Boy, Santa left me some ugly silver this Christmas. Not much to say about these really. Both were deep, and both were from the sparse site from yesterday. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a walker that worn, and surprised to find one at this site.

Looks to be a 28S. Can barely make out the 28, can’t make out a mintmark, but they only made S’s that year.

A couple of new sites, the first, an old field, yielded a KG II and KG III copper. Of course they were toasted, but finding 1700s coins is still cool. This site has promise.

The second site was an old ballfield I just discovered on the aerials. It was really hard to see on the aerials, and in an out of the way location, and at an out of the way spot at the site as well. I had high hopes, but it was picked pretty clean. One silver in 3.5 hours. and not much clad. No trace of the field now.

Another silver, the only one of the hunt, and only the 3rd quarter I have recovered from this site. This quarter was under a fence that wasn’t there back in the day, and took a bit of work to extract, and it got a bit scratched.

But, always remember to look under bushes, fences, and other stuff that was not there back in the day, and once in a while you will get what the other folks have missed.

Back to the same site, and another merc and a ring with some purple stones. On a little bit of a hot streak lately.

Back to the clad site of yesterday, and still dug a ton of clad ($6.90), but also got some shiny. A nice little hat trick.

Back to the site I was at the last time. I can’t believe how much clad I dug. I hate digging clad, but I feel obliged to dig the quarters. I dug 38 quarters, 8 dimes, 1 penny, and a dollar coin. What’s with that? Who managed to cherrypick the silver and leave all that clad. That is what I try to do. Well, it added up to about $12 bucks or so.

Did manage to snag a copper. And you can even read the date, an 1816 largie. Only the second copper I have ever dug here. I’ve been coming here for several years, and the site has given up 23 silvers. It should have given up a few with all that clad.

Back to the milestone site. Pulled a rosie, a copper, and cool sterling ring. This is the first copper I have ever found at this site, in several years of detecting. It should have more, as it had been farmland forever.

As usual, the copper is toasted, but you can make out a little detail. It is probably a KG III.

Been frustrating as I have been about a bit since the summer, when I last posted. Not alot, but enough that I should have crossed the milestone some time ago. I don’t get hung up on milestones too much, but this started to nag me.

Just a couple of rosies, but we’ll take ’em and are at 1401 silvers for the career. And those many years where I didn’t detect much, and my yearly total was low teens or less. Hopefully I will have a good year next year.

Haven’t got out but once since my last post in late May, and did pretty well today, nailing 4 mercs, a largie, and a bison.  As near as I can tell, the bison is 1916, and the largie is 1851.

This is a permission site (a church), and I have not hit it in a while due to the fact that they changed priests, and it was a period where I moved onto other things.

But the new priest also gave me permission the other day, so off I went.  The site, or at least this section of it, can be frustrating, as the ground is highly mineralized (the largie was at 4-6 inches, and was a tough signal, and all the other coins were shallow.

But, I’ve dug 43 silvers here over the years, so I must be doing something right.  Today, all 6 coins were dug in the first 45 minutes, then nothing but a wheatie over the next 2 hours.  I think I was moving from a bad mineralization section to an impossible one.  I want to hunt 3-4 hours today, but the heat, bugs, and lack of late hunt finds sent me packing after 2:50.

This might be a site to try the Nox, to see if all the hype about how good it is mineralization is true.

Finally got another one off my bucket list, the elusive (at least for me) seated half dime.

This is from a field I have been hunting off and on for the past 3 years; it is huge, and has given up 10 coppers and a handful of IHs, but been stingy on the silver, haven given up only a rosie.

It was only an inch or two deep, in very rocky soil above a large rock which prevented it from sinking. Its a bit scratched up, but we’ll take it. Its a decent looking coin. I don’t think the scratches are my fault, as they show tarnish; I imagine its from years of large farm machines rolling over the rocky soil.

I am so happy to find one of these.  For some reason, by dream coin when I started to detect was the seated half dime.  Even tho I’ve found a draped bust half dime, and seated dimes, quarters, and a half, this one has always eluded me until now.  Now just need the 20 center and the dollar to complete the seated series.  Good luck with that

.

This is one of the nicest coins I have ever found. I rank it #2.

Hit a new site today, with an old school and some old ballfields, and I expected a 30s-40s kind of silver site.

But no silvers on the ballfields or around the school building, but the site has a large amount of fields, so I wandered them a while. Hit some old targets like an unidentifiable copper (I think it is a KG II), a shoe buckle, and some tack, and a beautiful 06-48 to 08-48 on the E-Trac in a remote corner of one of the fields, near the end of the day, and there she was.

Its one of the weird 3 varieties for that date, not sure which one, but I think the “patched 3”.

I haven’t found many silvers yet this year, but some of the ones I have found have been memorable.  In fact, I’ve only found 6 so far, but 4 have been half dollar sized.

Hit a huge field today, only the second time at this site.  There are the visible ruins of a very old house, which I hit the first time I was here last fall, but came up empty.

Today I hit the area around another house that shows up on the 1930s era aerial photo, but there is no trace if it now.  Just 10 minutes into the hunt hit an 11-46 on the E-Trac, which is usually a clad quarter, and was quite surprised and elated when this popped out.  My first ever 4 reale, and only keeper of the hunt.

A bit weird to have a hole in one side but not the other. Looking at the hole, it looks like a small image of the king in it.  I don’t know enough about these things to know if that was intentional at the mint, or post circulation, or I’m just seeing things.

I now have the half reale, 1 reale, 2 reale, and 4 reale.  Just need the big one.  Good luck with that.

These are from a huge field I’ve been working off and on over the past few years. It can only be worked when the hay isn’t up. Its given up about 8 coppers, but only one silver. I like detecting here as it is a nice place with a nice view, but as a silver guy, it can get quite tedious if you are into the excitement of silver in the hole.

Today I dug a musket ball and a toasted KG III. I rarely dig musket balls, and they are quite a thrill for me. It wasn’t a military site (AFAIK), so I imagine the owner trying to shoot a deer or turkey back in the day for dinner.

Only 4 silvers so far this year, and 2 have been half dollars.  This is the same site I found the walker at, and posted about a week or so ago.  Only site that has given up silver this year, tho I have only been on 5 hunts.

This was a measured 10 inches deep, and that is not counting the turf, so call it 11.  I rarely find coins this deep, in fact, this is easily my deepest measured coin find.  And it sounded pretty good on the E-Trac too.  And, as I mentioned earlier, this is a hunted out site.

I don’t know that I can ever get away from the E-Trac; I guess I’ll try the Nox when the E-Trac stops hitting them.

First copper of the year.  This is from a site I was hitting a bit last summer, and it gave up 20 silvers including a double digit day, but the good areas seemed to have run out.

This copper gives hope to the seemingly dry areas.  I thought the site dated back to the 1920s, but I looked at a map from 1901, and found a house near where I found it.  Around here, if a building is on those maps, it is usually from at least 1800, so there is hope.

Back to the the site of the walker, and managed to squeak out another silver in 2.5 hours of 40 mph wind.  This was one of those E-Trac deep silvers where you just know it is a silver before you dig, and you know other machines missed it.  The Nox may be a better machine, or so they say (but my jury is still out), but the E-Trac is just more fun.

Even tho this site is on the stingy side, it always seems to give up something, and as it has given up a reale and a copper in the past, you always have a chance at a big fish.

This site is hard hit.  I see other plugs and other detectorists here all the time.  Just proves machine and skill still have some value.

Well, I’d like to be finding more silver, but we’ll take ’em one day at a time.  I intend to hunt mostly fields this year, so I don’t see a big silver number at the end of the year, but it is nice that this field, based on its history, can give up modern silver when the old fish are not biting.

3rd hunt of the year, and 3rd this week.  First hunts since last fall, and managed to snag a walker.  Sparse site, but it often gives me something good; I’ve pulled a reale and a barber quarter out of here in the past.

Grass is only mowed once a year, so you can only hunt it in the spring.  2 hours in, I had only 4 coins, and nothing old, so I was getting frustrated.  This was a real screamer, and I didn’t think it had much chance of being a big silver, but there is was, at the bottom of the hole.

This part of the site is difficult to work, as there is alot of high tone trash in the area, and it is tough to work around.  Large pieces of copper from who knows what, and after digging a few, you get burnt out, and have to go by size and sound, and hope for the best.

I imagine that is how this was missed, as it is a difficult guessing game.

Well, not much to post for the Year End Summary, but the scripts make me do it.

I found 34 silvers this year.  I didn’t go detecting but a handful of times since August.  Hopefully we will all have a better year this year.

Well, I broke down and bought another new toy, a Nox 800.  I always planned to stick with the E-Trac, but the exact same forum member who sold me my E-Trac used 11 years ago offered a used Nox 800 up for sale, and I could not resist.

They say the Nox is better, but I certainly intend to keep the E-Trac.  I intend to compare them side by side and make up my own mind which is better.  Always be open minded.  And, besides, buying it used, the financial risk is low as I can always sell it used.

All I have done so far is put it together, and read the manual.  Here are my thoughts so far re the E-Trac.

Negative:  Apparently no sizing pinpointing or response long setting.  These settings are crucial for getting the most out of the E-Trac.  These settings allow you to run the machine hotter than you should, and still dig mostly deep coin targets and avoid alot of noise.  Most negative, however, is the reduced TID range, from 50 to 40 in the conductive zone.  It appears this would compromise the E-Trac’s ability to distinguish clad from silver, and identify wheaties with certainty.  This is the most crucial ability of the E-Trac, as who wants to dig clad and wheaties when looking for silver?  It is crucial for efficiency.

Positive:  Waterproof.  I can’t use my E-Trac even in the lightest drizzle, as it gets weird for some reason.  Speed.  I expect the Nox to be faster, as the processor is 15 years newer technology.  People talk about this benefit, and I’m hoping it plays out, tho the E-Trac is damn fast.  Also, the sweep speed is recommended at 3 seconds rather than 4 seconds.  That is a 25% improvement.  Maybe I can gain some efficiency there.  Difficult ground.  More options for dealing with difficult ground — manual ground balancing and more noise cancel channels.  The ground is variable around here; perhaps this will open up some sites.  Depth?  Everyone claims it is deeper than the E-Trac; I have my doubts, but we’ll see.  Beach.  I rarely go the beach, but the E-Trac isn’t that good in wet sand, is not waterproof.  I am not an underwater detectorist, but accidents can happen in the wet sand.

Well, I guess I have to reserve judgment until I do some testing.  The putative inability to discriminate out clad and wheaties looks like the biggest show stopper.  As I see it now, it will be a backup machine, or a specialty machine for rainy days, the beach, real trashy old sites without tons of clad (old farmhouses where you dig everything anyway), and we’ll see if we get better performance in difficult dirt.

Back to last weekend’s site which produced 11 silvers.  Who wouldn’t?

First hour, not a single coin, but grind it out for a total of nearly 4 hours, and managed to get 4 silvers.  2 quarters were in the same hole.  Site has now given up 23 silvers, which isn’t bad as these things go, but I’ve completed the major section.  Now there are some other fringe sections, but they will be harder to detect.

Weird that this site has given 10 quarters and 13 dimes.  I don’t think I’ve seen a ratio like that before.  I think alot of the dimes are just out of reach.

What an amazing hunt this morning.  Haven’t been out much lately due to the heat and life, but got out today before the crack of 8 AM, and first target, in about 10 minutes, was a barber dime, up against a big low conductor target that made pinpointing and TID awkward.  Soon another barber with a merc in the same hole, and then 2 quarters, all in under an hour.  Unbelievable.  I haven’t had a six pack in forever, and I wanted one today.

Next keeper dig was my 3rd quarter in a row, giving me the six pack, and then things slowed down somewhat; a few wheats then a slam dunk rosie putting me at 7.

My goal was to hunt for three hours this morning, and at about the three hour mark, I hit another deep iffy signal which is iron most of the time, but it was the 1897 barber, maybe 8 inches down.

Once I was at 8 silvers for the day, I was going for 10, even tho it was time to go home.  Just something in the air today, very little EMI for some reason, and the deep iffys which always seem to be iron were silvers this time.

Hit a rosie then another deep iffy, which was the really thin barber (1899), giving me my first double digit day since 1/31/13.

I wanted to finish out the whole section I was working, but I was shot; stupid me, I forgot my water.  So I just gridded out the last rank I was working and hit another deep merc on the way out.

I’ve been really thinking about getting a Nox lately, but the way this trusty E-Trac is treating me, I’m not sure.  I think she is jealous 🙂

Total hunt time 3:45.  I don’t think I’ve ever hit 3 silvers per hour, but I was close today.

This was about my 6th or 7th hunt at this site, usually somewhat stingy giving a silver at 1 per 1-2 hours, but one day it gave me 5 silvers.  I’ll never figure this hobby out.

I’ve only been out twice since my last post.  Too much heat and too much life.  The shovel works well, tho  How could it not, its a shovel after all.

I found this button yesterday, flat button, full shank, about 200 years old, about the size of a dime.  Some people get excited about finding this sort of thing.  I’m not one of those people, but it is still cool in some sort of way.

I find quite a bit of these, as well as other relics 200-300 years old.  I just leave them in the hole for the next guy most of the time unless there is writing on them, or there is something else eye catching about them.  Catch and release, as it were.  I know the next guy will enjoy finding them much more than I did, and I believe all actions of man must increase positive utility in the world.

I’m only posting this button because I made major changes to the software that makes this place run, and I just want to make sure it works.  Hopefully the heat will break soon, and I’ll get out and find something absolutely stunning.  Well, at least maybe the heat will break someday.

I have not been out since my last post, unfortunately, but hope to get out this week.  Got a new toy, tho, Gravedigger Tools Nemesis shovel.  36 inches long.

Hand welded by the owner of the company, and seems pretty well built.  It looks pretty badass, and I can’t wait to give it a test drive.

I haven’t had a 5 silver day in forever.  Literally, the very first swing of the day was a solid silver quarter sound, and there it was.  It was an  awkward spot: a sliver of grass between a large light pole and the edge of the parking lot.  Awkward spots on the fringes often hide silvers.

Seemed like a good omen, but then an hour of nothing, not even much clad or any wheaties.  Then I started hitting deep clad, which is always a good sign.  Then hit a signal dancing between a wheatie and a silver, and was disappointed that it was only a wheatie.

But rescanned the hole, and the silver was loud and clear, a dateless SLQ.  To any newbies, always rescan your holes.

Not 5 minutes later, hit another silver sound, and it was a merc.  Rolled the pinpointer around the hole again, and another merc.  To any newbies, always rescan your holes.

Then, pretty much the next swing, hit another silver quarter.  4 silvers in under 10 minutes.  Counting the first one of the day, it was 5 silvers in about 75 minutes, and this site generally runs 1 silver per 2 hours.  Must have hit a little bit of a hot spot there.  Maybe a picnic table was there in the past, that not only concentrated people, but locked out the detectorists that came before me.

The rest of the hunt, tho, produced nothing, but 5 silvers in 3 hours isn’t too bad.

Heard a great quote the other day — “I’ve always wanted to live thru the Great Depression, the Spanish Flu, and the Unrest of ’68 all in one week”.  Yeah, me too.

Me, I just mind my own business, I don’t bother anyone, and hope no one bothers me.  Metal detecting is the perfect hobby for that mindset.  Sometimes you even get lucky and stumble upon a silver, which is a positive experience.  Always seek out positive experiences, and never, ever, visit negative experiences on anyone else, ever.

I’ve been in a slump.  About 10-15 hours without finding a silver.  Frustrating.  But got one today, as well as a silver ring.  This is one of the first sites I ever detected, but I have only found 4 silvers there.  Its far from me, and I only hit it when I run errands in that direction.

Its a difficult site to detect.  Huge, and highly mineralized.  This rosie was only 4.5 inches deep, and was an iffy signal.  The mineralization whacks out the target ID, so you waste so much time digging clad.

But, I think there are probably 20+ silvers here if I had the patience, and lived closer.

Been awhile since I’ve been out, but went to a trusty site today, but the fish weren’t biting. Went to another site on the way home, which I had never really researched much, and the last time I was there was in 2008.

Not much there either, but found a small section where I was getting deep clad, which is always a good sign, then a nice possible silver signal that turned out the be a half cent.   Half cents are hard to find; the last one I found was in 2013.

Unable to get out much lately, but today went to a new site which I had high hopes for.  Got a quarter early on, which juiced my hopes, but the site was very very sparse.  Will become a backup site, unfortunately.

I don’t usually blog when I find just one silver, but I’m bored.  Fortunately, PA’s “shelter in place” permits “exercise”, which to me ncludes metal detecting, so it is unclear why I was not motivated to get out today.  I think it is because it is cold out.  At least I got out yesterday.  Its rare that I’m unmotivated, just one of those once a decade days.

This site is one of my oldest sites, first hunt, about ten years ago, produced my oldest silver, a 1755 reale, and a barber quarter.  But, it has never been a go to site, always a backup site.  But it has worked well in that regard — whenever I’m in the area, and the primary site fails, I can always count on coming here as a backup and finding something.  The rational thing to do would be to grid it out, but I like having there as a backup.

This dime was 8 inches deep, and on its side.  Still love the E-Trac.

Went to two sites today.  First is a very old site that was recently opened up as a park.  Had some positive expectations, but did not find a single coin. Not even a zincoln.  Only dug 3 targets in an hour and a half, and all were junk.  Not a high tone all day.  Talk about hunted out.  Clearly the crowd soonered the site before it was a park

Went to my backup site just 2 miles down the road, and nailed some shiny; 2 in 2 hours, which is not too bad as these things go.  Its a large, complex site, and more my style to figure stuff out.  Optimistic about getting more out of here, as one silver per hour sites don’t come along too often anymore.  Still a small sample size to peg it on that ratio tho, we’ll see.

Hit an old schoolhouse today, first time at the site.  Fill and grade twins have wreaked their evil all over the site, and a huge parking lot was put in, so you have to pick your spots to find undisturbed ground.  Hit 7 wheaties before nailing a couple of hunt saving silvers as the last two targets.

Also hit a different old schoolhouse early in the week, originally hit the site in 2010 and had not been back since.  Same exact problem of the fill and grade twins, picked my spots, and nailed a rosie (not shown).

Its kinda fun nailing these little patches that perhaps others overlook, but I need a mega silver site like the old days.

Site I was at last Friday gave up a couple more mercs today.  The second one was only 2 inches deep, but on its side.  E-Trac is amazing at finding coins on their side.  This place has been hunted hard, and all that is there is surface clad and deep stuff, so hard to believe I found a 2 inch deep silver.  Was it because it was on its side for 70 years, and never sunk, or was it a mistaken drop from another detectorist?  We’ll never know, but we’ll take it.

Finally got out this year.  Was hoping for 100 silvers this year, just need 8 per month, but missed the first 3 months.  O well.

Al least the first target of the year was a silver, a 1916 merc.  It does have a D on the back, just not in the right place.

New park, is huge, but sparse.  Also found 9 wheaties.  Not a great ratio to say the least.  Has promise, but we’ll see.  I’m guessing a 5-10 silver site.

The software that makes this thing work requires a post called “Year End Summary”, so here we go.

It was a comeback year for me, 42 silvers starting from about mid year, when most previous years after the triple digit years just hit just single digits.  I thought I could get to 100 given I only came back in June, but a nasty back injury ended those plans.

Hilights were a beautiful 1876CC seated quarter, and a not so beautiful 1793 chain cent, but chain cents are hard to find.  Never ever seen another posted on any forum, ever, anywhere.

As for the back injury, it seems to have passed.  Lets hope so.  I should be out today, but I’m not.  I am going for 100 silvers in 2020; should be incredibly difficult, but I’ve never been one to shy from a challenge.  If I stay healthy, that is only 8 or so a month.  How hard could that be?

Yesterday’s digs at a small park I last detected in 2010.  Surprised to find a silver quarter.  Also a couple of silver blings; the devil thing is pretty cool.

Haven’t found too much lately, and am so desperate for finds to write about, I’m down to what the birds are dropping.

Found me a bird band this morning.  I knew birds were banded for research and all, but who knew this was “a thing” you could find with a metal detector.  Well duh, its metal, isn’t it?  (Well so are Super Bowl rings, and I am still waiting for my first of those).

So yeah, of course there is a web site you can enter the id, and of course I entered it, and it told me my bird was a Canada goose from Lac Nutillilik 75 km N Kuujjuaq, Quebec Canada, banded 07/31/1997.

So that’s that.  Other finds lately, another toasted IH, and a 1946 rosie.

Dug an 1844 large cent, toasted wheatie, and musket ball today.  This is the 8th large copper I have dug from this site, which is a random field I’ve been working on and off since last year.

Still not a single silver.  Getting a bit frustrated in that regard.

I just realized that I never post the depths of my digs, and that is because I never know, and don’t care all that much, but my new pinpointer has a ruler right on it, so it is pretty much automatic.

The largie was 8.5 inches deep, not counting an inch or two for the turf, and the wheatie was about 7 inches deep.  I’m not going to see silver dimes at that depth, in all likelyhood, but I did find a bust silver half in a random field, so we can hope for big silver someday.

Finally found this lost baseball field in the woods that I’ve been looking for off and on for a while.  Always suspected there was or should be a field there, but could never find it on the historical aerials, and finally did.

Once you know it is there, it is obvious to see; why I never found it before, I dunno.  In my defense, these aerials are quite large, not cropped down like this.

And the evidence, the old backstop found.  Unfortunately, quite overgrown.

More pics of the site.  I’d say about 5-10% of the terrain is actually swingable.  You have to crawl under branches and thru brambles and thornbushes to find these little clearings under the canopy where the thornbushes and underbrush don’t grow.

Given the low likelyhood that the site has been detected hard with an E-Trac, if at all, it seems likely that I’ll be pulling silvers out of here by the bucketfull, right?  Well, we’ll see. yesterday’s take, proving the site is viable —

I dunno.  I’ve probably hit 50% of the clear areas already.  Either the veg goes down this winter, or the land is cleared someday, or this will probably be about it for this site.

Too bad, as these things go.  Last time I found an old ballfield site, I think I found 14 silvers.

But, for me, its also about finding the site in the first place.  Hard to believe that I’ve been looking for this off and on since I started detecting.  Not hard or aggressively, but off and on.  Why I could not see it on the aerials before, who knows?

Dirt is rock hard around here, so we are in Random Field Theory mode.  I like detecting big, nondescript fields in the first place, as they have given up some of my best finds, but when the dirt is like cement, it is the only choice, as you dig very few targets, and you don’t care so much if the plug turns brown.

I’ve hit this field many times in the past year, and got my first silver object yesterday, a cute small silver spoon.  I also dug the 1817 LC, which I can conveniently use for size reference.

It says BATTLESHIP MAINE DESTROYED FEB 15 ’98 on the inside, along with the ship.

7 coppers, 2 indian heads, and a handful of wheaties from this field.  Still no silver coins.  A bit frustrating, but I’m patient.  Outside the coppers, had 2 other nice silver signals, which turned out to be 70s clad quarters.

I feel it tho, I’m pulling an old silver coin out of there today.

Bought me a new metal detecting tool today.  Not exactly what you’d expect —

But when a promising site looks like this —

And you are dealing with this —

You need to make it look like this —

And hopefully you end up with something like this —

It is actually alot of work, but it does work.  That’s dedication, but maybe a bit overboard in the lust for silver.

This is the second silver I’ve gotten from this site, the first being the last one I posted, from a less overgrown area.  Also found a couple of wheaties from the early 20s.  Site has promise if the grass will die down on its own, or I want a real workout.

Well, after finding a 4 reale which could not be verified, and a chain cent that could barely be verified, both stunning rarities if even in passable condition, the universe continues to mock my every move.

Hit a couple of new sites, and a trusty old one that has produced 20 silvers including a nice seated quarter, and pretty much got skunked.  Yesterday’s hunt in particular was quite frustrating, as I thought it was a nice out of the box area that would reward my research and powers of observation, and I was hitting tons of bottlecaps.

Unlike most, I absolutely love finding deep bottlecaps.  They almost always sound like old coins, so everyone has to dig them.  Moreover, lots of bottlecaps means the site was not hunted well in the 80s or 90s, an era when machines couldn’t tell them apart.  They show the site was not detected very hard.

When I find bottlecaps, I usually find silvers in greater numbers

But, these bottlecaps were insidious.  They were big, and sounded like deep silver quarters and half dollars.  They were about 10/11 inches deep in rock hard soil.  Moreover, there was not a lick of a breeze, so it was on the hot side, and the gnats were brutal with no wind to keep them down.

And not a single coin, outside a few pieces of clad.  Not even a wheatie.  My guess is that the evil Fill & Grade twins had visited the site sometime in the past, as the bottlcaps seemed deep for their apparent age, and the machine likely would not have heard dimes and pennies at that depth (there was also 2 inches of grass on top).

Oh well.

One site did produce a lone silver quarter, so it wasn’t a total skunkfest, but that site is so overgrown with grass, only a fraction of it is swingable.

Dug my rarest coin, as a type, today, a chain large cent.  Its not much to look at, but I’ve always wanted to dig one, for some reason.  This is from the same site as the heartbreak silver, and a few other silvers and wheaties.

First, the total digs —

We got the chain cent, a liberty cap large cent, a Franklin Institute medallion, a toasted 1888 IH, a 1941 wheatie, as well as a buckle and a button.  The button has writing on it, but I’m too excited about the chain largie to process it.

The chain cent is pretty abused.  I’ve taken alot of pics to document and prove what it is, and the photography is hard, at least for me.  I’ve documented the weight and size as well, which is consistent with a chain.  Its the only US coin with these dimensions.  I didn’t have to find features to prove it, but I did manage to get some features to come out.

Now, we also have a liberty cap large cent as well.  These things are pretty rare to dig as well, but not nearly as rare as the chain.  I think this is the fourth I’ve dug.  Note something interesting about this coin, tho — someone hammered it down to be the same size as the chain cent.  Why?

I found it about an hour after the chain, about 20 feet away.  Could someone have thought the chain’s unique size was the standard (it was the first, and only large cent at the time), and decided the new liberty cap should be the same dimensions for some reason?  Does that mean that had possessed alot of chain cents, in order to make that judgement that this one was weird and needed to be fixed?  Did they lose any more of them, hopefully in better condition?

We’ll see, as I intend to pound the area again.

Finally, we have a Franklin Institute medallion.  This medallion sounded like, and looked like, the third copper of the day.  I don’t recall the last time, if ever, that I’ve had a copper hat trick, and it was not to be today, either.

I don’t find medallions terribly interesting, but I could not find this particular one online.  It says, in various places — “FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE MECHANIC ARTS 1824”; “THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA”; “IN HONOR OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN”.

It was found at the same depth, and in the same area, as the coppers.  I’d love to know how old it is.

Turns out yesterday’s silver disk may be a 4 reale.  A 4 reale is a Spanish silver coin, probably minted in Mexico City, like most Spanish silver found in America.  If you think of “Pieces of Eight”, a 4 reale is half of that.  Pieces of Eight circulated widely in early America, and I’ve found 1/2 reales, 1 reale, and 2 reales.  (A 1 reale is one “piece of eight”.  The American phrase “2 bits” for a quarter dollar comes from this system, as sometimes they cut the 8 reale coins into 8 bits).

4 reales are incredibly rare.  They may be rarer than the namesake 8 reale, I dunno.

But, I can’t prove it is a 4 reale.  (I did upgrade it from a silver object to a silver coin, tho, so I get an extra silver on my stats :)).  The evidence that it may be a 4 reale comes from its diameter, consistent with a 4 reale, but not with an American half or silver dollar.  Moreover, the edging is consistent with a 4 reale, sort of a spaced reeding, as in this pic.

There is a thread about my coin on FMDF, which is rather interesting, and gave me the idea that it could be a reale (I thought it was a clock part or something).  The thread suggests giving it an acid bath to see if features will come out, as was done with another coin (the acid is a mixture of nitric and diluted HCl, which I just happen to have on hand, doesn’t everyone?).

It didn’t work.  Too bad.  In a way I am glad, as knowing you have a worthless rare find seems worse than thinking you have a clock part or something.

That said, I found something really rare, and really toasted today, that, unlike this, I think I can prove.  About to write it up.

Back to a recent site yesterday, the old farmhouse with the clothesline, which has given up 3 silver dimes and a ton of wheaties, but nothing older than a 1909 penny.

Got a nice big deep silver signal after about 2 hours of swinging, and the dirt is rock hard, so I work the hole for a while, and get a ferrous nail.  Typical, but the signal was too good, so I rescan the hole, and it is still there.  Pound the dirt some more, another nail.  Keep going at it, another nail.

All in all, 5 nails, and still no big silver, but I still hear it down there.  Are you kidding me?  All these from the hole, after about 10 minutes of working the hard dirt.

Still hear that silver down there, and eventually I get it, out pops a 200 year old half dollar!!  Or should have.  Out pops a half dollar sized silver disk.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!  What a heartbreak.

I don’t know what it is, or how old it is.  No markings, but the size of a half dollar, and passes the acid test for silver (also dug a toasted 1880 indian head, my first at this site, and an old button, posted for size reference).  The silver disk weights a touch over 11 grams.

Five nails in the hole (can your machine do that?), 10 minutes of digging, for that heartbreak.  It is really hard to describe the experience of seeing that in the hole at an old site.

And, on Sunday, hit a site I’ve been working and written about a bit, finishing out the old section of the site with no silvers on the day, but did snag a 64 rosie and silver ring in a newer section.  Its hard to say when the newer section was built, not on the 50s aerials, but on the 70s aerials, so not clear if there is more silver there.

A composite pic of the 2 hunts for the gallery:

Not quite today.  How about a finger full of silver?  I think this should suffice to summarize my feelings towards human nature referred to yesterday 🙂

Anyway, we got a single rosie today at the farmhouse from the last hunt.  Found the clothesline, or at least the post anchors in the ground that were likely the clothesline, but just this and a clad dime under the clothesline.  Competition hit it good, but they missed that rosie; a screaming silver signal at 3 inches that even a Radio Shack machine would have found (yeah, I had one when I was a kid).

Almost done this site, one more day, then a huge field which needs to be hayed, so not sure when I will get to it.  Have to be in the mood for Random Field Theory anyway.

I feel I didn’t hunt the site with much skill.  3 silvers, all modern, and about 15 or so wheaties.  Terrible efficiency ratio, which we want under 2.5, maybe 3.5 at a site like this.  Left plenty of wheaties in the ground for the next fellow, but feel I should have gotten more good stuff.  No indian heads.  I think finding indian heads is a sign of skill.  I’ve never hunted them before, as they come out worthless, and are often mid tone trash, but I really want another half dime or trime, so I have been going after mid tones more and more at sites like this.

Last section is the hardest.  Tons of ferrous and mineralization, but we’ll see.