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San Francisco Bay 1600s Chinese coin and a small gold Crucifix
Posted by Digs_alot
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San Francisco Bay 1600s Chinese coin and a small gold Crucifix August 19, 2014 10:26PM |
Had a most interesting find this time around.
The 1st day, got a small, 14k Italian Crucifix.
The 3rd day, got, what appears to be, an alloy mint error on a quarter. Has a silvery rim instead of a coppery one.
The 2nd day was the best. Detected a Chinese coin from the San Francisco Bay, but had no idea how old it was.
After some internet research, discovered it was minted from 1644-1661! Had found a similar coin a couple of years ago with the E-trac (less than 100m away from the current find), but couldn’t determine it’s age at that time. Now I know it was minted from 1662-1722! Wow!
The San Francisco Bay was discovered by Europeans (Spain) back in 1769. The 1644 coin precedes this date by over 100 years. I didn’t expect to detect any coins that preceded the California gold rush that far back. Maybe Chinese coins remain in circulation for a couple of centuries, or maybe they were kept as souvenirs. There are a lot of likely possibilities, but what if a Chinese ship found its way into the San Francisco Bay before 1769, that would be very interesting.
Unfortunately, I have to wait for the next series of extreme low tides to hunt that bay area, which will occur in November.
The top row is the front of the coins. The bottom row is the back.
The bronze colored coin (top left and bottom right) is the CTX recent find.
It was minted from 1644-1661 in Peking. Shunzhi III, Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Boo-ciowan.
The silvery colored coin (top right and bottom left) was the E-trac find from a few years ago. Didn’t have any idea how old it was, because the World Coin books at the library only covered coins from the 1800s and 1900s. After researching the Shunzhi coin and discovering its age, I pulled out this coin and discovered it was also quite old.
It was minted from 1662-1722 in Peking. Sheng Tsu, Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Boo-ciowan.
Here is a photo of the 17th century Shunzhi coin, the gold Crucifix, and a tiny silver “something”.
Here are some before and after cleaning photos.
The Italian made gold Crucifix came out of the sand with almost no discoloration, but was slightly pitted from surf and tidal action.
The tiny silver “something” reads “sterling”.
The 1644-1661 coin cleaned up very nicely.
Here is a 2001 P Vermont state quarter. Instead of the typical copper-colored ring around the rim, this one has a silvery nickel copper alloy rim. The only sign of copper is at the front of the coin at the top. A strange mint error.
Here are some of the other finds.
The top glob was found near the 17th century coin. It may have iron pyrite imbedded in it. Haven’t got around to dissolving the glob to find out what’s inside. Also haven’t cleaned the item in the bottom photo.
Detecting since Feb, 2010
E-trac with 18"x15" SEF, 13" Ultimate coil, Pro coil, Minelab 8" coil, 4.5"x7" SEF, Sunray target probe
CTX3030 with 17"x13" DD coil, 11" DD coil
The 1st day, got a small, 14k Italian Crucifix.
The 3rd day, got, what appears to be, an alloy mint error on a quarter. Has a silvery rim instead of a coppery one.
The 2nd day was the best. Detected a Chinese coin from the San Francisco Bay, but had no idea how old it was.
After some internet research, discovered it was minted from 1644-1661! Had found a similar coin a couple of years ago with the E-trac (less than 100m away from the current find), but couldn’t determine it’s age at that time. Now I know it was minted from 1662-1722! Wow!
The San Francisco Bay was discovered by Europeans (Spain) back in 1769. The 1644 coin precedes this date by over 100 years. I didn’t expect to detect any coins that preceded the California gold rush that far back. Maybe Chinese coins remain in circulation for a couple of centuries, or maybe they were kept as souvenirs. There are a lot of likely possibilities, but what if a Chinese ship found its way into the San Francisco Bay before 1769, that would be very interesting.
Unfortunately, I have to wait for the next series of extreme low tides to hunt that bay area, which will occur in November.
The top row is the front of the coins. The bottom row is the back.
The bronze colored coin (top left and bottom right) is the CTX recent find.
It was minted from 1644-1661 in Peking. Shunzhi III, Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Boo-ciowan.
The silvery colored coin (top right and bottom left) was the E-trac find from a few years ago. Didn’t have any idea how old it was, because the World Coin books at the library only covered coins from the 1800s and 1900s. After researching the Shunzhi coin and discovering its age, I pulled out this coin and discovered it was also quite old.
It was minted from 1662-1722 in Peking. Sheng Tsu, Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Boo-ciowan.
Here is a photo of the 17th century Shunzhi coin, the gold Crucifix, and a tiny silver “something”.
Air-tested with: 11 coil Auto-sensitivity = 16 Noise Cancel #11 ID = inner diameter (in millimeters) Rings air-tested with ring parallel to coil, unless otherwise noted carat ID grams depth FE-CO max depth description 14k ---- .91 1” 13-01 1.5” Crucifix
Here are some before and after cleaning photos.
The Italian made gold Crucifix came out of the sand with almost no discoloration, but was slightly pitted from surf and tidal action.
The tiny silver “something” reads “sterling”.
The 1644-1661 coin cleaned up very nicely.
Here is a 2001 P Vermont state quarter. Instead of the typical copper-colored ring around the rim, this one has a silvery nickel copper alloy rim. The only sign of copper is at the front of the coin at the top. A strange mint error.
Here are some of the other finds.
The top glob was found near the 17th century coin. It may have iron pyrite imbedded in it. Haven’t got around to dissolving the glob to find out what’s inside. Also haven’t cleaned the item in the bottom photo.
Detecting since Feb, 2010
E-trac with 18"x15" SEF, 13" Ultimate coil, Pro coil, Minelab 8" coil, 4.5"x7" SEF, Sunray target probe
CTX3030 with 17"x13" DD coil, 11" DD coil