David in DC
Elite Member
I had an unbelievable, once in a lifetime type of day yesterday.
I found this spill at my honey hole, a woods spot that has been a great producer of late 1890's through 1960's era coins and relics. All coins found in about a 3x2 foot area, many right next to each other and some stuck together. I initially got a high tone but it wasn't a sure thing silver signal, dug it and it was a walker, and when I ran my Propointer back over the hole got another signal. Figured it was an old coin and stood up to run my coil over it. Wanted to know if I was digging copper or silver. Rung up as silver, and when I swept more widely got a few more silver tones. Figured I was in for a spill of some sort but coins were on top of one another so no hint of what was to come. I have no idea how long I was digging, had to be an hour or two, but by the end of it I had a pouch full of silver, mostly quarters, and I was itching to get home and get them cleaned off.
Total of 25 silver and 2 nickels in the spill:
Walking Liberty Half - 1917, 1920
Barber quarter - 1895-S, 1896-O, 1897, 1898-O, 1907x2, 1908-D, 1909-D, 1912
SLQ - 1920, 1925, 1926x2, datelessx3
Barber dime - 1907-O, 1914
Mercury dime - 1918, 1919, 1919-D, 1920, 1920-S
V nickel - 1903
Buffalo - dateless
Seems like too much to be a pocket spill. I'm guessing someone dropped a bag or pouch or something, or people were gambling or doing something with the money and had to leave quickly. The area was right on the middle of three sawed off pieces of a thick tree trunk, like something people would be sitting on. Whether these would survive the almost 90 years since this spill happened (looks like mid-20's) I don't know. I turned over the pieces I could lift and nothing was under them, the spill was exactly in the middle.
Edit: I edited the title from 'spill' to 'cache'. In my thinking, a cache is deliberately hidden and a spill is accidental, and given the way the coins weren't in a container, were scattered just a bit and there was no evidence of any container, I figured it was accidental. Suggestions people have made make me think this could have been hidden, and it was very close to a ruined structure. It's overgrown and things could have changed a lot in 90 years, but this would have been in the yard and in view of the windows, which is where it is said people would bury a cache. I still think the surrounding area was used as a public park/picnic area at one time, but the trash strewn about is more than a park pavillion type of structure would contain, so it is hard to tell. It's all speculation, but 'cache' does stir the imagination more. And if it was deliberately hidden, there might be more stashes...hopefully they didn't bury the gold too deeply
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I wasn't sure if I'd get there, but this puts me solidly over 200 silvers for the year. Nice to hit the milestone because I don't imagine I'll ever be this close again.
New camera lens for me...if anyone is interested it's the Canon 100m 2.8L macro on a 40D...so I wanted to get some closeups of a couple of the nicer coins. Enjoy the pics and thanks for looking. HH
I found this spill at my honey hole, a woods spot that has been a great producer of late 1890's through 1960's era coins and relics. All coins found in about a 3x2 foot area, many right next to each other and some stuck together. I initially got a high tone but it wasn't a sure thing silver signal, dug it and it was a walker, and when I ran my Propointer back over the hole got another signal. Figured it was an old coin and stood up to run my coil over it. Wanted to know if I was digging copper or silver. Rung up as silver, and when I swept more widely got a few more silver tones. Figured I was in for a spill of some sort but coins were on top of one another so no hint of what was to come. I have no idea how long I was digging, had to be an hour or two, but by the end of it I had a pouch full of silver, mostly quarters, and I was itching to get home and get them cleaned off.
Total of 25 silver and 2 nickels in the spill:
Walking Liberty Half - 1917, 1920
Barber quarter - 1895-S, 1896-O, 1897, 1898-O, 1907x2, 1908-D, 1909-D, 1912
SLQ - 1920, 1925, 1926x2, datelessx3
Barber dime - 1907-O, 1914
Mercury dime - 1918, 1919, 1919-D, 1920, 1920-S
V nickel - 1903
Buffalo - dateless
Seems like too much to be a pocket spill. I'm guessing someone dropped a bag or pouch or something, or people were gambling or doing something with the money and had to leave quickly. The area was right on the middle of three sawed off pieces of a thick tree trunk, like something people would be sitting on. Whether these would survive the almost 90 years since this spill happened (looks like mid-20's) I don't know. I turned over the pieces I could lift and nothing was under them, the spill was exactly in the middle.
Edit: I edited the title from 'spill' to 'cache'. In my thinking, a cache is deliberately hidden and a spill is accidental, and given the way the coins weren't in a container, were scattered just a bit and there was no evidence of any container, I figured it was accidental. Suggestions people have made make me think this could have been hidden, and it was very close to a ruined structure. It's overgrown and things could have changed a lot in 90 years, but this would have been in the yard and in view of the windows, which is where it is said people would bury a cache. I still think the surrounding area was used as a public park/picnic area at one time, but the trash strewn about is more than a park pavillion type of structure would contain, so it is hard to tell. It's all speculation, but 'cache' does stir the imagination more. And if it was deliberately hidden, there might be more stashes...hopefully they didn't bury the gold too deeply
.I wasn't sure if I'd get there, but this puts me solidly over 200 silvers for the year. Nice to hit the milestone because I don't imagine I'll ever be this close again.
New camera lens for me...if anyone is interested it's the Canon 100m 2.8L macro on a 40D...so I wanted to get some closeups of a couple of the nicer coins. Enjoy the pics and thanks for looking. HH
.
