Hello everyone! This is a new thread about showing and telling a short story about a Coin, Token or Medal in your collection. For example, how, when and where you acquired it. This little gem was found while Metal Detecting in early 2000's with a friend. We decided to detect an out of anyone's way spot. It was a small cellar hole that was very difficult to access but was very well worth it! We weren't finding much besides old junk and a few old buttons when all of a sudden, I got a great signal. It was close to the surface and when I kicked the leaves, a nice Silver suspender buckle appeared!! It's in my media pages and dated AUG. 16 1876 along the top inside. I swept across the area again and got a faint but solid little signal just to the side where the buckle was found. I thought it might be another small button when all of sudden I saw this beautiful pattern staring back at me, figuratively speaking. When I saw it was in decent condition and dated 1856, I totally flipped out! I think my friend who drove us there in his Jeep was a little jealous. Anyways, that's my story and I'm sticking with it!
Great find, Sal! I never dug a three-cent piece in all my detecting days. OK, here- I'll dust off and repost one of my old stories. This was written with a general (noncollecting) audience in mind, and it later ran in the newpaper (with some minor reporter errors). DIGGER'S DIARY: THE ARCADIUS ANOMALY Did the ancient Romans ever make it to North America? That’s doubtful. However, some of their coins did, over the last two millennia. This is a 1,600 year old bronze coin of the eastern Roman emperor Arcadius, dating to the turn of the Fourth century AD, probably around the year 395. And believe it or not, I found it right here in coastal Georgia! Technically this one wasn't found in the Golden Isles proper, but just a bit north of here, on a colonial site in Liberty County. The crazy thing is, I didn't even have my metal detector with me that day, and found it almost by accident. The coin was lying right on the surface, where it had been washed out of a sand roadbed by recent rains. It did take a sharp eye to spot it against the grey sand, but I always keep a sharp eye on any bare earth in historic places. I thought it was a modern Lincoln cent at first, because I didn’t have my glasses on. But when I picked it up, I immediately knew it was too thick and too heavy to be a modern cent. In fact, since I’m a part-time world coin dealer and an avid collector of Roman coins, I knew right away what it was, though I was completely dumbfounded as to how it got there. Though it lay on top of the ground, I do not believe it was recently lost by a collector. Not a modern collector, anyway. I think it was in the ground for at least 150 to 200 years, judging from the context of the site where I found it. Other artifacts were in that washout. I had picked up a gunflint from a flintlock musket and some old pieces of plantation-era pottery moments before. I have two pet theories. Either it was lost by an early collector (a famous 19th century antiquarian happened to have lived nearby), or it came over a bit before that- maybe on a ship from England during the colonial era, where such coins are commonly found. In the early days of the American colonies, small change was scarce, so people spent just about any kind of coin they could get their hands on. This might have circulated as a farthing (a quarter of a penny) in the 1700s, and nobody would have given it much thought at the time. Sixteen centuries have taken their toll on this piece, but it still has some clear details. The obverse (or “heads” side) bears a portrait of the emperor. The reverse shows him standing with a globe in his left hand and something else, perhaps a military standard, on his right. The inscription GLORIA ROMANORVM (“Glory of the Romans”) is quite readable on the reverse. So I’ll bet you think this coin is worth an emperor’s ransom, eh? Think again. Monetarily, it’s worth maybe ten bucks, tops. On a good day. I've bought better Roman bronzes for five bucks. Though certifiably ancient, these are very common coins … in Europe and the Middle East, where vast hoards are found. But here in Georgia, in an American archaeological context? Not so much. Here, it is a truly amazing (and anomalous) find. Was I disappointed that it’s not worth a fortune? Nope. I was thrilled and fascinated ... and a bit baffled, too. If only it could talk! Below is a picture of the place where I found the coin. It is the site of a wonderful old pre-Revolutionary church. The building seen here was built in the late 1700s, to replace the one the British burned down. There was a Rev War skirmish nearby, and a Continental Army general is buried in the churchyard; actually in the very old walled cemetery across the road from the church. Later, during the Civil War, invaders came again. Federal troops occupied the site, and used the cemetery enclosure to pen their horses and livestock. The sand roadbed outside of that old walled cemetery is where I spotted the Roman coin, just about where the tree shadow is in the center bottom of this shot.
One of my favorite CT stories. Just behind @lordmarcovan tracking down the ancestors of a special love token that found its way into his care.
It is interesting to look at the buildings or structures that are depicted on some coins. Here is the church at Jamestown, Virginia which was the shown on the commemorative $5 gold coin. And here is Old Sweds' Church which is in Wilmington, Delaware. There are a few too many trees and bushes.
Our youngest was about 3. We lived in Iowa on the Mississippi and our babysitter lived just across the river in Illinois. She came to the house one day just madder than a wet hen. The toll attendants gave her a foreign coin in change and she was due 50 cents. Her plan was to stop on the way home and exchange it. Well, it was a 1908 -S One Peso from the Philippines. I bought it from her and she was OK. Her is a photo of it.
Wow, she scored a windfall and was upset about it. Go figure. Even if she (obviously) was not interested in the collectibility of the coin, she was ahead in the silver content, for having gotten a dollar-sized silver coin for 50 cents. I do not expect every member of the general public to take an interest, but some people’s total lack of curiosity still surprises me. Seems like most people would wonder if they’d found a treasure, and would want to check into that before becoming disappointed. Even if they never would be inclined to become a collector. The “something for nothing” appeal of a windfall is universal, after all. Of course I realize the story you related must have happened when plenty of silver was still circulating, so maybe it wasn’t as special then.
I agree. But, if it weren't for the disinterested, so many good coins would be sitting in jewelry boxes and never see the collectors. Can you imagine the population of interesting coins available to collectors if others found them only interesting and held them?
