Dig O' The Day, 6/21/05
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,873 ✭✭✭✭✭
(This is an excerpt of a previous post on the MD forum. Forgive me for not posting a better picture of the coin, but it's being "treated" to remove some of the crud, and isn't anything that spectacular anyway. But here's some pics and backstory on my latest detector outing.)
Here's a shot of the sunset in my backyard, as I was leaving home, headed up to a rural relic hunting expedition in the Crescent area of McIntosh County, GA. The light was really interesting- everything was bathed in an orange-yellow glow. Of course the picture didn't capture this, but it turned out a little better than I thought it would. I think I'll make a sigline picture out of it.
Here's what some of these places out in the boonies look like when I'm night hunting. I was night hunting this particular time because the heat index had been 110° earlier, on the day when I discovered the old house site I was searching. I hunted long enough to find tantalizing clues that told me I had an untouched mid- to late-19th century site. Unfortunately, I was literally about to collapse from heatstroke. So I came back at night (and found it much cooler, but got chewed alive by clouds of skeeters). This picture was taken with the flash of the camera AND and my bright headlamp shining on the ground, AND was also brightened 100% with a photo editing program. So needless to say, it gets really dark out in the middle of nowhere. After a while in the gloom, though, your eyes adjust and you can see the ground well enough to walk around without lights, if there is any kind of moonlight at all. Mind you, this is on relatively level "naked dirt", where the sand is a light color that shows in the moonlight. I would not go traipsing around in grass or weeds after dark, or anywhere else I might stumble, wallow into a hole, or find hostile critters!
Here is the site on my most recent visit, as it looked in the late afternoon of the 21st. The first day of summer, and the longest day of the year! Good thing it wasn't quite so hot as when I went out there the first time by daylight, nor as buggy as when I went out at night. You can see the tracks left by the bulldozer that cleared this place. The house site sat somewhere in the field of this photo, which shows the NW corner of about a five or six acre clearcut. See any visual clues to the old house that once stood there? Of course you don't. Around here, where there are no cellar holes or stone foundations as there are in other areas, house sites like this are usually found by tiny clues like pottery sherds or antique glass on the surface (one advantage of good ol' "nekkid dirt"). This site has very little in the way of oyster shells, pottery or glass, though- just a few isolated sherds. So I probably would never have found it if I hadn't been strolling along with the detector set on zero discrimination, and found that first square-headed nail. This is a good way to find "the zone". Once you're in "the zone" and the nails get annoying, you can bump the discrimination up a tiny bit, just enough to tune them out.
*PING!* Ah, a nice belltone sound. Upper midrange on the ID meter, just below a zinc penny signal. This would likely be a screwcap anywhere else, but on a nice relic site in the boonies like this, where there's little or no modern trash, it has some promise! Let's dig it. Note that I use a small contractor's shovel when I'm out on a site like this. I used to use a folding GI shovel out on relic sites but didn't care much for it. Of course, when I am closer to civilization on lawns and such, I use a Hori-Hori bonsai knife. I also carry a small hatchet for root-busting, though a small saw would probably have a little more finesse.
Ta-daa! An 1890 Indian cent sees the light of day for the first time in a century! Even if it's a common crusty one, it's always a rush for me.
The coin is still undergoing "potato therapy", so I don't have a decent picture. After over 36 hours in a raw potato, the worst of the crustiness has come off, though the coin is still quite dark. I can see it has a full LIBERTY on the headband and was at least EF (but more likely AU or better) when dug. So it was a fairly new coin then. Maybe I'll post a better picture of it later, but even cleaned up, it probably won't be quite as nice as the 1890 I dug last summer. The coin was newer than I expected, as I was guessing the site to be circa 1860's to the 1880's, but of course it could have been occupied for several decades.
Hopefully the next coin I find on the site (if there IS a "next") will be silver, and have a Seated or Busty lady on the front of it.
...or, come to think of it, something slightly golder in color, with a "C" or "D" mintmark on it, would be mighty nice. Hey, it could happen.
Here's a shot of the sunset in my backyard, as I was leaving home, headed up to a rural relic hunting expedition in the Crescent area of McIntosh County, GA. The light was really interesting- everything was bathed in an orange-yellow glow. Of course the picture didn't capture this, but it turned out a little better than I thought it would. I think I'll make a sigline picture out of it.
Here's what some of these places out in the boonies look like when I'm night hunting. I was night hunting this particular time because the heat index had been 110° earlier, on the day when I discovered the old house site I was searching. I hunted long enough to find tantalizing clues that told me I had an untouched mid- to late-19th century site. Unfortunately, I was literally about to collapse from heatstroke. So I came back at night (and found it much cooler, but got chewed alive by clouds of skeeters). This picture was taken with the flash of the camera AND and my bright headlamp shining on the ground, AND was also brightened 100% with a photo editing program. So needless to say, it gets really dark out in the middle of nowhere. After a while in the gloom, though, your eyes adjust and you can see the ground well enough to walk around without lights, if there is any kind of moonlight at all. Mind you, this is on relatively level "naked dirt", where the sand is a light color that shows in the moonlight. I would not go traipsing around in grass or weeds after dark, or anywhere else I might stumble, wallow into a hole, or find hostile critters!
Here is the site on my most recent visit, as it looked in the late afternoon of the 21st. The first day of summer, and the longest day of the year! Good thing it wasn't quite so hot as when I went out there the first time by daylight, nor as buggy as when I went out at night. You can see the tracks left by the bulldozer that cleared this place. The house site sat somewhere in the field of this photo, which shows the NW corner of about a five or six acre clearcut. See any visual clues to the old house that once stood there? Of course you don't. Around here, where there are no cellar holes or stone foundations as there are in other areas, house sites like this are usually found by tiny clues like pottery sherds or antique glass on the surface (one advantage of good ol' "nekkid dirt"). This site has very little in the way of oyster shells, pottery or glass, though- just a few isolated sherds. So I probably would never have found it if I hadn't been strolling along with the detector set on zero discrimination, and found that first square-headed nail. This is a good way to find "the zone". Once you're in "the zone" and the nails get annoying, you can bump the discrimination up a tiny bit, just enough to tune them out.
*PING!* Ah, a nice belltone sound. Upper midrange on the ID meter, just below a zinc penny signal. This would likely be a screwcap anywhere else, but on a nice relic site in the boonies like this, where there's little or no modern trash, it has some promise! Let's dig it. Note that I use a small contractor's shovel when I'm out on a site like this. I used to use a folding GI shovel out on relic sites but didn't care much for it. Of course, when I am closer to civilization on lawns and such, I use a Hori-Hori bonsai knife. I also carry a small hatchet for root-busting, though a small saw would probably have a little more finesse.
Ta-daa! An 1890 Indian cent sees the light of day for the first time in a century! Even if it's a common crusty one, it's always a rush for me.
The coin is still undergoing "potato therapy", so I don't have a decent picture. After over 36 hours in a raw potato, the worst of the crustiness has come off, though the coin is still quite dark. I can see it has a full LIBERTY on the headband and was at least EF (but more likely AU or better) when dug. So it was a fairly new coin then. Maybe I'll post a better picture of it later, but even cleaned up, it probably won't be quite as nice as the 1890 I dug last summer. The coin was newer than I expected, as I was guessing the site to be circa 1860's to the 1880's, but of course it could have been occupied for several decades.
Hopefully the next coin I find on the site (if there IS a "next") will be silver, and have a Seated or Busty lady on the front of it.
...or, come to think of it, something slightly golder in color, with a "C" or "D" mintmark on it, would be mighty nice. Hey, it could happen.
0
Comments
Greg
Thanks for the story! It IS great!!
TorinoCobra71
--Severian the Lame
CoinJP- the 1890 Indian in the link is a nice one I dug last summer, which looks better than the pic and came outta the ground in great condition. This more recent one might have similar details, but is more porous and won't look as nice, though the raw potato treatment is helping it somewhat. (A raw potato works pretty well for encrusted copper and nickel coins, BTW. You put the coin in the potato overnight, remove, brush, repeat. You might be surprised how much greenish-black gunk the potato will pull off the surface).
I hope to dig some silver (or gold!) out there.
Here are two coins a friend of mine dug at another house site in the near vicinity:
That 1819 cent is an incredible find
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since 8/1/6
But his big large cent find was the one that made Coin World a while back.
Here is a super-sucky scan of it.
Lucky bastid.
<< <i>Can't find it right now. >>
Better get your detector going.
That 1798 to me is an amazing find. Looks like it was lost on the way home from the mint
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since 8/1/6
<< <i>CoinJP- the 1890 Indian in the link is a nice one I dug last summer, which looks better than the pic and came outta the ground in great condition. This more recent one might have similar details, but is more porous and won't look as nice, though the raw potato treatment is helping it somewhat. (A raw potato works pretty well for encrusted copper and nickel coins, BTW. You put the coin in the potato overnight, remove, brush, repeat. You might be surprised how much greenish-black gunk the potato will pull off the surface). >>
I was wondering how you got that 1890 IHC so clean. Now I understand there 2 different coins. My bad. Well, there both very cool finds anyway.
Semper ubi sub ubi
Tim, aka "phut", has been very busy lately!
Large cents! And a Flying Eagle! Oh, my. I haven't found a Flying Eagle OR a C/N Indian yet, though people who've been detecting with me have found them.
<< <i>How's my 1809 Holey Large Cent doin'? >>
It's on the Holey Coin Vest.
<< <i>I might even have to get my detector out of the closet and make a run somewhere >>
******
Thanks
Tbig
I need to get back out and put the coil to the soil.
I have'nt been out in a month or two.
On night digs do you take any protection in case you find a rattlesnake ?
I know where there is an abandoned house that was built in 1780.The grass is three feet high and I don't like snakes.
I figger a shovel is good enough. No two-leggers out there in the boonies at night (and not very many there by day, either).
I agree with you, though- I stay clear of high grass. And at night, I stay clear of any grass or brush.
I always love to read about your finds.