Treasure Classifieds Forum

I had to work early this morning for a few hours, but, then I met up with a buddy of mine for some dirt fishing.

We hit a spot where there used to be an old home dating back to the late 1800's. I arrived first, and dug a wheatie & a silver rosie. I was happy so far. Then, about 10 minutes later, things got WEIRD...

I get a beautiful, deep, coin hit. Bouncy, but fairly consistent. My favorite kinda signal. Dig about 9 or 10'', and out pops a little coin. I'm thinking merc or barber, but, it was a very dark gray, almost light black in color. I'm rubbing the thing the best I could to get some detail, and I see pillars on the back...REALE! Then, I noticed the bust on the front. Yep, that's what it was. 1807 half reale, I believe. A wee bit smaller than a dime. But...

After about 10 minutes of staring at the damn thing, and trying to keep my adrenaline in check, I decide to run it under the coil. Only came up a 36, which is a copper signal on my machine. Further, no silver sound. Now...

I've found two other reales that are authentic as day. They sound silver, hit the right VDI number, etc. Not this one. I'm guessing it might be a counterfeit. Here's why...

1. Spot doesn't have that kind of age. Late 1800's. Could there have been activity before then? Sure, but, there were no other indicators coming up.

2. Again, it has a kind of dark grey or light black crud on it. Yet, there ARE spots where silver seems to be shining through. However, silver should shine right up (unless it was burned in a fire - which this could have been, but, not sure).

3. Comes in as a penny signal on my Safari's VDI.

4. No high pitch silver squeal.

Unfortunately, my iphone camera is giving me problems, so, can't upload better pics. Took these on a cheap tablet.

What do you guys think? I'll throw up better photos sometime tonight...

Joe

I don't know, but it's a cool find either way.

looks like a silver reale to me good digging, No gay

Nice find joe,if you found it where I think you did, it's tarnished because of the wet ground.the signals being off is because of the silver content isn't as much as a silver dime. I doubt it's fake especially as deep as you found it.im gonna go Sunday I can't make sat.

I've never seen an authentic reale so I really don't know but it for sure does have a similar looking patina to old tarnished silver. It's a great find especially if it's real. A Spanish reale is on my metal detecting wish list.

(03-21-2014 07:18 PM)Flukenut65 Wrote: [ -> ]Nice find joe,if you found it where I think you did, it's tarnished because of the wet ground.the signals being off is because of the silver content isn't as much as a silver dime. I doubt it's fake especially as deep as you found it.im gonna go Sunday I can't make sat.

I agree

I've found many "black" silvers buried in wet black soil

and

as flukenut said - the silver content of coins back then isn't the same as the last 100 yrs or so (there was no "standard" in that time

therefore - my vote is that it's not fake :-)

Cool find no matter though!

Hmmm, now I'm not so sure, you guys are throwing me off, lol.

Wayne, I too have dug many black silver's, but, they still ring up high tone & VDI, not this one. And the black I'm mentioning isn't just the color, there's a thin brown/light black gritty film. Best way I can describe it. I tried scraping through it, but, no dice.

I gotta get better pics up shortly. Believe me, I want it to be real more than you guys, lol, but, even if fake, a cool find

Joe

Is the "black stuff" coming off and revealing more silver color

or

is the silver coming off and revealing more black stuff??

That would be a good indicator as to if it's real or not...

If the black stuff is coming off and revealing more silver - I say "real" and that the black stuff is interfering with the VID and TID

maybe as you 1st suspected - it may have been in a fire and the black corrosion stuff is throwing the #s off and tone ID off

if it's the other way around though - then it most likely IS a fake 

Sometimes counterfeits are worth more than the REAL thing though too! lol

Very Very Cool!!

First off  I know it is not a Reale because there is no such thing.  But I bet 100% that it is a authentic REAL.

OK -just check the dictionary for Reale--Good luck with that!!   For some reason American always spell it wrong.  

So my friend, congrats on your real REAL.

I have found several black silvers and the reales (pl) are very thin and small so it does not surprise me that it hit low.  The half dimes and reales that I have found all hit lower than Indian Head pennies.

Congrats that is a killer find!!

I really think that your real is real.   

Joe, think about the barber quarters you found there last year. They came out black just like the real, that ground is so wet it just tarnishes everything there. Even the mercs we found were black.if I was you I would be putting on your big coil ,were just on verge of getting them there.another two- three inches will make a difference!