Well, I am down here in Central Texas, working on the wildfires and found an old ball field next to a river, and thought I would detect a bit this evening, seeing what might pop out of the ground......
Third signal that I paid attention to, was a 12/46, solid and a bit bigger than I had been getting. Depth meter said about 4 inches......hmmmmm, a Wasington Quarter, I think......
After cutting a hole, I take the plug, and sure enough, the coin is in there.....breaking away the end, I see that sight that thrills me still after all these years.....a silver edge, and realize, yep, it's a quarter....or a silver medallion of some sort, which was possible, as the site was adjacent to a church built there in 1905.
So, bravely, I pick at the clodded dirt and saw a triangular shape.....that got my attention.....it was getting on toward dark, so I walked over to my pickup and got a bottled water out of my cooler. I put some on the coin, and daubed it with my finger, just enough to remove the muddy clod, turned it over and repeated n the reverse side.....
I was thinking......GREAT, I KNOW it is seated, but I bet it won't show the date......but I turned her over, and sure enough, I see 1854! Wahoo!!! 157 years old.....man oh man. Don't you just love it when those old coins pop like that? AND, she was only 4 inches!!!
On the Reverse, I noted what appears to be a slight distortion of the metal......you can see it on the pic below...PLUS, on the obverse there are several minute holes that don't penetrate all the way, yet one of them, the biggest, is where the distortion is on the reverse side.....
Any ideas on the holes or distortion? I can almost see a carving in the reverse closeup, but it would be a small one.....no clue how it got there, but it is there.....
HH
Dennis, in central Texas
Third signal that I paid attention to, was a 12/46, solid and a bit bigger than I had been getting. Depth meter said about 4 inches......hmmmmm, a Wasington Quarter, I think......
After cutting a hole, I take the plug, and sure enough, the coin is in there.....breaking away the end, I see that sight that thrills me still after all these years.....a silver edge, and realize, yep, it's a quarter....or a silver medallion of some sort, which was possible, as the site was adjacent to a church built there in 1905.
So, bravely, I pick at the clodded dirt and saw a triangular shape.....that got my attention.....it was getting on toward dark, so I walked over to my pickup and got a bottled water out of my cooler. I put some on the coin, and daubed it with my finger, just enough to remove the muddy clod, turned it over and repeated n the reverse side.....
I was thinking......GREAT, I KNOW it is seated, but I bet it won't show the date......but I turned her over, and sure enough, I see 1854! Wahoo!!! 157 years old.....man oh man. Don't you just love it when those old coins pop like that? AND, she was only 4 inches!!!
On the Reverse, I noted what appears to be a slight distortion of the metal......you can see it on the pic below...PLUS, on the obverse there are several minute holes that don't penetrate all the way, yet one of them, the biggest, is where the distortion is on the reverse side.....
Any ideas on the holes or distortion? I can almost see a carving in the reverse closeup, but it would be a small one.....no clue how it got there, but it is there.....
HH
Dennis, in central Texas