Coins & Jewelry Found On Maine Beach

[E-Trac-Ohio]

We spent a week at my mother in-laws house on the coast of Maine last month and I was able to get out and hunt the local beach a few times.
As soon as I got to the beach a man that lives next door walked up to me and said ...
" That he's seen a lot of people with metal detectors on the beach over the years and that I would probably be wasting my time!

I started getting hits right away and dug 8 or 10 coins in the first hour or so. Because of the salt water - most of the coins were heavily encrusted so I couldn't read the dates.
After two hours of hunting I decided to take a break, get a drink and take a closer look at the coins that I dug.
OK ... the usual newer clad .... then Holly Catfish ... a 1908 Barber quarter ! ... a few more clad coins ... Holly Catfish ... a 1891 Liberty Nickel ! ... more clad ...Holy Catfish ... an Indian Cent !

I was thinking about what the neighbor said about a lot of people hunting this beach in the past - but to me - it didn't look like anyone had ever hunted it that seriously!
I decided to go to the end of the 300 ft. long by 50 ft. wide beach and start searching inside gridded off areas.
I just marked the corners of squares approx. 20 ft. by 20 ft. in the sand with the heel of my foot.

The next day I returned to the beach and kept hunting 20 ft. square areas - by 8:00 PM that night - I had covered the entire beach.
After digging a few hundred holes - including - what I would have to call - "small craters" - I ended up with a total of (136) coins and (2) pieces of Sterling Silver jewelry.
The E-Trac did a great job - some of the older coins came out of holes that were an honest 12" to 14" deep!
Pretty good for a site - "that's been heavily hunted for years" !

HH --- Mark

 

[geodawn]

Wow! That old stuff just hung around waiting for the Etrac! Nice!

 

[fenian13]

Never hunted on a beach, yet. Looks like you cleaned them (coins) by electrolysis. I've been fooling around a bit with a home made unit and can only clean moderatly dirty coins without pitting. I'm using a 12v 6amp converter. Solution is H2O with sodium carbonate. Have you tried reversing the current to "patina' any coins? Seems to work okay (not great) on copper. Can't seem to get the crusty green ones clean without pitting. Must go back to the drawing board, pitting sucks. I will post any good results.

 

[marchas45]

LOL Sounds like Lincolnville Beach, I see lots of people detecting it and I always find something good after a storm and yes the sand is deep up near the road and I use the Infinium for that. Great finds ETO but stay home leave our beaches alone.

 

[TokenDigger]

Great finds. Hard to believe you can still get old coins at a beach. That one piece of jewelry looks to be the same age as some of the older coins. Way to go and HH!

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

I have not tried using electrolysis on coins yet - I heard it works well !
I had to boil the coins from the beach in Maine in Peroxide for about 8 to 10 hours to get them clean.
I just kept changing the Peroxide every time it stopped fizzing.

Also, I forgot to mention some of the other coins I got in my original post - approx. ( 10 or 11 ) Wheat Cents - and some other wiped out Merc's & Indian Cents.

HH --- Mark

 

[NebTrac]

Great story Mark and great finds! You definitly weren't "wasting" you time. Thanks for the pictures!!

NebTrac

 

[Des D]

Well done Mark!

I had the same experience - went to a beach and as well as recent drops almost 70% of the coins dug were last years...and deep!
Maybe "E Trac refreshes parts others can't reach" hah hah

Was in Maine November last (Portland) and would dearly like to get back this year. Maybe?

Good Hunting

Des D