Mike Moutray - St.Louis MO
Member
I've been holed up in the air conditioning for far too long this summer... 
This cool snap was just what I needed to get out to my favorite park for the day. It sure felt nice out and I started off around a fountain pool. This spot dated back to the 1930's and was a popular spot for picnics, hanging out, or a quick dip in the summer heat. I did good over the years around all the large rocks and boulders in the ground around the cascading pools leading from the fountain down to a nearby lake. Many an old coin was lost between the boulders in narrow cracks and openings and I had used sniper coils to get between them to sniff out a lot of silver.
Today, I just used my Explorer's X-1 probe to get into the tightest spaces that no other coil could reach before. I did good on finding a lot of coins, but none of them were old. I did ferret out a nice silver ring with an opal setting flanked by 2 faux diamonds. I walked out into the open lawn nearby to do some regular detecting when my back and knees had enough of the bending and twisting amongst the boulders. Pretty soon someone walked up to the fountain, stripped down butt-naked and jumped in for a swim.
Just another day at the big-city park......I chopped out a Merc from the ground and decided that it was time to leave and try a different spot.
Next area was out of the way and the targets few and far between, but I found old stuff there before. After about 1 hour I center up on a faint high-pitched warble. After chopping down about 7-8 inches into the concrete ground I saw a small brown disc in the bottom of the hole. I picked out what I thought was a wheatie, but saw "one dime" on the back.
I turned it over and cleaned off enough dirt and rusty crust to see my first Seated dime for the year - 1888-S !
After back filling the hole, I struggled to stand up and start swinging when the detector sang out over the hole again! 
I pulled the dirt back out and widened the hole and came up with a small clump of dirt with another silver dime sticking out of it. Thinking it was another Seated dime, I just put the clump in a bottle to open it up later at home where I could take some pics.
I left for a lunch break and to swing back home to see what was in the clump. I thought it was either another Seated dime or an old Barber. "Sure would be nice if it was an 1895-O" I thought I started to open up the clump and clean the coin, taking pics as I went along, and soon saw a Barber dime with the date 1895 on it. I turned it over and saw a mint-mark and held my breath as I cleaned it off a little more, but saw an "S" instead of an "O". :veryangry:
A little disappointing, but the consolation is that an 1895-S in this condition is still a $120.00 coin.
Realizing that I only lacked a Roosy for the Dime Slam, I went back out to the park for a couple more hours to find one. I found everything but one - another Mercury dime, another silver ring, wheaties galore, lots of deep clad dimes and pennies, etc. Well, it was still a great day all around.
This first pic is the cleaning process on the Barber dime and the Pics of it and the Seated dime in their "raw" state from the ground:
[attachment 240983 12aug2012dirtycoins.JPG]
Here is the pic of the same coins after the final cleaning process:
[attachment 240984 12aug2012dimes.JPG]
Here is the total good finds for the day:
[attachment 240985 12aug2012nut.JPG]
Here is a close-up of the Silver and opal ring:
[attachment 240986 12aug2012ring.JPG]
Well, it's late, my knees hurt, I'm tired, and I have to work tomorrow :veryangry: :veryangry: :veryangry: :veryangry: :veryangry:
Take care and HH, Mike.
This cool snap was just what I needed to get out to my favorite park for the day. It sure felt nice out and I started off around a fountain pool. This spot dated back to the 1930's and was a popular spot for picnics, hanging out, or a quick dip in the summer heat. I did good over the years around all the large rocks and boulders in the ground around the cascading pools leading from the fountain down to a nearby lake. Many an old coin was lost between the boulders in narrow cracks and openings and I had used sniper coils to get between them to sniff out a lot of silver.
Today, I just used my Explorer's X-1 probe to get into the tightest spaces that no other coil could reach before. I did good on finding a lot of coins, but none of them were old. I did ferret out a nice silver ring with an opal setting flanked by 2 faux diamonds. I walked out into the open lawn nearby to do some regular detecting when my back and knees had enough of the bending and twisting amongst the boulders. Pretty soon someone walked up to the fountain, stripped down butt-naked and jumped in for a swim.
Just another day at the big-city park......I chopped out a Merc from the ground and decided that it was time to leave and try a different spot.Next area was out of the way and the targets few and far between, but I found old stuff there before. After about 1 hour I center up on a faint high-pitched warble. After chopping down about 7-8 inches into the concrete ground I saw a small brown disc in the bottom of the hole. I picked out what I thought was a wheatie, but saw "one dime" on the back.
I turned it over and cleaned off enough dirt and rusty crust to see my first Seated dime for the year - 1888-S !
After back filling the hole, I struggled to stand up and start swinging when the detector sang out over the hole again! I pulled the dirt back out and widened the hole and came up with a small clump of dirt with another silver dime sticking out of it. Thinking it was another Seated dime, I just put the clump in a bottle to open it up later at home where I could take some pics.I left for a lunch break and to swing back home to see what was in the clump. I thought it was either another Seated dime or an old Barber. "Sure would be nice if it was an 1895-O" I thought I started to open up the clump and clean the coin, taking pics as I went along, and soon saw a Barber dime with the date 1895 on it.
I turned it over and saw a mint-mark and held my breath as I cleaned it off a little more, but saw an "S" instead of an "O". :veryangry:A little disappointing, but the consolation is that an 1895-S in this condition is still a $120.00 coin.
Realizing that I only lacked a Roosy for the Dime Slam, I went back out to the park for a couple more hours to find one. I found everything but one - another Mercury dime, another silver ring, wheaties galore, lots of deep clad dimes and pennies, etc. Well, it was still a great day all around.
This first pic is the cleaning process on the Barber dime and the Pics of it and the Seated dime in their "raw" state from the ground:
[attachment 240983 12aug2012dirtycoins.JPG]
Here is the pic of the same coins after the final cleaning process:
[attachment 240984 12aug2012dimes.JPG]
Here is the total good finds for the day:
[attachment 240985 12aug2012nut.JPG]
Here is a close-up of the Silver and opal ring:
[attachment 240986 12aug2012ring.JPG]
Well, it's late, my knees hurt, I'm tired, and I have to work tomorrow :veryangry: :veryangry: :veryangry: :veryangry: :veryangry:
Take care and HH, Mike.
JJ