My First Day With The 11 X 13

[Geologyhound]

My family got me the 11 x 13 coil as a joint birthday/Christmas gift.  Today was the first chance I’ve had to get out and use it.  I started at a local beach just to experiment with the pinpointing in an easy to dig environment.  I have heard the pinpointing on the 11 x 13 can be a little less precise.  I didn’t find much at the beach other than a handful of lead weights, a few modern dimes, and a number of zinc pennies.  But at least I was finding targets.

I then moved on to an old school.  This was pretty densely overgrown with no trace of the original structure, and I spent about half the time extricating myself from thorn bushes.  However, my very first target after leaving the road was a clean signal in the copper penny range.  Sure enough, about 4 inches down was a 1946D.  I had had some doubts that I would find much here given the overgrowth.  But, this was a proof of concept for me.  About 15 minutes later I had another clean tone and about 3 inches down my pinpointer indicated the target was in a wad of clay I had a loosened.  I separated the wad, and saw a shiny silver edge - an 1897 Barber dime!  The only 1800s coins I have found outside of seeded hunts have been pennies.  So this is my oldest dime!

I also found the face plate for an Ingraham Biltmore luminous watch.  I’m wondering if that’s radium…. In addition, I found the back plate for a Gruen Swiss watch.

I’m not sure what the silvery “clip” like thing is.  I’m thinking it did not used to be bent over like that.  I was wondering if the other silvery item was an earring.  My wife doesn’t think so.  My son is wondering if it is the endcap for a pocket knife. There’s no hallmark on it, and it is lightweight, so I’m thinking it’s aluminum.

in hindsight I probably should’ve used the 9 inch coil with all the underbrush. But all in all, I’d say it was a good first day for my 11 x 13!

[DIG5050]

Nice finds, Ge.  The barber dime is sweet!  I’ve only found a couple of those in a lot of years of hunting for them.  It sounds like the 11x13 coil is working well for you.  My son has an 11x13 and he really likes it.  I’ve tried swinging it and it feels heavy. HH with that beast!

[Geologyhound]

7 hours ago, DIG5050 said:

Nice finds, Ge.  The barber dime is sweet!  I’ve only found a couple of those in a lot of years of hunting for them.  It sounds like the 11x13 coil is working well for you.  My son has an 11x13 and he really likes it.  I’ve tried swinging it and it feels heavy. HH with that beast!

Thanks!  This is my second Barber dime.  The first had historically been under salt water and had a black oxidation crust.  So this is not only my oldest Barber, it is also my best Barber!

[iron_buzz]

You also got an organ reed (top, right) that was almost certainly from an organ that the school teacher played when teaching music.  Cool!  (it may be stamped to indicate the note it played)

 

[F350Platinum]

Nice hunt Ghound!

Yeah the 13" can be a bear with tilting, but nailing small coins on the beach at 8-12" is a thrill for me. Little 89-90 blip and I know I'm on a dime. Dug so many this past summer!

It's also great you noticed the value of the coil in overgrowth.

Your watch face is part of a pocket watch that looked like this:

Probably radium paint. 🙂

Beautiful Barber dime, that really is the star of the show. Judging from the concertina reed, knife pommel cover and the watch parts it seems more like that school was on a commercial site long ago. It's all similar to what I found at an old steamboat landing. 🤔 Definitely a site worth returning to as long as it's not loaded with poison ivy as well 😀

[CPT_GhostLight]

Well way to go Gh, well done and congrats on the Barber dime! It's a beauty! 😎

And thanks for your impressions on the 11x13" coil. It mirrors what others have been saying and I have one on my Christmas list. I've been fairly good this year and hope Santa remembers that time I gave him $20 when he was ringing a bell on the street corner. 😉

[Geologyhound]

22 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Definitely a site worth returning to as long as it's not loaded with poison ivy as well 😀

This is a site I can definitely see with poison ivy come spring.  I am looking forward to a couple more nice winter days with nothing else on the agenda!

[Geologyhound]

18 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Well way to go Gh, well done and congrats on the Barber dime! It's a beauty! 😎

And thanks for your impressions on the 11x13" coil. It mirrors what others have been saying and I have one on my Christmas list. I've been fairly good this year and hope Santa remembers that time I gave him $20 when he was ringing a bell on the street corner. 😉

Alien abduction doesn’t count towards the naughty list, right? 😁 Now I need to either get a stock upper rod or a complete aftermarket shaft so I can have the second coil ready for hunting as a master setup for one of my kids.

[NCtoad]

Can’t complain about a nice 19th century barber dime!   Congrats!

[Geologyhound]

Same site, same coil, different day - a taco’d key, chain and fob.  The fob reads New entrance to Mammoth Cave, KY. Frozen Niagara.  The Frozen Niagara entrance was discovered in 1921.  So, if the entrance is “new”, then the fob should date to the 1920s, but no idea when it was lost after that.