2 Firsts!.... Retrospection.

[zippy4zz]

I think back to what event motivated me to start metal detecting, which was a very short 6 months ago. It wasn't a show or a book,
or seeing someone metal detecting, or seeing found treasure or treasure seekers on the history channel. I really have no clue
when the pivotal moment was when a new group of neurons got encoded with this experience. I think it was just a casual conversation
with a friend from work about possibly taking a welding class to start creating metal sculpture. This somehow morphed into
that fact that he had a low end metal detector from Wally Mart, and that he barely ever uses it, but would like to
up his usage, if he could find someone to do it with. He lets me borrow the Divining Rod Detector and after finding a modern
dollar coin, I'm a bear in the snare! There's no way to get out of this. And with each new first, it just reinforces and burns
a new disc. The dollar was cool, the clad was cool, the wheats were cool, but the first shinny like new silver merc
out of the dark dirt was a HOLY SHIT!!!! And now today my first Barber Qtr and from 1892! HOLY HOLY SHIT!!!!
This coin is 123 years old! I know this is old hat for most of you, but remember your firsts? And how excited
you felt? I think about all the people that carried this coin, and what they were like.
------
1892
1st ever basketball game ever played.
The Dalton Gang is killed trying to rob a bank in Coffeyville, KS.
Thomas Edison receives a patent for the two way telegraph.
Ellis Island begins accepting immigrants.
Lizzie Borden's father and step mother are found murdered in MA.
-------

There is so much more to metal detecting then just digging up stuff.

Zip.

 

[mudpuppy]

We understand completely! Congratulations form another 'bear in a snare'! Theres no way out of this! We are doomed to walk the Planet tracking history one little metal object at a time!
Mud

 

[ken ward]

Just keep in mind, it is only a hobby that can pay you back. I really do not remember my first coin. I started back in the late 60s. Back than silver coins could be found every place. I still like finding silver, but it sure is getting harder. Some years I do good. Many years I dont do so good. No matter what I find, I just like to be out in the fresh air and where it is peaseful. Now day I am happy with a hand full of clad and some times a nice hunk of jewelry. It is just fun to be out... KEN

 

[hunter_46356]

Your story is so similar to mine. I've come to realize most started the exact same way. My first detector was a $30 flea market find, a Bounty Hunter 101. It went " Beep Beep" and that's about it. But it got my neck it that same noose and I've never been able to loosen it since. It's nice to read stories like yours to remember those days. "Retrospection" The definition not only refers to the reflection of one's own experience, it defines what we all share in recovering the past long before we ever were part of the history we dig. Sure it's nice to dig a shinny old silver now and then but I have met and hunted with some who seem more intent on numbers than the history of any old piece.To really reflect on the fact that nothing has touched what ever it is you just discovered is sometimes mind boggling to me. This hobby has made me a history nut. I've learned so much about local history and yet have only touched it's surface. There's so much more than just finding an old coin or item lost many years ago. If only these things could tell their stories.

 

[mudpuppy]

Well said boys! I remember 5ys ago April...I said to the Wife, "I have always wanted to try out this metal detecting thing"...Out of shape from Corporate Life driving a desk and at deaths door, mentally and physically.

Purely on a whim with no experience, just thought it would be cool to try...so we found the nearest local shop and drove down one day...Left there with an F70...First day out I found 7 zinc pennies at the boatramp in the gravel...and was HOOKED!

Then, not long after, I ran into a guy out detecting, he was very knowledgeable and a long time addict...He told me: "dig 1000 pennies, and dig 1000 pulltabs with nothing but a screwdriver"..best advice ever!

Then I found this Forum after about a year and really started to learn! I am really glad to have found this Sport, in the best shape of my Life because of it, seen some amazing Sunrises and value the Brotherhood here! ..its good to think back and reflect on the passion that lit the initial fire...

You are doing very well for only 6 mos. there Zippy! Been a true pleasure reading your adventures!
Mud

 

[doc holiday]

Great writeup--please continue you finds and insight.

 

[MNCoinhunter]

Nice finds and great description ..

 

[zippy4zz]

Thanks Guys!.... I keep you posted on the journey.

Zip.

 

[jim tn]

Hey Zip, 2 nice firsts. You are on the right dirt when those wheats and silver coins show up and yes, that smokey disc never gets tired of seeing down in the dirt. Good job! HH jim tn

 

[Midwest-Th'er]

Welcome to this very rewarding and addictive hobby brother! If you have'nt already done so flip that Barber over and check for a mint mark.If there is one it'll be under the eagle.
I've hunted day and night for decades and never got a Barber.
But i have got U.S. Gold! Twice!
Free advice dig everything above iron
You'll end up thousands of tabs richer and eventually you'll find Gold
Says the man who hasnt found a Barber in 30+ yrs. of hunting!
Bye the way the first hundred coins or so I found starting out were memorial cents,what kept me digging was a 38 special that worked after my father had his way with it.
So damn happy he bought me a new radio shack detector for about $65
Best thing about that machine.. it beeped when the coil was above metal!!!
But.., It counted as my Birthday & Christmas present even though their 5 months apart! LOL

 

[MIKE54]

So cool and congrats, keep on digging!

 

[Jesse W. McComas]

I know what you mean. I got Hooked in 1968 wit a Metric 220-A BF Metal Detector. I was 15 at that time. I will be 62 in June and still get that HOLY $+++!! Moment, Every Time I find Silver or any other Old Coin. That was almost 47 Years Ago!!!. My Kids will probably find me in a field Dead with my CTX 3030 still in my Hand. But, Boy!!! What a way to Go!!!. Doing what you LOVE to Do!!!!!!. Jesse.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

A big congrats on the two firsts !

Like many other's, every time I find an old coin I always try to imagine what was going on when the coin was lost - what year it was - what the person looked like - what was their name, etc.
This is just one of the many things that makes our hobby so great !

 

[doninbrewster]

Thanks for sharing Zippy and all the rest. Those first finds are always amazing. I think my first detector was in 1978 or 79. It was a BFO machine bought out of a clearance bin at Radio Shack for $10. Even though I dug every piece of tin foil and pull tab I found coins too. I was hooked. Went and got me a high end machine, a White's 6DB. Started finding silver everywhere. I remember a lot of firsts, but the first Barber half dollar, large cent and piece of gold are what really stand out. I still have all of them. We all have similar starts. I was a bit luckier as there were far fewer people metal detecting when I started and a lot more silver all over the place. Funny thing is, my last 2 years have been my best with a pair of 2 reals (a first), a one real (a first), 5 half reals, close to 50 large cents, 25 colonials, my first seated half dollar, multiple seated dimes, my first seated half dime, some great buttons buckles including my first sterling knee buckle as well as a host of other things. Yes, we all start out with smaller goals that grow over time, but with good research there is still lots of stuff in the ground to be found. We also find something without the detector, some great friends. What a great hobby we have!

 

[CZconnoisseur]

Great hunt Zip! I remember recently the first few silver coins with my detector, and the HOLY #^#*&#() moment when something really good pops out of the ground! I've been in the snare off and on since the late 1980s and my first detector was some orange Radio Shack deal for $40...the next detector I got for my 10th birthday (1987) had a discriminator on it and little did I know that this was the beginning of the end for me LOL

Had fun hunting the other night at LL - will be going back to the area that produced the Buffalo and the button to see what else it holds - maybe Sunday night...

You should pay a visit back the the "barber quarter yard" and scan from another direction...you're bound to pick up more keepers!