3/7/20 Report - Could This Recent Find Be The Oldest Coin Ever Found On The Treasure Coast? Very Possibly!

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Possibly Oldest Coin Ever Found On The Treasure Coast

Find and photo by Terry S.

I've been reporting and documenting Treasure Coast treasure hunting history, especially beach metal detecting, for several years now.  That wasn't my plan when I started this blog, but that is one thing that I've done.  As such, it has been my privilege to report many interesting finds and the stories of those who search the beaches.  Today I present the story of what is a possibly a record-breaking find made by Terry S.

Terry S. just made the find shown above and has been trying to figure out exactly what it is.  Below is what he said. 

  

 

Well folks I finally found a coin that is better than anything I have ever hoped for. This coin was probably lost on the treasure coast beaches 200 years before the 1715 Spanish Plate fleet disaster. This coin was around when Leonardo da Vinci was painting and his work was later to become so famous. It is what most including me  would say is the find of a lifetime.

When I found this coin at first I didn’t know for sure what it was, I thought it might be a Spanish reale because I could just make out what appeared to be the Spanish shield on one side. I called Jerry and together we thought it may be a reale but again we both were not sure. That evening Jerry called me and asked what it weighed. It was 6.5 grams and Jerry has a 4 reale that weighs 13 grams... making it a two reale.

I sent several pictures of the coin to a friend that is a real expert and he emailed me back saying that it looks as though it is an Old World coin minted in Spain and asked me to bring the coin over. Now it’s getting interesting and more than a little exciting.

Jean and I took the coin over and my friend spent a lot of time studying the coin and had several reference books as well as an article about some Spanish history dating to the mid 1550’s  that he brought up on his computer and asked me to read. I asked him if this coin would date before the 1715 coins being recovered, and he said before that. I then asked if he thought it may date to the 1600’s and again he said before that. At that point I knew I really had something good. A couple days ago I received an email from him saying  the coin appears to be a Carlos & Juana 1504 – 1516 silver coin. But I can’t say more until it’s cleaned.

   

I have had the coin soaking in distilled water, but last night my curiosity got the better of me and used the method where you cover the coin with saliva and wrap it in tin foil holding it until it gets warm then rub it with baking soda. It started to clean up but then I realized that I was being foolish and quit, this coin needs to be taken to an expert for cleaning and I shouldn’t be messing with it. This would be the front of the coin and it’s much more incrusted than the reverse...

It is going to be interesting to see if any coins this age or older have ever been found on Treasure Coast beaches... To a senior citizen with a metal detector this is exciting.

At the top of the post is the coin after Terry removed a little of the dirt.  Below are two more views from before any dirt removal.

Two Views of Same Coin Found by Terry S.

 I looked through one of my books and found a coin that looks similar.  The similar ones I found are Carlos and Juana coins minted in Mexico prior to 1516.

Isn't interesting that just the other day I listed a number of 16th century Treasure Coast shipwrecks and then this early coin is found.   Of course even if the coin is 16th century, that doesn't mean it was lost that early.  We don't know if it was or not.

I sent Terry the a copy of a page (shown below) from the book, Monedas Espanolas Desde Juana y Carlos a Isabel II 1504 a 1868, by Faran Calico, Xavier Calico y Joaquin Trigo, 6th edition, Barcelona, 1985.  That page seems to show coins very similar to the one found by Terry.

On the right side (top to bottom) of Terry's coin I think I could see part of what would be "Charolus."  And on the left (bottom to top) a bit of "IOHANA."  

The other side, I presume, would have large pillars in the center as shown on the coins in the book.

Quite a find!

Congratulations Terry!

I do recall seeing one very old maravedi that was found on the Treasure Coast, but unfortunately at this time don't recall its age.

Is this the oldest coin ever found on the Treasure Coast?  Let me know if you know of any older.

I'll look into it too.

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This has been a good winter for Treasure Coast treasure hunting.

The surf today will be 3 - 5 feet, increasing up to 7 - 11 feet Monday.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/23/18 Report - Another 2018 Cob Find Reported. Styles: Under the Radar or Over the Moon. Bigger Surf Coming.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blospot.com.

Photo by Mitch K.

I received these photos and the following email from Mitch K.

I was hunting in the same area as Terry S.

I was hitting the beaches looking for some jewelry. We had just had some
extra high tides and some fresh cuts had appeared. Was not expecting a
lot but was hoping for a gold ring or two. Was digging lots of fishing
weights and modern coinage when this little guy popped up. 1689 Spanish
2 Reale ! This makes it the oldest coin I have found here in the USA.
(my oldest is a Celtic silver coin found in England from the year 10AD)

Photo by Mitch K.

Congratulations on the new oldest U. S, coin find, and thanks for sharing Mitch.

Mitch said he was a day behind Terry S.

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All kinds of people like metal detecting.  They do it for different reasons, look for different things, and go about it differently.

I went through several different stages.  I told before how I started hunting coins and later moved on to jewelry, and eventually moved to the Treasure Coast and started detecting the treasure beaches.

Thinking back to the days when I was hitting the South Florida jewelry beaches, there were a few professionals and some pretty hard core amateurs.  The top professionals in those days were very secretive.  One in particular, would crawl out of the ocean just before sunrise every morning.  He carefully avoided being seen.  There were very few that even knew about him.  That was not unusual among the top guys down there in those days. Although not everybody was that competitive and secretive in those days, there was nothing like the communication that occurs today.

When I started, and even later when I became more hard core, there was not so much communication.  Detectorists back then communicated maybe with a few friends and occasionally talked to a fellow detectorist that they happened to meet on the beach, and maybe attended a monthly club meeting or stopped by the local detector shop to exchange gossip around high tide, but they didn't have access to the tons of information that we all have easy access to on the internet today.

The internet has changed the detecting community.  No one today can hide from the general population the kind of things that can be found.   That cat is out of the bag.

There are still some guys that fly below the radar, but there are many more that are very social and open about their detecting.  There are also detectorists that promote themselves and publicize every find to build a reputation and sell their books.  So at one extreme you have some guys that do extremely well but act like they find nothing, and at the other extreme you have the guys that exaggerate their finds.

There are many good reasons to be secretive.  I won't list them all, but I became more discrete after encounters with people who tried to claim finds that did not belong to them.  Also there was also a lot of theft and crime in South Florida.

I've tried to conduct this blog in a way that is safe and encourages sharing while not being abused by those who might want to use it for personal promotion and commercial interests. That isn't always easy, but I think I've done it fairly well even though I know I've made some mistakes.  In the early years one person used the blog to help build his reputation then when he got a good start turned around and slandered this blog.  That was the exception.   On the whole it has been a pleasure to interact with all the fine people I hear from even if I never met them.

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I'll be adding at least one new factor to my formula for metal detecting success.  I plan to present that soon, but I also have more super finds to post.

The surf predictions still look encouraging,

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net