sandgroper
Elite Member
Hey everyone, thought I’d share a hunt I had with a friend of mine last week…
We were planning on hunting a park at night that we had previously done before and did quite well at (my friend found an 1829 half penny there), but we decided to meet up a bit earlier and try a few vacant house sites before it gets dark. I found a few sites on maps, and suggested we meet up at a park and go from there. So that’s we did, we met up at a small park in a 1920’s neighbourhood that I’d found on maps, and decided before trying the house sites, we’ll give the park a quick go too.
That was a good decision, because the next four or five hours was spent digging up coin after coin. Most of which were old pennies and halfpennies in pretty miserable condition, but they’re still fun to find. I also dug up a beautiful commemorative florin (1927), that I managed to scratch (of course). These early florins are all 0.925 silver. Only two million were minted of this commemorative type, which at the time was quite high compared to other years, but it’s not much compared to the millions minted each year from the 1940’s to the early 1960’s.
I found a few more silvers, including an 1890’s sixpence, don’t know what that is doing in a 1920’s park, but my friend also found an 1826 halfpenny there, so we think there may’ve been an old homesite there. After spending a few hours at this park, and having found around three dozen old coins between us, we decided to try anther nearby park and a few of the house sites. We didn’t find much at the other park (kind of surprising given how well we did at the other one), but my friend found a few medallions at the house sites.
Once it got dark, we moved onto the last park, but didn’t find as much as we’d hoped. Still, I found an Australian Federal Police (AFP) badge which is quite cool, and another florin (1943). It is very rare that I find more than one florin in a hunt, and even rarer that both are 92.5% silver (usually they’re only 50%).
I’m looking forward to getting back to the ‘virgin’ park, this has been one of my most successful days for old coins, so I’m excited to see what else is there. Thank you for looking and good luck out there!
We were planning on hunting a park at night that we had previously done before and did quite well at (my friend found an 1829 half penny there), but we decided to meet up a bit earlier and try a few vacant house sites before it gets dark. I found a few sites on maps, and suggested we meet up at a park and go from there. So that’s we did, we met up at a small park in a 1920’s neighbourhood that I’d found on maps, and decided before trying the house sites, we’ll give the park a quick go too.
That was a good decision, because the next four or five hours was spent digging up coin after coin. Most of which were old pennies and halfpennies in pretty miserable condition, but they’re still fun to find. I also dug up a beautiful commemorative florin (1927), that I managed to scratch (of course). These early florins are all 0.925 silver. Only two million were minted of this commemorative type, which at the time was quite high compared to other years, but it’s not much compared to the millions minted each year from the 1940’s to the early 1960’s.
I found a few more silvers, including an 1890’s sixpence, don’t know what that is doing in a 1920’s park, but my friend also found an 1826 halfpenny there, so we think there may’ve been an old homesite there. After spending a few hours at this park, and having found around three dozen old coins between us, we decided to try anther nearby park and a few of the house sites. We didn’t find much at the other park (kind of surprising given how well we did at the other one), but my friend found a few medallions at the house sites.
Once it got dark, we moved onto the last park, but didn’t find as much as we’d hoped. Still, I found an Australian Federal Police (AFP) badge which is quite cool, and another florin (1943). It is very rare that I find more than one florin in a hunt, and even rarer that both are 92.5% silver (usually they’re only 50%).
I’m looking forward to getting back to the ‘virgin’ park, this has been one of my most successful days for old coins, so I’m excited to see what else is there. Thank you for looking and good luck out there!
). Congratulations on a very nice hunt!
