I have been on many CW hunts out east and have seen many reales found. Always wanted to find one but never figured it would be a "BIG" 8 reales! I met up with some friends to hunt an old park. On our way we came across some street construction in the old part of town. We decided the the park wasn't going anywhere but the construction would be done soon enough. The street was gone and the curbs. The grass areas and sidewalks still remained except for at each intersection, about 10' of sidewalk was gone at the corners. Well a few blocks down I was searching a corner of sidewalk bed and got a good coin hit. I put my hand digger in and out popped a big dark disc. I thought it was a big washer or? Then I noticed an "old" eagle on the back. I knew it was pre Morgan so I thought I had a trade dollar. I soon realized it was an old Spanish 8 Reales. The date is 1832. The sidewalk was laid in 1900 so it had been buried at least 115 years. But since it was about 4" deep in the dark dirt under the sidewalk I think much longer. I had to use electrolysis to clean it up then took it to my coin dealer to authenticate it. I entered it last night in the find of the month contest at our metal detecting club and it won best coin! It's also now my oldest silver. For those that don't know, these are as big as a silver dollar. Hope you guys like it as much as I do.
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