AirmetTango
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I had some time available to hunt on Tuesday evening, but since we had a ton of rain that day and the night before I knew I couldn't go back to the farm field I've been spending most of my time in - I'd have a couple inches of mud stuck to my boots before I walked 10 feet! With no permissions that were easily accessible for an evening hunt, I had to decide between a couple of public spaces - no time to do both, especially since they were in opposite driving directions. One was a park I had been to two or three times before - trashy and almost no keepers, not even clad, but one trip resulted in my oldest coin The other was a new-to-me old school site in an out of the way town.
Well, I decided to go with the park - I figured it was closer, giving me more time to swing…plus I was curious to see if all the rain would improve signals and change my luck at the site. On top of all that, there were still plenty of areas at the park that were still new for me.
There used to be a farm house at the park, so I initially focused my hunt around it. I started in what used to be the backyard area, and the very first signal was pretty nice sounding high tone, reading in the 4" depth range. Too bouncy to be a coin or similar for that depth, but too good to ignore. So I dug down, past 4" and on to 6" - I already knew I had something bigger than a coin, and I was starting to suspect trash, not only because of the deeper than suggested depth, but also the pinpointer was hitting on a wider area the more I dug. At 6" I reached a big silvery object that turned out to be a pretty cool makeup compact - I opened it once when I got home, and it still had a metal tray inside along with a strip of fabric that was attached to a metal tab. I can't open it again - unfortunately, I realized that the hinges weren't turning, it was just the metal bending at the hinge, and one broke in the process
After that find, the trash started coming out in droves. A few of the signals sounded very good and ended up yielding bits of copper pipe & fittings that'll go into the scrap bucket. Soon after the makeup case, I hit on the bike sprocket and two steps later came the bike brake handle..."Holy Schwinn, I'm gonna go home with a whole bike at this rate", I said out loud to myself! And I promised myself if the next signal was a bike seat, I was switching to the sledding hill! No bike seat, but the trash kept coming - I kept digging some of the less iffy signals knowing it was probably junk, mostly on the assumption that "you never know", plus I figured it might help unmask other targets. And I'm still learning my machine, so it's worth it to me to confirm my guesses still. Among the trash, the back of the former house grudgingly gave up the spike from a weather vane or iron fence and a piece of an old cap gun in addition to the copper bits and makeup case...not a lot to write home about.
The sun was getting close to kissing the horizon, and I was getting tired of digging junk with limited reward. I spent a couple minutes debating just wrapping up and heading home, but like the previous visit here, I decided to stick it out and just move positions. This time I left the home site behind, and moved to a section of the park that I hadn't hunted before. The very first signal I ran across was a steady high tone, compact enough for a coin, but the VDI seemed too jumpy - ranging mostly from 82-90, even an occasional 78 popped in. Honestly, the signal looked a lot like some of the can slaw/metal scrap I had spent an hour digging up - except this signal showed 6" depth. Have to dig this one...
I cut the plug deeper than normal anticipating that I might just have deep trash. I flipped the plug, and swiped the hole with the detector again, and the target was still in the hole - still a high tone, and still jumpy, but much less so, 80-85. The pinpointer sounded off immediately and solid at the bottom of the hole, easily the full 6" down - a gentle pop with my digger, and out comes a clump with a nice sized silver rim! I instantly knew I had my first silver quarter! I was elated!! I was beginning to think a silver quarter was going to be my white whale, as I went all last year without one
After a couple field pics, I popped the quarter into my pouch - I could see it was a GW through the dirt, but I never rub silver in the field, so the date needed to wait! But I was so ecstatic about the find that I did start to make a different rookie mistake - I already had the dirt back into the whole and the plug flipped back into place before I suddenly thought, "Wait a minute....why the heck did a silver quarter ring so jumpy...and why did it ring relatively low even once the plug was turned??"
I swung the detector over the spot again, and sure enough...solid high tone, 80-81. Reopened the plug, and in no time I had a Merc! Woohoo! My first silver spill!! Swing over the hole yet again, 80 high tone. I had to fish around a bit more to find the Wheatie camouflaged in the dirt to round out the old 36 cent spill! After getting home and rinsing, the silver is in pretty nice shape, especially the Merc. All three coins being from the early 40s suggests it was a drop from around then - maybe as late as the 50s. Interestingly, I've now found more Mercs than Rosies in my short one year experience with detecting!
I continued to hunt for a little while after the spill, and got a little clad and a key. Among the clad was a 1960D and 1962D Memorial cent, so there’s potential for more silver – looks like I’ll have to go back!
Well, I decided to go with the park - I figured it was closer, giving me more time to swing…plus I was curious to see if all the rain would improve signals and change my luck at the site. On top of all that, there were still plenty of areas at the park that were still new for me.
There used to be a farm house at the park, so I initially focused my hunt around it. I started in what used to be the backyard area, and the very first signal was pretty nice sounding high tone, reading in the 4" depth range. Too bouncy to be a coin or similar for that depth, but too good to ignore. So I dug down, past 4" and on to 6" - I already knew I had something bigger than a coin, and I was starting to suspect trash, not only because of the deeper than suggested depth, but also the pinpointer was hitting on a wider area the more I dug. At 6" I reached a big silvery object that turned out to be a pretty cool makeup compact - I opened it once when I got home, and it still had a metal tray inside along with a strip of fabric that was attached to a metal tab. I can't open it again - unfortunately, I realized that the hinges weren't turning, it was just the metal bending at the hinge, and one broke in the process
After that find, the trash started coming out in droves. A few of the signals sounded very good and ended up yielding bits of copper pipe & fittings that'll go into the scrap bucket. Soon after the makeup case, I hit on the bike sprocket and two steps later came the bike brake handle..."Holy Schwinn, I'm gonna go home with a whole bike at this rate", I said out loud to myself! And I promised myself if the next signal was a bike seat, I was switching to the sledding hill! No bike seat, but the trash kept coming - I kept digging some of the less iffy signals knowing it was probably junk, mostly on the assumption that "you never know", plus I figured it might help unmask other targets. And I'm still learning my machine, so it's worth it to me to confirm my guesses still. Among the trash, the back of the former house grudgingly gave up the spike from a weather vane or iron fence and a piece of an old cap gun in addition to the copper bits and makeup case...not a lot to write home about.
The sun was getting close to kissing the horizon, and I was getting tired of digging junk with limited reward. I spent a couple minutes debating just wrapping up and heading home, but like the previous visit here, I decided to stick it out and just move positions. This time I left the home site behind, and moved to a section of the park that I hadn't hunted before. The very first signal I ran across was a steady high tone, compact enough for a coin, but the VDI seemed too jumpy - ranging mostly from 82-90, even an occasional 78 popped in. Honestly, the signal looked a lot like some of the can slaw/metal scrap I had spent an hour digging up - except this signal showed 6" depth. Have to dig this one...
I cut the plug deeper than normal anticipating that I might just have deep trash. I flipped the plug, and swiped the hole with the detector again, and the target was still in the hole - still a high tone, and still jumpy, but much less so, 80-85. The pinpointer sounded off immediately and solid at the bottom of the hole, easily the full 6" down - a gentle pop with my digger, and out comes a clump with a nice sized silver rim! I instantly knew I had my first silver quarter! I was elated!! I was beginning to think a silver quarter was going to be my white whale, as I went all last year without one
After a couple field pics, I popped the quarter into my pouch - I could see it was a GW through the dirt, but I never rub silver in the field, so the date needed to wait! But I was so ecstatic about the find that I did start to make a different rookie mistake - I already had the dirt back into the whole and the plug flipped back into place before I suddenly thought, "Wait a minute....why the heck did a silver quarter ring so jumpy...and why did it ring relatively low even once the plug was turned??"
I swung the detector over the spot again, and sure enough...solid high tone, 80-81. Reopened the plug, and in no time I had a Merc! Woohoo! My first silver spill!! Swing over the hole yet again, 80 high tone. I had to fish around a bit more to find the Wheatie camouflaged in the dirt to round out the old 36 cent spill! After getting home and rinsing, the silver is in pretty nice shape, especially the Merc. All three coins being from the early 40s suggests it was a drop from around then - maybe as late as the 50s. Interestingly, I've now found more Mercs than Rosies in my short one year experience with detecting!
I continued to hunt for a little while after the spill, and got a little clad and a key. Among the clad was a 1960D and 1962D Memorial cent, so there’s potential for more silver – looks like I’ll have to go back!
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