Old Line Paul

Truly inspirational story! You’re obviously a cut above the “average” Joe. Question: How do you feel now that you’ve found your HolyGrail/Great White Whale/One-Armed Man?

Right now, I’m that guy. My $70 Winbest Pro always finds at least a few coins. Mainly an excuse to get out of the house and enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. I must admit, however, that finding a little gold/silver ring last month has made me start contemplating something better.

Everything is complicated in my part of Maryland (suburb of Washington DC). Rules, regulations and permits for everything. No detecting on federal land or in state parks. Detecting in local parks by permit only, but if you ask they say, “No.” Some beaches allow detecting in certain areas, but I’m several hours away from the beach. (But from what I read, France is probably just as bad.)

Great tip! I live in a townhouse community where the lawn contractor dumped grass clippings in the woods for decades. Then, one very dry summer, the mountain of clippings spontaneously combusted and started a small forest fire. Since then, the HOA Board has made the lawn service haul away the clippings. You can barely see where “Mt. Grassmore” was anymore. Once winter has killed the weeds, I’ll check it out.

Too bad I can’t plant money trees in my backyard. I’d rather be a successful black truffle detector than a metal detector any day of the year! bon chanceux!

HaHa! You must not live in Maryland. 🙄

“If these old coins could talk!” I know nothing about Chinese coins. But I assume that its journey from China to America to being lost to being found would be fascinating if we only knew. I collect Russian Mosin-Nagant rifles. There are an estimated 260 variants, but nobody knows for sure. They were manufactured from 1891 until the 1960s, not only in Russia but in several other countries, including the US. Many were sold, given and/or captured and reissued by other nations. Most have been refurbished or remade into different variations at least one point in their lives. Every time I pick one up, I wonder what stories it could tell.

I had never heard of these before! Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry on them. Just ordered a set from Amazon.

I agree. I may be new to metal detecting, but I’ve been collecting militaria all my life. You need a big bag of tricks. ultrasonic cleaners work well on removing greasy grime and dirt, especially out of tight places like proof marks, serial numbers, inscriptions and the loops of 8s, 9s and 0s. They don’t do much for tarnish or corrosion. In fact, as I alluded to in my first post, they can make things worse. I zapped a clean but tarnished copper penny and silver dime. Not only did they not get shiny, but if zapped long enough they developed a mottled appearance. Of course, in antiques, “patina” is important. One man’s “cleaning” is another man’s “damaging.” here’s a before/after

Do you have an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner? I bought a $35 home model. I’ve had mixed results. I tested some worthless items first, and found if you zap them too long you can mar the finish of some coins and knock loose paint/plate finishes. I’d be afraid to use it on something truly valuable. And you definitely need warm water and some cleaning solution to get the best results. But if you zap things in short bursts and use a soft toothbrush between zaps, it can remove caked on grime in tight places.

I know I sound like a broken record*, but 5 months into the hobby and I’m still amazed at the quantity of coins people manage to lose in parks! Especially something like your silver half-dollar. First, it’s a substantial item. Wouldn’t you notice if you dropped it? Second, 50 cents was a significant amount of money 100 years ago. Even 55 years ago, I could have bought 5 ice cream cones for that amount. Wouldn’t you get down on your hands and knees until you found it? I suppose it could have fallen out of some young man’s trouser pocket while he was sitting on the grass, pitching the woo to his sweetheart, and he didn’t notice. If those old coins could talk! * I’m showing my age. How many people today know what a broken record sounds like?

Saint Anthony of Padua is known as the Patron Saint of Lost Things. While his day job is helping the original owner find what was lost, I bet he looks after metal detectors in his spare time.

Never mind! My bad! I didn’t read your headline first.

What do you consider “older”?

What a haul! As a newbie, I continue to be amazed at the number of lost coins that are out there. I didn’t think many people even carried change these days. Most people I know put their change in a jar, and take it to a coin-counting machine when it gets full. And more and more people use credit/debit cards instead of cash.