I know it's a long shot, but might somebody know what this is?

[Camp Breathedsville]

I found it and a gold-gilded Virginia button within 10 feet of each other.

[Digger_O'Dell]

That's one heck of a find! Think I found your coin! This likely dates to well before Columbus, so could be either from a lost collection, or Viking loot. It looks to be a medieval Enrique II 1369-1379.

https://www.sixbid.com/en/silicua-coins/10257/epoca-medieval/8858895/1369-1379-enrique-ii-1369-1379-zamora

History of Enrique II (AKA Henry II) : https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-II-king-of-Castile

[Camp Breathedsville]

That's one heck of a find! Think I found your coin! This likely dates to well before Columbus, so could be either from a lost collection, or Viking loot. It looks to be a medieval Enrique II 1369-1379.

https://www.sixbid.com/en/silicua-coins/10257/epoca-medieval/8858895/1369-1379-enrique-ii-1369-1379-zamora

History of Enrique II (AKA Henry II) : https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-II-king-of-Castile

How it the world would something like this make it to the fields of Central Virginia!!

Thank you, Digger!

[del]

This one is a bit closer Spain Blanca Coin, Castille and Leon, Enrique IV, Burgos, Billon VF(30-35) | MA-Shops (https://www.ma-shops.com/cdma/item.php?id=497369) but still 1454 to 1474 , its an oldie

Dan

[The Rebel]

WOW, if it could only talk! Outstanding find!

[Camp Breathedsville]

This one is a bit closer Spain Blanca Coin, Castille and Leon, Enrique IV, Burgos, Billon VF(30-35) | MA-Shops (https://www.ma-shops.com/cdma/item.php?id=497369) but still 1454 to 1474 , its an oldie

Dan

That looks like it! Thanks! :thumbsup01:

[Camp Breathedsville]

WOW, if it could only talk! Outstanding find!

Thanks Rebel! :thumbsup01:

[Tony Two-Cent]

What an incredible find! It certainly gets a person's imagination working overtime. How did such a coin end up in the United States?

I had to Google "billon" as I had never heard of that before.

Billon is an alloy of a precious metal with a majority base metal content. It is used chiefly for making coins, medals, and token coins. The word comes from the French bille, which means "log".

[Full Metal Digger]

What an incredible find! It certainly gets a person's imagination working overtime. How did such a coin end up in the United States?

I had to Google "billon" as I had never heard of that before.

Billon is an alloy of a precious metal with a majority base metal content. It is used chiefly for making coins, medals, and token coins. The word comes from the French bille, which means "log".

Tony, a lot of the medieval silvers I found in Germany were made of billon (pronounced bee-yon), usually about 27% silver or so.

[Full Metal Digger]

Congrats on finding a hammered silver coin in the US! Very rare indeed!

[Digger_O'Dell]

How it the world would something like this make it to the fields of Central Virginia!!

Thank you, Digger!

Well, the most simple explanation would be that it was brought over by a European settler and coin collector who later lost it somehow. But for some reason that also doesn't sit well with me. If I knew what area of Virginia I may be able to track down some exploration routes and dates that would explain the presence of Europeans in the area around that time. The Spanish were huge explorers and conquerors that could have simply brought coins like that here during the early 1500s. The explorer either could have used it in trade with the natives in the area, or been lost at the site where the explorer(s) died, or many other possible reasons for it to be there.

Honestly, there were lots of stories of Indians killing the first explorers, taking things they found useful such as knives, fabrics, food, etc. But they left behind things they considered useless-coins and such being an example.

[Bucknut]

Congrats on such an amazing find! It does make you wonder how it got there.

[Camp Breathedsville]

Thank you all for the thoughts and kind words. :thumbsup01:

[Iceman-ny]

Wow Camp that's cool, congrats :thumbsup02: