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DIGS O' THE DAY (2006-01-31): MIDNIGHT MEDIAN MADNESS
lordmarcovan
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DIGS O' THE DAY (2006-01-31): MIDNIGHT MEDIAN MADNESS
Chris McCarthy, my detecting protégé, called me to see if I was up for another digging expedition. I’d loaned him my spare detector after his successful second outing on January 25, when he’d found a nice Masonic lodge token and his first four Wheat cents. In the interim, on his first solo hunts, he’d found two or three more Wheaties, so he was eager to attempt to cross that next milestone: finding his first silver coin.
However, I’d had a busy day planned, so I told Chris I wasn’t up for a daytime outing, but I might do a night hunt. He called me in the evening and agreed to pick me up, since I was having transmission troubles with my van. We decided to return to the median strip in the middle of Newcastle Street, which had rewarded us with some Wheaties and Chris’ old Masonic token a few days before. It was a pleasant night for hunting, though the temperature was dropping. I put the small 4.5” “sniper” coil on my detector, since there was a lot of trash in the median strip and I figured the small coil might help me separate the targets out a little better.
Chris was munching sunflower seeds and spitting the shells on the grass. I wondered aloud if the median might end up being full of five-foot-tall sunflowers, come summertime. Chris almost choked on a seed, then joked that it would have made an interesting Digs O' The Day entry if I’d had to explain how the trip was cut short to carry him to the hospital with a sunflower seed stuck in his throat. Fortunately, no more mention of sunflower seeds is necessary in this particular saga.
One of my first targets was a penny signal, and it proved to be just that- a 1960 Memorial cent. Soon we were getting plenty of signals but were having difficulty separating and pinpointing them. Worse, many times we would pinpoint a signal, cut a plug in the sod, and then… nothing! The signal would vanish. I am accustomed to this where there’s a lot of iron, but good coin-range signals were doing this, as well, and it was irritating. One such signal vanished on me and I filled the hole back in and walked away, only to return ten or fifteen minutes later to that part of the median and get a signal again, right next to the spot I’d dug. It was a loud signal with plenty of “surface chatter”, too. Probing through the grass with my electronic pinpointer, I soon noticed that the target was on the surface, having obviously been brought out by my previous digging attempt. Shining the light on it, I could see it was a Wheat cent- a 1926. Chris found a hexagonal, gold-plated locket or small photo frame of some kind. He also found a brooch with an opalescent-looking stone in it. Though it was only costume jewelry, it was kind of pretty, and probably fairly old.
We moved on to Queen’s Square, which is one of the few squares in Old Town Brunswick that’s suitable for night hunting: it’s pretty safe, being well lit and only a few hundred yards from the police station. It’s also in the business district downtown, so there’s nobody but the police around there in the middle of the night, and no suspicious homeowners nearby to be disturbed by folks detecting in the park. The police usually don’t give me a second look when I’m out there. Queen’s Square didn’t give us much of interest- only some modern change. I told Chris our chances were probably better back on that median strip, since it was less picked-over than the parks. We went back to the median but soon tired of the strange disappearing signal phenomenon. I did dig an old harmonica reed, the second for this month. Chris dug a huge, corroded piece of roofing tin, which was a possible clue to why our detectors were acting so quirky there. It was then that I remembered there was another park suitable to night hunting: Hillary Square, one of the smaller squares. Located next to the post office, it is also in the business district and therefore not surrounded by nosy neighbors. Off we went.
On the way to Hillary Square, we saw an appealing, green sidewalk strip that cried out to be searched. It was near an old church and lit by a bright floodlight like one sees at sporting stadiums, so we couldn’t have asked for better light. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to expectations: I found the base of a light bulb and some aluminum can fragments, and Chris couldn’t even pin down a clean signal. Soon we were at Hillary Square.
Chris got a nice sounding clear-but-faint signal and asked me to check it with the target ID on my machine. It was mostly in the coin range, and obviously had some depth to it. “Dig, young man!” I told him, pointing at the spot. He did. I stood by to assist, since the signal sounded good and I was intrigued. We cut a perfect six-inch deep plug that held together nicely, thanks to the firm soil. When the signal proved to still be in the ground, I stepped in with my pinpointer and soon had a probe signal at the bottom of the hole. A nice, tight signal like a coin would make. Oh, boy! We were getting excited. I scooped out a handful of dirt and swung it over the detector’s coil. BEEP! The detector produced a nice hot signal. The target was in my hand, and that magical moment of truth had arrived!
We shined our headlamps and scrutinized the dirt as I opened my hand. We didn’t catch the glint of silver I’d hoped to see, but Chris’ target did prove to be an exciting one. It was an old two-piece US Navy uniform button with an intact shank. Most of the original gilt on it looked to be intact, as well. The eagle on it perched atop an anchor and a stack of cannonballs. We could not read the backmark without some cleaning, so it is difficult to precisely date it, but I have little doubt that it is a 19th century button. An awesome find!
Chris finds an old US Navy button. The student outdoes his teacher again.
I still had the small sniper coil on my machine, and after seeing Chris’ deeper find, I knew it was time to change back to my standard 8.5” searchcoil so that I could get a little more depth. Trash was not being as much of a nuisance in Hillary Square. As I stood on the sidewalk changing my detector’s coil, a voice spoke from right behind my shoulder- I jumped, quite startled! It was a mostly-toothless old woman. With her dark skin and clothing, she was difficult to see in the shadows, and she nearly gave me a heart attack! She begged for money and I gave her some change, explaining that some of it was dirty because it had just been dug. She also asked Chris for money. He had a good answer for her: “Hey, we don’t have any money- that’s what we’re out here looking for!” She ambled off down the sidewalk. She’s lucky I didn’t reflexively knock her out with my metal detector when she startled me. I certainly wouldn’t make a habit of creeping up behind strangers in a dark, deserted park at one o’clock in the morning!
As the adrenaline left my system, I got the bigger coil back on my machine and went to work. Soon our stamina was fading and it was getting late. I did manage to dig two deeper targets before the night was through. The first was the movement of an old pocket watch, including the porcelain dial. The numbers on the watch dial were still visible. Still no complete pocket watch for me, but the second partial one I’d found this month. Like Chris’ Navy button, it came up from seven or eight inches down and was most likely a relic of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, if a target the size of a pocket watch movement was still there, there’s no telling what kind of old coins of the era might yet sleep undiscovered in the nearby soil.
Old Waltham pocket watch movement with porcelain dial.
The second deep recovery for me proved to be a coin. At six inches deep, I recovered a penny, and I was sure it was going to be an Indian cent. I was wrong, though- it was a Wheatie, and a surprisingly modern one for having been that deep: it was a 1940.
I’d ended the night with two Wheat cents and the pocket watch movement. Chris hadn’t gotten many coins except a few modern ones, but had a nice button and some other interesting items.
1926 and 1940 Wheat cents dug January 31st, 2006.
We packed up and headed for home. I noticed the temperature was now 34° F. I hadn’t really noticed the cold, except for on my ears. It’s a good thing I had dressed warmly. It wasn’t a super-successful outing but it wasn’t a total failure, either, and we’d had fun. (With the possible exception of me getting scared out of my shoes by an old lady.)
~RWS
INDEX OF DIG STORIES
Chris McCarthy, my detecting protégé, called me to see if I was up for another digging expedition. I’d loaned him my spare detector after his successful second outing on January 25, when he’d found a nice Masonic lodge token and his first four Wheat cents. In the interim, on his first solo hunts, he’d found two or three more Wheaties, so he was eager to attempt to cross that next milestone: finding his first silver coin.
However, I’d had a busy day planned, so I told Chris I wasn’t up for a daytime outing, but I might do a night hunt. He called me in the evening and agreed to pick me up, since I was having transmission troubles with my van. We decided to return to the median strip in the middle of Newcastle Street, which had rewarded us with some Wheaties and Chris’ old Masonic token a few days before. It was a pleasant night for hunting, though the temperature was dropping. I put the small 4.5” “sniper” coil on my detector, since there was a lot of trash in the median strip and I figured the small coil might help me separate the targets out a little better.
Chris was munching sunflower seeds and spitting the shells on the grass. I wondered aloud if the median might end up being full of five-foot-tall sunflowers, come summertime. Chris almost choked on a seed, then joked that it would have made an interesting Digs O' The Day entry if I’d had to explain how the trip was cut short to carry him to the hospital with a sunflower seed stuck in his throat. Fortunately, no more mention of sunflower seeds is necessary in this particular saga.
One of my first targets was a penny signal, and it proved to be just that- a 1960 Memorial cent. Soon we were getting plenty of signals but were having difficulty separating and pinpointing them. Worse, many times we would pinpoint a signal, cut a plug in the sod, and then… nothing! The signal would vanish. I am accustomed to this where there’s a lot of iron, but good coin-range signals were doing this, as well, and it was irritating. One such signal vanished on me and I filled the hole back in and walked away, only to return ten or fifteen minutes later to that part of the median and get a signal again, right next to the spot I’d dug. It was a loud signal with plenty of “surface chatter”, too. Probing through the grass with my electronic pinpointer, I soon noticed that the target was on the surface, having obviously been brought out by my previous digging attempt. Shining the light on it, I could see it was a Wheat cent- a 1926. Chris found a hexagonal, gold-plated locket or small photo frame of some kind. He also found a brooch with an opalescent-looking stone in it. Though it was only costume jewelry, it was kind of pretty, and probably fairly old.
We moved on to Queen’s Square, which is one of the few squares in Old Town Brunswick that’s suitable for night hunting: it’s pretty safe, being well lit and only a few hundred yards from the police station. It’s also in the business district downtown, so there’s nobody but the police around there in the middle of the night, and no suspicious homeowners nearby to be disturbed by folks detecting in the park. The police usually don’t give me a second look when I’m out there. Queen’s Square didn’t give us much of interest- only some modern change. I told Chris our chances were probably better back on that median strip, since it was less picked-over than the parks. We went back to the median but soon tired of the strange disappearing signal phenomenon. I did dig an old harmonica reed, the second for this month. Chris dug a huge, corroded piece of roofing tin, which was a possible clue to why our detectors were acting so quirky there. It was then that I remembered there was another park suitable to night hunting: Hillary Square, one of the smaller squares. Located next to the post office, it is also in the business district and therefore not surrounded by nosy neighbors. Off we went.
On the way to Hillary Square, we saw an appealing, green sidewalk strip that cried out to be searched. It was near an old church and lit by a bright floodlight like one sees at sporting stadiums, so we couldn’t have asked for better light. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to expectations: I found the base of a light bulb and some aluminum can fragments, and Chris couldn’t even pin down a clean signal. Soon we were at Hillary Square.
Chris got a nice sounding clear-but-faint signal and asked me to check it with the target ID on my machine. It was mostly in the coin range, and obviously had some depth to it. “Dig, young man!” I told him, pointing at the spot. He did. I stood by to assist, since the signal sounded good and I was intrigued. We cut a perfect six-inch deep plug that held together nicely, thanks to the firm soil. When the signal proved to still be in the ground, I stepped in with my pinpointer and soon had a probe signal at the bottom of the hole. A nice, tight signal like a coin would make. Oh, boy! We were getting excited. I scooped out a handful of dirt and swung it over the detector’s coil. BEEP! The detector produced a nice hot signal. The target was in my hand, and that magical moment of truth had arrived!
We shined our headlamps and scrutinized the dirt as I opened my hand. We didn’t catch the glint of silver I’d hoped to see, but Chris’ target did prove to be an exciting one. It was an old two-piece US Navy uniform button with an intact shank. Most of the original gilt on it looked to be intact, as well. The eagle on it perched atop an anchor and a stack of cannonballs. We could not read the backmark without some cleaning, so it is difficult to precisely date it, but I have little doubt that it is a 19th century button. An awesome find!
Chris finds an old US Navy button. The student outdoes his teacher again.
I still had the small sniper coil on my machine, and after seeing Chris’ deeper find, I knew it was time to change back to my standard 8.5” searchcoil so that I could get a little more depth. Trash was not being as much of a nuisance in Hillary Square. As I stood on the sidewalk changing my detector’s coil, a voice spoke from right behind my shoulder- I jumped, quite startled! It was a mostly-toothless old woman. With her dark skin and clothing, she was difficult to see in the shadows, and she nearly gave me a heart attack! She begged for money and I gave her some change, explaining that some of it was dirty because it had just been dug. She also asked Chris for money. He had a good answer for her: “Hey, we don’t have any money- that’s what we’re out here looking for!” She ambled off down the sidewalk. She’s lucky I didn’t reflexively knock her out with my metal detector when she startled me. I certainly wouldn’t make a habit of creeping up behind strangers in a dark, deserted park at one o’clock in the morning!
As the adrenaline left my system, I got the bigger coil back on my machine and went to work. Soon our stamina was fading and it was getting late. I did manage to dig two deeper targets before the night was through. The first was the movement of an old pocket watch, including the porcelain dial. The numbers on the watch dial were still visible. Still no complete pocket watch for me, but the second partial one I’d found this month. Like Chris’ Navy button, it came up from seven or eight inches down and was most likely a relic of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, if a target the size of a pocket watch movement was still there, there’s no telling what kind of old coins of the era might yet sleep undiscovered in the nearby soil.
Old Waltham pocket watch movement with porcelain dial.
The second deep recovery for me proved to be a coin. At six inches deep, I recovered a penny, and I was sure it was going to be an Indian cent. I was wrong, though- it was a Wheatie, and a surprisingly modern one for having been that deep: it was a 1940.
I’d ended the night with two Wheat cents and the pocket watch movement. Chris hadn’t gotten many coins except a few modern ones, but had a nice button and some other interesting items.
1926 and 1940 Wheat cents dug January 31st, 2006.
We packed up and headed for home. I noticed the temperature was now 34° F. I hadn’t really noticed the cold, except for on my ears. It’s a good thing I had dressed warmly. It wasn’t a super-successful outing but it wasn’t a total failure, either, and we’d had fun. (With the possible exception of me getting scared out of my shoes by an old lady.)
~RWS
INDEX OF DIG STORIES
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Comments
Nice that you're taking the role of Sensei out in the field. Sounds like he's picking things up quickly... looking forward to hearing about him finding his first silver!
Note to self -- for night digs remember to avoid sunflower seeds (if alone) and mostly-toothless ladies in the dark.
<< <i>Looks like the Hori-Hori did a "Hi-Yah!" on that one wheatback >>
Actually, the kid's using my Hori-Hori. As you can see, its point is rounded off and dull. I'm using a small shovel (and cutting plugs with it), then doing the closer digging with Chris' POS garden trowel that every newbie seems to start out with. Actually, POS that it may be, his trowel is at least a nice sturdy one. It just doesn't have the edge necessary edge for sod cutting. I guess I whacked that Wheatie when I was trying to find it, after it quit giving a signal.
<< <i>looking forward to hearing about him finding his first silver! >>
I've done some night detecting myself and have come to prefer it over day trekking. There's nobody around and I can concentrate on my machine better with less distraction. I don't use a light except the one on the tinytech and my ID screen is backlit. It has helped improve my pinpointing actually, if you can believe it.
<< <i>I have never attempted a night dig, but surely will in the near future. If I am having difficulty pinpointing during the daytime, I’m kind of concerned I will not be able to locate anything at night. >>
Keith- a good headlamp is vital for night hunting, since holding a flashlight ties up one of your hands. My wife bought me a nice fancy one with a focusable beam from the REI camping supply catalog, but the bulb has gone out on it. We recently found some near the checkout counters at Wal-Mart that run off coin-sized watch or camera batteries (which come included), and those were only five bucks. They have an elastic headband. They aren't as bright or as nice as my fancy REI one, but they are quite bright, and adequate to the task. Another very useful item in night hunting is a handheld pinpointing probe. Those are handy always. I use a Tinytec. I think it was you who recently posted the question about those, yes?
One other thing about night hunting in urban areas (or anywhere, for that matter): BE SAFE. I was night hunting in a park once and found myself only a block away from a drive-by shooting, and was almost hit by the getaway car!
<< <i>What are the approximate dimensions of these medians you are describing? I'm hoping to get out this weekend but I really have to think of/find a good old spot so I can find some older coins. >>
Joe, they vary, but I guess they're fifteen or twenty feet wide and a city block long.
This is not the strip we were hunting the other night, but it is one that has produced for me in the past. This is Prince Street, looking west from Halifax Square. Note the palm tree with the spiky trunk in the median, at the center of the picture. I found a nice EF-details 1894-O Barber quarter beneath it, about a decade ago. It was quite shallow- only two and a half to three inches down.
Median strips seem a strange place to find old coins, or any coins at all, since nowadays they're out in the middle of a sometimes-busy street, and are not exactly places where people congregate. However, in our case, the streets were probably unpaved until the 1940s or later, so a lot of what is in the median strips was once in the street, and got pushed up into the middle when they paved the road, maybe.
I suppose some folks may also drop stuff when crossing the street. One of the nicest Barber dimes I ever found (an EF+ 1912) was in a median strip in the middle of Union Street, about four inches deep. A rusty pocketknife came up in the same hole. Some poor fella obviously had a hole in his pocket.
If there are median strips like this in the old neighborhoods in your town, you should check them out. Expect a lot of trash, but don't be surprised if you get the occasional nice goodies, too. One person somewhere up north found a Capped Bust half dollar in a median strip- I remember reading about it. That strip was wider and had a sort of park area in it, though, as I recall. Check those sidewalk strips, too- the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb is usually city property. If the city lets you dig the sidewalk strips and the medians, you might have yourself some good hunting, maybe second only to old schools and private yards. Note, however, that the sidewalk strips are often maintained by the homeowners, so if somebody hassles you about your being in "their" yard (even if you know it's city property), just apologize and move on. There's plenty more sidewalk.
Ahhh, the newbie garden trowel... would snapping one of those be like a rite of passage for all newbies? That's right, I remember you talking about the whole sensei experience affecting things too. I'm sure it would throw me off. Good, patient sensei... very nice way to pay back into the hobby like others that did the same for us. (I know I was a pesky newbie asking all those questions
<< <i>If there are median strips like this in the old neighborhoods in your town, you should check them out. >>
You betcha! Although medians I looked have yet to yield anything good but clads.
I've never thought about hunting these types of medians myself.. I've always assumed them to be absolutely loaded with trash tossed from cars passing by...
I seem to recall Millennium mentioning a surface trash ignore (2" or 4") function on his Garrett (hrmph!
<< <i>I've never thought about hunting these types of medians myself.. I've always assumed them to be absolutely loaded with trash tossed from cars passing by... >>
Sadly, this is a pretty safe assumption. Trash is common in median strips- sometimes lots of it. More often than not, median strips will probably just produce trash, car parts, and modern coins, but I think if you find the right part of town to do your median strip hunting in, there might be some nice surprises, too.
And I do believe in Students outdoing their teachers!
TKC!
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