Trade Dollar. Amazing Day. UPDATE

The Jersey Digger · Jun 5, 2015

I originally posted this find in the coinshooters section. A few people commented it should have been here and a half a dozen people sent that to me in a pm as well. So I figured I would post it here. I was at a new permission at a house from around 1880. The first day there after a couple hours I found a 1905S barber dime, 1882 & 1898 Indians a bunch of wheats and clad. The next day went over for a 45 minute lunch hunt. First awesome target was a Civil War belt plate you can see in the war artifacts section. Then I got a 12-44 on my Etrac fully expecting a memorial penny which is what it was. Rescanned the hole and got a 2-44 signal. Dug down a few more scoops then put my hand in the hole and felt a large round disc. Brought it to the surface and knew I had my first silver dollar. Little did I know at first but I saw after washing with water is an 1878S US Trade Dollar shot by a bullet. A silver dollar was so high on the bucket list but being a trade dollar was the icing on the cake since they are rare to dig up. Sorry if you feel as if I should not have double posted. Others said they thought it belonged here...

SeabeeRon · Jun 5, 2015

Definitely belongs here Sean!!

Rattlehead · Jun 5, 2015

Yep, I agree! Definitely belongs in this section! Thats an amazing find! Congrats man!

albiediggin · Jun 5, 2015

wonder what happened to that coin :?:

still a great find congrats

Ice Scratcher · Jun 5, 2015

Rare bird indeed!!

Huge congrats man!!!

That doesn't look like a bullet hit it IMO...

My theory is lightning struck the ground and did that...

<°)))>{

matmit · Jun 5, 2015

That is a totally rare item right there!
Is there any chance it is counterfeit, looks unusual :?:

itsaring! · Jun 5, 2015

Ice Scratcher said:
Rare bird indeed!!

Huge congrats man!!!

That doesn't look like a bullet hit it IMO...

My theory is lightning struck the ground and did that...

<°)))>{

That's what it looks like. I actually went on a Plumbing job and cut out some copper water pipe where lightning jumped from the pipe to the tub and it melted in almost that exact pattern. If it can melt copper with water in it at 80psi a silver coin is no match.

Donneybrook · Jun 6, 2015

You got this on the same hunt as the belt plate?!? Wow. Good thing you're a long time member otherwise the troll hunters would have run you off by now

That'd be crazy if one of the hardest to find US coins was struck by lightning. The odds of that are, well.... :shock:

sgtwilks · Jun 6, 2015

Donneybrook said:
You got this on the same hunt as the belt plate?!? Wow. Good thing you're a long time member otherwise the troll hunters would have run you off by now That'd be crazy if one of the hardest to find US coins was struck by lightning. The odds of that are, well....

Im not sure what your getting at but jersey hunter is a pretty skilled detectorist. He knows how to advance a site and that is key. He also uses the best equipment.

Donneybrook · Jun 6, 2015

sgtwilks said:
Im not sure what your getting at but jersey hunter is a pretty skilled detectorist. He knows how to advance a site and that is key. He also uses the best equipment.

it was kind of a compliment. hence the, its so incredible that if someone just joined and posted two finds like this we would say it was fake. however, since we know him well thats not an issue. i wasnt questioning the authenticity at all.

sgtwilks · Jun 6, 2015

Donneybrook said:
it was kind of a compliment. hence the, its so incredible that if someone just joined and posted two finds like this we would say it was fake. however, since we know him well thats not an issue. i wasnt questioning the authenticity at all.

Sorry Don I misread your post. Hard to tell tone on posts. I just happened to talk to jersey digger when I started and he showed me how to advance sites to locate old areas. He doesn't just grab a detector and go he looks for the sites with the best odds for old finds.

Donneybrook · Jun 6, 2015

sgtwilks said:
Sorry Don I misread your post. Hard to tell tone on posts. I just happened to talk to jersey digger when I started and he showed me how to advance sites to locate old areas. He doesn't just grab a detector and go he looks for the sites with the best odds for old finds.

No problem. :grin:

Detector Nut · Jun 8, 2015

Wow, a very rare find, I would keep going back, congrats!

AlinMN · Jun 8, 2015

First off I think this is a great find for eye popping finds. :yes:

The most amazing thing to me is that it also appears to have been tested for authenticity by a punch as you can see to the far left on the obverse side where it was punched from the back side and also the big hollow area on the front that appears to be a bullet mark might also be a punch mark. I would question the authenticity of the coin like mitmat. Not to make this find any less than a great find, it appears to me that it may be a trade dollar that was tested and possibly found to be fake, punched and then melted on the edge to see if it was silver, and it looks more like silver plated lead to me. If it was found to be fake it would have been discarded. I would take a file to the damaged rim area where it is gray and file it a little to see if it is silver underneath or some other base metal. Even if it turns out to be a fake it is a great find since there were many fake trade dollars used back in those days made in china (it isn't just a modern ebay thing) This is to me a unique find with a great story if it is a counterfeit or not. :dingding:

Here is a site with some information about chop marks: http://www.winsociety.org/newsletter/chopmarks/chopmarks.html

The Jersey Digger · Jun 8, 2015

matmit said:
That is a totally rare item right there!
Is there any chance it is counterfeit, looks unusual

AlinMN said:
First off I think this is a great find for eye popping finds.

The most amazing thing to me is that it also appears to have been tested for authenticity by a punch as you can see to the far left on the obverse side where it was punched from the back side and also the big hollow area on the front that appears to be a bullet mark might also be a punch mark. I would question the authenticity of the coin like mitmat. Not to make this find any less than a great find, it appears to me that it may be a trade dollar that was tested and possibly found to be fake, punched and then melted on the edge to see if it was silver, and it looks more like silver plated lead to me. If it was found to be fake it would have been discarded. I would take a file to the damaged rim area where it is gray and file it a little to see if it is silver underneath or some other base metal. Even if it turns out to be a fake it is a great find since there were many fake trade dollars used back in those days made in china (it isn't just a modern ebay thing) This is to me a unique find with a great story if it is a counterfeit or not. Here is a site with some information about chop marks: http://www.winsociety.org/newsletter/chopmarks/chopmarks.html

I am not an expert by any means. What I can say it does weigh exactly the same weight as the books says it should at 27.2 grams. Also there is no flaking on the coin like you would expect from silver plating. I did the file test and it is hard to take a pic of but it is silver underneath. When I can find the time I plan to have it authenticated at a coin dealer. The closest one to me if a half hour away. Most fakes are quite underweight. This one isn't. I too have doubted whether real of fake. I would like to know for sure. Many people I know who have at this a long time think it was hit by bullet. I will update once I know...

The Jersey Digger · Jun 8, 2015

sgtwilks said:
Sorry Don I misread your post. Hard to tell tone on posts. I just happened to talk to jersey digger when I started and he showed me how to advance sites to locate old areas. He doesn't just grab a detector and go he looks for the sites with the best odds for old finds.

Thank you Cliff for the compliments bud!

The Jersey Digger · Jun 8, 2015

Donneybrook said:
You got this on the same hunt as the belt plate?!? Wow. Good thing you're a long time member otherwise the troll hunters would have run you off by now That'd be crazy if one of the hardest to find US coins was struck by lightning. The odds of that are, well....

I didn't take any offense to this post but I can see how my friend Cliff read it a different way. Yes both found on the same property on the same day about 10' from each other. I was just as shocked as anyone...

Ice Scratcher · Jun 8, 2015

itsaring! said:
That's what it looks like. I actually went on a Plumbing job and cut out some copper water pipe where lightning jumped from the pipe to the tub and it melted in almost that exact pattern. If it can melt copper with water in it at 80psi a silver coin is no match.

Right on.. Yeah copper takes a TON of heat to melt.. Like you said silver would be easy compared to copper, especially with water acting as a heat sink..

<°)))>{

Ice Scratcher · Jun 8, 2015

[On the reverse you can see the path the arc traveled and actually almost went through to the obverse..

<°)))>{

dglantz · Jun 8, 2015

Certainly belongs here. I've only seen one other trade dollar posted on here and it was a few years ago.

Trade Dollar. Amazing Day. UPDATE

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