Favorite, most memorable find

Some 40 odd years ago I was a 12 year old kid who dreamed of owning a metal detector. (which my wife finally bought for me in 2015 - long wait) My uncle had a detector and came to our house with it. I knew my father would not approve of me pestering him with asking to try it, so I simply focused on being 'ever present'. I watched as he pulled a gold and two silver rings from our front yard, dozens of coins including several silver also came up. Finally he had searched the yard and was getting ready to put it away so I popped the question, "Can I try?"

He thought it over and said, "No, you might break it".

At that point my father did something I never expected, he said "You got to search our whole yard, let him try and you make sure he's careful."

He handed me the thing which must have weighed 15 lbs. and had a control box that was the size of a toaster oven with enough knobs to be overwhelming. Well, I dug 3 or 4 of the old-style pull tabs and he laughed and said he had found all the good stuff and that I ought to go down to the barn and dig up rusty nails for a while. - Which is exactly what I headed out to do, now more or less unsupervised with my uncle following at a distance. Under an ancient oak tree by the barn I found an area that lit up 2 ft. in diameter. I dug up an aluminum pot lid, which my uncle promptly confiscated showing up seconds later. Minutes after, I dug a silver quarter, which was also his because 'the detector was his'. This was followed by perhaps 20 nails in various stages of decay.

My uncle finally got bored watching me dig nails and went up to the house to get some iced tea. I searched on, never tiring of pulling out one nail after another. Finally I got a bigger signal that turned out to be over a foot deep. It was a large solid silver serving spoon stamped US Cav. I was pretty jazzed! The spoon fit in my inside coat pocket but nearly protruded through my collar! My uncle showed up a few minutes later, confiscated the coin I had just dug and asked if I'd found anything else? "Yes, I said proudly. I have tons of nails and stuff." (not quite a lie - stuff...) "Do you want any of those?"

"No, you can keep those. But, I'm gonna put the detector away now - it's not a toy".

I still have that spoon! It's in my collection with all the many great things I've found in the last year and half since getting my own detector. But it is special in ways that are hard to describe.

That's totally cool, too bad your uncle was such a louse, I mean really, taking your coins:no:
 
With my first detector, I was unstoppable detecting parks, lots, schools, churches...any place I could access. I was totally a clad killer with the occasional silver coin. While MDing a lot down town I found what I thought was a half dollar sized slug of brass and put it into my pocket, which ended up in my junk pile without a second look. It had to be months later while sorting through the pile I noticed it had a swastika on it and on the back some writing. It turned out to be a promo token for a local resident that became the 12 mayor of my home town in 1921, and b4 that he was a huge influence in its development and promotion. I never knew before I found it, that the swastika was a good luck symbol or any real history of my town till then, but after some time at the library I learned a lot more about Noel Mitchell aka "The Sandman" ( he sold beach front lots)and city I grew up in and still call home. I later learned the lot where I found the token was across the street from his real estate office.
DL
 

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1678 Scottish 2 pence!

I didn't know what it was (which in itself was memorable), and when I found out, I was over the moon!

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My most memorable find was found on the grounds of Arrowhead Elementary School in Virginia Beach, VA, back in the 1970's. I got a nice, solid signal and began to dig. A few inches down I uncovered an arrowhead, which was quite a surprise. Then I realized that it didn't give me the signal. I checked the hole again, and a little bit to the side I found a Roosevelt dime, my first silver coin. I still have them both.
 
My most memorable find was found on the grounds of Arrowhead Elementary School in Virginia Beach, VA, back in the 1970's. I got a nice, solid signal and began to dig. A few inches down I uncovered an arrowhead, which was quite a surprise. Then I realized that it didn't give me the signal. I checked the hole again, and a little bit to the side I found a Roosevelt dime, my first silver coin. I still have them both.

I love this story because hunting arrowheads for over 10 years led me to metal detecting. After reading all of these amazing stories, I feel like mine is pretty cheesy. My most memorable find came during my trip to Scotland last week. I got the opportunity to dig inside a dilapidated 1770s church and found three British half pennies, 1806, 1807 and 1827. The agreement was that all finds would be given to the local museum, which were turned in the next day. A few days later I received an email from the curator of the museum. Along with wanting to confirm that I wanted to donate the coins, he gave the history of the church. The church was built for the Gaelic speaking people who were brought in to the English speaking area to work. So the assumption is that these coins were lost by a Gaelic speaking person during one of the sermons. I told the curator that if the coins were not going to be displayed, I would like an least one of them so that I could show people in Texas the fruits of my adventure. I had no expectation of getting anything in return. I soon got a response that the museum actually already had examples of such coins and that they were happy to return all three coins to me. Two things are worth noting here. My previous oldest coin was an 1875 Japan 1 Sen, so these coins made my oldest finds of my detecting history. But more importantly, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would find something like this in another country. I'm anxiously awaiting these coins and hope that I can create the perfect display for them. Although I had an excellent two weeks in Scotland, these finds definitely made the highlight of the trip (don't tell my wife I said that).
 

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I have so many wonderful memories, so many great finds but thinking back there are a few that stand out more than others.
I just can't narrow them down to just one, each one made me sorry I didn't have an extra pair of underwater with me at the time and every one made me blissfully happy about the same way.

Coins...

Shocked when I realized this was not the top of a thick can.
I got a little dizzy when I saw what it was.

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Found this on a club hunt with many others at a special site.
They tell me there was screaming involved but I don't remember that...my oldest coin still.


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Just a Barber quarter but it was my white whale, I couldn't find a Barber to save my life for many years until this one showed up.

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Jewelry...

14k white gold with nine diamonds.
I have found lots of gold but none with so much ice.
I thought it had 4 round diamonds, when I cleaned it at home I realized there were 5 more so shocked again.


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22k and a 24k old heirloom piece with a natural pearl.
The highest karat rings I own and that buttery look is like no other.


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My buddy and I started hiking remote areas after the Butte Fire in search of newly exposed Gold Rush foundations. Over time we began hiking into less and less forgiving areas. My 8 month pregnant wife followed us one day into an extremely steep ravine. We found a small tailings pile. While wondering the hill side above we noticed a 12x10" cut in the hill with some stacked rocks in the corner (chimney). After detecting it for awhile we found nothing but square nails. Meanwhile my wife is contently snacking on this steep burnt hill. I switch sides of the foundation with my buddy and get a nice tab signal. About a foot down I find an old can of some sort. Then I re-sweep the plug and get a solid 70. I tell my wife this is either a coin or what I call "sh*t metal". Out comes an 1845 seated dime with arrows. She said I looked like a little kid at Christmas time.


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Out comes an 1845 seated dime with arrows.

Your story grabbed my attention and I went to see how much that coin might be worth. I couldn't find any examples of 1845 seated dimes with arrows though. Did you mean to type a different year perhaps? Regardless, any seated coin is a nice find! I'd love to find one someday.
 
Your story grabbed my attention and I went to see how much that coin might be worth. I couldn't find any examples of 1845 seated dimes with arrows though. Did you mean to type a different year perhaps? Regardless, any seated coin is a nice find! I'd love to find one someday.



Nope! My buddy and I have both found 1845's with arrows. Both Philly mints/no mint marks.


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Your story grabbed my attention and I went to see how much that coin might be worth. I couldn't find any examples of 1845 seated dimes with arrows though. Did you mean to type a different year perhaps? Regardless, any seated coin is a nice find! I'd love to find one someday.



From what I know they are worthless



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Nope! My buddy and I have both found 1845's with arrows. Both Philly mints/no mint marks.


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I found your thread where you posted a pic of your 1845 dime. Very nice coin! However, it's without arrows. Still an awesome find and a great story!

More info on years that had arrows and some other good info about the different varieties that exist for these coins... http://libertyseateddime.com/
 
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I almost forgot about this thread. Just found it this morning. Nice stories guys. Keep them coming.
 
Still one of my favorite finds and I have dug some amazing things but this thing stands out because its local and HUGE!! Back in 1935 my city celebrated the 100th anniversary of our city and they had a HUGE gathering in the area this was dug. I dont know why its my favorite...just is!
 

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