AirmetTango
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On Monday I went back to the park where I scored the seated quarter last week, with hopes for coaxing out a few more goodies. No silver this time, but I still had great fun, and I continue to be pleasantly surprised by how many good targets can still be found with a little patience.
First target as I walked from the parking space toward my chosen hunt zone was another one of those Zincoln style coin hits (19-20 on the EQ800 VDI), but with too much depth to be one of those - I’m getting to know those signals well in this park from the last hunt, and I even called this one as an Indian! Sure enough, I was treated to a beautiful green coin when I dumped a scoop of dirt onto my drop cloth from about 5” down! An 1891 Indian!! I was thrilled with the start to this hunt already!
Next, I was fooled by a Wheatie. It rang up about 20-22...a little high for a typical Indian but not unheard of. The pinpoint was nice and compact, and the depth meter sure looked spot on for an Indian - gotta dig it! Again I dumped a scoop from about 5” down, and standing right up on end in my dirt pile was another fabulous looking greenie! I immediately stopped and snapped a picture, thinking I had another Indian. Flipping it over, I saw the wheat stalks - but no worries, it was another nice oldie from this park I’d assumed was “hunted out”! Through the course of the entire hunt, I ended up with 4 total Wheaties: 1919, 1923 or 8, 1944, & 1958D.
After the first Wheatie, I chased some trash - most of it I knew had a high probability of being junk, but since I was digging some older stuff, I started worrying that I was walking over some good stuff. I started digging some of the “deeper” pull tab signals - the ones that were almost, but not quite, deep enough to match the depth of the coins.
Along the way, I got over another certain Indian signal - same 19-20 with “good” depth. As I dug down past the 4” mark, I pulled out a misshaped bit of off-white, dirt encrusted thin plastic that I cast off to the edge of my drop cloth to throw away after I reached the target. My pinpointer began sounding soon after that, and about 6” down I was rewarded with another emerald green coin - another Indian!! I took a couple pictures, but then something about that plastic piece caught my eye. The shape looked too manufactured, for lack of a better word, to be trash - it seemed like it was supposed to be something. Wiping the dirt slightly with my bare finger, I found the dirt cleared away pretty easily...and I saw the words “His Masters Voice”! As I cleared more, I suddenly realized I was looking at Nipper!! An old tag from a Victor Victrola maybe? On the back, I wiped away just enough dirt to realize that at least the town name was stamped on the back - clean up at home revealed the name and address of a local music store that was in business between about 1915-1925!! I couldn’t believe my luck to find such a neat piece of local history co-located in the same hole with the IHP!!
For the next little while I didn’t get anything particularly interesting - dug some more mid-tone trash, and almost no modern coins other than Zincolns. I ended the hunt with $1.47 in clad, severely inflated by the modern $1 coin seen in the pics below, and 3 whole dimes. The rest was mostly zinc pennies...13 zincs to only 4 coppers. I imagine many previous hunters were skipping the Zincoln signals. I’m pretty surprised I’m not running across any nickels, though.
Regardless, midway through the hunt, I moved to a different spot in the park, and I got a small flurry of high tones! I had just finished digging the $1 coin (surface, sounded just like a quarter) and a couple memorial pennies, when I hit on another potential quarter signal. It had a bit of a warble to the sound, and maybe a touch high - varying between 30-33 on the EQ800. But it indicated 6-8” with a compact pinpoint, so I had hopes for something shiny! As I dug down, I started running into pieces of green glass. “Crap, it’s gonna be a cap”, I thought. A couple more scoops, and I had the target out of the hole, and I had to root around in my pile for a few seconds to find it...”Wow!! That’s no cap!!” I was thrilled to see the distinct dirt-filled circle of a ring!! It was clearly well weathered from it’s time in the dirt, so at first my excitement waned...”Just a junker,” I thought. But after cleaning it a bit at home and thinking about the circumstances, I think it might be an old wedding band, possibly handmade. The way it rung up, it’s likely copper and I’m pretty sure I see the remains of gilt gold. The depth was at least 6-7”. The ring’s seam is quite obvious, and it’s slightly misaligned at the joint. Despite that, I was amazed to find that it not only fits me perfectly, it’s actually more comfortable than my own current band!
Following the ring, I scored with a couple more IHPs, totaling 4 for the entire hunt: 1890, 1891, 1899, 1902.
But late in the hunt I got over my best find of the day, and in my opinion, my prettiest relic piece to date. The target gave off an obvious high tone - mostly 25-26 on the VDI - and pretty solid all the way around it. There was a little variability at times, dipping one or two numbers, and there was a slight, consistent warble generated as I rotated through one particular quarter of the rotation. Depth was indicating a pretty pedestrian 4-6”...which I’ve learned means 3-4” in reality for coin targets. Regardless, I figured I had a 70% chance of a copper penny/clad dime and 30% chance of junk/can slaw. I cut a small plug, and soon found that the target was a little deeper than I expected...the pinpointer was sounding in the bottom of the hole. I pried the next scoop of dirt out, and immediately saw a large, colorful pin coming up with the dirt!! I was amazed to see some brilliant colors right out of the hole...the green leaves, blue flowers, and purple glass stone were a surprising contrast compared to all the dingy, corroded stuff I typically dig! It cleaned up really nicely at home, and I just love how the light looks passing through the center “stone” - I can’t help but think that someone was very upset to have lost this pin, maybe as much as a century ago!
All in all, a really enjoyable hunt - with 8 old coins and a few nice relics. That’s two satisfying hunts in a row at this park that I assumed would be “hunted out”! I’ll definitely be going back some more!
First target as I walked from the parking space toward my chosen hunt zone was another one of those Zincoln style coin hits (19-20 on the EQ800 VDI), but with too much depth to be one of those - I’m getting to know those signals well in this park from the last hunt, and I even called this one as an Indian! Sure enough, I was treated to a beautiful green coin when I dumped a scoop of dirt onto my drop cloth from about 5” down! An 1891 Indian!! I was thrilled with the start to this hunt already!
Next, I was fooled by a Wheatie. It rang up about 20-22...a little high for a typical Indian but not unheard of. The pinpoint was nice and compact, and the depth meter sure looked spot on for an Indian - gotta dig it! Again I dumped a scoop from about 5” down, and standing right up on end in my dirt pile was another fabulous looking greenie! I immediately stopped and snapped a picture, thinking I had another Indian. Flipping it over, I saw the wheat stalks - but no worries, it was another nice oldie from this park I’d assumed was “hunted out”! Through the course of the entire hunt, I ended up with 4 total Wheaties: 1919, 1923 or 8, 1944, & 1958D.
After the first Wheatie, I chased some trash - most of it I knew had a high probability of being junk, but since I was digging some older stuff, I started worrying that I was walking over some good stuff. I started digging some of the “deeper” pull tab signals - the ones that were almost, but not quite, deep enough to match the depth of the coins.
Along the way, I got over another certain Indian signal - same 19-20 with “good” depth. As I dug down past the 4” mark, I pulled out a misshaped bit of off-white, dirt encrusted thin plastic that I cast off to the edge of my drop cloth to throw away after I reached the target. My pinpointer began sounding soon after that, and about 6” down I was rewarded with another emerald green coin - another Indian!! I took a couple pictures, but then something about that plastic piece caught my eye. The shape looked too manufactured, for lack of a better word, to be trash - it seemed like it was supposed to be something. Wiping the dirt slightly with my bare finger, I found the dirt cleared away pretty easily...and I saw the words “His Masters Voice”! As I cleared more, I suddenly realized I was looking at Nipper!! An old tag from a Victor Victrola maybe? On the back, I wiped away just enough dirt to realize that at least the town name was stamped on the back - clean up at home revealed the name and address of a local music store that was in business between about 1915-1925!! I couldn’t believe my luck to find such a neat piece of local history co-located in the same hole with the IHP!!
For the next little while I didn’t get anything particularly interesting - dug some more mid-tone trash, and almost no modern coins other than Zincolns. I ended the hunt with $1.47 in clad, severely inflated by the modern $1 coin seen in the pics below, and 3 whole dimes. The rest was mostly zinc pennies...13 zincs to only 4 coppers. I imagine many previous hunters were skipping the Zincoln signals. I’m pretty surprised I’m not running across any nickels, though.
Regardless, midway through the hunt, I moved to a different spot in the park, and I got a small flurry of high tones! I had just finished digging the $1 coin (surface, sounded just like a quarter) and a couple memorial pennies, when I hit on another potential quarter signal. It had a bit of a warble to the sound, and maybe a touch high - varying between 30-33 on the EQ800. But it indicated 6-8” with a compact pinpoint, so I had hopes for something shiny! As I dug down, I started running into pieces of green glass. “Crap, it’s gonna be a cap”, I thought. A couple more scoops, and I had the target out of the hole, and I had to root around in my pile for a few seconds to find it...”Wow!! That’s no cap!!” I was thrilled to see the distinct dirt-filled circle of a ring!! It was clearly well weathered from it’s time in the dirt, so at first my excitement waned...”Just a junker,” I thought. But after cleaning it a bit at home and thinking about the circumstances, I think it might be an old wedding band, possibly handmade. The way it rung up, it’s likely copper and I’m pretty sure I see the remains of gilt gold. The depth was at least 6-7”. The ring’s seam is quite obvious, and it’s slightly misaligned at the joint. Despite that, I was amazed to find that it not only fits me perfectly, it’s actually more comfortable than my own current band!
Following the ring, I scored with a couple more IHPs, totaling 4 for the entire hunt: 1890, 1891, 1899, 1902.
But late in the hunt I got over my best find of the day, and in my opinion, my prettiest relic piece to date. The target gave off an obvious high tone - mostly 25-26 on the VDI - and pretty solid all the way around it. There was a little variability at times, dipping one or two numbers, and there was a slight, consistent warble generated as I rotated through one particular quarter of the rotation. Depth was indicating a pretty pedestrian 4-6”...which I’ve learned means 3-4” in reality for coin targets. Regardless, I figured I had a 70% chance of a copper penny/clad dime and 30% chance of junk/can slaw. I cut a small plug, and soon found that the target was a little deeper than I expected...the pinpointer was sounding in the bottom of the hole. I pried the next scoop of dirt out, and immediately saw a large, colorful pin coming up with the dirt!! I was amazed to see some brilliant colors right out of the hole...the green leaves, blue flowers, and purple glass stone were a surprising contrast compared to all the dingy, corroded stuff I typically dig! It cleaned up really nicely at home, and I just love how the light looks passing through the center “stone” - I can’t help but think that someone was very upset to have lost this pin, maybe as much as a century ago!
All in all, a really enjoyable hunt - with 8 old coins and a few nice relics. That’s two satisfying hunts in a row at this park that I assumed would be “hunted out”! I’ll definitely be going back some more!
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