My Two Oldest Coins

Both of these I found in a field behind my Dad's farm in 1980 with my White's metal detector less than two feet from each other. Amazing considering that he plowed that field every year from 1947 'till 1980. Not worth much but the memories are priceless. They were my first finds.

 

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What a great find Tommy. Coins before the revolution would be priceless to me. Is there a reverse side ?
This was about 35 years ago. Do you still detect ?

Dave

 

Do you have photos of the other side?

Chris

 

What state is that farm in? That's an incredible find.

 

Yes, I do still detect. Still have the White with the old VU meter and a Tesoro (tonal only). A bit harder to do these days with a bad back but I take something for that when I go out now. Here are the reverses. A friend of mine in NYS has invited me to go with him this summer. He has permission to scope a farm and has found a bunch of Revolutionary War coins and buttons, belt buckles. With his bad back we figured we would buddy up to keep an eye out for each other and he told me "finders keepers".

 

South Berkshires in Massachusetts. There was also an old clay factory here also that made the soft tan/white bricks. There's a lot of history here. I have been digging old bottles at an old livery for the past three years. I posted some artifacts in another post not long ago, horse shoes, brush grubber, an axe head all dated from the 1850's.

 

Nice stuff.

 

The possible history behind these is what intrigues me the most. This is around the time this area was first settled and there was no farm on the property until the mid 1800's. So I'm guessing these were dropped by hunters/trappers. This entire area was inhabited by Indians early on and our river was named after Chief "Konkapot". Less than 1/4 mile down the road is an Indian burial ground and another attached to a local cemetery about three miles away. The soft clay brick business did not last long as the bricks did not last and in the 1840's bricks were imported by ship to here. When the railroads came through granite was imported from New Hampshire. There are at least 6 old foundations of former mills on the Konkapot and an old copper mine was located in what was to be a project to preserve much of the open spaces when the CCC camps were organized, of which two villages remains are still here. If you are ever in the Berkshires there are several nice books on the history here that are an excellent read.

 

I have also printed out and laminated many old maps from the USGS site that I use to find the old roads that are no longer mapped. This helps a lot when I go out on my trips.

 

these are so cool. are they world coins ?

 

Referred to as Utrecht's. Many East India coins were used here in our early pre-coin stage before mints were established.

 

Nice "VOC" coppers! I have not found any yet, I hope to soon. Congrats on those nice coins.

 

Before the US mint was established, we used any coins we could find for change. East India Company small coppers are amongst the world's most common and well traveled copper coins for the 18th century. If someone told me they dug up a small copper in New England dated 1754 my first guess would be a British coin, and second would be an East Indian coin.

 

Cool coins! I really want to metal detect now.

 

If you do not already have a detector then just a few tips. You do not need to spend big money to have a lot of fun. My Tesoro cost $400.00 and although it does not have a visual meter, you really do not need one. What you are looking for is it's capacity for depth and discrimination. Unless you are going for the ocean you do not need a waterproof coil. You can always get one later if you migrate to water based detection. And if you are adding headphones all you need is decent ones with full ear coverage to drown out ambient noise as all you are listening for is a tone, not playing your latest top 40 tunes. Garret, Whites and Tesoro are all good detectors. A $400.00 price point should get you where you want to go. Kind of like buying a camera, look for about 10 mega pixels but look for a high zoom capacity unless you are going pro. Good luck and happy hunting. Oh, and always cover your digs the way you found them and cart away anything you dig up. It's the detectorist's creed.

 

Thanks for the tips. I have a friend who has one that he said he will let me borrow to try out once spring comes. There is a place near me, Savage Mill, that I want to walk around and check out. I'm not sure where else I would be able to search so I'm not sure it would be worth me getting one. It seems like a great hobby though.

 

Check out the USGS (United States Geological Survey) site for maps of your area. They are available as a downloadable and printable PDF. They usually come in four sections each, so you have to trim them and tape together. They will show you where every house and road was mapped out for a specific time period. They are an invaluable reference for metal detectorists. I use them all the time to find old mills, roads that have been closed and no longer maintained and foundations. And also look for old stone walls and detect in the southern portion as that was how everything was buried in the day to avoid north wind sending odors towards a farm or house. Old outhouses are also a place where things were buried and afterwards were filled in and the out house moved. Many old bottles have been found in such a way.

 

Dang you must has nice soil there. If you are ever in the Philadelphia area let me know ill take you to a few spots where I have permission to hunt great finds every spot

 

Actually, yes the soil is quite nice here. There are clay beds also but this was primarily all agricultural at one point because of the fertile soil. It is hard to find old growth though as this area was entirely clear cut for lumber during the 1800's. After all the old growth was gone the mills closed down and moved on.

 

This is a large cent I found in a field you can see the plow damage you are lucky