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New Day, New Site, New Lessons Learned


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With a bit of research looking at old topo maps and aerial photos, I found another promising site 5 minutes from my home.  It's currently a school built about 25 years ago with a nice size sports field.  What I found is that an older school was previously located where the sports field is now.  Bingo!  Along the street I could see old sidwalk and concrete steps outside the school fence so decided to start there on Saturday.  Fisher F75 w/5"x10" concentric, de (default) process, gain of 70, no disc, 4H tones.  Quite a bit of trash, but still manageable with this coil.  Found a couple copper pennies (one at 4" depth, other a bit shallower) which I couldn't identify -- good sign -- so put them in the secret slot of my nail apron.

After about 3 1/2 hours of my allotted 5 I decided to switch to the 5" DD round coil (otherwise same settings) and test the schoolyard on the other side of the fence, but still in the shade.  Might have been my first hit -- boucing a bit but in the 'good coin' range (i.e. higher than Zincoln) so started to dig.  I had a couple issues with this hole:  1) 1/8"-1/4" roots of nearby tree -- try not to cut those, this isn't my property..., and 2) about 2-3 inches down I was hitting crushed stone.  Was this previouly a driveway, or was it backfill?  I should have been a bit more careful but when it's getting later in my hunt I'm tired and tend to work fast (sloppy).  About 4 inches down I see white metal... Could it be?  Out comes a coin and turning it over I see the classic reverse of a Mercury dime!  My research has been justified; this is an old site.  Kept searching but nothing else turns up of value.  End of day 1 but I already have plans for day 2, even though I have other plans/tasks and won't be able to get out as early or for as long.  (Good news: my sloppy digging/prying didn't mar the coin, but lesson learned?)

Day 2:  decided to try put the concentric coil back on and return to where I found the Merc.  I'm getting a lot of clipping of signals (recall, no disc so that isn't it) and start wondering if there is a problem.  Then I remembered how many overloads I had gotten with the 5" DD the day before.  Was this area littered with sheet metal scraps large enough to cause overloads and clipping?  I kept going without success, then decided to wander over to another spot near the fence (less likely backfilled).  Got a strong signal with high ID but when pushing the coil close to the ground (better pinpointing and ID determination) the detector overloaded.  Hmmm, this seems like a small target, but overload?  Pop can?  I decided to investigate (I'm one of those paranoid searchers that just knows that as soon as I skip one it'll be the Heart of the Ocean :smile:) so I push the tip of my Lesche down about an inch and out pops some kind of silver(?) jewelry, annular shape (but not a finger ring).  Into the hidden pocket for later inspection.

As I return to where I found the Merc my eye catches something very bothersome -- a 3-4 inch diamter hole in the ground, rather deep.  Had I forgotten to fill in my excitement yesterday?  But where is the dirt pile?  I'm sure this is something I had dug, but I never fail to backfill.  In fact, after cutting a sod plug, everything that comes out of the hole goes into a gold pan I carry just for this purpose.  Empty the pan back into the hole and replace the plug.  I didn't leave my gold pan so I had to have refilled.  WTF??  Well, I need to fill it back in so I look around for some stones.  Peering on the other side of the fence (there was a deep drainage cut next to the street and I had seen rubble there yesterday which would work) I see another similar hole!  Now I'm really annoyed.  Is this why detectorists get banned, accused of not filling their holes?  Obviously some animal (humans are animals, too) had re-excavated a couple of my holes.  After filling in both I have a decision to make -- should I just cut bait and jump ship?  I don't want any more of this to happen.  This is a schoolyard and kids can twist ankles in such a hole.  Then I decided I hadn't done anything wrong.  Why let someone ruin my day?

With the signal overload still on the back of my mind, I decided to switch to the Fisher Gold Bug Pro with 5" DD and see how it performs.  I also was curious to see what ID's it shows.  Retracing my tracks inside the fence I confirm with several overloads -- something big is under the surface and I'm not digging it.  Also, the sun is moving such that I'm running out of shade inside the schoolyard and I recall that I had left some ground unsearched outside the fence (where there is shade) so back there I go.  The usual junk (foil, grrrr) but before my 3 1/2 hours are up I made three interesting hits which I'll finish with here before showing the loot haul. 

A) Getting an inconsistent ID near nickel 5 cent -- that is typical of ring and beavertail so this is my guess.  Handheld pinpointer (White's TRX) signals so I dig and find a small nail.  Now most of you know that nails, depending upon orientation, can be all over the ID scale.  Was this it?  Then I look in the gold pan and there is round disk -- had already pulled it out without noticing -- dark (nickel size) coin.  So the signal was jumpy because I had two targets, one good and one bad.  I'm learning all the time.

B) searching right along the vertical edge of the concrete sidewalk I get a high ID (but not clean) and decide to dig.  Nothing on the TRX at first, but then a couple inches down it sounds off, and a bit more digging reveals a tiny ring.  How can that read high?  Back over the hole with the GB-Pro and another signal, this time some junk (can't remember but probably wad of aluminum foil).  Was the high tone from the junk?  Did I even get a signal from the ring or was this find completely serendipitous?  Into the hidden chamber!

C) about out of time, I get a strong coin (copper penny or dime) hit and figure it's close to the surface, probably a recent drop.  Immediately I see an exposed tree root right where the signal is.  Have to dig around that.  TRX sounds strong and as I work my way around the root it seems like it's actually inside the root.  Now what?  In the past when this has happened I've just thrown in the towel, not wanting to damage anything.  But I noticed the root appeared to split into two branches so I pried between and out pops a penny.  Hmmm.  I still figure it's new (Memorial, but not Zincoln) and put it into the pouch.  Done for the day, I decide to attempt to atone for my sins (holes I dug, filled, and someone else redug) so I gather up a bunch of trash that the wind had collected along the fence inside the schoolyard and headed home.

The picture shows my good finds.  The two days yielded 4 Zincolns (junky looking, as typical), 2 Jeffies ('77 and '81), one clad dime and one clad quarter.  No copper Memorials but 3 Wheaties -- a '46-D from day 1 and a 1919 (considerably worn) -- this latter being the one nearly on the surface stuck in the tree root!  The Merc is in nice condition but a super common date (1941 plain = Philadelphia mint).  I suspect the gold ring is cheapo plate with a glass 'stone' but need to investigate further.  I'll also do a specific gravity measurement on that other piece of jewelry to see if it is really solid silver or just silver plate.  Neither of these had any markings that I could see.

My find of the hunt (from day 1) is the pictured penny -- 1932-D.  Without considering the scaling from decades in the ground, the condition is approaching extremely fine (EF) based upon the lack of wear to the reverse wheat stalks.  I'm soaking in olive oil per advice from SS-Al and Deft Tones, hoping this will clean up the scales.  Looking at my Redbook, I count 140 date+mintmark 'business strikes' (meant for circulation) Wheat pennies in the 50 years (1909-58) they were minted.  The 1932-D is #16 in lowest mintage.  This is easily my scrarcest Lincoln detector find ever.  With the scales it's not worth much, and even cleaned up it's likely only worth a few bucks (haven't searched Ebay for the appraisal), but it's still a top find for me.

Conclusion:  In the past 7 weekends I've found old coins at all four sites within 10 minutes of my house.  I'm not done searching any of them.  However, I recall reading here (sorry, forget who the posters were) that some recommend to stop digging in the dry season in public places (like my parks and schools).  I'm going to heed that advice.  It's less likely that whoever redug my holes would have done so or made such a mess if it weren't dry season.  Besides, I have some creeks to hunt which just might (very great longshot) yield my first detectable gold or possibly some coins.  Crazier things have happened.  That will keep me busy until the fall rains.  And if I have just a little time to spend I'm going to work the backyard on my digging techniques -- try for smaller holes.  That's gotta help in the long run, too.

 

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Way to sniff out a good site. Most of the parks and schools around my area are well irrigated since the drought is officially over. They are just as moist as they were during winter months. Good luck and HH

strick  

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Awesome story and interesting information.  Always love silver.......

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Thanks for all the positive, appreciative responses.  (I'd even welcome some negative ones if they were informative/educational.  :smile:)  I've learned a lot reading other posts on this site (and other MD sites for that matter) and I'm trying to return the favor.  My goal is to add objective knowledge while also expressing the thrill-of-the-hunt.  I'm the first to admit I'm no expert (modest, maybe, but true for sure).  Apparently I'm fortunate to live in an area which has been sparsely searched in the past.  I may have mentioned this but in the 35 years I've lived here I only remember one time ever seeing anyone searching with a metal detector, and since I started detecting myself in 1970 I am sensitive/observant of such activity.  Still, I'm not much more than a novice (maybe I've graduated to 'intermediate') but I'm a glutton for useful knowledge, whether it's from my own experience or from reading what you others report.  Please keep it up and I will as well.

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I always look forward to you posts...... and BTW detecting for 37 years makes you a pro in my mind :biggrin:

strick

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UPDATE:  Neither piece of jewelry appears to be made of precious metal, other than possibly plating.  Necklace piece (or bracelet charm) has a specific gravity ~7.4 and the ring (correcting for weight & volume of stone) is no more than ~9.5 and likely lower.  The ring is probably gold plated copper.  The charm composition I'm not sure (too low to be even copper/brass/bronze), but not made of any valuable metal that I know of.  I suppose there's a chance that the stone in the ring has some minor value, but how often do they put semi-precious stones in plated jewelry?  My guess is "almost never".

Strick, if I had been detecting most of those 37 years, that would be different.  It's only the last couple that I've gotten serious.  Still a long way to go, but thanks for the compliment.

 

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