MTtrashdigger
Elite Member
My oldest dated coin so far is a 1900 Indian Head penny, which I found a couple of months ago. Since hitting my goal of 50 silvers , I have spent the past few hunts searching the oldest sites in my town that I can access, hoping to get my first pre -1900 coin. That is proving to be a tall order since my town was founded in 1882 and there just wasn't many folks around until 1910 or so. Most of the oldest parts of town have been renovated, paved over and built and re built on. As of late, I have searched our oldest parks (again) and numerous yards of homes built from 1907 to 1915 with high hopes but poor results.
Last Saturday, with the weather decent , for Montana in November anyway, I finally caught the owner outside of a corner 1911 house that I have had my eye on for some time. Now I had detected the yard next door a few weeks earlier (1912 house) and found diddly squat ,but did one across the street that produced two buffs and a few early wheats.Anyway, she was very nice and gave me the green light to detect to my heart's content. She doubted I would find much because she had a sprinkler system and new landscaping done about 3 years ago, or so she said. She told me that they hauled a lot of dirt away and then back filled when the sprinklers were in. So, not expecting much, I figured I would dig a few targets to see just what might be there. I started on the curbstrip and found a couple modern pennies and a 1996 quarter, not much else.
I went to the yard, and got a fairly deep 22 on my EQ800 and decided to dig it to see what date was on the zincoln that was most assuredly there. Instead of a zincoln, I found what I first thought was an old washer, but upon closer inspection, I could see it was a generic token worth 5 cents in trade. My first real token, other than the ChuckECheese variety!
Encouraged, I kept on, digging everything 11-14 and everything over 18 that sounded halfway good. A couple modern pennies ,some folded up bits of aluminum, a couple of lead blobs and then a shallow 1914 wheat penny, then a 1920, then a 1911 which was in the first inch of sod. It then became apparent to me that the dirt the landscapers had used to backfill the yard was the same dirt they hauled away when they started the job. The targets weren't numerous but they were older. The next target was a semi deep 5-6 inch solid 20. Sure enough, in the plug was a 1907 Indian Head penny, my second ever. Before i was done I pulled two silvers, a 1918 Merc dime and a 1946 Roosevelt dime , #52 and 53 FTY. Might have a few more days before winter sets in for good, still looking for that pre 1900 coin.
Thanks for looking and HH!!
Last Saturday, with the weather decent , for Montana in November anyway, I finally caught the owner outside of a corner 1911 house that I have had my eye on for some time. Now I had detected the yard next door a few weeks earlier (1912 house) and found diddly squat ,but did one across the street that produced two buffs and a few early wheats.Anyway, she was very nice and gave me the green light to detect to my heart's content. She doubted I would find much because she had a sprinkler system and new landscaping done about 3 years ago, or so she said. She told me that they hauled a lot of dirt away and then back filled when the sprinklers were in. So, not expecting much, I figured I would dig a few targets to see just what might be there. I started on the curbstrip and found a couple modern pennies and a 1996 quarter, not much else.
I went to the yard, and got a fairly deep 22 on my EQ800 and decided to dig it to see what date was on the zincoln that was most assuredly there. Instead of a zincoln, I found what I first thought was an old washer, but upon closer inspection, I could see it was a generic token worth 5 cents in trade. My first real token, other than the ChuckECheese variety!
Encouraged, I kept on, digging everything 11-14 and everything over 18 that sounded halfway good. A couple modern pennies ,some folded up bits of aluminum, a couple of lead blobs and then a shallow 1914 wheat penny, then a 1920, then a 1911 which was in the first inch of sod. It then became apparent to me that the dirt the landscapers had used to backfill the yard was the same dirt they hauled away when they started the job. The targets weren't numerous but they were older. The next target was a semi deep 5-6 inch solid 20. Sure enough, in the plug was a 1907 Indian Head penny, my second ever. Before i was done I pulled two silvers, a 1918 Merc dime and a 1946 Roosevelt dime , #52 and 53 FTY. Might have a few more days before winter sets in for good, still looking for that pre 1900 coin.
Thanks for looking and HH!!
