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 Replies: 17 / Views: 3,027 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
I have approximately 10 large coppers, either large cents or tokens that I can't identify. I found these in an area where 30 to 40 military buttons(1700's-1800's) were along with large and small musket balls fired and dropped ones. There was also a 1718 spanish reale. I'm willing to send these off to perhaps someone on the site here in Canada with extensive knowledge to help with Identification. I'm hoping to do it this way vs posting a bunch of pictures. Cheers and ty in advance.
If anyone is interested in checking these out we can work out the details in PM.
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
5585 Posts |
I take it you are talking about metal-detecting?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
840 Posts |
Perhaps some can be identified by posting photos.
doug
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Pillar of the Community
United States
865 Posts |
Yea id say posting photos would be your best bet. There are lots of experts here on coppers and tokens that will be able to ID them quickly.
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
1049 Posts |
yes these are all from detecting, there's quite a range of them and some obscure and some with only faint markings, that I'm sure could be identified. It'll be a bit of time to take photos of some that I can post. This week is busy until the weekend, so on the weekend I'll post a few pics and see what happens. Ty to all who have replied here. Cheers. Jon
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
Not knowing anything about the site, it sounds like a historic battlefield to me, possibly with human remains. Have you considered consulting an archaeologist? The history and knowledge you are destroying by digging that stuff up is gone forever. I hate to see it happen. Treasure hunting and looting is a fine line.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
Kbbpll
I'm a man who takes great pride in my hobby of detecting, the same as I'm sure you do in your coins. I have exclusive permissions granted me by the "Rideau Valley Conservation Authority" to maintain their properties and curate artifacts from any such. At the end of each season I document my times, the items found, be it on land or in the water and submit my report. These items were found in the water at a place where it was called the Chinese laundry, a large sloping rock that all the clothing and linens were washed for the camp.
The area where these were found on grid was a 16x18 perimeter. Cheers. Jon
Edited by M_d_in_guy
06/16/2015 02:25 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
Historically there was never any battles in this area (Big Rideau Lake) as they were all down along the St. Lawrence Seaway. This area was during the time of Colonel By and the building of the Rideau Canal, 1826-1832 with 40 plus locks which are now a world heritage site "UNESCO".
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
10743 Posts |
Hey, great find m_d..  Yeah your best bet is to show a few photos and some of our pro token people can help you out without sending them off.. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
ty Shafta, yeah I'll do some pic postings on the weekend.
Here's an FYI for the history buffs. John Redpath was one of the general contractors(he was in charge of the Jones Falls locks and arch dam, the toughest engineering part of the Canal system to construct) under the leadership of the Royal Engineers and Colonel By. John Redpath is the one that started the first sugar refinery in the province of Canada and Redpath sugar still operates today.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
Thank you for clarifying the situation and I sincerely apologize for any insinuation. Your original post sounded a bit cryptic to me like you were hiding details of the situation, and that was a bad assumption. Coins, military buttons and spent musket balls, I was trying to picture what kind of garbage dump or outhouse would contain that stuff - what else could it be but a battlefield? Still not sure how spent musket balls ties in with a waterfront laundry, but oh well. My bad.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
ty kbbpll for your post, good words here from you.
Back in the day they melted their own lead to make their own shot for battle of for hunting. Lead had to be bought to be brought in, so each soldier was also trained to have an eye for dropped and shot lead. No where else to put it I suppose but in the pockets lol.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
As the locks were being built there was a small group of British forces posted at each lock station often the blacksmith of the lock would allow the soldiers to use his fire to heat up the hand held musket ball moulds. Some moulds were more than one ball, but the most common was a single ball mould. Easier to carry, quicker to heat up and less money than a double triple or quad. Cause always in battle during some quiet time they were making more shot.
Edit: sorry my bad, it wasn't the musket ball mould to heat it was the crucible to melt the lead in and the smaller ones heated quickly and were easier to carry and cheaper to buy. Cheers once again Jon
Edited by M_d_in_guy
06/17/2015 12:19 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
I don't know if you're familiar with Archaeology magazine, but I've read it for close to 20 years, and I can't recall any articles that were tied to a laundry site. The tidbits you've posted here combined with photos of the site and surroundings, the coins and coppers, buttons, shot, etc, combined with the history of Rideau Canal, would be a fascinating article.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
The fellow Peter whom I deal with at the RVCA, I could mention this to him and see if he would be interested. I have researched the canal from end to end and surprisingly there is so little info offered, yet it is a UNESCO site which in my eyes are a wonder of the world. Here's a link to check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Falls_Dam. I've never read the mag yet a link for some reads would be good, if poss. Edited by M_d_in_guy
06/17/2015 12:48 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
I tried to get some good shots of some of the tokens. The detail is just not showing good in pics. I'm going to have to try another camera or send them out and have some check them in hand. Sorry but I tried lol, ty all for the replies, if by chance there is still someone who would like to check them out, I have no issue with postage both ways and amount of time taken to check them. Cheers, Jon
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Replies: 17 / Views: 3,027 |
Posted 06/15/2015 4:58 pm
