My first Silver Dollar! 1881s Morgan... Silver and GOLD!

[Jay Plunder]

6 months after noticing an abandoned house from the highway near where I live, I decided to check it out on GoogleEarth. It was a rather large property, encompassing 5 or 6 dwellings. A dirt road was clearly visible all the way to some train tracks off in the distance. Well I couldn't help it and had to go check it out, in person. I went earlier this week and found a 1945 wheatie and a nickel used for target practice there. Awesome nickel because it actually caught the bullet(I posted this find earlier this week). I had to go back. So today I did...and I am very glad I did.

I searched around the house...pulling mostly nails and bits of slag. Then, in an area under a large tree I started finding coins. First a nail...then a coin. In one spot about 4 foot square under the tree, I found...
6 mercury dimes 1936, 2 1941's, 2 1942's, and a 1943.
1 Barber dime...1905
3 Buffalo nickels...1926, 1933 and one dateless.
4 Jefferson nickels, 1941, 2 1942's, and a 1946.
3 Wheat pennies....1917s, 1937 and a 1936.

I found the remnants of an old shotgun shell, and a handle to an old broken knife.
What I thought was another piece of slag turned out to be a piece of a gold locket. Gold and intricate with a green emerald in the center. Found this 30 feet from the house itself. SWEET! So I continued hunting and didn't find anything of interest, mostly slag, nails and bits of farm machinery. I decided to check the adjacent recently plowed field...It looked promising for some reason.

there at the edge of the field, near the woodline, I was ECSTATIC when I saw this find. I dug what I thought would be another piece of slag or an old aluminum can...and then I saw the rim of a coin. I ran to the truck to grab the camera....this looks a lot larger than my typical nickel, dime or even quarter.

I pulled it out and gently wiped the dirt away....1881 clearly showed! My first silver dollar! I decided to wait until I got home to clean it off more. I put it specially on my passenger seat of my truck and continued my hunt. As I continued my hunt, and concentrating on digging a signal I saw motion out of the corner of my eye. I looked up...and a Police officer was walking towards me!!!! It startled me fiercely and I was like holy crap!
"Ummm....how ya doing?", I said. I then proceeded to laugh and I told him he scared the hell out of me. He asked me if I found anything and I said a bunch of old rusty metal, that's about it. I stood there, shaking in my shoes and my heartbeat was fierce. "I can see the headlines now" I thought.

Well he didn't seem like he was going to slam me to the ground and arrest me so I asked him if he knew about this area. He said it is old and right down the road is an old slave house. He said the owner scoured the place already and is a big CW and Indian artifact buff. Then he asked me if I saw the NO TRESPASSING sign on the way in. I honestly did not see it. He took my DL information, gave me a warning and told me it was private property. He said as long as I didn't come back I was fine. So all was cool and I left, not gonna go back until I find out how to get permission, if that is even possible.

As I was leaving, happy I wasn't being arrested...sure enough...there was little "NO TRESPASSING" signs I didn't even see on the way in. I then left...satisfied for the day!
Honestly...my biggest day ever!

What a day!!!!

 

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[watercolor]

WOW!!! Very cool!!

Definitely an excellent site to hunt!

 

[rockyredbaron]

One fantastic story and even more fantastic finds !! WTG
Sure everyone would love some CLOSEUPS of your coins and gold !!!!

thanks for sharing

Rockyredbaron

HH to all

 

[Jay Plunder]

"United Status of America."

WOOHOOO! You damn right! Wait.....what? "e" is to far away from "u" on the keyboard to be a typo LOL

 

[Chug And Red]

OMG Pretty!!!!!

 

[artzstuff1]

WOW !! wHat did you use to clean those nickels!!! ?///,,,,(*&&^%^&$%*&^*()&)*)(*!!!!!!!!!!!,,,,,O.K.

nice

 

[Jay Plunder]

WOW !! wHat did you use to clean those nickels!!! ?///,,,,(*&&^%^&$%*&^*()&)*)(*!!!!!!!!!!!,,,,,O.K.

nice

A hot water soak, Olive oil,a bunch of toothpicks and a soft toothbrush They actually look better in the pic because of the flash of my camera. I was surprised myself when I looked at the picture. I just removed all the dirt the best I could from the nickels.

In the pics above, the largest tree behind the house is where I found most of these coins. It could part of a cache since they were so close together. There was thicker broken glass mixed in the dirt, like they used to be in a bottle or mason jar at one point. Maybe its the rest of what someone else previously found
The more I think about it...the more I really want to go back!

 

[Bavaria Mike]

Exciting place to detect and congrats on the finds! Looks tough with all those weeds and bushes. HH, Mike

 

[fistfulladirt]

Nice job putting another nail in the coffin for future dectectorists. If you are only 13, I can understand.

 

[Deepdiger60]

Nice finds !!! that Morgan is always hard to find looks like you hit a virgin site great silver,s, theres a few of those old home sites around here all owned by the town most of which is falling apart or down all over grown for many years i only tryed one so far i did pretty good lots of very old relics and coins some back to mid 1700,s there is only a few guys out here that MD including me 3

 

[Bum Luck]

Always get permission to hunt. Your age is a plus - a lot of folks like kids - everyone was one once, some with happy memories. some not.

'Public land' is under a variety of jurisdictions - federal, state, town, village, etc., and each has it's own rules about detecting (or lack of rules).

So be sure of your access before you go out. It's the responsible thing to do, both for you and for the rest of us.

 

[Jay Plunder]

Nice job putting another nail in the coffin for future dectectorists. If you are only 13, I can understand.

Well thanks for ruining my Mojo there dude.
Maybe you missed the part where I said I didn't see the signs on the way in. I have ALWAYS asked for permission to hunt anywhere I go to. The signs were rusted and parked on a tree...the officer had to point it out to me to see it. He actually thanked me for hauling out a 30 gallon trash bad full of tons of beer cans and Mcdonalds trash that other people had left scattered around. I know what our responsibility is as detectorists and protectors of our hobby.

I am sure many of us Detectorist's have eyeballed a site...not seen any signs and decided to check it out. I have read the stories on to that fact.

I thought T-Net was a place I can share my experiences and see what others are finding out there...not a place to be lectured in public forum about a mistake I made.

For the record I am not 13. Reverse those numbers and add a few.

 

[Dixiedigger]

Great finds and a great looking place to hunt.

 

[Tank69]

Nice job putting another nail in the coffin for future dectectorists. If you are only 13, I can understand.

Fistfulladirt that was a real low blow there man , way not cool .

Army congrats on your finds , I to have missed a sign or 2 in my time also ,We all have dont let it get to you .I'm with you tho I'd be finding who owns the place an hitting it hard .


HH Tank

 

[desert dog]

 

[JerV3]

Nice finds,

Been there and done that. Except the police I came across drew guns to our heads. Don't wanna really explain a long story. You really do have to watch out there though. I take risk just like you did. Most of the time your fine.

HH Jer

 

[skierbob]

You had a great hunt! Congrats on the Morgan Dollar and all the rest of the silver.

Bob

 

[rogues71]

great hunt gratz on your silver hoard, if i was you i would find the land owner and ask for permission to go back, as far as the missed sign oh well it happens and taking out the trash was very cool not only for our hobby but the earth as well gratz to you.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Nice job putting another nail in the coffin for future dectectorists. If you are only 13, I can understand.

Well thanks for ruining my Mojo there dude.
Maybe you missed the part where I said I didn't see the signs on the way in. I have ALWAYS asked for permission to hunt anywhere I go to. The signs were rusted and parked on a tree...the officer had to point it out to me to see it. He actually thanked me for hauling out a 30 gallon trash bad full of tons of beer cans and Mcdonalds trash that other people had left scattered around. I know what our responsibility is as detectorists and protectors of our hobby.

I am sure many of us Detectorist's have eyeballed a site...not seen any signs and decided to check it out. I have read the stories on to that fact.

I thought T-Net was a place I can share my experiences and see what others are finding out there...not a place to be lectured in public forum about a mistake I made.

For the record I am not 13. Reverse those numbers and add a few.

Signs or no signs, if it's private property get permission first. If you read this forum, you know that it's of utmost importance to gain permission and not tresspass. I apoligize for the age slam. ffd

 

[Jay Plunder]

great hunt gratz on your silver hoard, if i was you i would find the land owner and ask for permission to go back, as far as the missed sign oh well it happens and taking out the trash was very cool not only for our hobby but the earth as well gratz to you.

Definitely...going to try and locate the person next week. I will even tell him about the piece of locket maybe it was his mothers or something who knows. Gonna be hard to tell him about that Morgan it is my first EVER! I only have another couple of weeks or so before I head to Afghanistan