New Oldest Silver

Lodge Scent

Lodge Scent

Active member
I've been driving by an overgrown field every time I go check on my parents. Noticed it had been cut last week and thought I would give it a try this morning. Spent the first hour just digging a few bits of miscellaneous junk before I put my coil over this nice 1721 two Reales.









Not quite sure how a fishing lure got in the middle of the field.

 
:shocked03::wow: what a great looking pistareen :perfect10: Jeff !! can't beat digging up that in December :clapping:
 
Nice score. Ummm.... I actually pulled up a fishing weight in the middle of the woods the last time I was out with Dave, Todd, and Dan (about a year ago). I don't think there was even a pond nearby, but it was a sea fishing weight it was so big.
 
Amazing find!!! :notworthy:

That one will be tough to beat! Soon to be 300 years old, it will be very difficult to silver older than that in the US.

It's in amazing condition too. Congrats on the find of a lifetime! :perfect10:
 
Thanks everyone. I was very stoked to see that come out of the ground and even more so when I rinsed it off.

del said:
:shocked03::wow: what a great looking pistareen :perfect10: Jeff !! can't beat digging up that in December :clapping:
Click to expand...

Dan, if you would be so kind, I need some educating on Spanish silvers. I read a couple of articles on pistareens but still am a bit confused. So a pistareen has a silver purity of about 83% was minted in Spain for use in Spain, whereas reales had a silver purity of 93 % and were minted overseas in the Spanish colonies specifically for foreign trade. So my question is: Is a pistareen a type of real or is it just called a "pistareen" ?

Thanks,

Jeff
 
OxShoeDrew said:
JEFF!!! That is one sweet coin! What an end of the season! What's on the back? is that just dirt? :happydance01:
Click to expand...

Thanks Drew. I think that is an iron stain of some sort. The audio sounded more like a big copper and it had some iron buzz to it which made it doubly surprising to see that big silver in the hole. In case it is just dirt, I have it soaking in distilled water to see if it will loosen up.
 
Lodge Scent said:
Dan, if you would be so kind, I need some educating on Spanish silvers. I read a couple of articles on pistareens but still am a bit confused. So a pistareen has a silver purity of about 83% was minted in Spain for use in Spain, whereas reales had a silver purity of 93 % and were minted overseas in the Spanish colonies specifically for foreign trade. So my question is: Is a pistareen a type of real or is it just called a "pistareen" ?

Thanks,

Jeff
Click to expand...

Jeff Pistareens technically are the debased or devalued "Reales" .Here is an excerpt from one of the coin history pages .


"Within the New World one Iberian Spanish coin was especially widely used, namely the debased silver Spanish two reales known in the English colonies as a "pistareen." Unlike the milled two reales (of the pillar and modified pillar series), this coin had an unstable value depending on its purity and weight (it varied from 84 to 96 grains with a fineness between .8125 and .842). In the British colonies the "lawful money" value of a Spanish colonial two reales was 1s6d so that a total of four of the two reales coins would equal six shillings (the value of an eight reales coin). However, the Spanish "pistareen" had a "Lawful money" value of 1s3d so that it took a total of five of the two reales pistareens to equal six shillings (actually 6s3d). Thus while four colonial two reales regularly traded for an eight reales coin, in practice it took five two reales pistareens to equal an eight reales coin.

Fortunately, the English colonists could readily identify the Spanish "new plate" silver like the pistareen from the Spanish colonial pillar silver. The "new plate" silver had the crowned heraldic Hapsburg shield on the obverse while on the reverse was a cross with the Castile and Leon shield, thus these coins were known as the "cross" reales (and cross pistareens). In 1772 the design on "new plate" coins changed to an obverse with a portrait of the ruler and a reverse with the crowned Hapsburg shield (minted 1772-1851), these coins were known as a "head" reales (and head pistareens). Unlike the new world reales these coins were not given legal tender status in 1793, nevertheless "new plate" coins, especially the pistareen, circulated in the United States into the early 1830's. Although not official coinage, these pieces filled a need specifically because of their inferior quality."

so it would seem that the names "real " or "pistareen" could stil be associated with either .
 
Great, great coin. Congrats on getting your oldest silver yet(though I think it might be tough to beat this one)

As far as the fishing lure.....maybe a beginner detectorist did not quite understand the term "dirt fishing". :lol:
 
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