FINALLY! 1851O SEATED HALF DIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baldingboy

Bronze Member
May 17, 2007
2,240
34
Southeast Missouri
Detector(s) used
Minelab SE Professional with 6" Coil
Have you ever had those evenings detecting when you ā€œjust arenā€™t feeling itā€? Wellā€¦me and Mastereagle headed out after work on Wednesday night. We had secured permission at an old Barn that was standing before the Civil War. The problem was, TONS of dirt work had been done. We went with no backup plan and basically, we dug a few cans here and there and that was about it. I did manage to find a brass horse tack ring, and Mastereagle dug a few clad pennies, but even those were after covering several acres. Tough hunt. :(

We left this place and took off to hunt this old house we had our eye on. We arrived and started detecting the strip out by the curb. The third signal I dug, I pulled up this ancient looking ring. I donā€™t know if this thing just had brass disease along one edge, or if there was a setting there at one time. It has seen better days though.




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We entered the yard and after about thirty minutes, we realized this place was practically clean of coins, even newer clad. Apparently someone had hit this place before. There were several choppy trash sounds, but diligence paid off when Mastereagle came around the house with a Silver Merc and a Wheat Penny. I was energized by this and tried to really concentrate on my signals. I dug a screw cap signal in the front, and finally produced a small compact lid that had the company name on it.


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Well, the time finally came and Mastereagle said it was time to go. I pretended not to hear him and decided to attempt a couple more plugs before we had to leave. I dug another signal in the left front yard and decided to hit the right side before leaving. I joked with Mastereagle by starting to pray out loud for the Lord to give me one good signal before leaving. A couple of times Mastereagle yelled "What"?! and I just yelled back, "Hey, I am having a conversation with the Lord"

I had avoided the ā€˜gutter lineā€™ of this place because I had only dug tiny little triangles of aluminum, but as I swept through there, I heard a sweet little sound mixed in with the slurry of other signals. I assumed it was probably a tiny sliver of aluminum. By this time Mastereagle was demanding to go, and towering over me as I dug my ā€œlast signalā€ as he called it. :cussing:

I plunged my digger in and made about a four inch plug and started checking it with my pinpointer. I had a hard time finding it and realized it was in the plug. I tore the plug apart and finally saw this extremely tiny little coin. I thought at first it was play money but thought to myselfā€¦ā€please have a reeded edgeā€!!! I picked up the coin still enveloped in the dirt clod and sure enoughā€¦the edge had reeds. I started saying ā€œOh my Godā€ā€¦ā€You know what I think I just dugā€?!!! Mastereagle says ā€œWhat is itā€? I said ā€œOh my Godā€¦I think itā€™s a HALF DIMEā€!!!! He looks at it close and says, ā€œItā€™s an 1851ā€!!! Well, I guess the Lord was really with me tonight....literally!! :angel7:

I have to give Mastereagle credit during tonights hunt. He high fived me and congratulated me. He was truly happy for me; I cannot rip on him in this post like usual. I have taken the gloves off. Here is a picture of him congratulating me:













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Here is the Half Dime I dug. It was a 1851O.....and I really donā€™t think the tiny scratch was caused by my digger, but maybe. I donā€™t really care though because I would never sell it anyway. I can't even believe I not only dug my first Seated Coin, but it was the elusive Half Dime. I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams that I would dig one of these. In our town, this is probably a find of a lifetime!


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I got home and cleaned the rest of my trashy stuff and was getting ready to hurl this tiny piece of metal when it took on a familiar shape. I discovered this little guy had snuck in my pouch disguised as a dirt clod. I bathed him and gave him a nickel to dance on. I love finding these little lead toys. He sure looks old and tired, but I was super happy to have him.


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Here's another pic of some of the other finds:


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Hope you enjoyed reading...Happy Hunting Everyone.

Baldingboy
 

Upvote 0
MaineRelic said:
Nice seated Balding boy ! I really like the little piggie :laughing7: nice digs ! MaineRelic




Yeah, that little piggie is really cool. I love finding those little lead toys. I bet with the crusty stuff on this little guy and the age of the other stuff I found, that he is really really old.
 

Hey, that's a super find! I haven't found a half dime intact yet. Couple years back I found one cut in half. They often did that to make change back in the day. So... in reality, I guess it's a quarter dime. Or 2.5 cents worth. That probably destroys any potential value, but what the heck. As the French say, "Eet ees what eet ees". That said, I did find an 1827 draped bust dime today, so it's all good.
 

DirtDigler said:
Hey, that's a super find! I haven't found a half dime intact yet. Couple years back I found one cut in half. They often did that to make change back in the day. So... in reality, I guess it's a quarter dime. Or 2.5 cents worth. That probably destroys any potential value, but what the heck. As the French say, "Eet ees what eet ees". That said, I did find an 1827 draped bust dime today, so it's all good.

DirtDigler~ Thanks a lot. I would say even if you dug a cut one you can mark it off the bucket list. Your right...eet ees what eet ees. I guess a hearty congratulations is in order if you dug that. My gosh...that is an unbelievable coin. Wow...and I thought 1851 was old. Congratulations again! :thumbsup:
 

halfdime said:
Congratulations on multiple milestones!


halfdime~ Thanks a lot. I am as proud as I can be.

Baldingboy......how does halfdimeBaldingboy sound??? :icon_pirat:
 

congrats on the half dime!!!!! MR TUFF
 

1851 silver goodness!!
 

Thats an awesome story! Big congrats on the little silver....I've been waiting on mine for quite some time now. I can't tell you how many times I"ve told myself last plug and it ends up bein somethin nice!
 

Sniffy said:
Thats an awesome story! Big congrats on the little silver....I've been waiting on mine for quite some time now. I can't tell you how many times I"ve told myself last plug and it ends up bein somethin nice!


Thanks Sniffy...it's the God's honest truth too. This yard has really black colored dirt. It is just full of slivers of aluminum from the gutters, tiny paint chips and leaf debris among other things. It is a nightmare to detect. (We went there last night again and found NOTHING). Anyway, we had been there about two hours I think, and I told him one more signal. It truly was going to be the last signal of the night and when I saw that tiny little disk against that super dark dirt, I about lost it. I just knew that had to be what it was, being so small and all. Thanks again.

Baldingboy
 

allen said:
your patience paid off with that sweet silver !!


Allen~ Yeah it finally did. I know in this town to find something like this, we have to go real slow and hunt junky yards that have been detected before. No yard is ever hunted completely.
 

AWESOME finds buddy, I sure hope I can cross paths with a Half Dime someday!!! :notworthy:
 

traverdog said:
Very nice!!
TreasureFiend said:
AWESOME finds buddy, I sure hope I can cross paths with a Half Dime someday!!! :notworthy:

Thanks traverdog...I appreciate it.

TreasureFiend~ I just watched your video of the Morgan you found. Looks like you deserve a Big Congratulations too....so Congrats Man!!! :icon_thumright:
That would blow my mind to find a Morgan! Really enjoy your guys videos and I guess I am going to have to move to Chicago. You guys are killing it. Great research and awesome digs. :notworthy:

Keep digging and keep on filming and posting. It really does light a fire under all of us.


Baldingboy
 

wow! thats a great find in our neck of the woods! its like trying to find a BB in haystack so to speak. like you said you have to go slow and dig those iffy signals too! great job on the half dime an continued success in your hunting! HH guys! :thumbsup:
 

Congrats my old friend!! The coin is a beauty, but the pig is cool! Glad to see that you and the Eagle Dude are still detecting buddies.
 

Awesome looking Seated Half Dime. Congrats :wav:
 

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