AirmetTango
Forum Supporter
I got a great new permission on a property that once held sites for an old one room school and a church, and I was so excited to get started swinging on the site that I spent some time there today despite intermittent drizzle. Initially I wasn’t having any luck at all – in fact, I started getting worried that I had another complete bust on my hands when a promising dime signal showing 6” down ended up being a dime sized piece of can slaw! The last think I expected or wanted considering the history this site had was to be digging Bud cans up from half a foot down! Despite the growing concern, I continued the hunt, and my perseverance was eventually “rewarded” with some older clad – a copper Memorial penny and a 70s nickel. But after about 45 minutes, I still only had my 6 cents and a good amount of trash to show for my efforts. At that point the rain started again, so me and my non-waterproof detector retreated to the car for some lunch, and I considered calling it a day and returning on a better weather day.
Within about 20 minutes there was a break in the rain, so I decided to spend a little more time on the site. So glad I did! I moved to a slightly different location on the site, and within a couple minutes I had a solid 83-84 signal indicating about 2-4” down. Fully expecting to extract another copper Memorial, I was pleasantly surprised to pull out a Wheatie with a patchy green patina – 1913! Now that’s more like it! Encouraged by the older find, I continued to concentrate in the immediate area, and I soon found a couple more copper Memorials from the 70’s and early 80s all in the 2-4” range as well. There was a lot less trash too, so when a solid 62-63 signal popped up showing 6” depth, it was an easy decision to dig. After cutting the plug, I was intrigued to pull out a penny shaped object at about the 4 or 5” mark, completely encrusted with dirt:
Never having had a penny ring that low, I immediately rechecked the hole expecting to find something that was dragging down the signal, but it was clean. Then I waved the penny-sized dirt wad under the coil – solid 63! Now I was pretty excited, because even Indian Head pennies ring much higher than that on the Ace. I was pretty sure I had something good – maybe a trade token or something – but I didn’t want to do any rubbing in the field and risk doing damage. I continued hunting for another 20 minutes, finding a couple more copper memorials, another Wheat, and part of an old key, before the rain started up again and heavy enough to force me to wrap up for good.
Arriving home, I went straight to the sink to give the interesting finds a gentle cleaning with dish soap and water. It didn’t take long to learn that my “mystery coin” is an 1857 Flying Eagle cent!! She’s a little toasty, but not bad shape for a 160 year old coin that’s lived in the dirt for maybe a century or so
In fact, with a magnifying glass, you can make out good detail – the eagle’s eye, and the feathers on the wings, etc. I absolutely love the coin (my new “oldest”) – and a slick way to earn a “one cent” trifecta! Some might call it cheating using a Memorial, but the Flying Eagle makes up for it 
I’m definitely stoked to head back to the site – maybe as early as tomorrow! Not sure it can top the Eagle, but it’ll sure be fun to try!! I’ve only hunted less than a 10th of the site, so I’m pretty confident there’ll be more goodies to unearth!
Here’s the rest of the photos for the hunt:
All the dug trash:
Within about 20 minutes there was a break in the rain, so I decided to spend a little more time on the site. So glad I did! I moved to a slightly different location on the site, and within a couple minutes I had a solid 83-84 signal indicating about 2-4” down. Fully expecting to extract another copper Memorial, I was pleasantly surprised to pull out a Wheatie with a patchy green patina – 1913! Now that’s more like it! Encouraged by the older find, I continued to concentrate in the immediate area, and I soon found a couple more copper Memorials from the 70’s and early 80s all in the 2-4” range as well. There was a lot less trash too, so when a solid 62-63 signal popped up showing 6” depth, it was an easy decision to dig. After cutting the plug, I was intrigued to pull out a penny shaped object at about the 4 or 5” mark, completely encrusted with dirt:
Never having had a penny ring that low, I immediately rechecked the hole expecting to find something that was dragging down the signal, but it was clean. Then I waved the penny-sized dirt wad under the coil – solid 63! Now I was pretty excited, because even Indian Head pennies ring much higher than that on the Ace. I was pretty sure I had something good – maybe a trade token or something – but I didn’t want to do any rubbing in the field and risk doing damage. I continued hunting for another 20 minutes, finding a couple more copper memorials, another Wheat, and part of an old key, before the rain started up again and heavy enough to force me to wrap up for good.
Arriving home, I went straight to the sink to give the interesting finds a gentle cleaning with dish soap and water. It didn’t take long to learn that my “mystery coin” is an 1857 Flying Eagle cent!! She’s a little toasty, but not bad shape for a 160 year old coin that’s lived in the dirt for maybe a century or so
In fact, with a magnifying glass, you can make out good detail – the eagle’s eye, and the feathers on the wings, etc. I absolutely love the coin (my new “oldest”) – and a slick way to earn a “one cent” trifecta! Some might call it cheating using a Memorial, but the Flying Eagle makes up for it I’m definitely stoked to head back to the site – maybe as early as tomorrow! Not sure it can top the Eagle, but it’ll sure be fun to try!! I’ve only hunted less than a 10th of the site, so I’m pretty confident there’ll be more goodies to unearth!
Here’s the rest of the photos for the hunt:
All the dug trash:
Last edited:
... I'm still looking for mine also.. fingers crossed..
