Mayo South Elgin
Sr. Member
Well the day started out pretty much like the previous 4 days of detecting.
I stopped to get some coffee and something sweet on the way to the site.
Little did I know how sweet the day would turn out.
The site is a beautiful park that was previously a private area.
Based on the kinds of coins, the dates, and the amount of coins (like clad dimes & quarters) that would have been
easy pickings for anyone with a detector, there's been years and years of coinage building up with very little if any
detecting going on there. That is, until we showed up!
A couple days ago there were 5 of us there hitting several different areas.
Clad the Impaler, Kimsdad, Lowbatts, Myself and Watercolor all started out hopeful.
About half way into it, it became obvious that the site was not going to give up
it's hot spots very easily.
A couple of us did OK and a couple or three of us didn't get much.
Some areas were heavy with pull tab and can slaw targets, I found a really deep beer can at about 15 inches.
But it sounded so good! I was also finding wheaties from 1918 up to the 1940's and 1950's.
I managed to squeak out two silvers, and wheats and clad dimes and quarters my first day there,
wheaties and clad only on another couple days, then another two silvers and more wheaties and clad another day
but I had started to think of the site as being mostly just another clad park.
In one area the ground is a weird mix of nice black dirt, rusty iron nails and staples,
remains of shattered clay pigeons, shotgun wads, can slaw, pull tabs, and gravel with all of the above.
I imagine there's tons of lead shot mixed in too.
There were so many signals close together that I had to use what I now call "The Koala Sweep".
It's a sweep speed that imitates the movement of a koala bear - it's like in slow motion!
This allowed the detector to recognize signals that otherwise were being passed over when it nulls out
or cuts off the audio. Once I could hear good or iffy signals, I would then make short quicker movements
with the coil in order to locate the target, then I'd use pinpoint mode if it was an iffy signal.
The technique paid off and I got my first ever dime trifecta, with a 1907 Barber, 1942D Mercury,
and 1964D Dime. SWEET! They were about 10 to 20 feet apart, with several wheatie finds in between.
Every so often, Tim would ask me "Did you get another shiny?" When I would answer yes, I could tell he was
wondering when it would be his turn. He seemed to be getting aggravated in that quiet kind of way
like we all do when someone else is getting most of the goodies on a hunt.
My fourth silver for the day had me thinking I could be holding a winning lottery ticket.
I had a really weird, iffy signal - the kind that made me think it was a coin near a nail since I had
already dug a couple like that. It was reading at 8 to 12 inches on the screen, so I dug a deep plug.
Nothing in the hole. Sweep the coil over the hole, something in there. I dig deeper - now it's about 8 inches deep
and I use the probe and the target is off to the side at the bottom. I carefully dig around it "just in case"
and it's in a clump I pulled out of the hole but it turns out to be a rusty iron staple. Crap! I sweep the coil
over the hole again to make sure that was all, and I get another similar signal. Hmmm - maybe there IS a coin in here. I use the probe again and it's in the same general area as before so I carefully dig around again and pull out the dirt, probe the dirt and find a small piece of rusted wire. Son of a ... grrrrr. OK now I'm pissed off. I'm ready to fill in the hole but I swept the coil over it again out of habit, and STILL there's a signal there.
I put the probe back in, yep - same area as before so of course I figure it's more rusty crap and I just dig haphazardly like a pissed off gnome and pull the dirt out and probe the dirt and HOLY **** it's a silver dime!
The face is only slightly dirty and it's worn - but I can read the date. 1916. WHAT
1916!!!
I rub my eyes with the dirty gloves - am I seeing things? No - it's a 1916!
I just started laughing in that way that crazy people laugh in the movies.
I turned over the dime and it was totally packed with dirt on the back. DON'T RUB IT! (I tell myself) But I HAVE TO SEE!!!
Don't RUB IT! (I insist) then I see I made a small scrape on the back, over the word ONE - this is NOT GOOD!
N O T G O O D ! I put it in my shirt pocket to wash it in running water at home. Talk about anticipation!
I tried to video tape the unveiling as I was washing the coin and I was so nervous that I kept moving the camera
away from the coin. So I edited the video to remove the views of the side of the sink. Unfortunately, as the video reveals, I didn't win the silver coin lottery jackpot. The coin turned out to be a 1916S.
But I did have my best silver day ever! And looking at the scrape on the back I'm almost glad that it WASN'T a 1916D. I bet that would have taken a huge chunk of value out of it.
The total for me that day were the 4 silvers, 10 wheaties, 5 clad quarters, 8 mem cents, 3 clad dimes.
Lowbatts - you're up next!
Here's the video of the unveiling...
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I stopped to get some coffee and something sweet on the way to the site.
Little did I know how sweet the day would turn out.
The site is a beautiful park that was previously a private area.
Based on the kinds of coins, the dates, and the amount of coins (like clad dimes & quarters) that would have been
easy pickings for anyone with a detector, there's been years and years of coinage building up with very little if any
detecting going on there. That is, until we showed up!
A couple days ago there were 5 of us there hitting several different areas.
Clad the Impaler, Kimsdad, Lowbatts, Myself and Watercolor all started out hopeful.
About half way into it, it became obvious that the site was not going to give up
it's hot spots very easily.
A couple of us did OK and a couple or three of us didn't get much.
Some areas were heavy with pull tab and can slaw targets, I found a really deep beer can at about 15 inches.
But it sounded so good! I was also finding wheaties from 1918 up to the 1940's and 1950's.
I managed to squeak out two silvers, and wheats and clad dimes and quarters my first day there,
wheaties and clad only on another couple days, then another two silvers and more wheaties and clad another day
but I had started to think of the site as being mostly just another clad park.
In one area the ground is a weird mix of nice black dirt, rusty iron nails and staples,
remains of shattered clay pigeons, shotgun wads, can slaw, pull tabs, and gravel with all of the above.
I imagine there's tons of lead shot mixed in too.
There were so many signals close together that I had to use what I now call "The Koala Sweep".
It's a sweep speed that imitates the movement of a koala bear - it's like in slow motion!
This allowed the detector to recognize signals that otherwise were being passed over when it nulls out
or cuts off the audio. Once I could hear good or iffy signals, I would then make short quicker movements
with the coil in order to locate the target, then I'd use pinpoint mode if it was an iffy signal.
The technique paid off and I got my first ever dime trifecta, with a 1907 Barber, 1942D Mercury,
and 1964D Dime. SWEET! They were about 10 to 20 feet apart, with several wheatie finds in between.
Every so often, Tim would ask me "Did you get another shiny?" When I would answer yes, I could tell he was
wondering when it would be his turn. He seemed to be getting aggravated in that quiet kind of way
like we all do when someone else is getting most of the goodies on a hunt.
My fourth silver for the day had me thinking I could be holding a winning lottery ticket.
I had a really weird, iffy signal - the kind that made me think it was a coin near a nail since I had
already dug a couple like that. It was reading at 8 to 12 inches on the screen, so I dug a deep plug.
Nothing in the hole. Sweep the coil over the hole, something in there. I dig deeper - now it's about 8 inches deep
and I use the probe and the target is off to the side at the bottom. I carefully dig around it "just in case"
and it's in a clump I pulled out of the hole but it turns out to be a rusty iron staple. Crap! I sweep the coil
over the hole again to make sure that was all, and I get another similar signal. Hmmm - maybe there IS a coin in here. I use the probe again and it's in the same general area as before so I carefully dig around again and pull out the dirt, probe the dirt and find a small piece of rusted wire. Son of a ... grrrrr. OK now I'm pissed off. I'm ready to fill in the hole but I swept the coil over it again out of habit, and STILL there's a signal there.
I put the probe back in, yep - same area as before so of course I figure it's more rusty crap and I just dig haphazardly like a pissed off gnome and pull the dirt out and probe the dirt and HOLY **** it's a silver dime!
The face is only slightly dirty and it's worn - but I can read the date. 1916. WHAT
1916!!!I rub my eyes with the dirty gloves - am I seeing things? No - it's a 1916!
I just started laughing in that way that crazy people laugh in the movies.
I turned over the dime and it was totally packed with dirt on the back. DON'T RUB IT! (I tell myself) But I HAVE TO SEE!!!
Don't RUB IT! (I insist) then I see I made a small scrape on the back, over the word ONE - this is NOT GOOD!
N O T G O O D ! I put it in my shirt pocket to wash it in running water at home. Talk about anticipation!
I tried to video tape the unveiling as I was washing the coin and I was so nervous that I kept moving the camera
away from the coin. So I edited the video to remove the views of the side of the sink. Unfortunately, as the video reveals, I didn't win the silver coin lottery jackpot. The coin turned out to be a 1916S.
But I did have my best silver day ever! And looking at the scrape on the back I'm almost glad that it WASN'T a 1916D. I bet that would have taken a huge chunk of value out of it.
The total for me that day were the 4 silvers, 10 wheaties, 5 clad quarters, 8 mem cents, 3 clad dimes.
Lowbatts - you're up next!
Here's the video of the unveiling...
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