I went hunting with a friend today, down near Gustine, Texas. Larry and I have talked about detecting where he deer hunts for months now, and today was the day.
Four old house locations, on four different properties. Nothing at all very interesting. Found a bunch of clad, 3 old diecast toy cars, and the oldest coin from the first three locations was a 1935 10 Centavos.
For our last stop of the day, we went to the location on a field, where an old homestead had been. There was not a trace of it’s existence to be found, but there were a couple of old Oaks which looked to be a couple of hundred years old. One never knows at these old sites what might turn up. The usual suspects of Zinc lids, tin metal in it’s various iterations, along with bits of copper tubing, pieces of wire etc. But every once in a while, a nice coin or two can be extracted from the ground.
I just recently got a Garrett AT Gold, and am still getting used to the machine. This was my third trip out with it as a matter of fact.
I had been detecting for about 5 minutes at this last stop of the day, when I got a 96 reading, hard hitting. I was using Mode 1, sensitivity set at max, GB was 26. Using the 5x8 coil on the machine. All day, in the country, I had been getting weird signals, tweaks and static laden signals. Some hard, some nothing but a whisper.
Since I am still learning the machine, I am looking at a lot more signals than I normally would, so that I might learn what the machine is telling me. Today, I dug a LOT of iffy signals. This was not one of them. This signal sounded different that most of the others of the day.
I dug a plug, and plopped it over beside the hole I had opened in the sandy soil. Looking down in the hole, I saw a gray coin shaped object. But no detail jumped out at me. I remember thinking….Oh boy…another giant piece of aluminum disc. LOL
Wrong. As I picked the object from the hole, I saw Morgan’s nose….just a hint, showing through the dirt.
I realized then, I held my newest silver dollar find in almost 8 years. That is how long since the last one. What a delight! After 41 years of loving our hobby, it takes a bit to get my blood going, but she did it!
Morgan was well loved, but smooth in all the right places….
I called Larry over. Told him, I had a good find. He actually had the AUDACITY to extend his hand, palm side up, expecting me to drop it in his hands. LOL I don’t think so….I explained that I would reveal it to both his vision and mine at the same time and we could discover what it was together.
I opened my hand, and she almost leapt from my hand, so pleased she was to be found after all these years. Dabbing some water on her, I discovered 1901…..then on the back, found her New Orleans Mint mark. Faded with age, yet so beautiful…..
After allowing us both to admire her beauty, she gently slipped into something more comfortable, i.e. my coin pouch.
Larry walked off, I think I heard some mumbling, and I went back to detecting.
5 Swings of the coil later, another hard hit 95/96/95 showed on the screen of the ATG…not even 18 inches away…..NO WAY!
Digging down about 3 inches, I cut another plug, flipped it over. And again for the first time in many many years, Morgan’s sister Morganna gazed back in her elegance, Calling my hand so gently, to coax and caress her from where she lay….I took her in hand, and lifted her to my gaze.
This time, I had no need for water, as the 1894 emblazoned itself in my vision, and on the back, ANOTHER New Orleans Mint mark.
It has been 8 years or so since my last silver dollar, and in 41 years, excluding my caches, I have NEVER found more than one in a day!
That is the part that made my day….well, coupled with getting to tell my hunting partner that I had another silver dollar!
Since I had found two, so closely together, I thought it fitting that Larry be allowed to spiral around both holes to see if there might be another beauty waiting in the ground for his machine to find. Alas, there was not. But you know what….if there were two, there is likely to be some more, so we are planning to return soon. I loved the Big Thrill of the Big Silver Spill!
