Portuguese Tornes, 1369-1371 (Pitblado coin)

About This Coin

A billon (.375 silver) Tornês coin from the reign of Portuguese King Ferdinand I (Fernando I, "O Formoso"), minted at Lisbon between 1369 and 1371. Value: 1 Tornês = 72 Dinheiros. Obverse: Portuguese royal shield flanked by roses, with Latin inscription FERNANDVS D G REX PORTVGALIE AL ("Ferdinand, by the Grace of God, King of Portugal and the Algarve"). Reverse: Latin inscription from Psalm 118: SI DOMINVS MICHI AVDIVTOR NON TIMEBO QVID FAVIT ("If the Lord is my helper, I shall not fear what man can do to me"). Features a cross design identified by researcher Judi Rudebusch as resembling a Templar cross, and a six-pointed star similar to symbols at Fonte Arcada Church in northern Portugal.

The coin was presented to the Oak Island team in Season 13, Episode 1 ("The Comeback") by Steve Salomon, who identified himself as a relative of James Pitblado and members of the Archibald family. Salomon claimed the coin is a family heirloom that may be the object Pitblado was witnessed pocketing from an auger bit during Truro Company drilling operations in 1849. The original Pitblado incident is one of Oak Island's most enduring mysteries. During the Truro Company's fourth drilling of the Money Pit, fellow crew member John Gammel witnessed foreman James Pitblado wipe dirt off an object retrieved by the auger and slip it into his pocket. When confronted, Pitblado promised to present the item at the next directors'' meeting but left the island that night and never returned. He and Charles Dickson Archibald (manager of the Acadian Iron Works at Londonderry, Nova Scotia) subsequently attempted to purchase the eastern end of Oak Island where the Money Pit is located, but were denied. Pitblado lived to age 81, dying in 1903 without ever publicly revealing what he found. Emma Culligan''s archaeometallurgical report noted the coin is in excellent condition with little wear and no abrasive marks. 

In Season 13, Episode 24 ("Overseaing the Dig"), Doug Crowell, Rick Lagina, and Alex Lagina presented the coin to Portuguese numismatist Alberto Silva at the Luís da Silva Ribeiro Public Library and Regional Archive on Terceira in the Azores. Silva analysed the die markings and narrowed the strike window to no later than 1371, placing the coin in the early years of Ferdinand I''s reign and before the outbreak of the Fernandine Wars in 1372. He estimated that fewer than one hundred examples of this coin type are known to exist worldwide, despite a substantial original mintage. Silva''s observation that most of the original output is unaccounted for in modern collections reinforced earlier valuations from coin specialist Sandy Campbell, who had previously placed a single example near twenty thousand US dollars.