What I got in my Trick-or-Treat bag on Halloween afternoon (another cool detector find!)
lordmarcovan
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I visited Blue Cole in his nifty little home town, just south of Atlanta, on Halloween, while I was vacationing in the more northern part of our fine state. We went out detecting, and I tried to give him a few pointers on the spankin' new Garrett GTA-350 detector he had (which is just one model below my trusty, beat-up old GTA-500, which has been used for a decade and has paid for itself at least four times over by now).
We went to some likely areas in his town (it seems he knows or is related to everyone there!), and poked around a bit. While I certainly didn't expect to to find much (probably 2/3 to 3/4 of my outings produce little more than junk, and it was unfamiliar ground), it was my fondest desire to find an Indian head cent or Mercury dime to prove to Blue that a certain lot we were hunting on had potential. I told him I could tell there was silver in that old vacant lot (After twenty-plus years of detecting, I can smell it, y'know!)
My nose for silver was not wrong- one silver coin turned up that afternoon. But it wasn't a silver Roosevelt or a Mercury dime- it far exceeded my expectations! I never in my wildest dreams would have thought of finding what I did!
I once saw a Huguenot half that somebody found in or near a lake just south of here, in the Jacksonville, Florida, area, but that coin was AG at best- heavily worn. This one is AU, I reckon- while I'm sure it has some wear, I haven't really noticed any. There are a few hairlines from its long sojourn in the dirt, but that is to be expected.
I would imagine that Blue will find some neat stuff in that lot and the one adjoining it, not to mention the site he showed me where the old train depot used to stand (which his family now owns). He turned up a really old pocket watch case, a lead coat weight, and some other interesting doodads that afternoon, on his first outing. In addition to the Oregon Trail half, I found an old aluminum "Good For 10 cents" merchant token from the early 1900's, but I haven't yet cleaned it up enough to read the merchant's name and so on. (Unlike the half, which hardly needed any cleaning at all, the token is badly encrusted.)
We went to some likely areas in his town (it seems he knows or is related to everyone there!), and poked around a bit. While I certainly didn't expect to to find much (probably 2/3 to 3/4 of my outings produce little more than junk, and it was unfamiliar ground), it was my fondest desire to find an Indian head cent or Mercury dime to prove to Blue that a certain lot we were hunting on had potential. I told him I could tell there was silver in that old vacant lot (After twenty-plus years of detecting, I can smell it, y'know!)
My nose for silver was not wrong- one silver coin turned up that afternoon. But it wasn't a silver Roosevelt or a Mercury dime- it far exceeded my expectations! I never in my wildest dreams would have thought of finding what I did!
I once saw a Huguenot half that somebody found in or near a lake just south of here, in the Jacksonville, Florida, area, but that coin was AG at best- heavily worn. This one is AU, I reckon- while I'm sure it has some wear, I haven't really noticed any. There are a few hairlines from its long sojourn in the dirt, but that is to be expected.
I would imagine that Blue will find some neat stuff in that lot and the one adjoining it, not to mention the site he showed me where the old train depot used to stand (which his family now owns). He turned up a really old pocket watch case, a lead coat weight, and some other interesting doodads that afternoon, on his first outing. In addition to the Oregon Trail half, I found an old aluminum "Good For 10 cents" merchant token from the early 1900's, but I haven't yet cleaned it up enough to read the merchant's name and so on. (Unlike the half, which hardly needed any cleaning at all, the token is badly encrusted.)
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We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.
Russ, NCNE
An open mind will support transformation.
Recognize life is full of change
and celebrate the opportunity.
"There is always a way to collect,Never surrender the hobby"
In certain series that saw heavy circulation or are commonly found in poor condition, like the Barber coinage and early large cents, the detectorist has a definite edge over the person who hunts for his coins in the traditional method. Want to know where the majority of those high grade Draped Bust and Liberty Cap cents, and pristine EF-AU Barber coins are? We have a pretty good idea...
I cut a circular piece of sod out, about two inches deep- just below the grass roots (called a "plug" in detecting lingo) when I got the signal on that half . When I turned the plug over, that baby was just sitting in the hole, half exposed. I saw the rays on the reverse and thought, "Wow! Another Walker!" Imagine my shock when I saw the covered wagon, and flipped it over to see the Indian. (So far, in halves, I have found an 1894-O Barber, 1938-D and 1944 Walkers, a 1952 Franklin, a clad 1971 Kennedy, and now this. No Seated Half, yet, though they've been found around here, and I have three half dimes, three dimes, and a quarter in the Seated department.)
Blue was about 50 yards away when I found it. Such finds are even better when there's somebody there to witness them. Any golfer who's hit a hole-in-one will tell you that.
My buddy Billy Ridenour, who found the 1798/7 large cent featured in the recent 10/28 Coin World article, came by to visit this morning. He told me of a newly-cleared site in the woods on Saint Simons Island, right behind the site where I found my first 1700's coins (two Spanish half-reales). There was also an 1899 $5.00 gold piece found some years ago on the same site, by a mutual acquaintance of ours. So far Billy has found an 1883 V-nickel and a ring in the newly-cleared area- a new road cut through the woods.
Hmmm... guess I need to get out there tonight. Unfortunately I had "Mr. Mom" duties today and can't get out there in daylight. Time to break out the ol' halogen headlamp and the new batteries for the detector!
I like to tell these tales to jazz everyone up on detecting, which is like the outdoor, physical sideline to coin collecting. It is a fantastic hobby, and even more than traditional coin collecting, it can pay for itself! But it isn't easy. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it. For every nice find I make, I'll bet I dig two or three pounds of junk: shotgun shells, pulltabs, rusty-crusties, nails, @#%*ing aluminum foil and cans (my personal enemies!), nails, and so on. But one good find like that, and a month of digging pulltabs and beercans fades away instantly. Detecting is a hobby that rewards the patient and persistent. You should try it sometime if you haven't already.
(Forgive me, but if you found something like this in the ground, you'd wanna crow about it for a while, right?)
I'm impressed.That is a great find.I wish I had the patience to do it,alas I don't.
Registry 1909-1958 Proof Lincolns
I'm off to shop for a detector! Great find LM.
see? My Auctions "Got any 1800's gold?"
Uh... ummm... I forgot.... I'm at work, it's dark, cold and it's raining. Dammit!
Clark
That's a pretty strange coin to be found buried - probably the explaination that makes the most sense is the burnt house.
Good find!
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Do you suppose this means I can dig up my long-dreamed-of Pan-Pac octagonal $50 one day?
(Hey, anything could happen, right?)
I sure hope Blue Cole didn't take it too hard after you one up'ped on his home turf lol.
Have you found any gold pieces yet?
It's too bad I live so far from you. I could show you where we bivouaced when I was in the Army at Ft Gordon, outside Augusta, and the areas where we were during Swift Strike Three War Games in South Carolina, in 1963.
Bet there'd be a lot of silver coins in those places.
Ray
<< <i>Blue was about 50 yards away when I found it. Such finds are even better when there's somebody there to witness them. >>
You wanna bet? I must have walked over that area a couple of times criss-crossing that site. I'm gonna go over and sit in the corner and POUT!!!!
B.
A Tax is a fine for doing good.
B.
BTW, i still havn't found ANYTHING in that stupid lot
B.
A Tax is a fine for doing good.
That is the mark of the true detectorist: somebody who goes out alone, in any season, in many different types of weather, who puts up with tons of trash, and insects, thorns, snakes, cacti, sandspurs, dog poop, heat, humidity, cold, rain, and so on. As is often said, if it were easy, everybody would be doing it. Detecting is most certainly a hobby for the patient. 'Round here we don't have snow and ice to contend with in the winters, but the summers are nearly unbearable for me. I often detect at night, with the use of a headlamp.
The only way to be successful in treasure hunting is to enjoy the hunt for its own sake. If it weren't for occasional detecting, I would be a complete indoor couch potato type. Look at it as light excercise: a walk outdoors, with no preconceptions about what you'll find. Then if you actually do find anything, it's like a nice bonus. (Besides, it's a lot more interesting than just a plain old walk or hike.) Sometimes those pleasant surprises can really give you a rush! It seems like when I go out expecting to find something, I strike out miserably, every time. But the days when I go out with no expectations, like that afternoon, when I was really just going to meet Blue and didn't expect to find anything, look what happens. Shazam! You never can tell when Lady Luck will kick in. She is fickle, to be sure. And she favors the persistent ones.