Detecting in Nebraska in December
mr1931S
Posts: 6,248 ✭✭✭✭✭
Son and I were detecting in the yard of one of his coworkers who had graciously given us permission to do this.We had worked the front and back the day before and found the '48S dime shown. We had to leave early this day because the lawnmower guy showed up and we found it impossible to hear our machines over his leaf blower.We went back the next day and found the '52 D half dollar just below grass roots in the back yard.
The other half,a 1960 D,was found within a few minutes of arrival at a church school that looks like has been around since the '50's.The coin was heavily involved with the roots of an old tree.We wanted to hunt some more but will save it till next Saturday,i think.
Two silver half dollars in one-half day of hunting.Not too shabby,eh?
The other half,a 1960 D,was found within a few minutes of arrival at a church school that looks like has been around since the '50's.The coin was heavily involved with the roots of an old tree.We wanted to hunt some more but will save it till next Saturday,i think.
Two silver half dollars in one-half day of hunting.Not too shabby,eh?
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
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Nice finds.
S
Jerry
Lafayette Grading Set
i know what you mean but my son's time for this activity is much more limited than mine and alot of the fun for me is to go with him on these hunts.Besides,he has the contacts for permission that i don't have and i don't want to mess that up.
11/08/08
Returned to the church school today.Hunted by myself since son was having to deal with important company business.
In two hours or so,I found $2.18 in change.No silver and a single 1954 D wheat penny found.Found $.75 in one spot,three clad quarters so that represents the most found by me in one spot to date since I started detecting last month.Previous largest amount in one spot found by me was $.41,which I have dubbed a "home run" (penny,nickel,dime,quarter).Is that clever of me or what?
I'm thinking finding the silver half dollar at this church school on the previous Saturday is an anomaly.This coin was found within a few minutes of arriving there so I would have bet anyone that more silver would be found if the ground were covered more thoroughly.
I suppose it's possible that the church school ground was rototilled at some time in the past,sending most of the older coins,including silver, deeper.That's only a guess,however.
One of the cool things about this hobby is that you never know what you might uncover and the potential is always there to be totally surprised.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
One of the locations is a homestead that dates to 1800's.This one will be getting special attention from us even though our patience might be tested to the limit given the large amount of metal junk that is undoubtedly there just waiting for us to discover.A more systematic hunting approach than what we have been doing might be in order for this site.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Congrats on those nice finds you have there. I know the feeling of finding two halves in a single day--it gets your adrenaline going--that's for sure. One thing to think about--I dig even the zincolns for a very good reason. I use to be the same way--I would get so many of them and didn't want to dig anymore. One day, shortly after starting my hunt, I got a zincoln signal and I dug it. I hadn't been hunting but about 15 minutes or so and I didn't have a lot to show as of yet. Shortly after pulling the zinc out of the ground, I resweep the hole. I get a jumpy "silver" signal in the hole. I contiinue to remove some more dirt and out pops a silver Rosie. I'm thinking to myself, "I sure am glad I dug that zinc." I resweep the hole again, another great signal. I continue to pull dirt out and I get another silver Rosie and a 1935 Wash. All in all, I had to dig one stinky zinc and got three definite keepers from that same hole. That taught me a valuable lesson (one which I still live by today--dig those zincs!!!!
I've read a story from one of our other members here, millenium, who dug a gold coin (I can't remember any details on it) that was more or less in a junk pile. He did a lot of digging to get that coin amonsgt the rubbish (I spent too much time in the UK--amonsgt the rubbish
Happy hunting and keep us informed of your finds.
Congrats!!!!!
Scott
I know i missed some rings when I did this hobby years ago but in my defense the discriminator in those days were very primitive,almost worthless,in my opinion.
Because of this I never used the discriminator on my White's detector favoring instead to go with all-metal mode.I found some really deep coins with the White's machine but i also dug plenty of junk.i Used to probe virtually everything detected and could center with ease a dime located several inches in the ground. Undoubtedly,I went right through the center of a rings though.
i think i'm going to get the 4" coil for my Landstar and see if i can pinpoint my targets easier.Doing that i might be inclined to dig those zincs because it will be easier for me to put it in my pocket and move on after i get it out of the ground. It's aggravating to spend 5 minutes trying to put that nearly worthless coin in your pocket.
You do offer some good advice on digging those zincs.I really don't want to miss silver because of not digging the zinc sound.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
<< <i>Two silver half dollars in one-half day of hunting.Not too shabby,eh? >>
Duh? There's the understatement of the month!
In a half day's hunting, you've found twice as many Frankies as I have in the last ... uhh... sixteen years.
Yep, that's right- I've only found one so far. And a total of five silver halves. (Can't complain, though, I guess, with one of those bein' an Oregon Trail.)
<< <i>I know the feeling of finding two halves in a single day >>
<< <i>dig those zincs!!!! >>
Especially when they're 3+ inches down. Then they usually ain't zincs at all. The first time I took a chance on a 2.5" deep "zinc cent" signal, it turned out to be an 1899 Indian cent. Another time I took a chance on such a signal, it was a shockingly-shallow 1820s flat button. A third time, I found a 1904 Indian cent on a zinc cent reading, and knew I should dig when an identical signal showed up a few inches away. I just knew that one would be another Indian, but no, it was a 1974 10K woman's class ring.
When I was still fairly new at the game, I once took a chance on a 1" pulltab signal once and found the target was actually in the grassroots.
How an 1829 half dime ended up at barely half an inch deep in the grassroots, I'll never know. In my current laziness, I probably wouldn't have dug such a signal nowadays, 'cause the odds of it being something good seem so remote. It stuck in my mind, though, and years later I found a shallow 1854 half dime, too. 98 times out of a hundred, a signal like that would be a dinky little ball of foil or a piece of lawnmower-aluminum-can shrapnel.
I'll let you all know later what we uncover. Incidentally, I found that the 4" loop does not work on my Bounty Hunter Landstar.
The headsets i bought work great,however.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
My total of silver halves found EVER doubled on this one day when i dug the two Franklins.i recall finding two halves,both Walkers,when i was doing this hobby in the '70's.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
An interesting metal object was found. It's a religious item,has a cross on it and below the cross the word "JOIN" spelled backwards.Appears to be a stamp for sealing a letter with wax or perhaps putting ink on for use on paper. I left it in my
son's truck but will retrieve it and get a picture of it to post here later. A really old (looks really old,anyway) screw cap about 4 inches deep,about the size of a quarter was found too.It gave off a really solid coin sound, solidly indicating quarter dollar. I was definitely pumped up on this one.Could it be?,could it be?
No antique toy car was found here.We have found three toy cars so far in little over a month.Two of them are recently made Hot Wheels (not too bad shape,the wheels turn,new paint job not needed,etc) and one is a "Tootsie Toy" car that i think was made sometime in the '60's. My grandson gets these to add to his collection of hundreds of toy cars.The front wheel axle is bent on the Tootsie Toy car. i don't want to bend the axle in an attempt to straighten it out.The fear is that i will break it so we'll just leave it alone and it can be a "junkyard car" for him.
The ground here was really trashy and my ears were constantly full of the sound of iron and foil.This hunt didn't quite live up to its promise but it was fun nonetheless.Of course, the occasional silver coin is always fun to find. Like the promise of an occasional good shot I will make while playing golf,the occasional silver coin found while i'm metal detecting is enough to keep me going back for more.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
The school was built in 1921 and,according to a lady who was nearby,was closed after last year. She told us her grandpa graduated from this school in 1934. As was typical in earlier days,students from all grades from 1st through 12th went to school here in the same building.
The playground area will get most of my attention today.I just can't resist taking advantage of this fantastic balmy weather.It got into the '80's here yesterday.
I'll post the results of this hunt later today along with an image of the religious item found a few days ago.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
The search of the 1921 school grounds Wednesday last was a bust in terms of finds. Very little "newer" coinage was found even though the school was in use until last year. A clad dime (1996) and a few memorials were found around the swings.
These grounds were very rough;stout weeds everywhere interfered with making clean sweeps. Tumbleweed and rubble accumulations prevented a search of some areas of ground. Not even a single wheat cent turned up after about two hours of hunting so decided to go "across the street" to hunt for awhile for in a large vacant lot. North of the old schoolhourse and flagpole,and spaced about 100 ft apart, there are three fairly old trees.Within a minute of hunting around the first tree I found Wheat,a 1952 D. A search around the other two trees yielded no more coin.
I have searched school yards in "lesser populated" areas in years past and haven't found anything noteworthy so this schoolyard lived up nicely to my low expectations but imagine how cool it could have been for me to breathlessly type these headlines here:
"1921 D dime found on old school grounds."
On a more serious note, the four inch coil that i was trying to make work with my Landstar proved to be defective. The replacement works fine so i'm going to try to get out today for a field test of this coil. Pinpointing the targets of interest, especially in trashy areas,should be easier with this "nugget" coil.
I wish you all Happy Hunting.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Here is a pic of the religious item i found awhile back.It measures 1 in x 1 1/2 in and it seems that it was once attached to something like a block of wood.
i'm thinking its a stamp for wax sealing envelope or letter but that's just a guess.Anyone have any ideas on what it might have been used for?
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Well,another day of firsts since i got back into detecting last month. All these coins were found on local Elementary school grounds.
The 1960 D quarter was found quite deep and is my first silver quarter this year. The Sac is my first US dollar coin find ever and also is the most i've ever found in one hole.
I'll be going back to this school another day because there's plenty of ground left to hunt.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
i suspect that any silver remaining is going to be kind of deep so i was using the "all metal" mode on my Bounty Hunter. i did find the silver quarter (seen above) on an earlier outing at this school but,as the older coins go, have turned up only a wheat cent, a 1945 D,since. The '60 D quarter and wheat cent were found quite deep (5-6 inches).My Bounty Hunter easily picked up the quarter.I was in the discriminate mode for this find which was simply missed by hunters that preceded me. The wheat penny has spurred me on to continue searching these grounds for silver.
Silver dimes here that were missed by earlier hunters should be about 5-6 inches deep. i consider that this depth is starting to approach the limits of my Bounty Hunter for silver dime unless ground conditions are ideal.
The ground is not yet frozen at this school so i'll give it another shot today.
Good luck,fellow dig people.
Wind came up again today even stronger than yesterday. Detected for about an hour but wind and cold prevented my staying any longer than i did.No silver found today so November silver stays at 9 coins ($1.85 face).
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
The ground here in the Western Nebraska panhandle is starting to freeze so metal detecting is going to be somewhat limited over the next months. I think i'm going to work the gravel playground at the elementary school this next weekend though. Last time here, I did a check around the fringes of this playground and found a few clad coins so there could be some silver to be found here.
I made a sturdy wood sorting box out of 1" pine (1 ft x 1 ft,1/2 inch screen) that i can shovel dirt or gravel and detected metal objects into.It works very well to find the object quickly.This box wouldn't be any good for holding back gold nuggets or small earrings but will hold back most small rings,dimes and larger size coins that find their way into it. If the gravel ground is a little hard from freeze that's not a problem. My shovel has a pick on it so i can chip away at the ice that might be holding some of the ground together.As long as there's no snow on the ground i'll be good to go.
Rings. The possibility has to be there to find a ring on schoolgrounds. Kids will take things to school that don't necessarily belong to them. I will be shovelling those "low sound" targets along with the "pingers" into my screen box as i go over the playground.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein