Rare 1787 New Jersey Copper

December 7, 2021

Treasure Hunting with Nokta Simplex+ with SP35 Search Coil

The 1787 New Jersey Copper found with Nokta Simplex+ with SP35 Coil

CT Relic Digger Says:

The Simplex+ with the SP35 coil is my favorite combo! We have been raking in the relics at revisited sites that we have pounded in the past with this setup so I decided to give it a go at one of our favorite colonial foundations.

I was running the Simplex+ V2.78 on field mode with 0-15 discriminated, there is lots of old iron square nails around the cellar hole. I was going nice and slow near the backside stonewall when I got an amazing slamming 73 signal about 5-6" deep.

What came out of the ground blew my mind! A 1787 New Jersey large copper coin! It was in very decent condition and it's the first one I've ever dug. They are very rare to find with any detail on them around here. I was over the moon once again! I absolutely love this hobby and the SP35 coil, it's Simply the best!

Recent Find:

The 1787 New Jersey Copper

Metal Detector Used:
Nokta Simplex+ with SP35 Search Coil

Nokta Simplex+ with SP35 Search Coil-Destination Gold Detectors

Location:

Colonial Foundation a.k.a Cellar Hole

Trivia about the 1787 New Jersey Copper:

Between the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and the enactment of the United States Constitution on June 21, 1788, the federal (national) government did not establish an official mint and it was legal for individual States to produce their own coins. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Vermont all took advantage of this fact and authorized official coinage. Therefore, my column for this week centers around the coins produced by the state of New Jersey during this period. It is easy to begin a meaningful collection of New Jersey Coppers.

New Jersey Coppers were minted from 1786 to 1788. Representatives of many varieties are available for less than $1,000 each. A set of most major varieties is not especially expensive in the context of 18th-century coins.

To understand New Jersey Coppers, there is a need to consider demand for copper coins in the 1780s. Gold coins did not circulate to a large extent in North America until the late 1830s. During the 18th century, colonists in the Americas and U.S. citizens after 1776 thought of silver coins as ‘money’, and other instruments as subsidiary to silver coins – including tokens, scrip, paper money and negotiable (tradable) fiscal paper of various kinds. Physical goods were often used in trade when government-issued money was not in the possession of the buyers.

The Design:

New Jersey Coppers depict a legend, Nova Caesarea, on the obverse. In this context, nova is Latin for ‘new’. According to Louis Jordan of the University of Notre Dame, the “use of “CÆSAREA” is based on the ancient classical name for the Island of Jersey in the English Channel. In Roman times this island was called Caesar’s Island (insula Caesarea) so when Latinizing the state name, the word Jersey was transformed to ‘Caesarea.’

E Pluribus UnumOn the obverse of each New Jersey Copper, there is a representation of the head of a horse and of a plow. Before the 20th century, the U.S. was largely agricultural.

Such a horse’s head and illustrations of three plows appear on the Coat of Arms of New Jersey, which was adopted in 1777. On New Jersey Coppers, the reverse depicts a shield, somewhat similar to shields that would later be found in designs for U.S. coins.

The designer of the New Jersey Coat of Arms, Pierre Eugene du Simitiere, was very much involved in the design of the Great Seal of the United States. He is credited with suggesting the national slogan, ‘E. Pluribus Unum’ (“Out of Many, One”), which appears on both the New Jersey Coat of Arms and the Great Seal of the United States. The seal did not become official until 1782.

Great Seal of State of New JerseyThe motto of the State of New Jersey, however, is “Liberty & Prosperity”. It is curious that a national motto appears on state coinage, as people then tended to identify with their respective states to a much greater extent than people do now. During the late 1770s and ’80s, many U.S. citizens were fearful of the national government, and the Articles of Confederation severely limited the power of that government.