1721 Spanish Silver

[Sam]

About a week ago I obtained permission to an old house with a cornfield in the back. After discovering the front yard had been filled in, I headed to the cornfield in the back. I proceeded to hit a 78-79 signal right away, I dug down about 7 inches and saw a very thin, and what appeared to be silver rim. I took it out and couldn't believe my eyes, a 1721 Spanish 1 Reale! The coin seemed to be cracked and folded over, this was NOT me.

Unfortunately for me however, the homeowner wanted to keep the coin. I tried to negotiate something and even offered money for it but she wouldn't let me have possession of it. Thankfully, before she took it, I did manage to get some pictures of it. I am disappointed, but happy I had the opportunity to find my oldest silver coin to date!

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[OxShoeDrew]

AWESOME Sam!! I bet you can get one cheaply on ebay to replace it. I always offer coins to my owners, but so far I've only had to surrender a few. :clapping:

[del]

Sam , whether you got to keep it or not its still a great find and no one can take that fact away from you :cheering: congratulations on a very old piece of Spanish silver !!

[aloldstuff]

Hey, YOU found it...:thumbsup02: congrats on your oldest silver.

[Sam]

AWESOME Sam!! I bet you can get one cheaply on ebay to replace it. I always offer coins to my owners, but so far I've only had to surrender a few. :clapping:

Thanks! That's actually a good idea! I always show my finds to the homeowners too, but I don't normally offer any of my good finds.

[Gaspipe101]

Nice find ;sad story. personally i would never hunt a property where a property owner insisted on cherry picking my finds . If they said I could hunt but they wanted my coins I would politely say thanks ; tell them id return and not come back. I do not show them my finds if not asked and leave quietly . What I do is return a later date with things like restored hinges and horseshoes and the like. these are things they may display while things like your reale will end up in her drawer and never see the light of day. Just my opinion.

[Sam]

Nice find ;sad story. personally i would never hunt a property where a property owner insisted on cherry picking my finds . If they said I could hunt but they wanted my coins I would politely say thanks ; tell them id return and not come back. I do not show them my finds if not asked and leave quietly . What I do is return a later date with things like restored hinges and horseshoes and the like. these are things they may display while things like your reale will end up in her drawer and never see the light of day. Just my opinion.

I agree with you, but, I had confirmation from the homeowner beforehand that I could keep any of my finds. I can see why the homeowner would take interest in the coin, but obviously it means much more to me than it does to her. I offered her hundreds of dollars to try and get it back, but she insisted on keeping it. Quite a selfish thing to do in my opinion, especially when she told me I could keep my finds in the first place.

[Gaspipe101]

yeah i feel bad for you next time keep it in your pocket

[Lodge Scent]

Nice find even if you didn't get to keep it. Yeah, rather classless on her part after she reneged.

[Hiluxyota]

Sorry to hear that. Wow, a 1600's silver. When I hunt old houses I don't show them the silver. Just for that reason. I will only show the coppers or whatever else. Then I will give an Indian or maybe a buff or a v nick just to show appreciation. Specially if I want to return in the future. At least you know those coins are out there. And next time you hunt there just show the non bucket listers !!

[Digger_O'Dell]

That's not cool! Greedy self centered person. Well, next time you know to either not go back, or to not reveal the "good" finds to that lady.

[Bucknut]

Wow what an awesome coin! Sad that you had to give it up! I always tell landowners that I will show them the "good" finds at the end. But I never show them the "great" finds just in case they want to keep them. When I show them the "good" finds (wheaties, clad, bits of relics) they are welcome to that pile.

Still a great find and in glad you got a pic of it! Hope you can find a similar one on eBay.

[Cheap Thrills]

Sorry to hear she snagged the coin .A great find on your part , Congratulations . I'm surprised she didn't make you pay to take the photos ( which by the way are awesome ) .
She must think she's sitting on a million dollar coin especially after you offered her so much money for it .Man is she in for a major letdown .I like Bucknut's policy on finds .:yes:

[MangoAve]

Sometimes I do show the homeowners and sometimes I don't bother. So far none whom I have showed have asked to keep; the few times I have contemplated was out of my own interest. Guessing the plow hit that silver at some point, folding it. Yeah, you can get one of those on ebay for cheap. Maybe a decent shape 1 reale is $40. I could understand if the coin had some significance to the house when it was built. The extra large dandy I found was at a house built 1800. Dandyism was roughly 1790 to 1840. I am certain that the button was dropped by one of the people who built the house.

[Sam]

Nice find even if you didn't get to keep it. Yeah, rather classless on her part after she reneged.

Thank you. I agree with you, but at least I found it in the first place.

[Sam]

Sometimes I do show the homeowners and sometimes I don't bother. So far none whom I have showed have asked to keep; the few times I have contemplated was out of my own interest. Guessing the plow hit that silver at some point, folding it. Yeah, you can get one of those on ebay for cheap. Maybe a decent shape 1 reale is $40. I could understand if the coin had some significance to the house when it was built. The extra large dandy I found was at a house built 1800. Dandyism was roughly 1790 to 1840. I am certain that the button was dropped by one of the people who built the house.

Normally I probably wouldn't have shown it to the homeowner, but I had confirmation from them that I would be able to keep my finds. I am definitely going to get another one off of eBay or something, the lady who took the coin thinks it's worth $200, which is pretty sad.

The coin as far as I know, doesn't have any affiliation to the property. The house was built circa the 1870s, but she made up these little excuses to try and take the coin from me. 'I didn't think you were actually going to find anything', 'I'm of Spanish decent' 'You found this on my property'.

Obviously I can see why she would take interest in the coin, but she must have seen how disappointed I was when she told me she was going to keep it. Considering how it seemed as if she took little interest in the coin, in comparison to me who had just accomplished something I had been trying to achieve for multiple years... I'd say it was a rather selfish and classless act on her part.

[Sam]

Sorry to hear she snagged the coin .A great find on your part , Congratulations . I'm surprised she didn't make you pay to take the photos ( which by the way are awesome ) .
She must think she's sitting on a million dollar coin especially after you offered her so much money for it .Man is she in for a major letdown .I like Bucknut's policy on finds .:yes:

Thank you! The only reason I offered her that much is because she had a strong belief that the coin is worth $200. :lol:

I told her it is definitely not, and she still didn't listen to me. I hope she doesn't get too excited if she goes to sell it!

[Sam]

Wow what an awesome coin! Sad that you had to give it up! I always tell landowners that I will show them the "good" finds at the end. But I never show them the "great" finds just in case they want to keep them. When I show them the "good" finds (wheaties, clad, bits of relics) they are welcome to that pile.

Still a great find and in glad you got a pic of it! Hope you can find a similar one on eBay.

Thank you! That is essentially what I do, some of the homeowners I know are really polite however and wouldn't mind if I keep any of the finds. But, for the most part, I don't show any of my 'great' finds in case they want to keep it. The people at this house in particular told me I could keep my finds, before the lady seized my coin.

[Sam]

That's not cool! Greedy self centered person. Well, next time you know to either not go back, or to not reveal the "good" finds to that lady.

I agree. What disgusts me even more is that they told me I could keep the finds, before the lady took the coin from me. I will not be going back there anytime soon.

[Sam]

Sorry to hear that. Wow, a 1600's silver. When I hunt old houses I don't show them the silver. Just for that reason. I will only show the coppers or whatever else. Then I will give an Indian or maybe a buff or a v nick just to show appreciation. Specially if I want to return in the future. At least you know those coins are out there. And next time you hunt there just show the non bucket listers !!

Thank you. Normally I would not show Spanish Silver to homeowners, but they had given me confirmation that I could keep any of my finds, which is the only reason why I considered it. It's unlikely that I will be going back there in the future, the lady there is truly a selfish, self-centered person for what she did.

[MangoAve]

Sam,

Don't get too worked up. As Dan said, no one can take away the fact you dug some Spanish silver. Treat it as a live and learn situation. Idk what the law was in MA, but in CT the law states that anything found is property of the person who found the item. I can understand you might be obliged to give it up to not kill any possibility of future hunts at the site. I also don't know what going back would entail now knowing the plausibility of finds. As in she hovers over you while you dig. I wouldn't fret too much about it and don't write off the prop yet. There are always more places to check, however. Just next time use more street smarts.

[BTV Digger]

Great find and sorry to hear about your bad luck. In the end it's theirs to keep though. When I get pp permissions I typically tell the folks that most of what I find isn't worth much and that generally works for me. If I find anything of note I always show them what I find though, since it's really theirs in the first place. Luckily I've never had anyone ask for stuff.

John

[Full Metal Digger]

Great find! Now send her a bill for your metal detecting services, fuel, and any incidentals you might have had for that trip.

[BKM]

Huge congrats on the Reale!

But man, that story really stinks. That coin has little monetary value but HUGE coolness value to guys like us. For what it's worth, that coin would have gone right into my pocket or junk pouch and never seen the light of day until I got home. I wouldn't take the chance on an owner thinking they hit the lottery and demanding the coin. Also, don't be afraid to keep a few toasted IHP's with you to show the owner if they insist on seeing your finds, you can be really generous in letting them have these "old coins" from their property.