A first! Barber!

[cheese]

The weatherman predicted rain for the day, so I decided not to open shop and go detecting instead. (funny how we don't want to work in the rain, but detecting in the rain is just fine, lol!). My friend and I tried an old park in town that I've been thinking about detecting for a while now. This park dates to the early 1800s. Much to my dissapointment, it looks like it's been detected heavily in the past. My first 3 coins were nickels. It seems to me like places that have been detected in the past (probably in the '80s when detecting became widely popular) usually are devoid of a lot of silver, but contain many nickels. I guess they were only hunting silver back then? Anyway, I stuck it out for a few hours. I got a signal that was fairly consistent under a large oak tree. I dug, rechecked, and still had a signal. Dug some more, rechecked...no signal at all. Notched in Iron just to be sure, but no signal for iron either. Tried in all metal, and the signal was still there. I almost covered the hole back up, but for some reason, I dug a bit more anyway. Out popped a little disk...thought "oh well, another mem cent...but wonder why it didn't give a signal?". I wiped it off and saw the barber head! I've been waiting and hoping for my first barber! It's a 1908. I guess the dime must have turned on edge in the hole while I was digging and the detector lost the signal for some reason. Still, it was only like 4 to 5 inches down. Anyone had this happen before?

Sooo...after that nice find (and only finding older nickels and lots of mem cents and clad prior to that), I slowed the swing down, started overlapping the swing and listening a bit closer. I found 2 wheats, a 41 and 44. The oldest nickel was a 46.

I plan to go back and search a bit more carefully soon. It wasn't a day that compares to the days some of you folks are having at the "berg", "happy trails", and the "silver mine"....but it was a good day for me!

 

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[Nashoba]

Man that is in some SWEET condition!
AWESOME DIGS!
~Nash~

 

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[Fish-Gate]

Nice coin!

About your comment "has anyone experienced a coin on edge" - I'm sure that on several occasions I missed a nice silver coin. At first I got a nice clean silver sound, then dug, then the sound was gone. After 3 or 4 times of this happening over a period of a year, I got irritated that the signal "disappeared", and dug all the dirt away until I found the signal. I realized that I had turned a Barber quarter that originally was flat - onto its side! My detector couldn't detect it then. My lesson learned is: If you had a clean repeatable signal at first, don't give up!

 

[Michigan Badger]

Very nice Barber. Back in the 80's I dug lots of these in near mint condition. Most were only 2 to 3 inches deep and dated near 1900.

You did very well!

Badger

 

[mlw67]

Awesome dime! Congrats on your first--and may you find many more.

 

[Nana40]

Cheese!!!!!! WoW! Love it! Gotta find me one of those!!!

Beautiful!!!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!! Nana

 

[hollowpointred]

hey way to go on the barber! i have only found 1 myself and was thrilled when it happened! that one is in great shape too! must have not been in circulation very long.

 

[ZoSo71]

Nice find...

That thing is in great shape... Congrats

ZoSo71

 

[Boobydoo]

Beautiful find, congrats on your first Barber.
We always remember nice finds like this, forever!
Keep em coming, good luck!

Smiles!
BDoo

 

[The Gemologist]

I'm still looking for my first, ah hem

I guess i better get at it

 

[cheezinoot]

Real nice barber cheese! WTG

 

[coolcash2004]

CONGRATS!!! Be sure to add your clad count here... http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,57212.0.html

-CC

 

[ringfinder]

Nice Barber Dime, it really is in very good condition. Thank you for posting the great pictures.

May I make a small suggestion. I too used to have and still do have some trouble finding coins in
a hole. But since I bought a probe, I have eliminated most of those problems. A probe is a great addition
to anyones detector. Depending on the detector you have, SunRay Probe might have one to fit
right on your detector. That is the one I use, but there are many others that work just as great and
for a little less money.

HH, Ringfinder

 

[99Brown]

GReat job. Sweet coin.

 

[cheese]

Thank you all for the kudos! It is amazing how nice that thing came out of the ground! Most people can't believe that the silver coins come out so nice and shiny when I show them.

WillieD, Nana, and Gemologist...I hope you all find one soon! And many more! Willie D, I used to live near your area...in the Tampa bay area, and I know there is a lot of history there. There should be lots of barbers there, but finding a place without asphalt may prove to be a bit hard to do. I've been detecting for a couple of years now, and have found some old coins, but the barbers have eluded me until now. I'm setting up to find a seated now! I only get a few hours to detect once a week, and sometimes none at all, so it might take a little while. Then again, maybe the flood gates are about to open, lol. Well, you can't blame me for being hopeful .

Ringfinder...I've been debating about a pinpointer/probe. I have a personal contest that I perform each time I dig a target. I like to see how close I can come to pinpointing my target before I dig it (without using pinpoint mode on my detector---just by listening to the beeps), and then I like to try to get the target in the first handful of dirt that I decide to pass over my coil. I've gotten to the point that I get it on the first try probably around 50% of the time. I get the hole dug on target closer to 100% of the time, but sometimes I don't dig deep enough or grab the right clump of dirt that holds the coin every time. I think that's pretty good, and it makes me a better detectorist because I can usually hit the coin with the tip of my knife if I want to. It's a challenge to me that I like, and I think a pinpointer would take that fun part of digging away. Now there are times when I get frustrated, can't find the target, and a pinpointer would be nice. That's when I start considering a pinpointer heavily. Usually it's a nail that is giving me an off-center signal. I might get one someday. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Bavaria Mike]

Nice looking Barber and congrats on the silver! HH, Mike

 

[detectoraddict]

Ahhh, the sweet shine of a Barber! Wait till you get a seated! Congrats!!

 

[Mona Lisa]

That's a nice-looking barber, Cheese. congratulations!

 

[groundfisher]

Heck of a nice Barber Dime.Congrats on your beauty of a first!
Nice job on the recovery.A coin falling from the plug and sitting on edge can easily be missed when rescanning especialy when using any amount of discrimination.I thought I did pretty well at target recovery without a pinpointer until I started using one and now I wonder how I ever got along without one.It will definitely take care of those off center target signals from those deep rusty nails.Usually one quick probe with the pinpointer and you'll find the head or tip of the nail in the side of the hole.
You're right about a lot of the older parks being cleaned of silver.We just have to work them a little slower and hope to find some of the leftovers.
Best of luck and HH!

 

[Mainedigger]

Congrats on your first Barber...a nice one at that....WTG!!! I use a White's Prism III and have also had targes disappear for a bit after digging, usually find the coin was put on edge by my digging...never used a pin pointer before but the more I hear of them the more I am intrigued by them, sounds like they take alot of the aggravation out of digging unnecessarily...but thats half the fun...digging, and losing a target and then searching and finding it again and finding it to be a sweet coin like yours...kinda like a reward for your patience...

 

[DigMO]

WTG Cheese-nice Barber.Glad you didn't give up on that signal.I've had times when I've dug and then loose the signal.Really frustrating!!I use a pinpointer now and don't think I could live without it.Great find!Take care.