small change
New member
The club I belong to has an informal group hunt at an area park on the Sunday following our monthly meeting. Got there somewhat early & decided to concentrate on one of the ball fields where silver coins had been found before. Found the small silver ring right off (about 6" deep off to the left side of the field). I worked my way across the shallow outfield w/o finding much at all until I was over on the other side & got a good deep signal right of the foul line behind 1st base area. Dug thru about 9" of light brown dirt only to find an early 80's clad dime. I knew then I was too close to the infield so I headed deeper out in the outfield toward the fence. Near the right field corner in front of a couple of shrubs, I got a couple good deep signals & dug a couple of wheats. One was a good 8-9" deep. Had another signal a bit better & turned out to be the '54 Roosevelt. It must have been on edge or I pinpointed it poorly as I had to dig a few inches into the side of my hole to get it. A little later I dug the '25S Merc not far away & it was shallower than the Roosevelt, maybe 4-5" at most. I thought maybe I just had a clad quarter before I recovered it. Searched a little longer along the outfield fence& got a couple more wheats & a few more clad coins.
Took a break for lunch & then went back to the same area where I left off. Wasn't getting any good signals & then it started to rain hard enough to chase me back to my truck. After 30-40min or so, I got back out & started searching again, this time near the left field corner of the fence. After a bit I got a signal I knew was silver. Dug down a good 6-7" or so & had to go into the side of the hole a ways to pull out the '43 Washington. Did dig a few clad quarters after that & another wheat but I was starting to get tired & lose some concentration, so it was time to call it a day. Totals were 3 silver coins, a silver ring, 7 wheats & 2 older Jeff Nickels ('40 & '49). I also found what I think is an old corroded button but I can't see any lettering or design stamped on it anywhere. In the morning there were as many as 8-10 of us or so searching, but most had left a little past noon & I was alone the last 3 hours or so. I don't know of any other notable finds other I heard another guy found a silver Roosevelt on another of the ball fields, and I did see a Missouri Tax Token that a guy had found in another area of the park that was in rather nice shape compared to the few I have found.
This park has definitely been hit hard & still is hunted often I'd say. I knew it would be tough to find any silver or wheats & figured most of them would be 6+ inches deep. I saw some other people swinging their machines several inches off the ground, lifting the coil up at the end of the sweep, & generally walking too fast. I figured there was no way for them to find anything but shallow clad & they'd probably miss a good percentage of that. Anyway, I didn't find enough to call it a great haul, but I think it was definitely enough to have made the trip worthwhile. I might even try to hit this park once again before spring gets in full swing & gets more crowded. I would go there more often but it is a bit far from where I live.
Took a break for lunch & then went back to the same area where I left off. Wasn't getting any good signals & then it started to rain hard enough to chase me back to my truck. After 30-40min or so, I got back out & started searching again, this time near the left field corner of the fence. After a bit I got a signal I knew was silver. Dug down a good 6-7" or so & had to go into the side of the hole a ways to pull out the '43 Washington. Did dig a few clad quarters after that & another wheat but I was starting to get tired & lose some concentration, so it was time to call it a day. Totals were 3 silver coins, a silver ring, 7 wheats & 2 older Jeff Nickels ('40 & '49). I also found what I think is an old corroded button but I can't see any lettering or design stamped on it anywhere. In the morning there were as many as 8-10 of us or so searching, but most had left a little past noon & I was alone the last 3 hours or so. I don't know of any other notable finds other I heard another guy found a silver Roosevelt on another of the ball fields, and I did see a Missouri Tax Token that a guy had found in another area of the park that was in rather nice shape compared to the few I have found.
This park has definitely been hit hard & still is hunted often I'd say. I knew it would be tough to find any silver or wheats & figured most of them would be 6+ inches deep. I saw some other people swinging their machines several inches off the ground, lifting the coil up at the end of the sweep, & generally walking too fast. I figured there was no way for them to find anything but shallow clad & they'd probably miss a good percentage of that. Anyway, I didn't find enough to call it a great haul, but I think it was definitely enough to have made the trip worthwhile. I might even try to hit this park once again before spring gets in full swing & gets more crowded. I would go there more often but it is a bit far from where I live.
