MrBling
Sr. Member
This afternoon, on the 75th day of my treasure hunting career, I found my first silver coin! Now, I know that for a lot of you experts here , finding silver is like falling off a log in your sleep, but I hope you don't mind if I tell a few of the details of my story, if only to encourage other beginners.
I had an opportunity today for a short hunt of the yard of my parent's farmhouse. The house dates to 1904, the farm to the 1880's at least. I have hit this yard hard over the last two months, finding 12 wheats, 40-50 clad, a few pieces of jewelry , and numerous relics such as bullets, buttons, buckles, and farm items. But no silver coins. I have always believed that the yard is loaded with old coins, but it is so filled with metallic trash that the deeper targets are mostly hidden.
I started today in the front yard, which is less trashy and where I have found most of the wheat pennies. Within three minutes I got an excellent coin signal. Totally solid from all directions. The pinpointer gave a depth reading of six inches.
When I put in the trowel, I hit something hard just under the grass. When I peeled back the grass,, I was dismayed to see a root almost 2 inches in diameter, which I realized must come from an oak tree 20 feet away. I pinpointed again, and, of course, the target was directly under the root. (such is life).
I dug around either side of the root, and encountered smaller, but still thick, ancillary roots. Whenever possible, I avoid cutting roots, so I dug around them with difficulty and finally got a bit of a hole going that looked like this:
The roots made for awkward digging angles, so I could only remove small amounts of dirt at a time. Since I was digging blindly underneath the roots, every few scoops I stopped and ran my hand around the hole, feeling for metal. I fully expected to find a chunk of can or an amorphous blob of metal. Joe the Dog watched patiently, perhaps hoping I would pull out a bone:
Twice I seriously considered quitting, since I just couldn't locate the target. But every time I rechecked the hole, I got the same consistent, clear dime/quarter signal, and I figured I just wouldn't give up on it.
At last, after about ten minutes of work, I rechecked the hole and -- Nothing!
Holding my breath, I swept the coil over the pile and got what I recognized as a definitive coin signal. Since the hole was now easily 6-7 inches deep, I figured it must be a wheat penny, and was glad to have a decent coin after all that work.
I pawed the pile and couldn't find it. Nothing unusual-dirty pennies are often hard to find.
I hand-sifted and swept the coil several times, until finally I scooped up some dirt and saw-the glint of silver!
I looked closer, and when I saw the fasces and the axehead I knew instantly what I had:
Needless to say, I was thrilled. Hopefully, this will the first of many silvers to come. Thanks for reading and happy hunting to you all!
I had an opportunity today for a short hunt of the yard of my parent's farmhouse. The house dates to 1904, the farm to the 1880's at least. I have hit this yard hard over the last two months, finding 12 wheats, 40-50 clad, a few pieces of jewelry , and numerous relics such as bullets, buttons, buckles, and farm items. But no silver coins. I have always believed that the yard is loaded with old coins, but it is so filled with metallic trash that the deeper targets are mostly hidden.
I started today in the front yard, which is less trashy and where I have found most of the wheat pennies. Within three minutes I got an excellent coin signal. Totally solid from all directions. The pinpointer gave a depth reading of six inches.
When I put in the trowel, I hit something hard just under the grass. When I peeled back the grass,, I was dismayed to see a root almost 2 inches in diameter, which I realized must come from an oak tree 20 feet away. I pinpointed again, and, of course, the target was directly under the root. (such is life).
I dug around either side of the root, and encountered smaller, but still thick, ancillary roots. Whenever possible, I avoid cutting roots, so I dug around them with difficulty and finally got a bit of a hole going that looked like this:
The roots made for awkward digging angles, so I could only remove small amounts of dirt at a time. Since I was digging blindly underneath the roots, every few scoops I stopped and ran my hand around the hole, feeling for metal. I fully expected to find a chunk of can or an amorphous blob of metal. Joe the Dog watched patiently, perhaps hoping I would pull out a bone:
Twice I seriously considered quitting, since I just couldn't locate the target. But every time I rechecked the hole, I got the same consistent, clear dime/quarter signal, and I figured I just wouldn't give up on it.
At last, after about ten minutes of work, I rechecked the hole and -- Nothing!
Holding my breath, I swept the coil over the pile and got what I recognized as a definitive coin signal. Since the hole was now easily 6-7 inches deep, I figured it must be a wheat penny, and was glad to have a decent coin after all that work.
I pawed the pile and couldn't find it. Nothing unusual-dirty pennies are often hard to find.
I hand-sifted and swept the coil several times, until finally I scooped up some dirt and saw-the glint of silver!
I looked closer, and when I saw the fasces and the axehead I knew instantly what I had:
Needless to say, I was thrilled. Hopefully, this will the first of many silvers to come. Thanks for reading and happy hunting to you all!
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