal detecting. Brought down an old White's Surf II, probably 20 years old, but it still works well enough (as long as you don't go in water with it, haha).
Day 1 (Friday?) went with just one friend, and she actually got the hang of it. The first area didn't have much promise of anything old, but she did find a cool watch fob, which I'd imagine dates to the teens or 20s. Will post a pic later as I told her I'd clean it up. That was the find of the day! Her 20 year old detector outshined my CTX 3030. Just goes to show it's often just getting the coil over the find.
Got out again yesterday. Since I wasn't familiar with the area I did some half-azz research and found a promising location. Drove out, secured permission, and got our detectors. Her boyfriend came along this time, and he was pretty excited. They picked up a nice flat button and a couple of musket balls. Also got a bunch of nails. It was pretty slow going, as expected. I picked up two wheat cents (haven't checked dates yet), a pewter spoon fragment, and a couple other goodies. Towards the end of the hunt they were getting hungry, so we were slowly walking towards the car. I got almost a wheat cent-ish signal, and was hoping it was a worn Barber dime or merc. Instead, a very small disc came out. Signal was too high-pitched for lead. Looked at it and could see a partial cross? What the heck? It can't be a Spanish cob can it? But that was the only thing I could think of at the time. Got it home, posted some pics elsewhere, and it does appear to be a real half real, or at least most of a half real. Weight is 1.1 grams, and it's very worn and possibly clipped. Man, what a treat!!
Glad to be out detecting again, and hope some more stuff like this can come up. Will post the couple other pieces later.
HH all!
I know, I know, don't clean your coins, yadda yadda. But there really wasn't much detail showing before, and I think it looks great now. It's not an expensive coin either way, so being able to see the details was better than keeping it "original"
It was absolutely beautiful yesterday! Warm, great sunshine, and not a cloud in the sky. I was visiting friends out of state, and they showed some interest in metal detecting. Brought down an old White's Surf II, probably 20 years old, but it still works well enough (as long as you don't go in water with it, haha).
Day 1 (Friday?) went with just one friend, and she actually got the hang of it. The first area didn't have much promise of anything old, but she did find a cool watch fob, which I'd imagine dates to the teens or 20s. Will post a pic later as I told her I'd clean it up. That was the find of the day! Her 20 year old detector outshined my CTX 3030. Just goes to show it's often just getting the coil over the find.
Got out again yesterday. Since I wasn't familiar with the area I did some half-azz research and found a promising location. Drove out, secured permission, and got our detectors. Her boyfriend came along this time, and he was pretty excited. They picked up a nice flat button and a couple of musket balls. Also got a bunch of nails. It was pretty slow going, as expected. I picked up two wheat cents (haven't checked dates yet), a pewter spoon fragment, and a couple other goodies. Towards the end of the hunt they were getting hungry, so we were slowly walking towards the car. I got almost a wheat cent-ish signal, and was hoping it was a worn Barber dime or merc. Instead, a very small disc came out. Signal was too high-pitched for lead. Looked at it and could see a partial cross? What the heck? It can't be a Spanish cob can it? But that was the only thing I could think of at the time. Got it home, posted some pics elsewhere, and it does appear to be a real half real, or at least most of a half real. Weight is 1.1 grams, and it's very worn and possibly clipped. Man, what a treat!!
Glad to be out detecting again, and hope some more stuff like this can come up. Will post the couple other pieces later.
HH all!
0
Comments
bob
Lafayette Grading Set
<< <i>That's a pretty tiny piece to find
PPC, it actually rang up higher than you'd expect. On the CTX, it air tests at 11-39, which is somewhere between a Zincoln and a Wheat Cent (and also very worn silver dime). The one 3¢ silver rang in kind of like foil.
According to the Redbook, an 1851 three cent piece starts out at .8 grams. This is smaller, and weighs more, so it's thicker.
A cob was on the top 10 want list. Will have to modify the want list to be "a cob with a date" now!
Yep, that's a cob, all right. My WAG would be late 17th to early 18th century, but I dunno.
Don't really know what would have caused those bubbles, but I suppose they could've been part of the casting of the raw planchet?
My friend Billy found a little tiny cob here on St. Simons Island, once.
That's not all he found, either.
Glad you're out and about again. Always enjoy reading about your finds.
bob
Charles III Album
Charles III Portrait Set
Charles IV Album
Charles IV Portrait Set
Spanish Colonial Pillar Set
Crazy how that one dig can make a hunt. If this hadn't come out, the day would have just ended with only a couple small goodies, and a sunburn.
Which he then melted to cast toy soldiers out of, for his grandkid. Just imagine- toy soldiers made of historic Spanish silver, instead of lead!
One can only hope that the tale is apocryphal.
Forgot to mention your buddy's "little" cob! Bet that thing barely even gave a blip on the detector! Can't imagine finding a 70 gram silver anything, and not too bad of a sales price either
It's my OCD that really wants to know, because if it's real, it'll be my oldest silver coin. I suppose if it's fake too, it'd also be my oldest. But, being buried in a corn field for probably two centuries or more, who knows what could have happened with it.
Will put it to rest for now. If it wasn't silver, it would have messed my 2x2 holder counts up for the year, so it is a bit of a relief on that end.
HH all!