Zeroed It Down To The Right Area. First Nox Silver!

[SittingElf]

As previously posted, I am currently located on Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and have only one month left here before moving to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. I have been working on finding the oldest demolished family housing areas, as well as checking various older locations on the base to see what they produce. I have narrowed it down to the best Paydirt!  It also helps that when I don't want to get in the car and drive, I can step out my front door in our family housing area, and within a few short paces, I can hunt vacated homes that are scheduled for demolition in the coming months. They don't produce the value of the "good" locations, but plenty of coins and misc in those yards.

Monday, I hunted one yard across the street from our family quarters. Two hours produced:

Interesting Cubscout Button that I determined sells for between $8-15 as a collectable. Also a token and Bahamian Penny in that yard.

Tuesday, I hunted a sparse field where some buildings once stood. Surprised at the number of clad dimes I pulled out of the ground there, and all three wheaties, from different locations in the field were all 1953D's. Wierd.

Well, that was fun, and really helped learn the 600's features and quirks. So then it was on to the suspected real paydirt. The picture below is of a large family housing area that was built from the mid 50's to early 60's.  It was demolished to open fields in 2008. This picture was taken in 2007 and is the last one showing the houses that existed. So, starting yesterday, and continuing until we move, I will hit this area HARD. Coin dates are right for what I'm seeking, and at the end of my hunt, I validated my research by finding my first silver with the 600!  Much more in the grounds I think. The red circle is the area that I hunted for three hours yesterday to produce the results shown. Excited by the potential of this virgin, untouched area!

Hunted in Park2, Auto-GB, Noise Cancelled, 20 sensitivity, 3 recovery, Notched 3-9, 14-17, 19, 5-tone, 0 bias, and hunted on phones due to heavy F-35 Fighter traffic overhead!

Continuing that block today. Results to follow...

 

[Terry Soloman]

Some great finds! Congrats on the Rosie!!

[steveg]

Great stuff, Elf!  Looks like a GREAT training ground for your Equinox, and you even have narrowed in on some older coins.  Superb!  Curious, how deep are you finding the wheats and the silver?  Given the sandy conditions, I'd expect things "sink," and thus end up deeper, faster, than in other parts of the country, yes?

Steve

[SittingElf]

1 hour ago, steveg said:

Great stuff, Elf!  Looks like a GREAT training ground for your Equinox, and you even have narrowed in on some older coins.  Superb!  Curious, how deep are you finding the wheats and the silver?  Given the sandy conditions, I'd expect things "sink," and thus end up deeper, faster, than in other parts of the country, yes?

Steve

Actually, most of the coins I pulled out of this patch were no deeper than 5". Some of the non-coins were deeper. The sand is overlaying a rock and dirt layer, so that may be holding the coins up higher.

I'll be posting today's finds later. More Silver including another Rosie, and my first Merc, also a 1938 French 10 centime. All from that first block of demolished houses.

[GB_Amateur]

Nice dime!  5 Wheaties, too.  You're headed in the right direction.  What is "Diamond Jim's"?  Is that token for a pinball machine?  It appears to have a lot of wear so may have been used a lot.

Did you look at the old USGS (Topo) maps on the historicalaerials.com website?  I would look at the oldest structures they show and hunt those grounds, assuming they are accessible today.  Only one month left and too much ground to cover....

[SittingElf]

Thursday, I finished off the first block (Red X on the map). About three hours of swinging. Not as productive a count of coins as Wednesday, but the area was different from the lower corner from Wednesday. Nonetheless, some very interesting finds, and while swinging while walking back to the car, and on the very last target singing in my ears (26 bouncing to 27), I dug four inches and was greeted by the color of Silver for the second time today! My first EVER Merc dime!! (I swung a GTI 2500 off and on for ten years, and never saw one). Goes to show that you should keep swinging till its time to unlock the car door!

Take of the day:
Copper Pennies: 1949,1961,1962,1967, 1973,1978,1979, 1982(3.11g)
Wheaties: 1945 Steel, 1955
Clad Dimes: 1969, 1973,1988
SILVER Dimes: 1924 Mercury, 1946 Rosie
Foreign Coins: 1938 French Liberte Egalite Fraternite 10 Centime
Tokens: Two Exhilarama tokens within 3 ft of each other
Misc: Padlock with key still in it. Matchbox-Style Police Car. Some very archaic Coax Chord connector.

This is the area completed. MUCH more to go!
 

SILVER! YAYYY!

Tokens and Frenchie

The miscellaneous...

Only difference from Wednesday on settings was running Iron Bias at 1, and Sensitivity to 22.
Lots more work to do!! Silver is waiting!!

[Chase Goldman]

Congrats on the silver and the other keepers.  Some cool odds and ends.  Way to do the research to make it pay off.