BuckleBoy
Gold Member
Hello all! First of all let me apologize for my lack of "action shots" in this post. I know this is contrary to true Buckleboy style, but it was just too muddy to take the camera with us on the hunt. So here's the story:
I got together with Metal Detective over the holidays for some research and detecting. We talked to several old timers, including a charming woman that showed us an old photograph from 1927, taken in front of a school. She was in the photo, at age 7. We talked about several potential sites, and then found out a little information about where the kids used to play out behind the actual structure. When we asked what was left of the old school, she replied "Just a foundation in a cow pasture." Already I could feel my arm anticipating the swing of the metal detector. We tracked down the owners of the property and secured permission. We then drove out there about noon, since the snow was still melting and it was so cold. The Detective and I instinctively started hunting around the foundation in the front. After about thirty minutes it became clear that someone had previously hunted the site. Not a single coin was to be found. I recalled that I had previously hunted a church up the road from the site that had also been hunted before I arrived. The yard immediately around the church had been picked clean, but I went to the fringe areas and dug wheats and indians. Sloppy detectin', if you ask me. "I wonder if these jokers knew where the kids PLAYED," I thought. So I slowly started to work my way around behind the foundation toward the back corner of the large field where, according to the story, the boys often threw their pocketknives at several old oak trees during recess. Only one oak tree still survived--a monster tree, right in the fence row. Within minutes, I had a nice signal. As I dug, the mud made a gross sucking sound, and water oozed up around my shovel. In the bottom of the hole I found a small silver children's ring. Although it was crushed at some point in the past, it gave us renewed hope. We both made our way toward the back corner of the field, and started digging a few wheat pennies--always a good sign. We began to get target after target the closer we got. Wheat penny. Wheat penny. Wheat penny. Two or three wheats right side by side. We just started shouting across the field to each other "Wheat!" This became our battle cry. Then I got a BIG solid hit. I thought it would be a clad quarter, but little did I know that only one modern coin would be found at the site (a 1959 memorial penny). I could see silver in the hole, and I thought it might be a Standing Liberty quarter, but it was a silver Washington. 1953-D. Then Metal Detective found a Buffalo nickel and a silver Jefferson.
After this the finds were non-stop. Wheat penny after wheat penny. Then the Detective called me over (so I knew this had to be good). It was a beautiful 1941 Mercury dime. Congrats on your first silver, Metal Detective! (My first silver back in '93 was also a 1941 Merc.) Then I found what I first thought was a wheat. After so many wheat pennies coming up, we were almost on automatic pilot with them. This one seemed different though. Under closer inspection, it proved to be the oldest coin that would be found that day--an Indian Head penny. 1900.
A little later I dug a plug and when I broke it apart, the plug opened up to reveal the back of a Mercury dime without a speck of mud. I let go of the tension on the plug and it closed once more around the dime. Then I called the Detective over and pulled it open again so that we could savor the moment. She then found a tiny gold pin near the fence row. (Any ID help is much appreciated).
Then the parade of wheaties continued, and in between them we found interesting keepers like an old Chinese coin,
Coal company scrip,
A little souvenir ring from Niagara Falls, with all the lacquer intact,
I got together with Metal Detective over the holidays for some research and detecting. We talked to several old timers, including a charming woman that showed us an old photograph from 1927, taken in front of a school. She was in the photo, at age 7. We talked about several potential sites, and then found out a little information about where the kids used to play out behind the actual structure. When we asked what was left of the old school, she replied "Just a foundation in a cow pasture." Already I could feel my arm anticipating the swing of the metal detector. We tracked down the owners of the property and secured permission. We then drove out there about noon, since the snow was still melting and it was so cold. The Detective and I instinctively started hunting around the foundation in the front. After about thirty minutes it became clear that someone had previously hunted the site. Not a single coin was to be found. I recalled that I had previously hunted a church up the road from the site that had also been hunted before I arrived. The yard immediately around the church had been picked clean, but I went to the fringe areas and dug wheats and indians. Sloppy detectin', if you ask me. "I wonder if these jokers knew where the kids PLAYED," I thought. So I slowly started to work my way around behind the foundation toward the back corner of the large field where, according to the story, the boys often threw their pocketknives at several old oak trees during recess. Only one oak tree still survived--a monster tree, right in the fence row. Within minutes, I had a nice signal. As I dug, the mud made a gross sucking sound, and water oozed up around my shovel. In the bottom of the hole I found a small silver children's ring. Although it was crushed at some point in the past, it gave us renewed hope. We both made our way toward the back corner of the field, and started digging a few wheat pennies--always a good sign. We began to get target after target the closer we got. Wheat penny. Wheat penny. Wheat penny. Two or three wheats right side by side. We just started shouting across the field to each other "Wheat!" This became our battle cry. Then I got a BIG solid hit. I thought it would be a clad quarter, but little did I know that only one modern coin would be found at the site (a 1959 memorial penny). I could see silver in the hole, and I thought it might be a Standing Liberty quarter, but it was a silver Washington. 1953-D. Then Metal Detective found a Buffalo nickel and a silver Jefferson.
After this the finds were non-stop. Wheat penny after wheat penny. Then the Detective called me over (so I knew this had to be good). It was a beautiful 1941 Mercury dime. Congrats on your first silver, Metal Detective! (My first silver back in '93 was also a 1941 Merc.) Then I found what I first thought was a wheat. After so many wheat pennies coming up, we were almost on automatic pilot with them. This one seemed different though. Under closer inspection, it proved to be the oldest coin that would be found that day--an Indian Head penny. 1900.
A little later I dug a plug and when I broke it apart, the plug opened up to reveal the back of a Mercury dime without a speck of mud. I let go of the tension on the plug and it closed once more around the dime. Then I called the Detective over and pulled it open again so that we could savor the moment. She then found a tiny gold pin near the fence row. (Any ID help is much appreciated).
Then the parade of wheaties continued, and in between them we found interesting keepers like an old Chinese coin,
Coal company scrip,
A little souvenir ring from Niagara Falls, with all the lacquer intact,
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