Hot Field, Cool Dime

AirmetTango

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Joined
Apr 14, 2017
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3,109
Location
NW Ohio
Like many other areas, NW Ohio has been scorching hot lately, so I haven’t done much hunting. The heat index was roughly equal to the surface of Venus on Sunday, but the itch got overwhelming. So I slathered on enough sunscreen to protect me in case the sun went supernova, and hit one of my farm field permissions that’s laying dormant for the year.

I’ve hunted this field more times than I can count and the good targets are getting rare, but this time I decided to go in with some slightly different settings, a slower sweep speed, and a different search pattern. At first, the only difference I noticed compared to previous visits was that I was sweating a lot more :lol:

But within 15 minutes I got over an iffy high tone, 19-22 VDI in most directions, a bounce or two up to 24, but iron grunts on one side. I went after it, and was rewarded with a 1919S Wheatie - which gave me the jolt of hope I needed to keep sweating through a couple more hours of mid tones with few highlights better than a handful of old shotshell headstamps.

Midway through the hunt, I got over a broken up ring which turned out to have an interesting design - mermaids maybe? The center stone is long gone, but the remains of some gold gilding can still be seen in the crevices.

Eventually I got over two more Wheat cents - another 1919S and an unknown date - both of which were partially masked. At that point I was satisfied with my 3 coins and broken ring, and I was literally done sweating, so I started swinging my way back to the car.

I got a high tone when I was close enough to the car that I could have spit on it if the heat hadn’t baked all the moisture out of my body. The tone was so momentary that I almost missed it. Stepping back to check it again, darn if it didn’t repeat! 28, 29, 33...kind of jumpy, and only in one direction. Disappeared completely in other directions. An inch and a half over to one side, and the machine locked on to a definite iron target. The good tone was hard to isolate, but I was convinced there was something good next to that iron target, so I broke ground....I intentionally dug the iron to get it out of the way :yes: It didn’t take long to find a rusty nail, but it was bent. Knowing that the Equinox likes to sound off on bent nails, I was afraid I had found the source of my one-way high tone. But swinging over the area, the high tone was still there - dropped to 24-27 and still pretty jumpy, but still there! Turning over a little more dirt, I saw the shiny round coin in the bottom of a big clod! 1900 Barber dime, in pretty nice shape! Amazing how often that seems to happen...I was only maybe 10 steps away from wrapping up the detector to go home!

613BF9F0-7D7C-46D8-A976-E47B5E6ECBBA.jpg

Edit: Ok, my photo mark up labels turned out to be completely useless and unreadable! Red arrows are pointing to the dirt clod where the iron nail was imbedded (near the coil) and the spot where the dirt clod was excavated from. Green arrow on the right almost makes it to the dirt clod with the Barber still visible in it, while the green arrow on the left points to where that clod was unearthed. Clear as mud?? :lol:
 

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Ben great hunt Congrats, nice save on the Barber dime. Alot of S mint mark 1919s must have made it east. I have found a bunch over here in Pa. As far as the heat, I hear ya, I made it out and only lasted 2 and a half hours last Thurs. Got a few old nickels but no shiny. The weekend was just too hot for me. Looks like you dug alot of whatnots, I hate those roof tacks, they always sound so good. Good luck Mark
 
Congrats on the nice finds.

Thanks HD! I appreciate you looking!

Great find. How deep and how close to the iron do you believe that Barber was?

Thanks TNTGross! Sorry, forgot to mention those details. The depths are hard to determine with precision in this field because some of the soil breaks down to just dirt while some of it sticks together in clumps - it never stays together in a cohesive plug where it might be easier to measure depth. That said, both were relatively shallow, about 4"-4.5" deep. I'm not 100% certain, but I strongly suspect the Barber was actually deeper than the nail - at the very least I'm sure they were no better than even. I'm much more certain about the lateral distance between the two - before I started moving dirt, the signals seemed to be about 1.5" apart when I could isolate an individual signal. The field had a lot of activity in the past, so there are also itty-bitties of iron virtually everywhere, as well - I was hunting in Field 1 with Sens at 18, and the iron grunts still sound off almost constantly. Other settings were 50 tones, Ground Balanced around 27, tone break set at 6, Recovery 6, IB 3.
 
Good stuff....nice oldie with the UMC!

Thanks teotw! Yep, I still love those headstamps :cool3: The UMC New Club is likely 1896-1900 according to AussieMD's great database which is derived from Turtlefoot's old site. The WRA Co Rival dates to 1884-1897, so another nice oldie! The Repeater and New Rival are a little later, 1904-1927 and 1897-1929 respectively...I love how these little guys can help date a field in addition to tell a story about what went on at the site!

Ben great hunt Congrats, nice save on the Barber dime. Alot of S mint mark 1919s must have made it east. I have found a bunch over here in Pa. As far as the heat, I hear ya, I made it out and only lasted 2 and a half hours last Thurs. Got a few old nickels but no shiny. The weekend was just too hot for me. Looks like you dug alot of whatnots, I hate those roof tacks, they always sound so good. Good luck Mark

Thanks Mark! I have to admit, I was surprised to have two 1919S Wheats come out back to back - I just don't see many S coins here in Ohio. But you're clearly right - they made their way here for sure! The heat was brutal last week, but we're getting relief this week in a big way - it's been beautiful...just in time for my work schedule to pick up, of course! :mad:

Oh...those roof tacks!! They sound way too close to an Indian on the EQ, so you have to dig them. I've got dozens of them from this particular field - it's like someone spilled a barrel of 'em!! The upside is, there are so many of them in this field I've learned to call them almost every time despite the compressed ID scale on the EQ - they bounce just a little bit too much and too high if you spend the extra time to circle them, thanks to the oddball shape, I guess.

Here's just the ones I was able to find in the garage on short notice....
 

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Time for a cold shower Ben. These hot days sure make every hunt a true work out. Congrats on the Barber Dime, the Wheat's and all the rest. The ring detail looks like Meduslia with the serpents about her head. Trapper
 
Amazing how often that seems to happen...I was only maybe 10 steps away from wrapping up the detector to go home!

Isn't that the truth? But, I also know how many times I've repeated to myself "Just one more decent signal before I get to the car" and thirty minutes later I find something good!

Next time maybe I'll just walk away from my car and then walk back! Or, move my car around the permission.

Regarding the heat, I've considered wearing the Camelback water backpack I use on long hikes. Nothing extra to carry and it won't get in the way. Never done it. I already look like I'm going off to battle, especially when I wear my kneepads.
 
It looks like I'm going to have to hit the fields again myself. I have babied my knee for the last two weeks, with the exception of a couple beach hunts. You have motivated me to get busy. Congratulations nice job.
 
Congrats on the nice saves!

Thanks Longbow!

Time for a cold shower Ben. These hot days sure make every hunt a true work out. Congrats on the Barber Dime, the Wheat's and all the rest. The ring detail looks like Meduslia with the serpents about her head. Trapper

Thanks Trapper! A work out for sure...I was drinking a ton of water, but just sweating it right back out! Medusa is an interesting thought for the ring. Far more kind than my wife’s assessment...she’s been calling it my “nudie ring” :lol::lol:
 
Isn't that the truth? But, I also know how many times I've repeated to myself "Just one more decent signal before I get to the car" and thirty minutes later I find something good!

Ha! Truth be told, I’m guilty of doing the same many times - hunting my way back to the car, but then doing a few extra zig-zags along the way as a delay tactic to try and eek out that one last great find :cool3:

Next time maybe I'll just walk away from my car and then walk back! Or, move my car around the permission.

:lol::lol: This should be an official hunt pattern highlighted in a “how to detect” book!! Everyone knows the most epic finds are always on the way back to the car! :lol:

Regarding the heat, I've considered wearing the Camelback water backpack I use on long hikes. Nothing extra to carry and it won't get in the way. Never done it. I already look like I'm going off to battle, especially when I wear my kneepads.

Funny you mention the Camelback...I’ve only just started using mine while detecting! I took it out for the first time last week when I went on my first beach hunt along with forum member Dan B., and I actually wore it for the second time on this hunt too! I have no idea why it took 2 1/2 summers for me to drag it out of the closet and try it, other than that it’s a bit of a pain to dry out each time to prevent mold build up. Mine has a 48 ounce capacity, and I drank almost all of it through the 3 hour hunt...and it stayed surprisingly cool for the whole time. Lightweight enough that I didn’t feel burdened or that it made me sweat any extra. Plus it gave me a better spot to put my keys, wallet, and other stuff that otherwise is cluttering up my pockets. If you’ve got one, definitely try it out - worthwhile addition to the “battle gear”!
 
It looks like I'm going to have to hit the fields again myself. I have babied my knee for the last two weeks, with the exception of a couple beach hunts. You have motivated me to get busy. Congratulations nice job.

Thanks Dan! Hopefully that knee calms down for you soon. It feels crazy to still be talking about field hunts this time of year, but those empty fields are calling!!
 
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