Found gold coins. What next!?

bonedoctor

Jr. Member
Aug 25, 2019
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Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello! Im new here. Im also an amateur. Ive lived on a historical property for about 13 years. I bought a detector a few years ago but never got into using it until recently. I met someone who was really into it and told them about my place. They are very trustworthy and I decided to let them come hunt my place with me. Thought it would be a good experience.

Here is the background. My house sits in the oxbow of a well known creek. The house dates to 1936 and was built buy a fairly famous figure. a few decades later, a senator lived here. Their dad actually was a nominated presidential candidate in the 30s. There are many cool things related to this, but earlier history is more fascinating to me.

The first white man in my area is considered to be the father of our city. He had a trading post on our property, which was several miles outside of the city. It was on the creek, on my property. This would have been 1862. In 1870, there were about 50 people in the city. His post was only here a few years and it was mainly indian trading. It was removed around 1880. I need to find the exact date. There is a newspaper article about it.

When my house was built about 70 years later, it was placed in the center of the oxbow, and each end of the oxbow was cut off in the 40s. During this, I was told bodies were dug up in the process. Not much info on this.

We started to metal detect a few weeks ago. One of the first areas we hit gave us a copper arrowhead and a dime dating 1860! That was very exciting! Since then, we have mainly found a bunch of civil war ammo and some civil was era boot tips. We have found 5 rings in very random places.

A few days ago, I randomly decided to hit an area between my house and the old oxbow. I was shocked! We located an 1882 $5 gold piece! It was right at the top of the "bank" of the oxbow. Maybe 2' from its downward slope. We looked some more and found an 1880 $10 gold piece 15' away, and down the bank to the oxbow! The one on top of the bank was 6" deep, and the other down the bank was 2" deep.

Im not sure what to make of this. These coins were after the post, but before my house. Also, who would have had this gold on them, just walking through a creek area? This general area has also brought up a few things, such as some victorian era buttons and a cameo ring. We also dug up a confederate civil war bullet.

What are your suspicions? Do you think it was a fluke and someone dropped some coins? Do you think there is a cache?

Furthermore, what path does a gold coin take? Does it move up or down with time? In other words, at 2" and 6" depth, am I likely to find something much deeper? There is a 1940s wire fence in the area, and its a good 1' deep. So, I just dont know how extreme to go. After about a foot, the area gets sandy. The oxbow hasnt flowed since the 40s, but water occasionally fills in when it rains heavily, then it sinks into the ground. It is extremely heavy with ivy ground cover, and in the trees.

I have an excavator at my house today. Any opinions from the experience would be great!!

I should also mention, this area had figures like Jesse James, and many other famous outlaws. Also, the Chisholm trail goes through our city, and a branch of the trail goes through a portion of my property. Maybe 500' from the gold find.
 

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The brush hog would be very good if you can get it into the area. I'm sure you'll be careful on sloped ground. People still get crushed under tractors. The only reason my son's 1832 home was up for sale and available for him to buy was because the previous owner rolled an antique tractor over onto himself and died under it. My son bought the property from the estate.

Old wells were used for dumping. Coin shooters more typically ignore them but they are favorites of bottle hunters. I have a small 48 page book in front of me as I write this titled "The Wells of Williamsburg, Colonial Time Capsules" by Ivor Noel Hume. They are worth hunting - but only if it can be done safely. The title is interesting because the author makes a point that wells can preserve artifacts that might not survive outside of a well - like leather, wood, etc.
 

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I'd cover your lawn carefully bonedoctor. Almost assuredly there are more gold coins nearby. And what's with the near same dates?
 

I'd cover your lawn carefully bonedoctor. Almost assuredly there are more gold coins nearby. And what's with the near same dates?

Yes. 1880 and 1882 if I remember right
 

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I just found the well! Perplexed. It’s covered with a 3x3 slab, with 6x6 square hole in it. Never had electric here. Any thoughts?!
 

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It’s about 6’ from the edge of the oxbow. Also at the rumored location of the post
 

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Does the 6x6" hole go all the way thru the slab? That is odd - almost like a concrete top to a septic tank with a small cleanout hole possibly repurposed to cover an old dug well. But even then it would be a smaller than usual cleanout hole. So, I don't know. Covering an old well with a concrete top is better practice than the common use of a piece of wood. A local here just recently fell through the rotten wood top to an old dug well and it took a bit to get him out of it.

The shotgun shells are a good sign that you are not using excess discrimination with your new detector.
 

Maybe whoever poured the concrete, put a wooden post in the slab to mark it. The post has simply rotted away or has since been pulled out.
 

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I just found the well! Perplexed. It’s covered with a 3x3 slab, with 6x6 square hole in it. Never had electric here. Any thoughts?!

Maybe someone converted it to a hand pump type of well at some point. 6"x6" seems about the right sized opening for something like this:
d063c14c899ff5b906f5be1c40fb8008.jpg
 

You Rock Bonedoc! Awesome story, pics and finds!

Congratulations!!

Kace
 

Keep digging and keep your lips shut ! Best advice you will get...
 

A couple cool finds today around the well. A wheat penny, a 1920s toy gun, and a old belt buckle.526B43CC-F63A-4D25-BC49-9B886913E795.jpeg0C2B843D-A8B5-40F7-AF87-B355E4E9ED5F.jpeg
 

If you attempt to uncover that "well" and find the body of the "well" to be rectangular, you might be in a septic tank. That does resemble a septic tank cover.
I'd think about taking a screen and a shovel to sift any area I could dig near your finds.
 

Ok, I think I’m on to something. About a week ago, I found a couple different sales tax coins. Today I found a 1919 wheat penny in the same exact spot. This is 20’ upstream from the gold. I think someone had a piggy bank get flooded or spilled. This was way before my house. AD02533A-4E32-4B9A-AA23-2C2453D16F1B.jpeg
 

Looks just like those identified as from 1936-37.
 

I think this is interesting. I just found another tax coin (rough) and in this same area I’m digging up tons of small nails. They are almost all exact, bent at the same area on the nail. Hmmm08EE492C-6ACC-4FA4-9CA8-6E1060DE91E1.jpg
 

If you pulled a nail with a claw hammer, the bend would usually start closer to the nail head. These nails look like they might have been driven into a plank, then peened over on the back side. Maybe the nails held the tax tokens?
 

I'd love an update on this post! My family owns some historic property and just so happen to own the dump for the area as well! I've been playing amateur archeologist for years and have found lots of cool stuff... but GOLD COINS! Not to mention literally everything else you posted! If I were you, I would detect and detect and detect some more, anywhere you can. Test out any spot you feel good about. You never know what you may find! 35 acres if I remember correctly? There could and should be plenty of home sites around, I'd imagine. The history you already know and the finds you have made would keep me busy forever. My advice is the same as most others, TAKE YOUR TIME AND KEEP YOUR LIPS SEALED! No reason to rush and you will only moss/damage potential finds. Be very careful who you share your location with... there are metal detecting "Poachers" as I refer to them. They will find your spots and dig them right under your nose! Dont ask me how I know...
I bet you have atleast a small cw camp in the vicinity of that oxbow too. Especially since you already found civil war bullets/relics and you know there was a trading post there. You literally have a treasure hunter's dream property and its YOURS! Not a permission etc. You already have 2 gold coins and all the other relics. Just take it one step at a time and be very careful and thorough. I'd detect until I picked every single signal in the ground around the gold coin spill area and for quite some distance around it, before I would move any dirt. Definitely be sifting and detecting any dirt you move as well! As far as the well, my advice is also the same. Detect concentric circles around the well and it should help you to see the different paths used, what time periods etc. Keep close track of where each item is found and I'd suggest doing some personal research on your property. Your neighbor who you bought it from and his family are a wealth of info, but there should be some info on paper as well. I'm a civil war freak so I'd be checking local civil war activity personally, but the gold would have me sidetracked I'm sure. If you never find another gold coin, you've already beat many veteran treasure hunters(myself included) in the bucket list department. You are truly blessed to own the property and I believe the property is blessed to have an owner who is interested in learning about, literally digging up and finding, and preserving the history of the property. Even my 3/4ths acre I own has been scoured with detectors a d I've found shotshell heads from the 1870s and an old hammer marked "CCC"... through some research I found that the local Civilian conservation corps camp was just a few minutes walk from my house and that they laid the fence that runs along the creek on my property. The hammer handle probably snapped and the tool was tossed or lost more likely. Enough about my piddly lil finds lol! Take your time. Check and recheck all your holes and any dirt you move, check the surface after good rains etc., be careful what you post and who you tell(2 gold coins is nothing to sneeze at) and dont RUSH it. If you rush, you will miss items and probably damage some as well. Keep people off your property and know this stuff isnt going anywhere. You've got plenty of time to find it ALL! As stated first off... I would love an update on this post! What have you found this year? I can only imagine...
 

Another thought would be to charge people to come metal detect your property... I'd pay for a chance to hit that dream property for a few hours! Safe and happy hunting to you!
 

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