My Best Coin Ever!

[Geologyhound]

I recently obtained permission for my club to hunt a sizable piece of property with historical group usage going back over 100 years.  Over 40 of us showed up on the designated day.  I heard several people say their first signal of the day was a silver dime!  By the afternoon, I was getting a little discouraged with a wheat or two, some bullets, a fishing weight and a couple modern coins.  I had also found a 12 pound section of an old brass pot or urn.  Based on the radius of curvature, that thing must have been huge, not to mention extremely heavy!  I had to make a special trip back to the car for that thing, as it was too heavy to carry with me all day.

I finally broke the silver drought with a 64 Rosie after lunch.  A while after that, another club member hunting near me found a beautiful Ben Franklin silver half.  I told him it was gorgeous, and mentioned I had never found a half outside a seeded hunt - let alone a silver one.  He encouraged me and said I will find one sooner or later and it might be a Walker or even a Barber.

As he moved on, I hit a nail patch and decided to slow down and go over it.  I was using my Deus 2 with the 11x13 coil - not optimum for dense nails, but I wasn’t going back to the car for the 9” that late in the day.  After a little comparison, I switched to the Tekkna program.  From what I have read, it might not be the best program for a large coil and dense ferrous targets, but it was more stable and much quieter in the dense nails than my custom program.  After walking two lines through the nails, I had recovered four wheats and a worn cuff link (?), and figured there may be more hiding.  Sure enough, I hit a nice mid-90’s signal that was so strong it had to be a can lid or the like.  But, with multiple nearby wheats, I was digging it anyway.  About three inches down, I caught my breath as I saw a silver disk emerge.  Surely, it was an aluminum punch like another one I had found, but then I saw the reeding on the edge.  I was flabbergasted to see Lady Liberty emerge from the dirt!

Despite the dense iron (based on the stain, it would appear the coin was actually in contact with iron) using Tekkna and the 11x13 worked well.  I would say this is the best coin I have ever found!  In hindsight, I wonder what would have happened if my club member had said I would find a $20 gold piece…🤪

I also found a maple tree tap and what I think is a musket ball. The wheats range from 1911 through the 1950’s, with only the 1920’s not represented.  We are working on permission to go back again!

[glacialgold]

Awesome hunt!

[F350Platinum]

Excellent hunt, Ghound. 👍 Looks like a campground to me, for hunting and other activities. I've dug those aluminum tent pins before. Is that a big brass bell shard?

I think it was NCToad that suggested otherwise regarding using the 11x13 with Tekkna, and posted a video with a theory about it. He's had some pretty stellar results using the big coil as well. It's on this page:

 

I've used Tekkna with all 3 coils, but trash situations vary, so it's great to think outside the box. One of the places I used it I did better with the 9", but that big coil seems to do very well. 🤔

When relic hunting I keep one or the other coil (9" or 13") in a light fly fishing backpack vest with pockets for other stuff like spare bolts 😅

Congrats on the Walker, that is one of the most beautiful US coins.

Best of luck to you if you return to that place. 🍀

[Txquest]

Nice 😊 

[Geologyhound]

2 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Excellent hunt, Ghound. 👍 Looks like a campground to me, for hunting and other activities. I've dug those aluminum tent pins before. Is that a big brass bell shard?

I found that brass chunk next to the old kitchen/dining building.  So you are probably exactly right!  

This area is having a celebration later in the year, and my contact was interested in any artifacts which might have historical significance to the site so they could display them.  I will have to ask and see if they had a bell there.  Thanks!

[Geologyhound]

A gentleman on another website clued me in that the “tree tap” is actually a brass tent rope adjuster.  No idea of the age, but that style was in use during the Civil War.  I will have to examine it closely and see if there is a patent date or any writing.

[Gold Seeker]

2 hours ago, Geologyhound said:

A gentleman on another website clued me in that the “tree tap” is actually a brass tent rope adjuster.  No idea of the age, but that style was in use during the Civil War.  I will have to examine it closely and see if there is a patent date or any writing.

From what I have read the rope tensioners from the Civil War were made of wood, here's a patent for the metal ones that dates 1880.

 

 

Civil War era rope tensioners were as mentioned made of wood and usually in the shape of a dog bone, some can be seen in this photo of Abe Lincoln in a Civil War camp at the Battlefield of Antietam, Maryland

[rvpopeye]

 

Cool finds pile . 

Make it 2 votes , I thought that big piece was from a bell too. 🧐

 

[Elbert]

A Walker is a favorite.