Had the opportunity to go out and hunt an 1890 permission this afternoon. The owner is in the process of rehab’ing the house after a long term renter moved out. During the break in its occupancy, the owner allowed me to let loose on the @ 1/2 acre yard sitting on a moderate slope down to the street. The soil was very dry & “crumbly”.
First silver I hit is a pretty significant find. When I pulled it out into the sun, I could just make out the date… found close the back corner of the house on flat ground.
Next up, a Barber dime close to the bottom of the slope.
And finally a Merc, at the very bottom of the slope, about 12-15 ft from the Barber.
Roll call. And yes, that’s a “D” mint mark on the quarter.
I tried… just let soak for 3-4 hours last night, and then rinsed it while working a cotton swab in the crevices. Dried overnight… there’s still some stubborn dirt in the tight spots along the outer design elements, but I think she turned out pretty well…
Final muster:
Unreal amount of detail remaining. Most of the time, I’m lucky to even get a date off of a recovered SLQ.
Congratulations. I believe it has a chance to straight grade, I certainly hope it does. I found a high grade 1893-O dime that did straight grade with PCGS. Good luck! Great find!
Circled back to the 1890 build to finish covering the property, this time working on the front yard and a smaller side yard opposite to the side with the slope I scanned last week. Found a few interesting pieces.
Washie
Rosie
Merc
This 40% Kennedy was likely a more recent drop. When the Manticore picked it up, it was reading @ 3-4 inches deep when it was actually just embedded in the surface roots of the grass. I only realized it after I dug the plug and flipped it out, using the pinpointer to confirm it was much closer to the surface than I expected. I only had to pry it out from the surface roots to reveal it.
Final muster.
Very few wheaties recovered with this group yesterday. I only recall 1 or 2 other times that I’ve come back with less wheaties than silver.
Other finds:
18 Clad quarters
6 dimes
21 memorial coppers
I had a little extra time this afternoon following an appointment, so I decided to circle back to the old build I scanned twice over the last two weeks, focusing on a remaining a separate, small section in the rear of the property and also the curb strips that line the property. The property sits at the intersection of two streets, with the sidewalks crumbling in places and obviously dated. The grassy strips between the sidewalks and streets run about 5 to 6ft wide with several very large oak trees growing within, and run @ 150 ft in length in both directions along the two streets. I started with the back section, and hit all clad and memorial copper. I figured the strips had already been detected, so my expectations were pretty low. I started down the first strip @ 15-20 feet, not hitting anything but lower-VDI trash, but upon approaching the base of the first oak, the Manticore started pinging a hi-tone, but the target was reading shallow… so shallow that my pinpointer was picking it up from the surface. I figured it was another clad quarter, but hey… a quarter is a quarter, right? Well… not THIS quarter…!
Finds like this is why a I love chasing the hunt!
Keeping things going, I hit more copper clad, with a few wheaties to boot. Mixed in, close to the sidewalk in the grassy part and @ 6-7 inches deep…
What does one do when they have a couple of hours to burn when the wife is running late coming home from work on a cool Fall afternoon? He goes hunt a couple of curb strips near a long-retired electric rail line stop. The results leaned more heavily on wheaties, but there was one silver highlight…
What does a guy do when the missus goes to play nine holes with her golf girlfriend? Let’s just say I didn’t lace up any golf shoes… A deal was struck as long as I was home by the time she returned.
A respectable number of wheaties and one silver highlight made it worth the effort…
I wish I could go detecting a few times before the weather gets too bad. But unfortunately lately detectorists are not so welcome in my area anymore because it came out that a local guy "forgot" to report a massive Roman hoard he found a few years ago....
I wish I could go detecting a few times before the weather gets too bad. But unfortunately lately detectorists are not so welcome in my area anymore because it came out that a local guy "forgot" to report a massive Roman hoard he found a few years ago....
That is unfortunate Gottinger. Many of my hunts are on private property, and while there’s very little chance I’ll ever find a Roman coin hoard here, some of the locations offer the opportunity uncover old Spanish and/or early US coinage. Permission to hunt the properties comes from simple door knocking and talking to people, and co-worker or personal friend referral. I work with one of the largest employers in my county, and area friends/acquaintances are helpful also. For example, my tax preparer lives in one of the older communities in the area - some of the homes built in the early/mid 1800’s, and he has referred me to many of his client-neighbors, so it’s definitely a plus to know people who know people.
I wish I could go detecting a few times before the weather gets too bad. But unfortunately lately detectorists are not so welcome in my area anymore because it came out that a local guy "forgot" to report a massive Roman hoard he found a few years ago....
That is unfortunate Gottinger. Many of my hunts are on private property, and while there’s very little chance I’ll ever find a Roman coin hoard here, some of the locations offer the opportunity uncover old Spanish and/or early US coinage. Permission to hunt the properties comes from simple door knocking and talking to people, and co-worker or personal friend referral. I work with one of the largest employers in my county, and area friends/acquaintances are helpful also. For example, my tax preparer lives in one of the older communities in the area - some of the homes built in the early/mid 1800’s, and he has referred me to many of his client-neighbors, so it’s definitely a plus to know people who know people.
Congratulations, your friends and co-workers seem to offer you some great opportunities to persue your hobby! I wish you very good luck to find some early American and colonial era coins and artefacts.
In my country it does not really matter if you are on public land or on a private permission - certain finds have to get reported to the authorities and as soon as you realize what you have found, you need to leave the item(s) in situe for the archeologists. Also the forest and unploughed meadows are legally off limits, even if they are privately owned and the owner gave you permission to detect there. If you primarily search for any kind of old relics or want to search on / near places of even the slightest historic relevance, you need to apply for a license to be allowed there.
If you make a find wich is relevant enough that you need to report it, you will not receive any compensation.
So the rules are strict - probably even a little too strict - but I suppose we need certain rules to protect our historical and cultural heritage...
If every detectorist in my country would stick to these rules, life would be way easier and the public image of our hobby would profit aswell. But there will always be some reckless diggers who don't really care about the hisorical relevance of the stuff they are unearthing.
Final muster… the Merc is a 1942 Philly. The “2” looks a little distorted in the pic. These, plus 31 other Memorial coppers, 11 dimes, 14 quarters, and 1 Andrew Jackson prez-dollar coin.
Final muster.
The heart is stamped Sterling, and the ring has a worn, barely discernible “.925” stamped on the inside. The earliest wheatie with a readable date is from 1934.
Also recovered yesterday morning were 29 clad quarters, 28 clad dimes and @ 35-40 copper memorials.
Went out of town for a week to Vegas with the missus, returning Friday morning, which allowed me to sneak out for a few hours Saturday morning to a local area that years ago played host to a small annual carnival. I found wheatie after wheatie in one particular hotspot, but no silver, except for this…
Final muster… there was a blistering amount of wheaties/older copper… 28 total along with two Canadian pennies from the ‘40’s, compared to only 8 memorial cents, along with a clad Kennedy Half, 14 quarters, 8 dimes and a nickel that was recovered with a 2 quarter, dime, nickel spill. The ring - on the small side, but rather thick and heavy - is stamped .925 on the inner band.
Final muster. The SLQ is dateless, albeit a Denver product. My “dateless vs dated” SLQ count runs @ 3 to 1, in favour of dateless examples. Makes the 1919-D example I recovered @ 2 months ago even more special. Another ‘ton’ of wheaties found over the weekend… 1913 being the oldest, with a 1918 and a couple of 1919’s.
I initially thought the Virgin Mary pendent might be silver, and while it’s stamped “Italy” with the date “1930”, there’s no “.925” or “sterling” stamp on it, so I’m inclined to think it’s made of some other alloy.
Between holiday shopping and an approaching snow event, I managed to get back out to last weekend’s location for a couple of hours to continue the hunt. Managed to pull another small batch of wheaties and this old guy…
@johnny9434 said:
As long as your pulling silver dimes up your doing something right 😉
Fully agree there… seems like I more often have to kiss a lot of clad before finally hitting that elusive silver.
Managed to get out this afternoon with the temps hitting the 50’s and the better part of the snow we received Sat/Sun was mostly melted away. I did hit a couple good targets along the way…
Made a quick return trip back out yesterday morning before heading to a family gathering. Love catching that glint of silver once the clod is broken open. I could see just enough to tell it was a Merc.
Likely the last hunt of 2025… perfect weather - sunny skies w/temps approaching mid-60’s and recovering a bucket-lister - my first Frankie. Initially masked with a nail over it, and giving off a small copper read, but once I removed the nail and ran the coil back over it, the EQ started screaming “large target”.
Then, just @ 5 feet from Frankie’s resting place, a Merc:
Later, on the opposite of the lot, another Merc pops:
Definitely a difficult coin to find, my theory is that detectorists in the 1960s and 70s got most of them while they were still shallow and easy to find.
@johnny9434 said:
And it seems to be getting thinner and thinner on digging stuff up. No worries, will find new grounds 🙏
I would agree… it seems like the last few months have proven more challenging in finding good spots to search. I feel like 2026 will be be even more challenging, but we’ll see. Until then, this will likely be the final “final muster” for 2025:
Just when I thought I had wrapped up any further hunting for 2025, I managed to score approval from the missus to sneak out for an hour or so to finish up at the location I hunted on Sunday… allowing me to add a Washie to the 2025 tally -
Plus a sterling men’s band which is undergoing a soak at the moment.
@johnny9434 said:
That ring looks umm odd? Its still a good find, I like 👍
Agreed… it’s a .925 silver band with thinly cut, polished stones set in a wide, but shallow channel all the way around the ring, except where one had fallen out at some point in time.
Comments
All these action shots are great!
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
Had the opportunity to go out and hunt an 1890 permission this afternoon. The owner is in the process of rehab’ing the house after a long term renter moved out. During the break in its occupancy, the owner allowed me to let loose on the @ 1/2 acre yard sitting on a moderate slope down to the street. The soil was very dry & “crumbly”.
First silver I hit is a pretty significant find. When I pulled it out into the sun, I could just make out the date… found close the back corner of the house on flat ground.
Next up, a Barber dime close to the bottom of the slope.
And finally a Merc, at the very bottom of the slope, about 12-15 ft from the Barber.
Roll call. And yes, that’s a “D” mint mark on the quarter.
If you can avoid putting hairlines on that quarter, so that it will grade, it's a better find than gold.
I tried… just let soak for 3-4 hours last night, and then rinsed it while working a cotton swab in the crevices. Dried overnight… there’s still some stubborn dirt in the tight spots along the outer design elements, but I think she turned out pretty well…
Final muster:
Unreal amount of detail remaining. Most of the time, I’m lucky to even get a date off of a recovered SLQ.
Congratulations, that's a incredibly good find!
Beautiful quarter.
Congrats.
i love getting silver like that
Congratulations. I believe it has a chance to straight grade, I certainly hope it does. I found a high grade 1893-O dime that did straight grade with PCGS. Good luck! Great find!
Circled back to the 1890 build to finish covering the property, this time working on the front yard and a smaller side yard opposite to the side with the slope I scanned last week. Found a few interesting pieces.
Washie
Rosie
Merc
This 40% Kennedy was likely a more recent drop. When the Manticore picked it up, it was reading @ 3-4 inches deep when it was actually just embedded in the surface roots of the grass. I only realized it after I dug the plug and flipped it out, using the pinpointer to confirm it was much closer to the surface than I expected. I only had to pry it out from the surface roots to reveal it.
Roll call:
Final muster.
Very few wheaties recovered with this group yesterday. I only recall 1 or 2 other times that I’ve come back with less wheaties than silver.
Other finds:
18 Clad quarters
6 dimes
21 memorial coppers
I had a little extra time this afternoon following an appointment, so I decided to circle back to the old build I scanned twice over the last two weeks, focusing on a remaining a separate, small section in the rear of the property and also the curb strips that line the property. The property sits at the intersection of two streets, with the sidewalks crumbling in places and obviously dated. The grassy strips between the sidewalks and streets run about 5 to 6ft wide with several very large oak trees growing within, and run @ 150 ft in length in both directions along the two streets. I started with the back section, and hit all clad and memorial copper. I figured the strips had already been detected, so my expectations were pretty low. I started down the first strip @ 15-20 feet, not hitting anything but lower-VDI trash, but upon approaching the base of the first oak, the Manticore started pinging a hi-tone, but the target was reading shallow… so shallow that my pinpointer was picking it up from the surface. I figured it was another clad quarter, but hey… a quarter is a quarter, right? Well… not THIS quarter…!
Finds like this is why a I love chasing the hunt!
Keeping things going, I hit more copper clad, with a few wheaties to boot. Mixed in, close to the sidewalk in the grassy part and @ 6-7 inches deep…
Roll call:
Final muster. The quarter turned out to be surprisingly decent for a ground recovery.
Today’s highlights -
Roll call -
Looks like an S mint dime. Good luck with the date!
I wish, but alas… turns out she’s a Philly strike. Oldest wheatie comes in @ 1927.
Final muster -
What does one do when they have a couple of hours to burn when the wife is running late coming home from work on a cool Fall afternoon? He goes hunt a couple of curb strips near a long-retired electric rail line stop. The results leaned more heavily on wheaties, but there was one silver highlight…
Roll call:
Final muster. Added a 1960-something copper to the bunch as all the wheaties are severely scorched.
What does a guy do when the missus goes to play nine holes with her golf girlfriend? Let’s just say I didn’t lace up any golf shoes… A deal was struck as long as I was home by the time she returned.
A respectable number of wheaties and one silver highlight made it worth the effort…
Roll call:
What a beautiful find!
I wish I could go detecting a few times before the weather gets too bad. But unfortunately lately detectorists are not so welcome in my area anymore because it came out that a local guy "forgot" to report a massive Roman hoard he found a few years ago....
Great stuff!
That is unfortunate Gottinger. Many of my hunts are on private property, and while there’s very little chance I’ll ever find a Roman coin hoard here, some of the locations offer the opportunity uncover old Spanish and/or early US coinage. Permission to hunt the properties comes from simple door knocking and talking to people, and co-worker or personal friend referral. I work with one of the largest employers in my county, and area friends/acquaintances are helpful also. For example, my tax preparer lives in one of the older communities in the area - some of the homes built in the early/mid 1800’s, and he has referred me to many of his client-neighbors, so it’s definitely a plus to know people who know people.
Final muster:
Congratulations, your friends and co-workers seem to offer you some great opportunities to persue your hobby! I wish you very good luck to find some early American and colonial era coins and artefacts.
In my country it does not really matter if you are on public land or on a private permission - certain finds have to get reported to the authorities and as soon as you realize what you have found, you need to leave the item(s) in situe for the archeologists. Also the forest and unploughed meadows are legally off limits, even if they are privately owned and the owner gave you permission to detect there. If you primarily search for any kind of old relics or want to search on / near places of even the slightest historic relevance, you need to apply for a license to be allowed there.
If you make a find wich is relevant enough that you need to report it, you will not receive any compensation.
So the rules are strict - probably even a little too strict - but I suppose we need certain rules to protect our historical and cultural heritage...
If every detectorist in my country would stick to these rules, life would be way easier and the public image of our hobby would profit aswell. But there will always be some reckless diggers who don't really care about the hisorical relevance of the stuff they are unearthing.
Lots of clad and lots of Memorial copper today, with a sprinkle or two of the good stuff…
Closeup…
And
Roll call:
Final muster… the Merc is a 1942 Philly. The “2” looks a little distorted in the pic. These, plus 31 other Memorial coppers, 11 dimes, 14 quarters, and 1 Andrew Jackson prez-dollar coin.
In a world full of clad and copper, every now and then the earth provides a little gem…
Roll call:
Final muster.
The heart is stamped Sterling, and the ring has a worn, barely discernible “.925” stamped on the inside. The earliest wheatie with a readable date is from 1934.
Also recovered yesterday morning were 29 clad quarters, 28 clad dimes and @ 35-40 copper memorials.
Cool locket and barber, wtg
(Second look)
Wow! Spectacular! That '19-D SLQ is quite the find! I love those down-in-the-dirt action shots, too, as I mentioned earlier.
That Barber quarter is awesome, too. All your pix bring back fond memories of my own detecting days.
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
Went out of town for a week to Vegas with the missus, returning Friday morning, which allowed me to sneak out for a few hours Saturday morning to a local area that years ago played host to a small annual carnival. I found wheatie after wheatie in one particular hotspot, but no silver, except for this…
Final muster… there was a blistering amount of wheaties/older copper… 28 total along with two Canadian pennies from the ‘40’s, compared to only 8 memorial cents, along with a clad Kennedy Half, 14 quarters, 8 dimes and a nickel that was recovered with a 2 quarter, dime, nickel spill. The ring - on the small side, but rather thick and heavy - is stamped .925 on the inner band.
Peeking…
Peeking…
Free…
Free…
Roll call:
Double tap, back to back…
A little closer…
Roll call:
Final muster. The SLQ is dateless, albeit a Denver product. My “dateless vs dated” SLQ count runs @ 3 to 1, in favour of dateless examples. Makes the 1919-D example I recovered @ 2 months ago even more special. Another ‘ton’ of wheaties found over the weekend… 1913 being the oldest, with a 1918 and a couple of 1919’s.
I initially thought the Virgin Mary pendent might be silver, and while it’s stamped “Italy” with the date “1930”, there’s no “.925” or “sterling” stamp on it, so I’m inclined to think it’s made of some other alloy.
Between holiday shopping and an approaching snow event, I managed to get back out to last weekend’s location for a couple of hours to continue the hunt. Managed to pull another small batch of wheaties and this old guy…
Final muster:
As long as your pulling silver dimes up your doing something right 😉
Fully agree there… seems like I more often have to kiss a lot of clad before finally hitting that elusive silver.
Managed to get out this afternoon with the temps hitting the 50’s and the better part of the snow we received Sat/Sun was mostly melted away. I did hit a couple good targets along the way…
Washie peeking out…
And a shallow Rosie under a large oak
Roll call:
Made a quick return trip back out yesterday morning before heading to a family gathering. Love catching that glint of silver once the clod is broken open. I could see just enough to tell it was a Merc.
Roll call:
Final muster from Thursday’s and yesterday’s outings:
Likely the last hunt of 2025… perfect weather - sunny skies w/temps approaching mid-60’s and recovering a bucket-lister - my first Frankie. Initially masked with a nail over it, and giving off a small copper read, but once I removed the nail and ran the coil back over it, the EQ started screaming “large target”.
Then, just @ 5 feet from Frankie’s resting place, a Merc:
Later, on the opposite of the lot, another Merc pops:
Definitely a difficult coin to find, my theory is that detectorists in the 1960s and 70s got most of them while they were still shallow and easy to find.
And it seems to be getting thinner and thinner on digging stuff up. No worries, will find new grounds 🙏
I would agree… it seems like the last few months have proven more challenging in finding good spots to search. I feel like 2026 will be be even more challenging, but we’ll see. Until then, this will likely be the final “final muster” for 2025:
Just when I thought I had wrapped up any further hunting for 2025, I managed to score approval from the missus to sneak out for an hour or so to finish up at the location I hunted on Sunday… allowing me to add a Washie to the 2025 tally -
Plus a sterling men’s band which is undergoing a soak at the moment.
Happy New Year everyone!
Updated “final final muster” for 2025:
That ring looks umm odd? Its still a good find, I like 👍
Agreed… it’s a .925 silver band with thinly cut, polished stones set in a wide, but shallow channel all the way around the ring, except where one had fallen out at some point in time.
First silver for 2026… Let’s go!
A Merc that had been hanging out with a couple wheaties over a number of decades.
Another Merc that had been hiding out with a wheatie (already recovered) among the roots of a nearby tree.
Roll call:
Final muster.
