Finally After 3 Seasons I Got My White Whale! My First IHP And His Tribe Too!

Centsless Detecting

Bronze Member
Aug 13, 2017
1,382
4,058
Milwaukee WI
🥇 Banner finds
3
Detector(s) used
-Minelab Equinox 800 with 11" and 6" coils -Minelab Manticore-
-Garett AT Pinpointer-
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well hello again TNET. Something amazing happened to me yesterday. It was beautiful, sunny and 60 degrees after work. My wonderful wife let me go detecting, I promised I would be no more than an hour. I have my usual park with acres of woods that I call home in the spring before everything grows over.

Over the winter I found out that there were extensive Native American mounds that, for hundreds of years they gathered to celebrate the summer solstice. Unfortunately all of the historically mapped mounds are now gone. Now before anyone accuses me of anything, I would NEVER EVER disrupt a Native American Mound. I have a profound respect for ancient culture no matter who or when they lived.

My plan was to head to a spot where, I suspect, there is one of these such lost mounds. It is maybe 3 to 4 feet tall, 15 feet long, and 10 feet wide. It is so perfectly laid out that it most likely is man made in my opinion. My plan was to detect the flat land around the base without disturbing the actual mound itself. One of these days Ill take some good pics of the mound in question. Well, I didn't even get anywhere near the mound. I passed a hill that I have walked by dozens of times but noticed an area I wanted to give a go at.

First signal, a pull tab, of course. Second, a lead dipped wire? No pics but it seems pretty insignificant. Third signal sounded like a shotgun head stamp 4 inches down. Man, was I in for the greatest surprise in my short detecting career! I see what looks like two green pennies. Thinking wheaties because so far, that's all I get out of this park. I clean off the first one and see the wreath and shield. I'm glad no one was around because I couldn't stop cursing and freaking out :laughing7:

There they were 1906 and 1907 IHPS in amazing condition. They must have been dropped very early. Grab the pinpointer and there is still more. A third IHP 1884! I made it back to the 1800s a year and 2 days after my first ever 1800s coin! This one a little worn but still amazing to me.

2019040395175546.jpg

I had been detecting for maybe 10 minutes total at this point. Called my wife with the good news and what a joyous occasion it was. Well now of course I'm not leaving this spot and the mound will have to wait for another day. I keep swinging in the same 5x5 foot area. A few great sounding square nails and round nails. Maybe 20 minutes after the first coins, 2 feet away I get another penny signal, 4 inches down. Here we go I'm thinking and there it was.. IHP number 4! This one is 1880 and almost in just as good condition as the 1906 and 1907! Full Liberty on the head dresses of these three.

2019040395181449.jpg

I was on cloud 9 all night and I still haven't come down yet :hello2: I decided to call it a night after that, as my hour was nearly up. I looked around the area I was in and noticed a past hole I dug not 10 feet from my favorite coin spill to date. Goes to show how close you can be to something and not even know.

Here they are partially cleaned up. Not sure if I want to clean them any more, as I do not want to ruin the beautiful green patina. But if anyone has some advise, I may give it a go on the 1884 :icon_thumright:

2019040495082559.jpg 2019040495115510.jpg

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did finding my first tribe of natives! In the future I will share more about the mounds that were in my area, including hand drawn maps from the 1850s in comparison to the lay of the land today.

Good luck to everyone out there and as always happy hunting. Hope to be posting more often.

-TheMilDetector-
 

Upvote 44
Nice finds. I found one when I first started detecting in '81. I've now been detecting again 1 year and have found one but not near as nice as yours. Keep up the good work! Gary
 

I don't think I've ever seen Indians come out of the ground it that good of condition. Nice finds!!!
 

Congrats on your first Indian Head pennies. If they are in that good of shape, I would leave them alone and not clean them any further. I just dug an 1875 in XF - AU condition (as graded by my local coin dealer) and all I did was water it off. It came out of great dirt from a yard as opposed to the fields where I usually hunt. The ones from the fields, I usually water off, then soak in virgin olive oil for a week or two. Put them in 2x2 coin holders, and enjoy them !!
 

Congrats on your IHP's! They are not easy to find. It took me about 2 years to find my first one. I have found a few since but they are still pretty elusive. The best method I've found with the IHP's is to dig all signals that sound remotely good. The tried and true dig-it-all method. I'd leave those as they are. One thing you can get for future IHP cleaning is the Andre's pencils. If the coin's surface is still relatively solid the pencils are great to clean them up and it works on large coppers too. It's hard for me to comprehend but I've found more large coppers than IHP's. I'm probably passing over the signals because they are certainly more abundant that coppers. Good luck. You will now probably find a good deal more!
 

That’s s great hunt
 

Great hunt, I agree the 06 07 are beauties, all are nice ones, congratulations
 

Nice! Congratulations on achieving your goal...x 4!

Congrats on not getting your first 1 but 4!!!! Very awesome!!!!!:occasion14:

Congratulations!:hello2:

Very nice finds, I luv the Indians, congrats!:thumbsup:

Congrats on the nice looking tribe!

Great IHPs, Congrats!!!

That’s s great hunt

Thanks everyone! Sorry to jam everyone into one comment, but I wasn't expecting this kind of response so quick :icon_thumright:
Good luck to you all and happy hunting!
 

That is quite a little run you got there Mil! Very nice! Imagine if those were all Seated dimes or better yet...Capped Bust! You just NEVER know what’s coming next,you had a day that most would be very OK with....:occasion14:

Thanks IDX. Im sure the profanities I shouted would have been far worse if that were the case lol. It is true, you don't know until its out of the ground, and Im still very OK with this find :icon_thumright:

Wow those are beautiful IHP’s!!! I’ve probably gotten 7 IHP’s in my 3 years detecting and most are chewed up looking. I think we all have a special place in our hearts for Indian cents. Till this day when I find one I become a young boy. Congratulations on those four beauties [emoji1360]

Much appreciated Truth. I can see now that they are a scarcely found coin. I found a 1807 KGIII here in Milwaukee a year prior to these little natives, which blew me away. I am very fortunate that the soil around me is very kind to coins.

Still waiting to find my first after 12 years detecting ( imagine my celebration when it happens !) Those are really nice coins . I've found 5 of them in penny rolls over the last 3 years .

Your day will come soon enough, and Ill join you in your happy dance for sure. Hey at least you have some under your belt. My 6 year old daughter found a very tired IHP in the CoinStar machine near by. Soo my kids have already beat me to the punch lol
 

My first IHs were a coin spill also gotta love hearing the pinpointer keep beeping. Put those in some nice cases we work hard for our cool finds Well done Tommy

Thanks Tommy! Cool coincidence about the spill too. I have actually been trying to hit hills harder since your post about finding the most silver on them. I got a rosie dime on the opposite side of this hill to end my season last year. Im just glad the pinpointer found a coin and not a nail as it usually does. Getting cases this weekend :icon_thumright:

Nice finds. I found one when I first started detecting in '81. I've now been detecting again 1 year and have found one but not near as nice as yours. Keep up the good work! Gary

Thanks Todds. I hope I am able to detect until I cant walk anymore but only time will tell. Im very fortunate that the soil here is so kind to coins. Here is to your next IHP :icon_thumleft:

I don't think I've ever seen Indians come out of the ground it that good of condition. Nice finds!!!

Thanks Dennis. I still cant believe how well they came out of the ground. Im very lucky..

Congrats on your first Indian Head pennies. If they are in that good of shape, I would leave them alone and not clean them any further. I just dug an 1875 in XF - AU condition (as graded by my local coin dealer) and all I did was water it off. It came out of great dirt from a yard as opposed to the fields where I usually hunt. The ones from the fields, I usually water off, then soak in virgin olive oil for a week or two. Put them in 2x2 coin holders, and enjoy them !!

Thanks Trez! I am happy with the way they are so I wont be cleaning them any further. Strait to the coin holders they will go. I haven't detected any fields but I have seen how crusty they can get. Im glad that the dirt here is soft and kind to coins :icon_thumleft:


Congrats on your IHP's! They are not easy to find. It took me about 2 years to find my first one. I have found a few since but they are still pretty elusive. The best method I've found with the IHP's is to dig all signals that sound remotely good. The tried and true dig-it-all method. I'd leave those as they are. One thing you can get for future IHP cleaning is the Andre's pencils. If the coin's surface is still relatively solid the pencils are great to clean them up and it works on large coppers too. It's hard for me to comprehend but I've found more large coppers than IHP's. I'm probably passing over the signals because they are certainly more abundant that coppers. Good luck. You will now probably find a good deal more!

Thanks CopperStax. I have been reallytry hard to dig it all, but sometimes I just cant. Like when I know its foil or iron. Heard about the pencils and I should probably get them in my arsenal soon. I can believe it because I found a 1807 KGIII last year and was in shock that I found it before an IHP. Just today my detecting friend was in the woods and he found a spill with 23 WHEAT PENNIES and MERC! I couldn't believe it as I have detected these woods for 3 seasons and him only for 3 weeks! Believe me I WILL be digging EVERYTHING from here on out. Good luck to ya!
 

Well hello again TNET. Something amazing happened to me yesterday. It was beautiful, sunny and 60 degrees after work. My wonderful wife let me go detecting, I promised I would be no more than an hour. I have my usual park with acres of woods that I call home in the spring before everything grows over.

Over the winter I found out that there were extensive Native American mounds that, for hundreds of years they gathered to celebrate the summer solstice. Unfortunately all of the historically mapped mounds are now gone. Now before anyone accuses me of anything, I would NEVER EVER disrupt a Native American Mound. I have a profound respect for ancient culture no matter who or when they lived.

My plan was to head to a spot where, I suspect, there is one of these such lost mounds. It is maybe 3 to 4 feet tall, 15 feet long, and 10 feet wide. It is so perfectly laid out that it most likely is man made in my opinion. My plan was to detect the flat land around the base without disturbing the actual mound itself. One of these days Ill take some good pics of the mound in question. Well, I didn't even get anywhere near the mound. I passed a hill that I have walked by dozens of times but noticed an area I wanted to give a go at.

First signal, a pull tab, of course. Second, a lead dipped wire? No pics but it seems pretty insignificant. Third signal sounded like a shotgun head stamp 4 inches down. Man, was I in for the greatest surprise in my short detecting career! I see what looks like two green pennies. Thinking wheaties because so far, that's all I get out of this park. I clean off the first one and see the wreath and shield. I'm glad no one was around because I couldn't stop cursing and freaking out :laughing7:

There they were 1906 and 1907 IHPS in amazing condition. They must have been dropped very early. Grab the pinpointer and there is still more. A third IHP 1884! I made it back to the 1800s a year and 2 days after my first ever 1800s coin! This one a little worn but still amazing to me.

View attachment 1699260

I had been detecting for maybe 10 minutes total at this point. Called my wife with the good news and what a joyous occasion it was. Well now of course I'm not leaving this spot and the mound will have to wait for another day. I keep swinging in the same 5x5 foot area. A few great sounding square nails and round nails. Maybe 20 minutes after the first coins, 2 feet away I get another penny signal, 4 inches down. Here we go I'm thinking and there it was.. IHP number 4! This one is 1880 and almost in just as good condition as the 1906 and 1907! Full Liberty on the head dresses of these three.

View attachment 1699267

I was on cloud 9 all night and I still haven't come down yet :hello2: I decided to call it a night after that, as my hour was nearly up. I looked around the area I was in and noticed a past hole I dug not 10 feet from my favorite coin spill to date. Goes to show how close you can be to something and not even know.

Here they are partially cleaned up. Not sure if I want to clean them any more, as I do not want to ruin the beautiful green patina. But if anyone has some advise, I may give it a go on the 1884 :icon_thumright:

View attachment 1699271 View attachment 1699273

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did finding my first tribe of natives! In the future I will share more about the mounds that were in my area, including hand drawn maps from the 1850s in comparison to the lay of the land today.

Good luck to everyone out there and as always happy hunting. Hope to be posting more often.

-TheMilDetector-

Way To Go .

I'm now making my childhood "ow, ow , ow , Owa" Cowboys & Indians game sounds.
 

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