Holy Herdin Indians! A BUFFALO! Silver????

[Frodov]

Holy Herdin' Indians! A BUFFALO! Silver?

I uh.. Uh.. I uh.. <wiping silly grin from face> I'm kind of at a loss for words! I finally found an "OLD" coin while metal detecting. Well.. old other than a wheat penny, I've found lots of those and even some older than this coin. But this is still a first for me. I found a Buffalo Nickle ! Uh.. were they silver? <duh> I don't know! Seriously!
Day five of my Staycation, my fourth metal detecting outing. Once again I returned to the big Soccer Complex in the nearby town of Versailles Kentucky. It was quite a bit cooler today compared to the last few days, I was almost expecting there to be frost on the grass instead of dew! I actually broke down and put on long pants (jeans) and a sweatshirt in lieu of my summertime standard of t-shirt and shorts. Brrrr.. At least it wasn't too wet. With the little bit of rainfall we had yesterday, locally, it could have been rather messy out today.. but it's been so dry the ground just soaked up the moisture like a dehydrated sponge!
Pulling up to the soccer field that I had in mind to hunt this morning I opted to park in the gravel parking lot and walk the short distance to the field rather than in the grass along the drive beside the field. At that time I didn't know that the ground was so dry.<shrug> I put on my knee pads, and strapped on my finds bag and digger.. and a wiping rag (small towel) slipped on my gloves and grabbed my detector. After checking the batteries and seeing that they were good to go, I started cherry picking my way over to my selected field. I hit a few targets along the way.. some pull tabs, a cleat, and a few pennies and dimes. But the real digging didn't get started till I started my grid of the soccer field for the day. <grin> Lots of dimes today, and pennies as usual. At one point I found six dimes and seven pennies and one lone clad nickle all within an area about the size of a ..oh.. large pizza? <grin> (that's about 16 inches for those of you unfamiliar with that reference). I'm not sure if that was a pocket spill or several pockets worth.. but it kept me on my knees for a few minutes pinpointing and digging. ChaChing! The Quarters were a bit slow in coming out of the ground today for some reason. I still found several, but they were scattered and few and far between. I found this one big really ugly earring at one point this morning. I didn't realize that it was an earring at first till I turned it over and cleaned the dirt and grass out of the backside of it and found the clasp for the "clip on". It's some really ugly costume jewelry at best. <shrug> I did find another earring along one side of the field later though, it's not a clip on, and it looks to be gold, unfortunately it's not stamped with a K number or any hallmarks.



Probably cheap too. Oh well.. it was fun to find. At one end of the field there is a big old oak tree at the edge of the park. I took myself a little break under this tree after about an hour and a half of constant kneeling and digging. I had to cross over the newly excavated drainage ditch that the parks department just put in the park to get there.. now that WAS a little muddy. *sigh* And I thought I was going to stay relatively clean today. Anyway. After sitting a while I saw bits of wire fence sticking out of the bark on one side of the tree, where the tree had grown over and around the old fence a long time ago. I got to thinking, You know, this is a BIG and therefore OLD tree. I'm sure that there have been others who have taken a few minutes to sit and rest under this very same tree in past. I picked up my detector and turned it on and began swinging around the base of this tree.. Oh there were the usual pull tabs and some can slaw, and a couple of pieces of fence wire similar to what was sticking out of the trunk.. and then I got another nickle signal. Another pull tab.. right? NOT THIS TIME! After zeroing in and digging my plug I found this little Indian Guy looking back at me from about 6 inches down in the dry dirt. Shiny too! I was too stunned to do the chicken dance.. I Swear! I just rocked back on my butt and giggled! I plucked that little Indian Chief out and carefully wiped the dirt off of his worn and scarred face. Turning the coin over I saw that all too welcomed big Bison..er.. Buffalo! Four legs.. and a dangle.. <laughing>
As I said, this coin is rather well worn but I think I can still make out the date on the face.. 1929 !





YEEHAAA! My First Buff! That's a KEEPER!

Well let me tell you, That Buffalo mad my day! Hell! It made my WEEK! But I still had about one third of that soccer field to finish scourring so back at it I went.. albeit with a spring in my step! Coins, Crap, Can Slaw.. Here, There, Everywhere. I still dug a lot before I was finished with that field. And not a bad collection for the effort either! Well it was after lunch time, which I had missed with all the excitement, so I headed back towards my truck.. and found one! At the edge of the field where the parking lot begins I found this honkin' little truck.



Another fine addition to Fro's Used Car Lot.. <grin>

Another find, while "cherry picking" my way back to my truck was this big signal.. turned out to be my buddy Jack!



JFK that is.. John F Kennedy.. as in Kennedy Half DOLLAR.. a bit corroded and weather beaten.. and post 1972, so it's not silver by any stretch of the imagination.. but still a cool and welcomed find! But then Jack wasn't the only find while cherry picking.. I found Charlie Too... Charlie Holloway.. seen here with that really big ugly earring I mentioned earlier.. and my Buff.. <grin>



On the back Charlie had engraved his picture too.. <grin>



I did a search in the phone book looking for any Charlie(s) or Charles Holloway(s) living in Versailles Kentucky.. none listed.. that would have been neat to find this guy who made this "coin" and had lost it apparently many moons ago. Could you imagine the surprise that guy would have had to have this thing show back up after some 30 plus years? I might still make a few calls and see if I can find out what happened to young master Holloway.. it might still catch up with him. <smile>

Well here's my Clad haul for the day..



....not as much as recent days, more than at least one though, all welcomed and all going into the "vacation fund" that actually got cashed in at the bank this afternoon! For a little over 9 weeks of hunting I cashed in $150.00 in clad coins! Who Says this Hobby is expensive! It PAYS YOU TO PLAY! <grin> Got to love this hobby!


Happy Hunting Everyone!

Frodov

 

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[Ray S ECenFL]

Re: Holy Herdin' Indians! A BUFFALO! Silver?

Frodov,

Nice haul. Like the Buff. Congrats on your first Buff find. WTG

Yep, 1929. Cool.

Ray S

 

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[Frodov]

Re: Holy Herdin' Indians! A BUFFALO! Silver?

WTG on your first Buffalo nickel I found my first one last year and was thrilled, even if I can't read the date

Just like rolls at the bank you sometimes find obsolete coins in, that Buff may have been in someone's change and mistaken for a contemporary one like a Jefferson. Then again, like you said, the old tree's been there a while so it may have been dropped long ago. The tree may have aided in protecting it from the elements better than if it would have been lost in an open area. Either way, you've "rescued" your first Buffalo from certain doom

Nice going on the other finds too, that vacation fund is growing fast.

Nat

I keep hearing about this roll hunting.. people buying rolls and rolls of coins from the bank just to open them up and look for coins that someone else mistook for worthless or only face value. ? I've not gotten into that yet, And from the sound of it it's a little costly.. at least to get started anyway. As for the vacation fund, I cashed it all in Friday afternoon at the bank. Well, not my primary bank. It seems that I can no longer bring "dug" coins in to redeem them for cash now. Apparently they didn't send them back to the Fed reserve or where ever.. they turned around and sold them or gave them out to other customers, who in turn returned them and complained about the dissolving and disgusting pennies and dirty discolored coins. <rolling eyes> Oh Great! Now I have to clean them all and only cash in non-disolving memorial cents if I try to cash them in in the future. Or.. just go to different branch banks and sell them that way. <smile> The penny thing really gets my goat! I mean Hey! It's our own government's fault that these pennies are such crap. But by law they have to honor them as currency as long as they are identifiable as such, right? Well that may be true, but the bank doesn't have to buy them back in bulk, even if they are already rolled up. Or so I'm told. I need to find where the nearest Federal Reserve Bank (or distributor or whatever) is to me and just save all the grody dissolving pennies and take them there! Maybe I'll start doing what others have talked about. Separating out all the pre 1983 pennies and simply selling them for their copper content, I'm told they are worth more that way. <shrug>
Oh I got my coins cashed in Friday, not at my usual branch bank down the street mind you, but through another bank not too far away. I didn't mention that they had been recovered or dug up from the ground either. Sometimes it's best to keep your mouth shut huh? Anyway, for roughly 9 weeks of metal detecting, since my last vacation in August, I found and collected and rolled over $150.00 in clad. Most of which was spent Saturday when my wife and I attended a local annual festival, and had dinner out that evening. Mad money!<grin>The day was wonderful, the meal was fantastic, and the bank account never missed a cent. Gotta love this hobby!
Happy Hunting!


Frodov

 

[Frodov]

Re: Holy Herdin' Indians! A BUFFALO! Silver?

Frodov, love your writing style man, it's great for laughs and you paint a very clear picture of your surroundings and your actions. Makes for fun reading and with the 'grins' and 'smiles' etc., I feel like I'm reading Charles Schultz (an all time favorite). Congratulations on your first Buffalo. I'm kinda like you when I see silver or gold in the hole. Butterflies in the stomach and maybe I need to drain the lizard, you know? Thanks for the interesting posts and Good Fortune!

Thank you for your comments Whiz. <smile> My writing style, if you can call it that, is a conglomeration of bastardized text messaging and instant messaging from many many years of conversing on line with other people in "chat room" type settings. I found early on that this electronic digital media doesn't lend itself well to the little nuances of our language's and can more often than not be litterally "taken the wrong way" without the little clues that one would pick up in person to person conversation. Things such as facial expressions, body "language", snorts or sighs or other non verbal expirations that mean OH SO VERY MUCH and are taken for granted in our language. Well, ANY spoken language really. When you remove most of the clues, the brain relies solely on the LETTER of the language. I can't remember how many times people have taken things "typed" (said) out of context or the "wrong way" because they didn't perceive a wink or a raised eyebrow or a sly grin or even a simple smile. So.. I rely very heavily on those <body language> hints or clues when I type or "talk" on line. I know it's not grammatically correct or in some circles "accepted", but most people understand what I'm saying BETTER and are far less likely to be offended or angered by something that might be taken as a slight rather than aimed at pulling their leg or as a jibe.
I'm glad someone out there "gets it". <grin>

As for my "stories", I guess I'm just guilty of enjoying the relating of my adventures too much some time. I really DIG this hobby.. no pun intended<grin>. I do get a little long winded at times, and I've been told on more than one occasion that I should write a book or something. It really does give me a "big head" sometimes. <giggle> I'm glad I can entertain others with my adventures however, and I have dabbled with the idea of actually trying to put something into a book form someday. Who Knows? I might do it someday, and be brave enough to submit it to some publisher somewhere at the risk of being rejected or laughed at. <grin> But then, sometimes Laughing is a good thing. Glad to entertain.. as always..

Happy Hunting!

Frodov