I’m DFG Alexandre, and this is my debut blog post. When my grandmother passed away, we decided to sell her house, as none of the family was in need of a home. Before putting it on the market, my dad (DFG Rob) and I decided to do one last dig. Her late 1700s house has been heavily detected by us, so we didn’t expect to find much. However, we were wrong. I found what we thought was a Connecticut copper coin, one of the oldest coins in Connecticut, as it predates American currency. I was excited because it was so old, but it was in bad shape, and it was hard to make out the details of the coin, as it was rusting away.
Under further evaluation, the coin proved to be a Walking Liberty half dollar, a silver coin that is a respectable find but a relatively common one. I was initially disappointed that it was from the mid-1900s and not the early 1800s, as I had thought. But when my dad and I looked at it further, we realized that silver coins do not rust and decay. We compared the coin I found with a silver Walking Liberty coin and saw they were the same size. We now think that it was a counterfeit silver dollar. Making the coin out of a less precious metal would’ve saved money in making the coin, and it was probably silver plated originally to make it seem authentic. This find was also special to me, as it could have come out of my great-grandpa’s pocket as he walked that path to water his garden with a wagonful of milk jugs. I wondered if he knew it was counterfeit. Did he chuck it because it was fake, or did it just fall out? Despite its lack of monetary value, the coin certainly has sentimental value in my eyes.