*****PRIZE WINNERS OF VIRTUAL TREASURE HUNT III*****
goldrush00013
Posts: 2,478 ✭
Greetings VTH'ers!!
I wanna thank everyone on the boards for making this another great hunt. It was fun watching everyone trying to get in each round.
I know it was very tough to get in at times.
There were many great finds made this hunt and our diggers did an outstanding job!
With all the great finds, it was very tough to make a final decision for the Grand Prize.
Drum roll please..................................................................
Our winner is Target 140: Riccar- 2 Barber dimes from the same hole. 1896 and 1892!!
Congrats Rick!! I see a little gold in your future!!
Once again the "Mighty Phut" pulls out another top winner in his final round!!
Thanks to all the diggers and prize donors!!!!!!
I'm gonna let Rob announce the Second prize winners now.
I wanna thank everyone on the boards for making this another great hunt. It was fun watching everyone trying to get in each round.
I know it was very tough to get in at times.
There were many great finds made this hunt and our diggers did an outstanding job!
With all the great finds, it was very tough to make a final decision for the Grand Prize.
Drum roll please..................................................................
Our winner is Target 140: Riccar- 2 Barber dimes from the same hole. 1896 and 1892!!
Congrats Rick!! I see a little gold in your future!!
Once again the "Mighty Phut" pulls out another top winner in his final round!!
Thanks to all the diggers and prize donors!!!!!!
I'm gonna let Rob announce the Second prize winners now.
Analog Rules! Knobs and Switches are cool!
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And, let me add my thanks to all that ran the show and participated. It was awesome!
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Great contest!! Thanks for all the hard work on the part of the diggers and for the organizers.
In the end, I should point out that The Mighty Phut's second time of finding an 11th-inning winning target near the end of the game was because those two Barber dimes have some monetary value. Two Barber dimes in one hole is a terrific find, make no mistake, but two high grade Barber dimes from the 1890s is what clinched it in this case.
Had these been common-date, lower-grade Barber dimes, Earl's silver dollar likely would've won the grand prize for marym. Consider that the 1896 dime in AU is a $100+ coin by itself, without even considering the 1892 that was also found. Granted, you must deduct a tiny bit from the values for their having been dug coins, but still, in terms of monetary value I think the pair of dimes was the clear winner. I don't even think these were Tim's personal favorite finds, and they weren't necessarily the coolest finds of the game (which would be really hard to pick), but in this case the dollar value did have a large factor in determining the win.
So Riccar will be getting a piece of Spanish gold.
THE GRAND PRIZE, paid for collectively by all the Designated Diggers and Donors mentioned below:
A 1788 Spanish gold half-escudo of King Charles III!
Struck at Madrid, as indicated by the crowned "M" mintmark. The 1/2-, 1-, 2-, 4- and 8-escudo denominations, commonly referred to as "doubloons" since the value doubled with each subsequent denomination, are a part of myth, legend, and pirate lore. They were legal tender in the United States until 1857 and a gold half-escudo like this one was worth the same as a silver 8-reales piece, or "piece of eight", much as the tiny US gold dollar and large silver dollar had a similar face value in commerce. While this is a small gold coin- really only a "baby doubloon", it carries an undeniable aura of history and romance, not to mention the allure of gold.
Rick, having dug some half-reales yourself, I know you are familiar with Spanish colonial coinage, so you know this is not a big gold coin by any means. It's rather tiny, around half dime sized. But it's still a piece of gold over 200 years old, so I hope you will enjoy it!
Mary, you came within a cat's whisker of winning it yourself, but not all is lost. You still win Earl's second prize package.
Congratulations to all of you!
Now, let's get down to the second prizes.
My best find of the game, which also won Best Jewelry Item for January (despite going up against Zot's snake ring, which I voted for), was Target #7, a set of World War II era US Army Parachutist's jump wings, with a bronze combat star. This was likely worn by a soldier who participated in the 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, since I have been told that they stopped awarding silver badges not long after WW2 (though perhaps some of the Korean War wings were silver).
SilverDreams gets virtual credit for this find, so he wins my second prize offering:
From Designated Digger #1 (lordmarcovan), an assortment of prehistoric fossils and a 2007 Australian Kookaburra dollar!
(1) an assortment of multimillion-year-old fossils found in the mud dredged up from the bottom of St. Simons Sound and the Turtle River in Glynn County, Georgia. Most are marine fossils and the vast majority are shark teeth. At the top of the picture is a bag of tiny teeth and some probable whalebone fossils. At bottom left is a relatively scarce tooth from Hemipristis Serra, the extinct "snaggletooth" shark, found by me personally. The remainder of the teeth on the bottom row belonged to Carcharocles Megalodon, the extinct giant white shark, a larger ancestor of today's Great White. (2) a 2007 Australian Kookaburra dollar, which is one ounce pure silver. Also, not shown, one of the wooden nickels I use as my business cards. (Apologies for the poor picture quality. In addition to its horrible lack of focus, the coin picture is not in scale with the picture of the fossils.)
To all the diggers, take a bow! You each did a remarkable job of taking us along with you on your digs. The pictures, dialogs, and the finds themselves were all outstanding.
I won second place...YAY!!! lol I don't even know what I won, but yay again!!
From Designated Digger #2 (CROCKofCOINS), a carbon steel "hori-hori" knife!
Also referred to as a "3-In-1" knife. A Japanese utility knife used in bonsai gardening, these have been prized as rugged, utilitarian digging tools by detectorists for years. The sawtooth edge cuts nicely through roots and sod. I'm told that hori-hori means "dig-dig" in Japanese, so the name fits. I myself have used one for nearly thirteen years, and mine is so well-used, the handle is held together with duct tape. (You'll probably see my ratty hori-hori knife in some of the "action shots" taken during the game). I have seen folks using so-called "survival knives" break theirs, but even if you back a truck over it, a hori-hori is unlikely to break, except maybe for the wooden handle grips. If the winner of this prize is not a detectorist or doesn't need this, I will happily swap a coin for it.
Jerry considered Target #20, the sterling silver Mickey Mouse ring, to be his personal best find of the game. It was found in Round 2.
Omega gets virtual credit for this find and wins Digger #2's prize. Omega, Jerry put me in charge of ordering this prize and shipping it to the winner, so as I mentioned, if you would prefer some coins instead, I will be happy to ship you around $25 worth (of your choice) from my personal inventory, or I can order the knife for you. Just PM your preference to me.
From Designated Digger #3 (goldrush00013), a nice frame of prehistoric projectile points and tools!
John gave some of these away as second prizes in both the previous VTH games and they were popular. Knowing him, he probably found most if not all of these points himself. Most of these artifacts are are probably thousands of years old. I'll let him tell you more about them.
It should be added that since John had a detector malfunction and was only able to dig the first few targets in Round 3, the Alternate Digger came into play and finished his rounds. So Gary did more of the digging on John's rounds than John did, but they collaborated on the second prize decision. Therefore, the person who won John's second prize actually got it for one of Gary's targets.
John and Gary decided to award their second prize for Target #100, the gold child's ring that Gary found in Round 9.
Kevinstang had virtual credit for this find, so he wins the arrowhead frame.
4. From Digger #4, who represented the Rocky Mountain region: Earl Young, aka "eyoung429", from USA/Colorado (Round 4 and Round 10)
Earl's second prize (his personal best target) is pretty easy to figure out. It narrowly missed being the Grand Prize find, and in fact the half the judges had voted for it. It wasn't until a tiebreaking re-vote was made that phut's pair of high grade Barber dimes squeaked past it by a whisker, and then only because of their monetary value. Everyone will agree that a silver dollar is one of those lifetime milestones every detectorist hopes to add to his credentials, and Earl apparently did just that in Round 4 of the game!
Target #45 was an 1890-O Morgan dollar!
marym has virtual credit for this find, and she will be winning Earl's second prize package, so she won't be emptyhanded after narrowly missing the grand prize win.
From Designated Digger #4 (eyoung429), two PCGS-encapsulated coins!
(1) a 2001-P Sacagawea dollar, PCGS MS67, and (2) a 1955 Washington quarter, PCGS MS64.
Those coins are going to be welcome addition to my pitiful coin collection!!
From Digger #5, who represented Scandinavia and the rest of the world: Erik Rasmus, aka "Zot", from Finland (Round 5 and Round 11)
Erik's personal best was also easy to figure out. In fact, it was mentioned as a possible grand prize contender.
It was Target #58, a 14K gold ring with adder (snake) design, date stamped 1963.
walkerminus1 has virtual credit for this target, and wins Zot's second prize package. Lucky guy- I love those big fat old Russian coppers!
From Designated Digger #5 (Zot), Finnish and Russian coins from three different centuries!
(1) a huge 1786-EM Russian 5-kopecks piece. Always popular, these giant coppers are massive and thick, and they dwarf a US silver dollar. This one looks like a better-than-average example, too! (2) an 1889 Finnish .750 silver 50-penniä coin. (3) a 1907 Finnish .868 silver 2-markkaa coin, holed, with a low mintage of only 125,000 pieces.
From Digger #6, who represented the Northeast: Tim Buck, aka "phut", from USA/New Hampshire (Round 6 and Round 12)
We all now know that Tim was the one who found the Grand Prize target, above, in the final part of the game, just as he won somebody the grand prize of VTH2 in the final few targets of that game. But Tim's second prize target remains to be awarded.
Tim chose Target #133 as his favorite. Target #133 was actually an assortment of finds, too, from the same spot. To be counted as a target, there had to be a metallic signal, which of course there was: a corroded King George II British halfpenny from the mid-1700s, in addition to an early trade bead and some other artifacts. I believe it was actually the bead that made Tim pick this group, since it was his first trade bead.
Spiffy469, lucky in the first two VTH hunts, as I recall, is lucky again. He wins Tim's second prize.
From Designated Digger #6 (phut), a Whitman 20th Century Type Set folder and some coins to go in it!
(Seven coins: a 1907 Indian cent, a 1910 Liberty nickel, a 1937-D Buffalo nickel, a 1906 Barber dime, a Mercury dime, a 1927 Standing Liberty quarter, and a 1921 Morgan dollar.)
In addition to the Designated Diggers mentioned above, these fine forum folk also pitched in towards the purchase of the grand prize coin.
Wayne Whatley, aka "Newbiecollector"
Mary Metcalf, aka "marym"
Danny Bazzell, aka '"DesertRat"
A. Nonny Mouse, aka Anonymous
Congratulations, all, both Diggers and Virtual players alike! It was fun!
Winners, be sure to PM your second prize providers and give them your shipping addresses.
I have already shipped my own second prize and I am responsible for as Jerry (CROCKofCOINS') prize, as well, in addition to the Grand Prize. I have addresses for SilverDreams (whose prize is already shipped) and for Omega, but I will need Riccar's address for the gold coin.
I thought for sure that my luck was all used up when I guessed so closely on the coin jars for a spot.
Maybe its just a bit of birthday luck or something (turned 23 yesterday). who knows???
Thanks again for a great hunt guys. The stories, photos, and commentary are what make this hunt so much fun. It really brings this forum together. I hope you guys have as much fun putting it on as we all do playing it.
Jeff
or should I say I ACCUMULATE!
I also dabble with the darkside
Ive recently gotten more into currency, especially modern star notes
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And in one word:
WOW!
I didn't even consider myself in the running, but after reading LM's reply, I could see the thought process behind it and understand that the vote must have been a real squeaker. Two Barber dimes versus a Morgan, to me and what I'd like to dig would be a "no brainer," but that's because of how rare it is for detectorists to find a Morgan. However, when it comes to grading and value (made sense after thinking "well, this is a forum within CU/PCGS"), I understood (but again, it must've been a real squeaker!)
Thanks to all the diggers, those that donated, and all that participated in the contest. I know it was a lot of work, time, and effort. It was a lot of fun to be a part of VTH III. The escudo prize is icing on the cake... It will be a fun piece to own and an incredible piece of history to me.
Thanks again all, and now, happy hunting to the rest in the forum... Looking forward to seeing what everyone starts to dig out of the ground since the weather is warming up.
<< <i>walkerminus1 has virtual credit for this target, and wins Zot's second prize package. Lucky guy- I love those big fat old Russian coppers!
>>
I am a lucky guy. Thanks for all the fun and excitement. I know there was a rough spot or two and it was even mentioned about not having another one because of all of the problems, but I hope to participate in VTH IV in one way or another.
Until then, thanks to all the diggers, doners and especially Zot for the really cool virtual ring.
Rob
I believe I'm pretty excited to see that old Russian copper.
4/123
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Invested $216.76
Return on Investment $0.68
Found but keeping $.15
But I can't help thinking the judges obviously overlooked the 79-D Lincoln I had.
Where for art thou adress??
I have gifts to impart onto thee........
Hell, I don't need to exercise.....I get enough just pushing my luck.