Hi all, thought I'd give you an update on additional finds I've made on two other hunts I made to what I'm calling the two virgin tavern sites
in northeastern VT. I ended up finding 6 more coppers, bringing the total to 19 at these two sites for me. The total from these fields for all
of us was 45, including my 3 Mass coppers and a NJ copper dug by my friend. Strangely there were no Vermonts. Silvers were my 2 Reales, and two 1
Reales. Buttons - 150 at least. Sorry, no GWs. Relics - too numerous to mention. Yes Jeff, I got two more crotal bells.Colonial shoe
buckles - 2. Here's some annotated close-ups of my coins, a few of which were posted in more broad shots in my original post. It was interesting.
The first tavern site was in a typical cornfield and finds were fairly "easy" to come by in the sense that most of the copper/button signals were
shallow and obvious signals. A newbie with an entry level Bounty Hunter machine could've probably snagged a bunch of these. We've cleaned it
out pretty good at this point, but as you veterans know, once they do a deep plow in the next few years then it's definitely gonna produce again.
The second tavern site was in a hay field and much, much tougher to detect in the sense that most of the coppers were either very deep, or
embedded in thick iron. In the thick iron is where I pulled 10 of my 11 from this particular site. Any hint of a high chirp or squeak you had to dig.
Often the chirps only happened in one direction of the swing so you had to go really slow and from different angles. If they ever level out the hay
field (the site was a hump in the ground) I'm sure there'll still be a few neat things remaining. Below are the list of dates of the coins I dug. Thanks
for reading and looking at the selected pics! Best of luck on your next hunts!
John
1780 2 Reales
1787 Mass Copper
1788 Mass Coppers (2)
1796 Draped Bust
1798 Draped Bust
1802 Draped Bust
1816 Matron LC
1819 Matron LC
1820 Matron LC
1821 Matron LC
1822 Matron LC
1827 Matron LC
1828 Matron LCs (2, one counter-stamped)
1830 Matron LC
No date Matron LC
Wiped colonial coppers (3, likely KGs)
1864 2 cent
1891 Indian
Here's a wide shot of the new coins I dug...mainly Matron LCs.
A 1796 Draped Bust LC (Tavern 1). This surprisingly is the most valuable coin in the whole lot.
A rare S-118 variety - only 30-40 known! Worth some nice bucks, but if this coin
was in any condition as some of the other LCs dug at these sites I'd be looking to
take a nice trip! This coin was in the original wide shot on my first post.
1798 Draped Bust LC (Tavern 1). This coin was in the original wide shot and found on our first 30 min. scouting trip.
No variety determined as yet. This coin was in my original wide shot on my first post.
1802 Draped Bust LC (Tavern 2). This one looked terrible coming out of the ground, but some careful
tooth-picking and a bit of forehead grease brought out some decent enough details. No variety determined as yet.
1819 Matron LC with die crack (Tavern 2). As with many of the Matron LCs from Tavern 2, they were dug
on a well-draining slope, thus they didn't stay wet for long and were well preserved. No variety determined as yet.
1820 Matron LC (Tavern 2). A nice example. Small date variety, though no Sheldon # as yet.
1821 Matron LC (Tavern 2). An interesting chocolate-green patina on this one. No variety determined
as yet.
1822 Matron LC (Tavern 1). A nice cornfield example. Variety N-3/R1+, fairly common.
This coin was in my original wide shot from my first post.
1827 Matron LC (Tavern 2). A spectacular example. I couldn't ask to dig a better LC.
Variety N-8/R3, scarce, but not rare.
1828 Matron LC (Tavern 2). She's seen better days but I've certainly dug worse looking
coins. Variety N-1/R1+, fairly common.
Another 1828 Matron LC (Tavern 2). A nice counter-stamped coin. H. Hovey was a druggist
or pharmacist in Massachusetts in the mid-1800s. Couldn't find much more on him.
No variety determined as yet.
1830 Matron LC (Tavern 1). A typical worn example, though certainly not bad from a cornfield.
No variety determined as yet.
1788 Massachusetts Copper (Tavern 2). I'm extremely happy to have been fortunate enough to dig 3
Massachusetts Coppers from these two sites. All are in decent shape but this one photographed the
best with it's chocolate/black patina, which is quite fragile. Hard to determine varieties on these
Mass. Coppers, and after a few hours looking at my Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial Coins book
I'm still at square one.
1780 2 Reales (Tavern 1) This is my third 2 Reales in 2 years, I still can't believe I dig these things.
Another one in great condition for a cornfield coin. This coin was shown in my original wide
shot on my first post.
Here's a shot of the reverse, showing Mexico City mint mark and the assayer's initials for
Antonio Forcada y Plaza.
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