About This Coin
A worn British copper coin recovered from Lot 32, just west of the swamp, in Season 9, Episode 11. Metal detection expert Gary Drayton operated the detector. Treasure hunter Michael John recovered the coin from a clean signal. Drayton's field reading: "It looks like an old British copper." The coin was very thin, which Drayton noted as a possible indication of greater age, and the team did not attempt to clean it on site to avoid damaging surface detail. The piece was passed to Kelly Bourassa in the archaeology trailer for cleaning and further examination.
Drayton drew the connection on camera to the two British coppers he had recovered from Lot 16 in 2017, on the ridge across the swamp, alongside Rick Lagina, Marty Lagina, and Dave Blankenship. The narration recalled those two coins as 17th-century British coppers and a Charles II piece, with Drayton mentioning that he could recall seeing the Carolus legend on one of the earlier finds. The Lot 32 piece itself was not identified by monarch or date on camera in the episode.
The location forms part of a known activity zone at the western edge of the swamp, where the team had previously recovered ox shoes, a lead cargo bag seal later traced by laser ablation to French lead and dated to the bag-seal window of 1450 to 1730, and other wharf-related material. Two episodes later, in Season 9, Episode 13, Rick Lagina and Drayton recovered a second British copper from the same lot, on which Drayton was able to read the Britannia reverse on camera. Both Lot 32 coins fit a 17th-century English window consistent with the wider pattern of pre-1795 European activity on the Money Pit side of the island.
Historical Context
Recovered Season 9, Episode 11, Lot 32 (west of the swamp). Gary Drayton on the metal detector; Michael John recovered the coin. Field-identified by Drayton as an old British copper; sent to Kelly Bourassa in the archaeology trailer for cleaning. No monarch or date read on camera. A second Lot 32 British copper came up two episodes later in S09E13, recovered by Rick Lagina and Drayton with the Britannia reverse identified in the field.
Where It Was Found
Found at Lot 32 — Oak Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
