The OLDEST COIN I’ve EVER Found Metal Detecting Early Colonial RUINS In Search of TREASURE!

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:08]Well, hey guys. What's going on? It's Steph here. I hope you've been well. I know I have. And it's time for another metal detecting treasure hunting adventure. In this video, I am flying solo and I head out to a very, very early settlement deep in the woods of Connecticut. Now, this site in particular clearly dates back to probably the late 1600s, maybe even earlier than that, given what I managed to find. And while I found a ton of awesome relics, the coin of the day was absolutely the find of the day because it just happens to be my oldest coin I have ever found metal detecting. Yeah, if you can't tell, I've been pretty excited to share this find. So, without further ado, let's hop in.

[00:00:58]Take a look at this absolutely gorgeous site. Know you can't see a whole lot of it, but it's just so well defined and a really beautiful well. Just got a signal right next to it.

[00:01:17]Hopefully, it's something good.

[00:01:21]Okay, not bad. Not bad. We have And it was only maybe 3 in in the ground. A musk ball here.

[00:01:32]Not a very large one. And it definitely I would say hit a rock or something. But hey, you know what? For a first good target, it's not bad. We'll take it.

[00:01:42]Move on.

[00:01:45]Okay. Really substantial sounding signal right here against that tree.

[00:01:58]Let's hope it's something good.

[00:02:02]At first glance, it looks like part of something that I really like to find.

[00:02:08]You can see it peeking out there. I haven't even touched it yet.

[00:02:14]Come on.

[00:02:15]Oh, you know what? I thought it was going to be part of a shoe buckle, but this is actually a very old saddle strap guide. At least the bottom plate, and it would have had another piece of brass coming over. Your leather would have gone through it. So, shame it's broken.

[00:02:31]I don't think I did that, but I'll recheck the hole. And even if I didn't do that, the other part might be in there. So, hey, nice find. I really thought it was a broken shoe buckle frame.

[00:02:41]Interesting how things look in the ground versus in the hand.

[00:02:47]Well, wasn't really expecting this. It only rang up like an 18 on the manacor.

[00:02:52]I thought it was going to be, you know, like a 22 casing or bullet. Good 6 in down. And I just got it out over here.

[00:03:01]And that feels like a button.

[00:03:04]That is not just any button. That is a super old button. We call these nipple buttons. They're made usually out of a tomb backach alloy or sometimes pewtor.

[00:03:15]I've found one pewtor ever. Shank is normally Oh my god, the shank is there.

[00:03:20]Are you kidding me? That is incredible.

[00:03:23]So these get first gained popularity in Europe in the 1640s.

[00:03:29]It's one of the oldest things I've dug in a long, long time. Let me brush that down. I can't believe the shank is intact. That's going to be a wire shank there. Oh, that's incredible. All right, let me bring it right back.

[00:03:43]It's a shame the sun was just out a minute ago. It figures. But there it is.

[00:03:48]I think that's the largest one I've dug out of the maybe five, six, seven that I have tops. I don't find these a lot. But that shank, I cannot believe it's intact. They are always broken when I find them. That is incredible. I'm sure that's what threw the number down on the metal detector, but wow. Definitely going to keep playing around in here.

[00:04:08]That is not an everyday find, at least on this side of the pond.

[00:04:15]All right, I've got a signal in the 30s here with reasonable depth. We'll take a look.

[00:04:25]Looks to be about 8 in down.

[00:04:29]Let's see what it is.

[00:04:33]Truthfully, I was expecting quite a larger target, but no matter just ended up being shallow. I had to pick it out from a root ball. But we have looks like a little goldplated flat button. Is there something on that? Huh?

[00:04:54]Yeah, definitely a button.

[00:04:56]Let me come back with that.

[00:05:01]Well, right off the bat in the field, I don't see a pattern, per se, but you never know. When I clean it up, that could change.

[00:05:11]And not seeing a back mark yet. So, probably 1700s, but could be into the early 1800s. So, cool, though. I always love finding them.

[00:05:25]What a shame. I am bummed about this one. Unless I can find the rest. Was only coming up like an 18, 19, 20, something like that on the Manticor. So, I didn't film the live dig. Too much ammunition comes up in that range. But I have this, which to me looks like the inner workings of a colonial knee buckle. The pin has been pulled out of it somehow.

[00:05:52]That is very interesting. Obviously, I'm going to recheck the hole. see if I can find the frame anywhere near here.

[00:05:58]Hopefully, it's a nice big brass one.

[00:06:01]But, um, it could have been iron and maybe that's why this is all I can find right now. But anyway, the thing that's telling me it's a knee buckle is this type of shape. I believe that's called an anchor shape if I am not mistaken.

[00:06:13]So, yeah, very interesting. I've never seen one with a pin pulled out of it like that. All right, let's hope we can find the frame.

[00:06:23]Always nice to get a really easy target at these ironinfested colonial sites. We'll take a look.

[00:06:37]No doubt about it. That's coming out of the ground.

[00:06:43]Okay, are we ready for a little what's in the clump action?

[00:06:49]Just have a little ball of dirt right here. So, I figured we'll reveal it together. I'm sure it's going to be another button, but you never know.

[00:06:59]Never know.

[00:07:02]Huh.

[00:07:04]It looks like I whacked it pretty good.

[00:07:05]Whatever it is, please don't be something rare. Oh my gosh.

[00:07:09]Did I? Yeah, I might have.

[00:07:13]Be part for the course lately. Let me clean this up a little bit better. I'll be right back.

[00:07:20]Well, there's the backside. The shank is really, really offc center and missing for the most part. I really do think somehow I whacked it and I don't really know how because it was in that dirt clump, but who knows? Who knows? It looks like it had some silver wash on it at one point. I can't see if there's a design on there right now. If there is, I'll throw a cleaned up picture on the screen with some shame because I do think somehow I whacked it. But anyway, happens to the best of us. Good 250y old, maybe 300-y old button. Eh, not 300, but you get the idea. Nice and early colonial piece.

[00:08:02]Well, I've got what appears to be a really large high conductor right here.

[00:08:06]So, you know, we're going to dig that up. Take a look.

[00:08:18]H.

[00:08:22]Well, these are fun to find. I was kind of hoping for a shoe buckle, but you take what the ground gives you.

[00:08:30]Just got down to it there. And detectorrists from New England will know exactly what that is. But for those who do not, this is an ox knob. Okay. So, this would have been screwed onto the end of an ox horn just to prevent it from hurting people or scratching things around them, I suppose, puncturing things. So, what they would do is they'd screw this onto the end of the horn, shave off the tip, and there you have it. So, really, really fantastic signals they always throw.

[00:09:01]This one, because it has an octagonal shape to it, I would say is probably from the 1800s, but I've been wrong before. And uh these are actually still in use today, at least some form of them. So, in any case, hey, cool find.

[00:09:15]We'll keep on moving.

[00:09:21]Well, I am pretty darn excited for this one. The foundation is directly behind me, and I've got a great signal here.

[00:09:32]Little bit bouncy.

[00:09:34]Not really though.

[00:09:37]It's reading 6 in, but of course, you know, I've got all this leaf cover and stuff, so could be quite shallow, or it could be something that's large and deep, but I guess we'll find out.

[00:09:49]Okay, moment of truth. I flipped it around with the pinpointer a little bit to see if I saw a shank, and I don't.

[00:09:57]And I've got something kind of on the smaller side that's green here.

[00:10:05]Let's see.

[00:10:08]Come on. No. I want you. I want you.

[00:10:15]All right.

[00:10:18]This is going to be slick. Slick. Slick.

[00:10:21]But I'm pretty darn sure we have a coin.

[00:10:25]Absolutely. There is no shank mark whatsoever.

[00:10:29]Uh that's a beautiful thing even though you can barely see it.

[00:10:33]Just kind of waiting to see if it dries up a little bit here so that we can have a reveal live which would be great. But I mean just wafer wafer thin. Wow.

[00:10:45]Huh. Probably going to have to come back with this one. Hopefully I've got an ID.

[00:10:49]But either way that is a very very old copper coin. It's about the size of a farthing. I have found a farthing here before. Um, could even be maybe a French leard. Those are like 1650s up to the early 1700s at least for what we find out here. But, um, it looks like I'm not really doing myself any favors sitting here waiting for the details to pop through. So, I'm going to let it dry out a little bit and then I will return hopefully with an ID. Wish me luck.

[00:11:21]All right, guys. You're really going to have to use your imagination here, but I can tell that is a bust facing right with a really large crown at the top.

[00:11:30]That is going to be a Louis V 16th, I believe it is, uh, French leard, a one leard. That is awesome. I will never get a date off of this. More than likely, the date is usually right there. Um, the variety that I've dug in the past in the next town over was 1655.

[00:11:51]So, wow. This is an incredibly old coin.

[00:11:54]Again, they did, you know, produce these until, I believe, the early 1700s.

[00:11:59]And, uh, yeah. Wow. Now, the reverse, um, it's already flaking at the edges.

[00:12:04]It would have a few, uh, flirtilly on the back, and then it would have a, uh, just a letter right about there denoting which mint this was struck at over in France. So, wow, that is absolutely wasted, but I can't believe I have an ID. That is incredible.

[00:12:23]H that is a sight for so eyes. I am very happy with that. It's awesome.

[00:12:32]This one sounded substantial, but it rang up at 22.

[00:12:36]So, you know, not always a great target, but I do have something good here.

[00:12:42]I think I've got a button.

[00:12:46]Yep, I do. I can see the shank. I'm trying to get this some better light here. Hang on.

[00:12:51]And what do we got on the front? Must be Tom back ringing up like that.

[00:12:57]Yeah, just a shiny one. No pattern this time.

[00:13:03]No pattern this time, but that is okay.

[00:13:05]Nice 1700s button. That'll clean up beautifully. They almost always do if they come out of the ground shiny looking like that.

[00:13:14]Very nice. All right. Ooh, that's a nice surprise. Drilled shank. That's definitely going to be on the earlier side. Probably mid700s at the very latest. That's a great find. Much better than I expected it to be. Look at that.

[00:13:32]Getting excited about shanks.

[00:13:36]You can tell it's getting later in the day.

[00:13:41]Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I really wish I had filmed this. target came up a solid 29 to 30. Thought it was going to be a shell casing, but boy was I wrong.

[00:13:56]Take a look at this down here.

[00:13:59]Very, very, very fancy.

[00:14:01]Looks like we're going to have a colonial open worked button. That is a thing of beauty. I don't know if we're going to have a shank or not. No. Looks like it's been broken off. But wow. Let me brush that off and come back. That is incredible.

[00:14:20]Take a look at that stunner. Wow. We do not find openw worked colonial buttons like this very often. And obviously by open worked I mean there's all these little perforations out of it to make this like sunburst design.

[00:14:36]And again no shank but just h the quality of this button is unreal.

[00:14:43]Absolutely gorgeous. And that will make a beautiful display piece. I am in love with it. Oh, and for the sake of age, I would call this probably late 1700s, somewhere in that arena. So, easily 200, 250 years old, something like that.

[00:15:01]That's amazing. Really, really love that piece.

[00:15:07]All right, guys. That's going to do it for this video. I really hope you've enjoyed it. And if you have, please don't forget to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell so that you are notified every time I upload a new video. But man, what an awesome day in the woods. I love, love, love that nibble button from the 1640s, maybe up to 1700 at the very latest, but really deeply 1600s. And of course, the 1655 to 1658 French Leard. Regardless of the slick condition, it doesn't matter. such an old coin for here in the United States. So, I hope you enjoyed that outing half as much as I did, and I'll be back with you in two weeks with another video. But until then, everybody, happy hunting, and we'll see you next time.