AirmetTango
Forum Supporter
We finally got a little rain last night, so with an hour of free time I decided to try hunting a well-worn former school yard. It’s the same site that produced some nice finds last week from a portion of the site that had been scraped by a dozer. But that portion has been reseeded and off-limits until maybe spring, but encouraged by the finds there, I figured it was worth trying the rest of the location.
Not much was going on at first - I was getting a bit of clad (whopping 63¢ total), a somewhat creepy junk ring, and a good amount of junk/iron as I re-train my brain to interpret version 2.0 of the EQ using F2. Honestly, I don’t have enough experience with the new update to express an opinion on whether it’s better or not, but one thing I do know - any copper penny deeper than about 5 or 6” still bounces around way too much. Usually that means a Wheat, but today at the school, it was a couple of deeper copper Memorials - they just bounce around between 20-32 like junk, but still somewhat recognizable as coins because they generally don’t show any iron grunt, and indicate deep. Unfortunately, the same signal often comes up as a square nail.
But towards the end of my hunt time, as I circled a large tree on the site, I got the coil over one of those bouncy 20-32 signals, indicating 5 “shovels” deep...8-10 inches. “Cool,” I thought, “might be a Wheatie!” So I dug down...and dug down...and dug some more. I’m not used to digging deep, especially in a park setting. Just makes me feel self-conscious as I gradually create a dirt pile that would make a backhoe envious!
Finally, fully 9” down, I got the penny I expected. But as I inspected it through the crud, I realized it was no Wheatie...instead of wheat stalks, I could see a wreath on the back! Indian!!
She looked badly toasted in field, much like the hopelessly corroded Injun I dug here last week. But clean up at home brought out a beautifully detailed 1889 IHP, with “LIBERTY” prominent in her headband and some feather detail!
There are some goodies to find in this old school yard yet!!
Not much was going on at first - I was getting a bit of clad (whopping 63¢ total), a somewhat creepy junk ring, and a good amount of junk/iron as I re-train my brain to interpret version 2.0 of the EQ using F2. Honestly, I don’t have enough experience with the new update to express an opinion on whether it’s better or not, but one thing I do know - any copper penny deeper than about 5 or 6” still bounces around way too much. Usually that means a Wheat, but today at the school, it was a couple of deeper copper Memorials - they just bounce around between 20-32 like junk, but still somewhat recognizable as coins because they generally don’t show any iron grunt, and indicate deep. Unfortunately, the same signal often comes up as a square nail.
But towards the end of my hunt time, as I circled a large tree on the site, I got the coil over one of those bouncy 20-32 signals, indicating 5 “shovels” deep...8-10 inches. “Cool,” I thought, “might be a Wheatie!” So I dug down...and dug down...and dug some more. I’m not used to digging deep, especially in a park setting. Just makes me feel self-conscious as I gradually create a dirt pile that would make a backhoe envious!
Finally, fully 9” down, I got the penny I expected. But as I inspected it through the crud, I realized it was no Wheatie...instead of wheat stalks, I could see a wreath on the back! Indian!!
She looked badly toasted in field, much like the hopelessly corroded Injun I dug here last week. But clean up at home brought out a beautifully detailed 1889 IHP, with “LIBERTY” prominent in her headband and some feather detail! There are some goodies to find in this old school yard yet!!
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In this case, the soil was nice, perfectly moist sandy loam - easy to compact into place and return to original grade by hand. Also, it's hard to see in the pics, but half of the plug was in the bald patch from around the tree, so I knew I had some leeway if I needed it 
