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Hit the river bank for an hour, just caught low tide. Bit of clad, game token and snagged this 1903 barber dime (1 year older than GB's Iffy one).

Found this about 2-4 inches deep in my front yard. It was in an area recently churned up from a storm water pipe install. Found a circa 1890-1904 aluminum token in this area too. Bet there's more silver and 100+ year old stuff buried in my yard, but they'll be deep...

Tom_in_CA, you beat me to 1787 !. but no matter. Hunting an old site on lunch break today. Since the original log cabin was torn down in about 1807, everything here is pretty old, and deep. I had sens at 24, all metal. any high tones get mixed with grunts because of the depth...and tons of nails. got this about halfway through my break. I got to cross another coin off the bucket list today, rough shape though it is. Annyway, here is the New Jersey Copper....although the date isnt readable for sure...it"looks" like two tops of 7s where the date should be, so I'm gonna go with that.

I simply couldn't stand seeing CVIS-Chris post all his escapades. And he's so rude (even though he's within 3 hrs. of me) that he won't invite me and Elbert along. 😂 So I had to go out and plunder some of my own sites 🤣 Got this 1787 2 reale, and this 1834 Large Cent. My buddy got a small cuff #27 on this trek. This was from a site that had previously given up some other reales, PB's, early seateds, etc.... I know I can't steal the celebrity status from Chris, but it was Fun fun fun !

Was trying out high gain, single Frequency on the Nox 600 on one of my spots; got a very deep high tone signal that didn't even register a VDI. 10 minutes of hard digging through wet clay yielded a nice assortment of silver coins. This machine is amazing!

Finished up the farmhouse I started yesterday, I know I'm finished when there are nearly no signals in two+ passes. I will hack around a bit just to be certain. Today was padlock day, got two and a possible third. The brass lock marked Red Cross was found when I went to an area that was not fully covered on a hunch. It has a unique back, they call it a Maltese Cross but since this house was standing in the 1860s I think it might be something else. 🤔 Fairly common lock but none for sale recently. The other is a Slaymaker "Old Guard" with the shackle long since rusted away. Can't find any info on it. Giant piece of plumbing marked Wilson MFG Co. Looks like maybe a closet rod holder or maybe a sink trap? The rectangular object next to it appears to be part of a third lock, it is only half of it. Shield looking thing looks like it was attached to a rod, no clue. Interesting find is the large rimfire cartridge, looks to be over 40 caliber and has two opposing rim strikes. It is marked US. And last, 1935 wheat penny. Not an epic day but at least I found some stuff worth showing. It will be my last for a bit, farmers are putting down lime and fertilizer, and I am going to spend a few days getting my RV ready for a trip. Taking the Equinox (and my wife) to the shore! 😀

I made it out in the lake for the first time yesterday this year. Also fist lake hunt w the BEAST coil. I had it on video but unfortunately lost it in the attempt to free up space in my CRAPPY iPhone! This lake is often POUNDED by the locals and finding anything in the off season is DIFFICULT. However I managed to find a BEAUTIFUL 1936 BUFFALO! I’ve found Buffalo’s here before but not in this great of shape, as it was probably lost not long after it was minted. It was down around 10”, and mixed w iron. Lots of iron in this old lake. Aaron UPDATE.... thanks to my daughter, LOL I have recovered the video to this hunt and will edit it back together.....soon.

I received permission to a new site which was a hotel from the late 1700s to the early 1900s along a main travel route from Philadelphia to Bethlehem. It is currently split up into a bunch of long term apartments. Tin and aluminum scraps all over the place from maintenance over the years. It is located in a swamp with huge boulders. The sink rate in most areas is crazy..i was digging clad dimes in some places at 10 inches, and square nails and 1800s refuse feet away. bad attitude dogs of the tenants so far have included a rottweiler, 2 huge bulldogs of some sort, and something that looked like a cross between a black lab and an elephant. Dodging their refuse, and two attempts at being jumped while working a hole...made things interesting today for sure. I went under an old hemlock, where the sink rate would be less. got a wheat, then some sort of large token i now have soaking. I thought it was a large cent at first because it was deep, but no dice there. got a nice signal near the token. a bit broken. circling it ranged mostly from 27 to 35. I saw it was silver, and thought i could make out pillars without wiping it. stuck it in the pocket and rinsed it off when i got home. Thin silver takes a beating, but can read enough from both sides to know it is a Carolus III, 1786 half reale, Mexico mint. Equinox was on 50 tone, fe2-0, recovery 3. I want to say it was at 7 inches or so, give or take. really hard to tell where in the clod it was. I didnt get any Spanish silver last year, so this is a great way to start 2021. Good luck, all. HH

Had a lot of stuff to do this morning, it was 35 out anyway. By the time I got out to the field it was about 11, but had warmed up to the 50s. I set up a grid search of the last known farmhouse in my permission, it was dismantled about 1967. Few but me know it was there. Started out where I think the back of the house was, and turned up 3 buttons. Clothesline! Found the well, and near it dug the best find of the day! Good stuff today. In the photo from left to right: Some kind of wire/rope guide, thought it was a weight but it looks like it was on a post or something. It is hollow underneath. Small brass oval plate, no engraving. Unusual brass plug shaped object with a slot made from two holes, a leg to something, D buckle, and some sort of aluminum wheel, at first I thought it was a roof nail but the hub is threaded. Large tack or stud, drawer pull or broken bit piece, and a small copper washer. These washers annoy me, they are really small and come up a loud and solid 22 no matter how deep they are. I've found quite a few. Buckle fragment, and then a cloisonne pin, I think it was all white when new. It has a fine border and rings when dropped. Next the buttons. First one is a Great Seal button backmarked Scovill Waterbury. Second is a button mangled beyond ID. Last one is Baltimore City Police, backmarked Rosenfeld Bros. Baltimore. Last is the find of the day. 1816-1836 Matron Head large cent. Can't get a date but the bust is clear, at least what shows around the bullet hole 😵 High velocity rifle did this, probably a 30-30. A solid 28 on the Equinox, at first I thought it was a washer.

As my current sites get hunted (by me), the clean hits become fewer. I've been working quite a bit this 2021 trying to squeeze out good (non-ferrous) targets which are far from perfect signals. Yesterday in a schoolyard I've been searching for the past 3 years and have 'covered' at the 80+% level I went to an area that has produced multiple old coins, including at least one of each of the following: Mercury Dime, silver Wartime Nickel, and Buffalo Nickel. I've also found multiple Wheat pennies. I don't know if I had been over this target before. Minelab Equinox 800 w/11" coil, Park 1, no discrimination, custom 5 tones, Recovery Speed = 4, Iron Bias F2=0. I got a decent high tone (my custom high tone range is 20-40, corresponding to clean/fresh Zincolns and up) but with iron grunts mixed in. The digital Target ID (dTID) was all over the map, from 21 to 39. I was able to circle the target and get at least some high tone from about every direction. When I pinpointed, I at first got pulled to an iron target nearby but was then able to hone in on a decent location using multiple pinpointing methods. I dug down a good 6 inches without a reliable Garrett Carrot response, rechecked the target's location with the Eqx, and then noticed a weak signal with the Carrot to the side-wall of the hole. Digging into the sidewall at the 5-6 inch depth the Carrot got stronger, and I switched to the more accurate White's TRX to hone in on the location (to try and make sure to dig around and not through! the item). I never got a great signal from the TRX but after pulling out another scoop of dirt I noticed the signal was now missing in the hole and with a bit of hunting around in my catch pan was able to see a dirt caked dime sized target. Normally silver coins show a nice white color but this one didn't, making me think it might be a clad dime. But a spray of water showed the Liberty head and I knew it was a Barber. (Arriving home and carefully cleaning in water only I was able to discern the 1904 date, no mintmark meaning from Philadelphia -- a common coin but still a keeper as are all silvers.) I continued to investigate the spot and about 4 inches radially from the dime's location but shallower (around 3") I recovered the rusty nail shown in the photo. This was about where I had initially pinpointed an iron target (mentioned above). But I don't think my final pinpointing location was affected by this nail (don't know for sure) and conclude the dime was on edge. I must say that this dime signal wasn't a lot different that several iron targets I've dug in the last several hunts. In the 2 1/2 hour hunt I only recovered four other coins, a Zincoln, a copper Memorial, and two stacked clad quarters reading 31-32 dTID (which is high for a single clad quarter, normally 29-30). This is the second Barber Dime I've found in this schoolyard, but the mystery is why it was there at all. The original school (since replaced) was built around 1955 and prior to that the land was a livestock pasture. I know that the location of the original school (which I was either right over or very close to) was backfilled. I've now found 4 or 5 silver dimes here and none has been a Roosie. The time window for losses from the school is 1955-70. It's possible the two silver Barbers were dropped in that time period but it seems unlikely given that would have occurred 40-55 years past their last minting. My hypothesis has been that in the process of filling in the hole where the school's basement was located and further smoothing the schoolyard that fill was brought in from elsewhere -- possibly somewhere else in the town where street excavation (new utility lines, etc.) was being done. And the mystery rock/mineral in the picture? That earns its own post in the minerals subforum.

I hunted the camp today found a bunch of old iron trash and a few goodies. No buckles on this trip but did score a tiny silver using the Equinox 6” coil in park 1 stock settings. My wife found the flower button and it made her day. The other button is what I think is a wolf. Both in good shape. May go back tomorrow.

Last summer saw someone detecting a patch of woods near one of the local puddles. Loaded with prickers, vines and usual road trash. Blew off work for an hour to scout it out. I twas previously a farm field that extended to the pond. This is a good time to hit areas like that before the undergrowth kicks up. They did a good job picking the area clean, left a couple memorials but toward the waters edge they missed this 1902 Barber quarter. Now the pond is thawed out I don't think anyone has water detected this at all so will toss the waders on. Hopefully my fingers don't turn blue :)

This 1942 is the first walking Liberty (or any Liberty coins) for me, so I suppose it is a bucket list coin. It was found tonight on the athletic fields close to home where I have pulled some eclectic items in the past. Although the coin is only worth about $10, its age beats the Franklin half I found about nine months back in the same general area. Rang in between 29-34 on the Equinox. Park 1, 7 recovery, 15" coil, all metal, 18 sensitivity.

About ready to wind it up for the day. Just to the right of a exit gate, thought I heard "Don't leave me ! Please don't leave me!" Well had to go over and see what's up. Up popped a year 2000 Sacagawea Dollar coin. Not many of these around. Anyway a nice ending for the day.

Today was a cold one. 43 and pretty high wind. Decided to just hack around, scouted a really old abandoned house down the road. It was too close to the main drag and I only found some junk and a penny, so I moved on. Went back to where I found the beautiful old breastplate. I haven't grid searched this area yet but will eventually. It has been dry here for over a week so the ground is getting like concrete. It's going to rain the rest of the week, however. Wasn't really finding much, lots of can slaw, junk iron and a couple of buttons. The field is huge, about 100 acres, but I was just covering about 2 where a house was until about 1967. Took a look around and saw this tall old tree off in the distance. When Chase G was here, he mentioned looking around what I think he called a "signal tree". I walked down toward it hearing nothing in my headphones even in all metal. Got to the tree and wham - a 21-22. Kinda shocked me! I figured well great, at least I'm gonna get an old penny... Nope. 1785 Half Real, Mexico mint. All mine (I now have 4 of these) were minted in Mexico. Mint mark is the M with a circle over it on the reverse.Signal Trees are a good place to look on a farm. When it's hot people will rest there, pull their handkerchief out of their pocket and drop their money. 😀 Make sure the tree throws shade on the farm during the hotter time of the day. Not a big haul, but a satisfying one. Heck I woulda been happy with the buttons. 1991 Zincoln.

I am putting a 4x8 raised bed garden on the side of my house this year but before I did I decided to detect that area. To my surprise I dug up a 1965 quarter. I know that It's no big deal but it did surprise me! The house was built in 1911 so there could be more stuff out there.

Warm enough to hunt in a T-shirt today. Farmhouse Grid search day 2. Dug a couple of buckles and what I thought were cufflinks, but yeah that's just a rivet. 😵 Little gear or saw blade, some sort of brass bead but it's not hollow. Really fancy spoon handle says Sterling on the bent piece. The large rectangle may be silver, it sure sounds like it and it's heavy. Two more of those aluminum buttons flanking a really heavy colonial brass button that appears to have been silverplated, it has a backmark but it's obliterated. I think I found the clothesline, kept turning up Indian Head after Indian head, and then one wheat penny. Dates: 1864, 18?5 (who would drill a coin through the date), 1887, 1890, 1901, 1907. The wheat is 1910. I really like the green color Indian heads have when they come out of the ground. Spoon reverse in the second photo. Fancy!

Got out this weekend for about 4 hours with the Equinox 800 and 11" coil. The outing started out a little slow and after 3 hours I was getting a little discouraged. I had dug a few small musket balls, a dropped Sharps bullet and a crushed cuff button. So decided to head over to where my 2 buddies were digging. As I changed directions and worked toward them, I got a jumpy 15-16 on the Equinox and was rewarded with not 1 but 2 J hooks in the same hole. The area I worked between where I was and where my buddies were hunting was loaded with iron and progress was slow in getting there. When I got about 50 yards from my one friend I got a 19-20 signal and dug a zinc penny about 2 inches down. I thought great what's that doing here. Not 5 feet from the zinc penny I got an identical 19-20 signal only deeper. My first thought was another zinc penny. But at about 6 inches down in the bottom of the plug was a nice 1857-O half dime. That made my day! I walked over to show my closest friend and asked how long he was planning to stay as it was his permission. He told me he actually needed to get started back toward the truck now. We were about half way back to the trucks when I got a 18-20 signal one way but negative numbers the other. This kind of signal usually turns out to be iron but I decided that this might be my last decent signal and dug it anyway. I was down about pin pointer depth and the item was still in the hole, I loosened the dirt and took one last handful out of the bottom and through it on my pile next to the hole. In the pile I could see the edge of a large coin, so I called to my friend and said I think I have another coin. He came over and his first words were wow it's old. I said looks like a quarter and he said no it looks like a 2 real. I picked the coin up and to my surprise it was an 1781 2 real. Two great old coins in one hunt, still can't believe my luck. There's still stuff to be found out there.

I made it out for a three hr. hunt yesterday and dug a dozen or so nonferrous targets in heavy iron. Still getting the minelab 800 tuned in a bit at a time. Most targets were lead casting spill. I got this 1851 seated dime and a decorative one piece button with the shank. Notice rusty deposits on the silver! I had hunted this site with My whites dfx and could not hunt this portion of it at all due to the extent of the iron trash. Thanks for looking

I Got out for a few hrs on an iron infested site yesterday, I'm still learning the equinox 800 but after a couple months I'm figuring it out. Found the half Reale in the first pic laying on the surface. You can see a square nail in the bottom left of the pic. The cut coin is a 2 Reale.(pictured with a previously dug 2 reale for reference) I found it about five feet away just a few inches deep. Unfortunately both coins are completely wiped on both sides. Win some Lose some!

Cold day today, only got up to about 36, but the wind died down enough to go out in the farm. Another great day! Usually I find buttons, but I'm moving more toward where an 1800s house was so I expect there to be a mix. There is a road that ran through the farm way before it was built so I will find 1700s items too. Today the ground was a bit frozen so I dialed recovery speed back to 2 from 3 (Equinox 600), and cranked the sensitivity up to 21. Not sure if this helped but the proof is in the finds I guess. I was only able to make four passes up and back, it's about 300 yards one way. Photo below illustrates the distance, my golf cart is by the road. I'm doing a grid search so it is very tedious but still a blast. Found a really small thimble, a piece of buckle, a very small button and two heavily corroded pennies, one a wheat penny with no discernable date (edit: if you zoom the penny it appears to be a 1919 ) and the other an 1865 Indian head. My grandkids gave me a digital microscope for my birthday, and the date stands out pretty clear! Yes, I found yet another Spanish (really Mexico mint) half Real. This one clearly shows the mint mark in the microscope, they were minted from 1772 to 1784, but I can't find a date. The first one I found was 1778. There are a few other identifying marks on it. And just as I thought I was done, in the last 20 feet I got a solid 16, and popped out the gold plated broach with 4 stones. The stones are yellowish under the microscope, and one appears to be chipped so I know they are not diamonds. They still sparkle though! There is a bit of gold plating in the back and a spot where the pin was attached.

Today I went out to the farm instead of the steamboat landing. It was cold, never got above 35, but the ground here still hasn't frozen. Never really does on average. Ground balanced the Equinox for the first time, it was acting kind of squirrelly today for some reason. Highest Id goes to the strange round fitting, it was a 32! Tapered screw threads on the inside, I'm thinking compression fitting of some sort. I think I broke the old dog tag but found all the pieces. I've been pretty lucky not breaking stuff, don't know what happened. The large piece at the top ID'd at 25, the copper nail was a 9 at first but was a 15 out of the ground. Not sure what caliber the bullet is but it looks like a match bullet. One of the longest I've seen. D buckle is silverplated, found the most fragile buckle yet, dug a thimble, and two buttons, one I think is pewter and the other says "STANDARD COLOUR GILT". It's an old one with an alpha shank. Musket ball, and some tiny bits that ID'd high, the smallest bit was a 22. Oh yeah, and the small coin on left bottom is a Half Real 😎, second one I've found in this field. It has no identifying marks save for one letter on one side but it's non ferrous and weighs exactly the same and is the same size as the one I dug previously. It has a hole to keep it on a thread or ribbon, or to sew it in clothing. Great day!

Me and the wife were looking thru some older money and foreign currency and I came across this coin. I had seen it before but I didn't pay it much attention. I honestly have no idea where or when I found it. It’s a 1/4 Pahlavi Mohammed Reza Sha made from 1945-1979. I weigh mine and it’s exactly 2.03 grams. I know it’s not an American gold coin but I’m still happy to have it in my collection.

Well the title says it all. I was detecting at an old town that is mostly gone. We got the permission from a really nice older couple that gave us plenty of info about the town and it's history. They cut hay off an area that used to have houses on it so off we went. Only found two coins but both were old. The first was the what is that coin and the second a shield nickel. I had dug an old barrel spigot on my first pass and wasn't really finding much at all. Then about the third trip across I hit some really big numbers that sounded good. I was thinking perhaps another spigot or relic of some type. I popped out the plug and could see the side of what I thought could be maybe a silver dollar! I pulled it out of the plug and wiped off some dirt and thought what is that..lol I was pretty sure it was silver and an 1829 Mexican coin but other than that...clueless. My detecting buddy looked at it and told me I had found a Mexican 8 reales. I thought it was cool before being the oldest coin I had found but after realizing what I had found I got reales happy!! 😁 I was told they were used as American currency until 1857 which made it even more special to me. Ya just never know. Oh, Equinox still pk1 ib3 recovery7. HH! Tom

Took my Gold Racer out for just over an hour to an area I had picked up the barber earlier this year. There is a lot of brush and the GR solid coil works well for poking around. Along the shore of the lake I noticed a stretch of bog iron, the lake bottom is usually a light gray. Ran my coil over the area and hit some coin sized objects but numbers bit low which I expect and just under the bog iron was these coins, 1883 IH, trashed IH and an 1873 seated dime. The pond is pretty hard pack gravel so old stuff isn't that deep. Oddly that stupid sinker was about 6" down in the rocks below and tough to dig out and find. Will hit this side of the lake in the spring when it thaws.