Home Metal Detecting

I found my first ever silver coin today

Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭
Last summer I hunted the yard of my 1920s house with an Ace 250. I found literally hundreds of memorials and clad coins, but, nothing old. This summer I bought an Etrac. I learned to use it in my yard and found lots of clad that the Ace 250 had missed, plus a sterling silver ring. I thought the Etrac would find some silver coins at my house; but, it hasn't happened yet.

Today I did my first hunt outside of my own yard. There is an elementary school down the street from me which dates back to the early 1950s. I decided to start searching under a large tree near the baseball diamond. I immediately found a wheat penny and then another wheat. I thought the next signal was going to be yet another wheat; but, instead it was a very worn Mercury dime from the 1920s. It's so worn that I can't read the final digit on the date.

These coins were all relatively shallow. Hopefully that means the site hasn't been hunted out.

Comments

  • WhiteTornadoWhiteTornado Posts: 2,102 ✭✭✭
    Very cool! Interesting comparison of those two units as well. I'm deciding on my first unit myself.
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not surprised at the improved results you experienced with the Etrac.....just a better machine...... WhiteTornado...the Ace is an entry level machine - and a good one, but if you want the best, you have to go to the top tier...more expensive, but no doubt about performance. Cheers, RickO
  • WhiteTornadoWhiteTornado Posts: 2,102 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Not surprised at the improved results you experienced with the Etrac.....just a better machine...... WhiteTornado...the Ace is an entry level machine - and a good one, but if you want the best, you have to go to the top tier...more expensive, but no doubt about performance. Cheers, RickO >>



    True on all accounts, from what I've been reading, thanks image
  • johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 27,374 ✭✭✭✭✭
    congrats on your first silver find. thats awesome.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>These coins were all relatively shallow. Hopefully that means the site hasn't been hunted out. >>

    Usually a good sign.

    Congrats on your first silver. I think it is a Mercury dime for a lot of people. For me it was a quarter, both times.

    I say "both times" because my FIRST "first" silver (when I was a teenager using an old TR detector) was a dateless Standing Liberty quarter.

    My second "first" silver (as an adult, with my first modern VLF detector, in 1992) was a pretty nice 1956 Washington. That began my current silver count recordkeeping.

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  • pcgs69pcgs69 Posts: 4,258 ✭✭✭✭
    congrats! I've been using an e-trac since 2009 and I love it. It really seems to track down silver.

    Do you have a pinpointer/probe?

    My first silver coin was in 1993 or so while detecting with my dad... it was a 1948 Roosie.
  • Congrats on the first milestone!.......I remember my first silver was a 1943 Merc dime in 1989.....The thrill has never gone.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Congrats on the first milestone!.......I remember my first silver was a 1943 Merc dime in 1989.....The thrill has never gone. >>



    That can't be true, Steve, because that day in the park when I was a kid following you around was earlier. You know, the day I watched you dig up that 1820 dime? That had to have been 1981 or 1982, because it was before I got my first "real" detector (also in 1981 or '82).

    Maybe you made a typo and meant 1979, or you're just trying to make us think you're younger? Or being modest and downplaying your decades of experience? image

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  • You may be right...the Merc Dime was definitely the 1st, but I thought is was around 89, 81 may be right....sheesh! I'm old!
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Trust me, you were already a pro by 1981 or thereabouts. I watched you dig that 1820 dime elbow deep, and your hole had no bigger circumference than it took to put your arm in there. It was a rather amazing feat of pinpointing, though I guess that was easier with the old TR detectors of that period. I also remember you popping a War nickel and a 1905 (-'02?) Indian cent that afternoon. For an impressionable kid like I was at the time, it was very exciting to watch.

    Maybe your first silver was a '43 Merc, but it was before 1981.

    I still think you were the one who "broke the cherry" on Brunswick's Squares and the parks in Old Town.

    Not that they aren't still producing to this day, God bless 'em. We're lucky to have such real estate to hunt.


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  • Ha!.....It wasn't me that busted the cherry on our parks. That distinction belonged to a guy that worked at the old B&W...He was a pipefitter there, and is the one that got me started in this hobby. I was talking to him one day about the price of silver, and he told me he had several pounds of it he had found with his detector...I asked him where he found it all, and he told me about the parks and all the areas he hunted...He had one of the best collections of silver coins I had ever seen! Several dozen (yes dozen!) 8 reals, and a pocket full of other denominations of reals, several gold coins, and Rubbermaid tubs of merc dimes, standing quarters, and silver dollars..it was amazing!...He used an old BFO detector, and he was amazing. HE told me how to search, what to look for and when was the best times to go...I credit him for many of my success..I wish you could have met him back then...You would have been as astounded as I was......
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Ha!.....It wasn't me that busted the cherry on our parks. That distinction belonged to a guy that worked at the old B&W...He was a pipefitter there, and is the one that got me started in this hobby. I was talking to him one day about the price of silver, and he told me he had several pounds of it he had found with his detector...I asked him where he found it all, and he told me about the parks and all the areas he hunted...He had one of the best collections of silver coins I had ever seen! Several dozen (yes dozen!) 8 reals, and a pocket full of other denominations of reals, several gold coins, and Rubbermaid tubs of merc dimes, standing quarters, and silver dollars..it was amazing!...He used an old BFO detector, and he was amazing. HE told me how to search, what to look for and when was the best times to go...I credit him for many of my success..I wish you could have met him back then...You would have been as astounded as I was...... >>

    Now THAT is a cool anecdote, even if you're not from our fair city!

    Makes you wonder what's left in those few private yards that remain untouched, hmm?

    I remember around that time I met you in the early 80s, my folks looked at a house right on Hanover Square (the one that used to be pink, on the NE corner, near the church- I think it was a tea house for a time). Dad didn't buy the house back then, and my family couldn't afford it now, but I remember seeing a detector in one closet when we looked at it, and mentioned my interest. The lady brought out a box of silver coins that had been dug in the yard and the park. I remember seeing a few Standing Liberty quarters and Barber coins in addition to the usual Mercs and silver Roosies.

    PS (@Bayard1908)- sorry if we've hijacked your thread for our personal reminiscences.

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  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭
    I dug up a 1928-S Mercury dime last Sunday. I'm finding silver coins at the rate of one per month, lol.
  • A 1928-s is a great find, what kind of condition was it in?
  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>A 1928-s is a great find, what kind of condition was it in? >>



    It's only a G6.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Now go find an even older school, or an old Victorian house!

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  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭
    Went to a new place today, dug up a 1944 Mercury dime and a silver zodiac broach.
  • pcgs69pcgs69 Posts: 4,258 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Went to a new place today, dug up a 1944 Mercury dime and a silver zodiac broach. >>



    Congrats on the new silvers! Do you have a pic of them? Would like to see the zodiac piece
  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭
    I don't follow astrology, but, believe this is capricorn. It rang up like a silver quarter and is marked 800 on the back.
    image
  • pcgs69pcgs69 Posts: 4,258 ✭✭✭✭
    that pin is pretty awesome! Any ideas on age?
  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>that pin is pretty awesome! Any ideas on age? >>



    Astrology was big in the late 60s and throughout the 70s; so, that would be my guess.

    I like the pin too, although I would rather it have been my first silver quarter. I've found exactly three silver coins and they were all Mercury dimes, an odd coincidence.

    I intend to return to the site where I dug these items, weather permitting. The area is loaded with clad; so, I doubt it has ever been hunted.

  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭
    Beautiful weather, went out to the same spot and dug up a 1948-D dime today.
  • pcgs69pcgs69 Posts: 4,258 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Beautiful weather, went out to the same spot and dug up a 1948-D dime today. >>



    Nice! You're ripping it up on the silver! how is your clad count coming along?
  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>Beautiful weather, went out to the same spot and dug up a 1948-D dime today. >>



    Nice! You're ripping it up on the silver! how is your clad count coming along? >>



    Compared to you, my four silver dimes in four months is pretty weak. I don't keep a count on the clad as I regularly use it for downtown bus fare. I haven't put anything but my metal detecting finds into the fare box all year long. Right now, I have about $30 worth of dirty quarters and dimes laying around. I also have a margarine tub full of pennies. I have my Etrac set to ignore nickel signals, which allows me to avoid pull tabs, but also prevents me from finding gold. The only time I find nickels is if they are part of a coin spill.

    I think consistently finding clad at over $1.00 per hour is unusual for me. I might find six quarters in 20 minutes and then dig nothing but pennies and junk for the next hour. I might also quickly find $5 of recently minted clad around a basketball court at a new site, and then get bored and go home.

    I found my first half dollar and presidential dollar over the weekend. The small dollar rang up like a quarter. The half dollar is a 1974 and was found in an area where all the coins are 1960s and 70s. Unfortunately, I think there's a lot of copper junk that has a similar signal to a half dollar.
  • pcgs69pcgs69 Posts: 4,258 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>

    << <i>Beautiful weather, went out to the same spot and dug up a 1948-D dime today. >>



    Nice! You're ripping it up on the silver! how is your clad count coming along? >>



    Compared to you, my four silver dimes in four months is pretty weak. I don't keep a count on the clad as I regularly use it for downtown bus fare. I haven't put anything but my metal detecting finds into the fare box all year long. Right now, I have about $30 worth of dirty quarters and dimes laying around. I also have a margarine tub full of pennies. I have my Etrac set to ignore nickel signals, which allows me to avoid pull tabs, but also prevents me from finding gold. The only time I find nickels is if they are part of a coin spill.

    I think consistently finding clad at over $1.00 per hour is unusual for me. I might find six quarters in 20 minutes and then dig nothing but pennies and junk for the next hour. I might also quickly find $5 of recently minted clad around a basketball court at a new site, and then get bored and go home.

    I found my first half dollar and presidential dollar over the weekend. The small dollar rang up like a quarter. The half dollar is a 1974 and was found in an area where all the coins are 1960s and 70s. Unfortunately, I think there's a lot of copper junk that has a similar signal to a half dollar. >>



    You're doing well for silver. I have no life so I can get out more to detect and find more goodies. There are plenty of hunts that don't yield much. Might be worth a shot allowing the etrac to accept nickels. You can always ignore the tone and move on. Some of those lower signals are just too tempting to pass up! I think I average between $1.00 and $2.00 and hour in change. Sometimes it's near nothing and others it's several dollars like you have seen as well. Funny how this hobby works. How often do you get out?
  • pocketpiececommemspocketpiececommems Posts: 5,714 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It may be a pain digging the pull tabs but if you go to certain areas long enough you will start to get rid of a lot of them. If you find nickels you will eventually find gold too. I wash the pull tabs in the tumbler with the clad and save them for the granddaughter's collection projects at school. Or I put them in aluminum cans that I take to the recycler. 45-65 cents per pound. It all adds up.
  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭
    I braved the cold today and went back to the same place. I didn't find any silver coins, but, did find another sterling broach.
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