Eight silver dimes and the first Indian Head Cent from the "Sidewalk" park

brianc053

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Jan 27, 2015
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Morris County, NJ
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Hi everyone. Recently I've been posting about this park in my town where there's a http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/655884-sidewalk-nowhere-except-good-coins.html.

Well, those great coins continue: a couple days ago I spent about 3 hours at the field after work and during that time I managed to find eight (8) silver dimes (five Roosevelt, three Mercs), a sterling silver religious medal from sometime between 1930 and 1960, and I also found the first Indian Head Cent from this field (1906).

I truly cannot believe the number of silver coins I've found at this park. Just in 2021 I've personally found 32, and I'm aware of at least 10 being found by friends.

But now there's a complication: I have multiple friends coming to this field. At first it was just my friend Alex and his son, but a few weeks ago I showed another friend the field, and THAT friend is one of those guys who "cleans a place out". Worse, THAT friend invited his brother to come by the field, and the brother likes to clean places out too. I've met the brother before - nice guy, but has that "hunger" for silver.

I found about his brother's visits to the field on the day I found the eight dimes. I had been at the field for about 2 hours when this pickup pulls in (I had the place to myself for the first 2 hours), and the guy in the pickup yells out "Hey Brian, it's Matt!" My response was, "Oh hi - which Matt?" Once he explained who he was we spent 10-15 minutes chatting and he explained that he and his brother had been coming to the field over the past few weeks (without giving me a courtesy heads-up that they were headed out to go detecting) and that they'd been finding a few silvers every visit.

I know that it's public land, and I actually showed these guys the spot. And I know that many of you have to fight off other detectors and have to detect fields that have been picked over for decades.
With all that in mind, do I have any reason to be a bit annoyed that the brothers are cleaning out "my" park? Or am I getting what I deserved by sharing it with them? (I'd think they would at least shoot me a text to say they were headed over there....).
I'm inclined to just be thankful for what I've found, and happy in the good karma I've received for sharing with others.

Anyway, here are the finds from that day - good stuff!

- Brian

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Upvote 27
Eight silver dimes and the first Indian Head Cent from the "Sidewalk" park

Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead. - Franklin

Do you have a right to be annoyed? Heck yeah!

Should you remember this and never throw the guy a bone again? Without a doubt.

Is it your own fault for sharing in the first place? Maybe. I think it says more about him and his values and it ain?t good [emoji2371] On the other hand it is a public park.
 

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I only do house permissions. A lot of diggers don't. They feed off parks
 

Public ground with silver like you are finding is pretty hard to come by. So if I didn't want anyone else hunting there, I definitely wouldn't have shared it easily. Especially if they hunted often AND had a brother who also hunts. One thing I've learned in life is that if I don't want something I said shared with other people, then I better not even say that thing at all.

If I had a friend share a good location, I'd probably try to set up most of my hunts there with the friend out of respect, or at least guage his reaction to me going by myself.

Anyway, glad you're still finding lots of goodies for yourself there. Nice silvers and hunting!
 

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Nice hunt! Congrats!!
 

Great hunt Brian, getting those results from any park now a days is pretty rare. :occasion14:

Yes sharing is caring, and caring after sharing?
Well one should always remember when showing their cards at the table.
They'll probably loose the hand.

Kind of a shame some don't have any shame when it comes to going back behind the back.
It would be different if they asked from the get go-is this a me only (not to share with others)?
Do you care if I invite my buddy's?
Do you mind if we clean it out for you?

You still got 8 dimes and the silver medallion-they kind of suck at detecting I'm thinking.:laughing7:
 

That's an awful lot of silver for one hunt, so huge congrats! As for the others multiplying and somewhat taking over the spot, you know the saying No good deed... Too late to do anything about this one, but just keep proving you're a better hunter and finding the old coins the other guys miss. Next spot you find like that, Shhhhhh.
 

Hi Brian,
Sorry you had that bad experience.
I'll share an experience I had years ago with my own brother......
We had gotten permission to metal detect private property next to a Civil War battlefield, which was several acres of mature woodland.
My brother and I where hunting through the woods, moving in parallel lines of each other and at least 50 yards apart.
I started hitting dropped .58 cal. three ringers and shouted to him I was finding bullets.... BIG MISTAKE !
He came straight over and started detecting RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, pulling bullets out right and left.
To say I was pissed, is an understatement.
So, what did I do ? I went around him and started detecting RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM !
I hit more bullets and the last thing I found was a beautiful US cartridge box plate.
Guess who was pissed then ??!!
And FOR YEARS, he accused ME of cutting in front of HIM and screwing him out of finding that plate.
Every time I tried to correct the story of who got in who's way first, he flatly denied it...conveniently forgetting about how he marched right over in front me first.
If I would have never opened my mouth, he wouldn't have found ANY of the approx. 30 dropped bullets we both recovered.
 

Great finds Brian. It is a public park, but since you gave your information to your "friends", it would have been nice for them to invite you out when they went. Do you have a right to be annoyed ? Without a doubt. You did the research and gathered information, and now they are just being "squatters". I pretty much detect on my own now, and don't have to worry about issues like yours, as I do a lot of private property. If it were me, next time I would just keep a tight lip. It's a shame we have to think like that, but it's people like your dealing with that make us think like that.
 

Great finds, congrats! And remember, no good deed goes unpunished. That's just the world we live in. You can be pissed but still have a good feeling knowing that you are a sharing person. All they can feel good about is the treasure they cheated to get. There's my $0.02.
 

Loose lips sink spots.

Make extra time to go detecting and clean the spot out before those buggers do!
 

Brianc053,

Nice hunt, it is always good to find to have a favorite site that consistently produces silver. I enjoy reading your posts as they are well written and provide lots of detail. I am in the camp that your current woes of your friends cleaning out your favorite park was self-inflicted. You knew your ?THAT friend? likes to clean out places and that is was likely he would tell his hoovering brother about the place. Good luck with your hunts - you are going to need it with detecting buddies that hog your good sites. Walt
 

You just found out who you can trust and who you can't. Before I confide in a hunting buddy, I insist on a few ground rules. The main one is, whoever finds a site, has control over it. No poaching or hunting it without the other person, or, their permission. If they can't agree to that, they aren't a true buddy and I won't hunt with them.
 

Yeah that does suck. But if you're still finding 8 silvers a trip it looks like there is still plenty to find. Even with a couple of leaches hitting your spot. When it gets slim pickens I'd ask them where are there honey holes and suck on their blood a little.
 

You did real well, considering the competeition...!
Secret locations is the best, but you have to hunt with someone,
for safety, and enjoyment, right...?
Well, to heck with SHARING...!
"Take all you can get, give nothing back...!" Arrr....! :blackbeard::skullflag:
 

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