Well, not much to write about this year. 38 silvers for the year, which isn’t bad and isn’t great, and 1500 for the career. That’s not too bad, I suppose.
I’ll try to do better next year, we’ll see. I’m also obviously losing interest in maintaining this blog, with so much else going on.
Milestones are fun. I don’t post too many of them, but every 500 seems reasonable. Hopefully I will be posting at #2000 someday.
My 1500th career silver wasn’t all that exciting. A 1949 rosie in a random field that had been giving up KG coppers, a half cent, and other old coppers and stuff. When you get a beautiful silver signal at a place like that, you hope for something special.
All my coins stats are here — https://www.puzzlemaze.org/df/df-stats.php
I rarely give up my sites, but I’m in that kind of mood today.
There is a place in Chester County that used to have music festivals. Some big time acts were regular, but back in the day, a small time musician dropped out of school and drove all the way from the Bay Area to be here in our beautiful county. He made contacts here, developed his organic style of music here, and later went on to lead one of the greatest and most important bands in music history.
Unfortunately, this shrine to organic music was bulldozed to make make condos or something. But, you can still drive the roads of Chester County and look for it, if you want to. You may even find it. 99% of it is gone, but you can still find the 1% of it that is untouched, if you look hard enough.
If you do, bring your E-Trac, not your guitar, and you may even find something, I did today.
Been a while since I’ve posted. I’m still here. I get out rather irregularly, and find silver even more irregularly, but I’m doing ok if you don’t count the slumps. 33 for the year, not where I want to be, but not bad either, as these things go.
Found this bizarre large cent today. The back (left side), seems somewhat normal, while the other side is the back stamped in mirror image and negative relief. Not sure what it is. Found in the yard of a Victorian era town mansion, so it seems a bit early, but who knows what was there before the current house was built. Also managed to snag a pair of quarters.
Better to be lucky than good. Hit a new field near the Field of Dreams, which turned out to be a dud so far. Need some more time on it, but the only old target was an old buckle.
Parking is difficult here, so I park in a development and walk in on a running trail. I’m swinging along the running trail back to the car, not expecting anything except clad, and hit a clad quarter signal that turned out to be another old buckle, 3 inches deep, literally a foot or two from the trail. Then I hit a silver quarter just 2 for feet away. Unbelievable. You just never know.
There is an old house in the area, but it is far, and is private property. There is not alot of detectable land here, but 2 old targets in 5 minutes is pretty good. Should take about a half hour to cover the whole site, hopefully more silvers there, we’ll see.
A total of 53 silvers from this random field. 20 barber silvers. Not bad as these things go, but it is only of finite size (35 acres), and I gridded out every square inch, so that’s that; finished up yesterday with a 1920 merc. My 8th best site all time, and by far my best since the good ol’ 500 silvers a year days.
I did a writeup on FMDF —
https://metaldetectingforum.com/index.php?threads/old-hay-field-gives-up-53-silvers-total.301810/
Its tough to be disappointed in barber silver. Silver coins are hard to find. Barber silver is really hard to find. But back at the FoD, I seem to pull a barber pretty much every time out. It really is unreal.
But the thing about barber dimes is that the back looks like a seated dime. I can’t tell the difference when I see it. Seated dimes are incredibly hard to find (I’ve only found about 5 or 6 in 15 years). So I dig it up, see the back, hope it is a seated, yet it is always a barber.
Yeah, people are dying in an evil war, and good people are being cancelled by absolute assholes, and this is my first world problem. Oh well, I always write whats on my mind. I think metal detecting helps me forget about all the imbeciles and evil beings in this world.
It is very peaceful and serene if you end up on a pretty field.
Yet another barber silver from the Field of Dreams. Site has been quite good to me, but it is almost done. I imagine at most 3 more days or so. Also pulled a merc the other day for site total of 49.
Pulled a KG II copper and another barber dime from the Field of Dreams. Amazing I could identify the KG II. They are pretty old, as these things go.
Not much to say really, back to the Field of Dreams for a pair of quarters. Just grid and work the site. 2 silvers in 4 hours, 45 total for the site, and 14 so far for the year.
14 silvers by early March really gives me a shot at 100 this year. Need to average less than 10 a month. I’m committed to not blowing it this year, but a honeyhole like this doesn’t come along every day. We’ll see.
Back to the Field of Dreams for a 5 silver days. 2 SLQs (one dated 1920, one dateless), 2 barber dimes (1898 and 1904), and a merc.
I define a “honeyhole” as any site that gives up 40 or more silvers, and this marks #42 at this site. All from a hay field. Usually you get about 3 or 4 at best. This is my 13th honeyhole;
Incredibly efficient day, 5 silvers, 1 wheatie, 0 clads in 3.5 hours. Can’t remember a day that efficient before.
Amazing weather today, 70s and sunny. Very rare this time of year. Had to get out, and pulled a barber dime from the Field of Dreams. Would have liked a couple of more, but we’ll take it.
Back to the field, swing, bing, dig. Over the last 2 days pulled 3 more silvers and a large copper. One of the silvers is a 1927 Australian 3 pence that someone made into a pendant, and the copper seems to be a hard times token.
I need to work on the copper more, but if it is, that would be cool, as I have never found one.
Back to the Field of Dreams, for the first real hunt of the year. 3 abused silvers, a 1903-S barber quarter, a dateless walker, and a George V Canadian dime, dateless, from 1911 – 1936. Its a good site, but what a shame the silvers come out so abused. 34 silvers from this site now, not bad as these things go.
Not a bad year this year, 52 silvers, which is my best year since way back in the 100+ per year days. 12 of them were Barber silvers, and 6 of them were silver half dollars, including my best find of the year, an 1830 bust half.
Well, hopefully I’ll have the time this year to make a play for 100. We’ll see.
Well, I didn’t quite get to 100, like I wanted to, but at least got numbers 50 and 51. Based on hours prorated out, I would have if I put in the hours, but maybe next year.
Got out to a new site for the second time. First time, 2-3 hour hunt netted 2 abused coppers. Got back to near where the coppers were, and after about 2 hours, got a beautiful 10-47 on E-Trac, and figured it was a silver quarter, but saw the eagle and knew it was a good one. Thought it was a seated at first but turned out to be a bust.
Don’t find too many bust silver, just 4 fourth, and 3 have been halfs.
Nice to get out to today, to a very difficult site; an old farmhouse slated to be demolished. Iron city; couldn’t get a threshold too often, and only pulled 3 coins in 2.5 hours. Fortunately, one was a silver quarter. There is old stuff here, I just can’t see it.
Still using the E-Trac, which usually works quite well, but this site might need a faster machine like the Deus II. I haven’t meshed with the D II or the Nox, but maybe it is time to add some more clubs to my bag.
Haven’t had much to say lately, haven’t got out much, and just a couple of non-descript silvers and coppers to show for it.
Today hit a new site, and managed to pull a very nice barber half. This one has full liberty and full shield lines, tho unfortunately there is some environmental damage on the back. Small site, might take 2 or 3 hunts to knock out, but hopefully there is something else good there.
Second barber half of the year, and seventh all time. They can be tricky to find.
First time out in quite a while; once again, life or something like it.
Back to the Field of Dreams; amazing how after it has been hayed, I find a way to get on it, and today I found 2 more silvers. One is actually in decent shape, but as is typical here, the SLQ is abused. That makes 31 silver coins from this field this year, which is amazing, as if you just drive by it or do any research, you would never have thunk it.
For the first time, saw a local here, who chatted me up. Gave me a possible idea of why the silvers are so abused, and why there are so many. Some local knowledge. I will have to keep it under wraps until I am done here.
Silver #43 this morning, another toasted barber dime from the Field of Dreams. 2013 was my last triple digit year, when I had 209. I miss those triple digit years, but I hit 42 twice since then, so this is a little bit of a breakthru. I don’t worry about milestones too much, but I hate getting stuck on them.
Still half the year left, we’ll see, tho it is unlikely I will find another site like this one.
I’m starting to run out of titles. The meaning of life is of course 42, from the brilliant Doctor Who writer Douglas Adams, who is better known for is 4 book trilogy, which starts with The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
42 is also the number of silvers I’ve found so far this year. Still got a chance at 100, but will have to average better than 10 a month. 42 isn’t bad, as these things go.
Also pulled a copper, first one from this field. Usually pull tons of coppers when I spend this much time on an old field. 28 silvers and 1 copper from this place. Weird.
More from the Field of Dreams today; mid 80s and some wind, so it wasn’t too bad. Found just 2 coins today, both from the same era, both with the same sort of abuse as the others, and, of course, both silver.
One was a 1920 walker, and the other an 1895 barber dime. The dime is low mintage and on the rare side, worth about $80 or so, probably a bit less due to the tarnish. But hey, we’ll take it; silver coins are hard to find, lower mintage ones even harder.
Got out at 6:30 AM to the Field of Dreams, and it was still hot as hell. Managed to tough it out for 3 hours+. Digging is like digging in cement; sometimes it can take 20 minutes to recover a deep target. I only dug a handful of targets that I thought had at least a 50% change of being silver. Fortunately, one of them was, a 1925 merc, which I guess is being hit by the fertilizer that everything else at this place is.
Another one from the Field of Dreams, and as usual, quite ugly. What a weird site, now 23 silvers from a random field, with no evidence that I am aware of that there was ever anything there.
It was hot, human, and the dirt was rock hard. Could only go 3 hours today.
Went to a new site today, a 30s era baseball field. I’m always leery about new sites — is it dead, is metal detecting allowed, are the locals @$$holes, and so forth.
Well, as the late great Meat Loaf said, “2 out of 3 ain’t bad”; too bad the site was pretty dead. Did manage to squeak a merc out on the edge of the site, but I was struggling to find clad and wheaties, and while I don’t like those things and don’t dig them too much, they offer great tells about how well the site has been hunted in the past.
I always give a site 2 good hunts before forming an opinion. Today’s hunt was 2.5 hours, which is a bit below the benchmark of 1.5 to 2 hours per silver, but a bit short. I owe the site about 4.5 more hours to form an opinion, but for now, it is tabled.
Back to the Field of Dreams yet again, and pulled a couple more dimes, including my 10th barber of the season, and a 1916 merc (no D, too bad). Also pulled a vintage sterling ring which I believe is from a Chester County high school.
They finally hayed the Field of Dreams for this first time this season, and I was back. Pulled yet another barber quarter, and silver spoon. Sadly, the barber is quite abused. It is a 1909D.
Its been a while since I’ve been out. Unfortunately, I’ve been busy with other stuff, and my go to sites have become overgrown or have been planted.
I do have a queue of prospective sites; just haven’t been able to get much time on them until today. This site is a very small section of a very large modern park where some old houses once stood. Ignore the sports fields, crash thru some bushes, check the property lines of the park on the county GIS, and viola, silver.
The section in question is small, so I figured it would be dead, but the Benjie says otherwise; apparently not many others put the time in to do the research, or they didn’t hunt with much skill. Site is technically difficult with lots of ferrous and other trash, but the Bengie, in all honesty, was a slam dunk.
Back to the Field of Dreams for another 2 silvers, both of them barber dimes. 30 silvers for the year so far, and 8 barber silvers. 19 silvers from this field. Unbelievable. Very few wheaties, no indian heads, no coppers, no clad, no ferrous targets. “All he does is find silver”. The most bizarre site of all time, but as long as the music is playing, keep dancing.
The universe does mock me tho, as each silver comes out pretty much abused. But whatever, silver is silver.
The Field of Dreams keeps on giving. A pair of Barber silvers and a merc. All abused to the hilt, and that is too bad, but at least fun to dig.
I’ve now pulled 17 silvers from the Field of Dreams. I thought I was basically done here, but found another hot zone. 17 silvers from a field site is off the charts. I’ve done about 5% of this field. Compare to the other field site I’ve been working for a few years, which is twice as big, I’m about 40% done, and have only pulled 2 silvers from that field.
Well, we’ll take it, even tho pretty much every silver that has come out of this place has been abused. The Universe mocks my every move.
More from the Field of Dreams, a trifecta. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that I finished out that zone. Gridded out. The Field of Dreams no more. 12 silvers in 7 hunts, not too bad.
I did find some clad today. Tons of it. 13 pieces in a 10×10 area, and the only clad in the entire field. And it was deeper than the silvers, on average, and relatively modern, with 2 presidential dollars.
The weirdest site I’ve ever done, but we’ll take it.
Two more silver dimes today, the rosie barely legal. The rosie is an anomaly, because it doesn’t have the blackness that every other silver here has, and outside of a stray penny, every coin dig here has been in a tight range of 1901-1944.
Its a weird site. Besides the blackness, all 10 silvers and the wheaties have been shallow, from 1 to 4 inches, most of them at about 2. I have yet to dig a ferrous target, which is weird, as I’m usually pretty aggressive on those 50/50 could be ferrous/could be deep silver.
Just no deep coins here. Plenty of deep canslaws and other high tones, but no coppers (and there should be by now), and no low tones. It is almost as if a layer of fill from a 40s site has been rolled over a much newer patch of dirt, but the area seems too big for that to have happened. Of course, plowing of fields keeps coins from sinking to some extent, but I’ve been on other plowed fields which have had plenty of deep coppers and ferrous targets.
And then there is the black. Why are all the silvers black? I get a few like that, but not pretty much all of them.
Oh well, too many questions. Be happy, as long as the silvers are coming out. Things felt like they were thinning out today, tho, but we’ll see. And another thing, this site is so lopsided that an efficiency ratio I watch, silvers to total coins dug, has exceeded 10% for the year. That has never happened. My goal is to keep that above 5%, and I usually do, and its important to me, but 10% is just crazy.
In any case, don’t worry, be happy.
Back to the new field site I started last week with the Barber quarter, and pulled 5 silvers. Quite a lot for a field site, as these things go. So far 8 silvers from this field in 3 hunts. Sadly, they are quite tarnished, but $1.05 in silver for one hunt isn’t too bad.
Not sure if they hay or plant crops here; in either case I don’t have all that much time left this season, hopefully I’ll find a few more before it gets unhuntable.
New site today, another old field. Managed to pull a barber quarter and merc, both with no eye appeal, but we’ll take it. I don’t see too many barber quarters (only 11 for my career).
The site certainly has potential, and also competition. Saw another guy’s plugs, and rather fresh ones at that. One just 10 feet from the merc, and another about 50 feet from the barber, in vastly different sections of the field.
I could tell by all the high tone trash I was digging that the site has not been hunted hard. It has big fish potential if I can beat the competition and the grass; we’ll see, but its a 30+ acre site, so realistically its mostly luck, tho sometimes, on a good day, I like to think I bring some skill to the game.
I have no idea why I was thinking of this quote all day. I’m not much of a sports fan, but it goes back to a sports quote — “all he does is catch touchdowns”. This was referring an Eagles wide receiver (I believe his name was Cooper, but I could be wrong), who was cut with these words from the coach — “he can’t block, he can’t run, all he does is catch touchdowns”. He continued to catch touchdowns throughout his remaining career, and the quote came up every time, making the coach look like a jackass, which he was, independent of this stupidity.
Anyway, I did find a silver today. First swing, first target, new site. Old house site that is sort of out of the box. I thought this was gonna be a big day, but it wasn’t to be. Only coin I found on the day, and it was frustrating, as the site was littered with deep high tone trash which is usually a good tell.
But hey, I don’t mind being a one trick pony. My time, my equipment. Finding silvers is just fun. Hopefully I will find some more of them. 11 for the year; still could get 100 at 10 per month, buts its tough; we’ll see. Sadly, I was sick and could not get out this week until today, so that makes it even tougher.
Hit a field today that I have been working off and on over the past few years, which has given up quite a few coppers and a seated half dime.
Today, pulled another toasted largie (1823, which seems a semi-key date, tho worthless in dug condition; my 8th copper coin of the year), and a copper charm with some sort of stone.
I don’t know if the stone is a diamond or otherwise precious, and have no idea how to figure it out, but it is cool find something like this that seems likely as old as the largie (it was found about 20 feet away, and most targets here are 1800s or earlier).
Its cool the way rays were carved to radiate out from the stone. Unfortunately, it was a heavy clouded day so I could not see what it looks like in the sun.
Maybe it is not a charm but a small pendant. I can’t conceive of 200 year old charm bracelets, but WDIK?
Same site as recent posts. Found a couple of silvers and coppers since last post, and today a pair of mercs and a 13+ gr 10K class ring. Not bad for this site, 8 silvers this year, and 19 overall, and to think that this was one of my first silver sites. Could have had more.
The ring has a date and initials, so I should be able to return it; if not, $350 in gold, which isn’t a bad days work.
Always nice to get a hat trick. Same site as yesterday. I feel like an idiot for not gridding out this site years ago. I see other guy’s plugs. A detectorist lives adjacent to the site (had a chat with him today).
I’ve got 16 out of this site over the years; probably could have got 30-40 if I started working it hard 10 years ago. I just thought it was more dead than it is.
Just a couple more dimes. These from one of the first sites I ever detected and found silver it. Its been hard hit, but I always seem to find one or two on my first hunt of the year there. You can only hunt it in the early part of the year, before the grass grows in, except for a dead sports field section.
I’d never found a silver in the dead section, until yesterday. I always split my time between the field and dead section, and now maybe this has opened up.
Both silvers were deep whispery tones, typical E-Trac silvers. Was going to lead with the Deus II, but it was chattering like a pinball machine, and the lame headphones didn’t protect my ears from the chill wind, so I swapped the E-Trac in. I’m really disappointed with the Deus II, still 0 silvers, while the E-Trac has a few in well less than half the time.
I’ll still put my 100 hours in with the D II and then decide, but there is so much BS and lies about it by hypsters that all you can do is ignore those clowns and do the science yourself. Its a shame most people don’t know how to think scientifically, logically, and objectively, but you see that all over the world. Too bad.
Thought it was a copper but found a cool piece of history, an 1860 campaign pendant for the the candidacy of John Breckenridge/Joseph Lane for president in 1860. Not much to look at, but clear enough to make out the names.
The middle was apparently a photo/likeness of each candidate made from some sort of iron compound, so it is totally toast.
Here is an unabused look at what the pendant looked like back in the day.
Also found a “heads I win” “tails you lose” coin. Its NC-17 rated; who knew these things existed (I didn’t)? I couldn’t find how far back these go, but given its toasted condition and that it was found near the 1860 pendant, it could be 150+ years old. The oldest I could find online was from the 1960s, but no way a coin that young would be this toasted.
Also found a sterling ring.
Looks like the one the other day. That’s fine, we’ll take it. Same site as well.
I used the Deus II and E-Trac for the same amount of time. Nothing out of the Deus II. In all fairness, the D II had the worse part of the site, and I am still learning it, and it did see the silver fine (it was a typical E-Trac silver where you know what it is before digging, so it was just a matter of running the D II over the spot to test it. Read 95-97, which seems high to me)
4th hunt, first silver. Found with the E-Trac, not the Deus II. House teardown on public property. At most one or two more there. Will lead with the D II next time.
Got me a new Deus II. Got it a few weeks ago, but was only able to get out with it a couple times. I sort of like it, but it does not live up to the hype so far. I like its weight, target location, and iron detection. I don’t think it is deeper than the E-Trac, at least so far (but there is alot to learn), and its TID is dreadful.
At this point, I do not see it replacing the E-Trac as my bread and butter machine, but it could still be a specialty machine for fields, the beach, and old farmsites, so I rarely hunt beaches, and have yet to test it on old farmsites. It may also be better in mineralized ground, we’ll see.
Way too early to make a judgment, but so far the E-Trac is winning. Deus is was easier to swing and more efficient, but the TID doesn’t come close to the E-Trac.
I only have 6 hours, and want to get to 100 to make a judgment. Links to some of my comments on FMDF, and my second hunt, which includes a toasted half cent, which I don’t find too often.
22 silvers this year. A bit of a disappointment, as I put in the hours for about 30-35. Usually the excuse that I don’t get out enough is genuine, but stats are just down this year. While I did hunt alot of fields, it was the traditional more modern silver sites that were not giving up the goods.
I did find a couple of nice coins that made my best finds list, both in fields, a decent bust half dollar and seated half dime.
I got a Nox which I didn’t really like, so I kept with the E-Trac; its a real workhorse, but it is heavy, the buttons are starting to stick, and it is over 10 years old. Found about 1400 silvers with it, tho.
So I need an upgrade, and rather than fight with the Nox, decided to treat myself to the new Deus II. Not sure when I will get it.
I think making goals for the year is a bit silly, especially for this sort of hobby, so how about “get out as much as possible” and “learn the Deus II”.
We’ll see. Happy hunting out there.