steveg
Elite Member
Hi all!
Today I headed out to hunt a farm in Norman, OK for a couple of hours; it's a site I got permission to hunt a few years ago and have hunted before, but always around the yard of the 1950 farmhouse (where I managed a Merc, a Rosie, and a few Wheaties). Today, however, after hunting the yard and finding just a lone wheatie (1947-D), I ventured out away from the house, and headed in the direction of some outbuildings/stables on the east side of the property. After digging several junk targets, I came upon a SCREAMING high tone, that I almost thought was a buried can (or some other piece of odd junk that inevitably turns up when hunting old farms). Fortunately, I decided to dig, and since the target seemed shallow, I popped only about a 6" deep plug of dense clay. With the Pro-Pointer assuring me that the target was in the plug, I cracked it open. Here is what I saw:
BIG silver! And I mean BIG! At this point, I'm thinking it MUST be a Peace Dollar; the site is too "young" to hold a Morgan, as far as I know; while I'm thinking these thoughts I removed the coin from the plug...
I didn't want to rub the dirt, so I got out my water bottle and began rinsing...and then, saw some letters that I should NOT have been seeing...O - U - I...I'm thinking WHAT??? My next thought was, SPANISH silver of some sort? So I rinsed the coin completely, and here it was...
FRENCH!!! What? The obverse is obviously in decent shape, but the reverse is quite worn. I could barely make out a year (looked like 1851), but any more identification would have to wait until I got home.
Once home, I looked more closely at the coin; Google led me to en.numista.com (http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces10198.html) -- where I found out that it's a 5 franc coin, minted in 1831 -- with the "A" mint mark revealing that it was minted in Paris. It's about a millimeter smaller than a silver dollar, and about one gram less in weight; just under an ounce -- and .900 silver. Needless to say, I have NO IDEA how a French coin minted in Paris in 1831 found its way into the red clay of rural Norman, Oklahoma -- but it did! And then, lucky for me, it found its way into my pouch!! This one definitely goes down as the most surprising, unusual coin find I've made thus far; this is my first BIG silver (I have several halves, but nothing silver-dollar sized), and so it was definitely eye-popping for me. And a French coin minted in 1831 in the middle of Oklahoma? Mind blowing!
Here are the pics, with the wheatie I found for size reference:
Thanks for looking!!
Steve
Today I headed out to hunt a farm in Norman, OK for a couple of hours; it's a site I got permission to hunt a few years ago and have hunted before, but always around the yard of the 1950 farmhouse (where I managed a Merc, a Rosie, and a few Wheaties). Today, however, after hunting the yard and finding just a lone wheatie (1947-D), I ventured out away from the house, and headed in the direction of some outbuildings/stables on the east side of the property. After digging several junk targets, I came upon a SCREAMING high tone, that I almost thought was a buried can (or some other piece of odd junk that inevitably turns up when hunting old farms). Fortunately, I decided to dig, and since the target seemed shallow, I popped only about a 6" deep plug of dense clay. With the Pro-Pointer assuring me that the target was in the plug, I cracked it open. Here is what I saw:
BIG silver! And I mean BIG! At this point, I'm thinking it MUST be a Peace Dollar; the site is too "young" to hold a Morgan, as far as I know; while I'm thinking these thoughts I removed the coin from the plug...
I didn't want to rub the dirt, so I got out my water bottle and began rinsing...and then, saw some letters that I should NOT have been seeing...O - U - I...I'm thinking WHAT??? My next thought was, SPANISH silver of some sort? So I rinsed the coin completely, and here it was...
FRENCH!!! What? The obverse is obviously in decent shape, but the reverse is quite worn. I could barely make out a year (looked like 1851), but any more identification would have to wait until I got home.
Once home, I looked more closely at the coin; Google led me to en.numista.com (http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces10198.html) -- where I found out that it's a 5 franc coin, minted in 1831 -- with the "A" mint mark revealing that it was minted in Paris. It's about a millimeter smaller than a silver dollar, and about one gram less in weight; just under an ounce -- and .900 silver. Needless to say, I have NO IDEA how a French coin minted in Paris in 1831 found its way into the red clay of rural Norman, Oklahoma -- but it did! And then, lucky for me, it found its way into my pouch!! This one definitely goes down as the most surprising, unusual coin find I've made thus far; this is my first BIG silver (I have several halves, but nothing silver-dollar sized), and so it was definitely eye-popping for me. And a French coin minted in 1831 in the middle of Oklahoma? Mind blowing!
Here are the pics, with the wheatie I found for size reference:
Thanks for looking!!
Steve
