EMBDEN, Maine — A North Carolina man has found buried treasure in Maine while on vacation.
Shane Houston found a two-century-old coin buried in the dirt near a church in Embden, Maine, earlier this month as he went on a treasure-hunting trip with a friend, the Bangor Daily News reported.
The copper penny is dated 1798. The first money minted in the U.S. was done so in 1793. The coin is the oldest Houston has found over his decade of metal detecting.
He said it was found near iron nails that he likes to collect, the newspaper reported.
Houston estimates the value of the penny, which is the size of a contemporary half dollar, is about $200 but he doesn’t plan to sell it.
The treasure-hunting trip also turned up an 1818 penny, a wagon wheel and a musket ball that is believed to be British due to its size — .75 caliber, the Daily News reported.