Mike Moutray - St.Louis MO
Member
Had to wake up at 3:30 AM to drive the family to the airport for their annual trip to Florida..... I get to stay home , as usual 
1 whole week to myself.... nuthin' to do but guy stuff... and lots of detectin'
I got back home and checked the radar - the storms that had been hammering us all night finally moved off to the east. I decided to pack my stuff up and take a "short" road trip out into Illinois for some hunting. I called Guvner up and woke him out of his slumber and convinced him to tag along. He didn't sound all too sure, but he obliged.
Although the rain had cleared out, the parks we hunted first were swampy and the detectors couldn't seem to get more than 5 inches deep. Digging clad dimes at 3 inches that read very faint is enough to kill anyone's enthusiasm. The wet ground was alive with iron chatter and it looked like it was going to be a bust....:veryangry:
By about lunchtime, we started getting to sites where the grass dried out and the ground wasn't spongy to walk on. Slowly but surely some deeper, older targets started to surface. I had coaxed a couple silver dimes and a couple wheaties out of the ground - nothing to get excited over.
The second-to-last place was a very large square... we spotted a DFX'er out there working the ground - Guvner figured that if this guy was out there expecting to make some finds, there must be something for us "Explorers" to find.
That White's might have done some good for him, but he kept his distance from us so we didn't find out. I suspect that he didn't want us to know that he was clearing away the clad and nails for us...
The ground was deep and I finally started to get more depth... A Merc Dime showed up around 7 inches and it sounded fairly good. Next came an Indian Cent from about the same depth. My last dig had me going...... I dig a low penny hit deep, and in the process of scooping dirt out of the hole, I saw little silver discs in the dirt everywhere!
I though I had a bunch of half dimes, but as I picked them up for closer inspection I noticed that they were all blank and lightweight.... just aluminum. 
No clue what they were supposed to be...
One more stop at another square - a proven, albeit heavily hunted site. I make my way along the side into a corner and get a faint but steady penny-dime hit. When I cut out the plug and probed the bottom, I get a slight high pitched warble... "Sure would be nice if this was a Seated Dime for my Grand Slam today." I thought to myself... from about 8 inches down, up comes a small clump with a thin silver edge poking out! Sure enough, it was Seated - a worn out dime from the 1850's.
I slowly troll through the trash sounds and get a faint hit right on nickel. Out comes a Shield Nickel - 187? Finally some older coins today!
I noticed Guvner had pretty much hung around one spot so far, so I hunted my way over to see how he was doing. Didn't get far before I had another good high hit. This one about the same depth as the others, so it was no surprise to see an old 2 cent piece come up from the hole, but this one is a Beauty! 1866 in very nice shape - one of the best ones I've ever dug.
I got to Guvner and found out he had a Merc and some Wheaties. At least he didn't get skunked, but he did voice his dismay about ever answering the phone when I called that morning... I know he had a blast though - his enthusiasm over finding wheaties is infectious indeed!
The pic below is the day's finds for me. The ring is an older Premium Ring... I found one exactly like it many years ago, but never got any ID on it. It has something missing off the face and a balance on one side and a hand holding a torch on the other side. The extra loop at a right angle to the band is what makes it interesting - anyone have any ideas???
Until next time - Take care and HH, Mike.
[attachment 202718 26jun11finds.JPG]
1 whole week to myself.... nuthin' to do but guy stuff... and lots of detectin'
I got back home and checked the radar - the storms that had been hammering us all night finally moved off to the east. I decided to pack my stuff up and take a "short" road trip out into Illinois for some hunting. I called Guvner up and woke him out of his slumber and convinced him to tag along. He didn't sound all too sure, but he obliged.
Although the rain had cleared out, the parks we hunted first were swampy and the detectors couldn't seem to get more than 5 inches deep. Digging clad dimes at 3 inches that read very faint is enough to kill anyone's enthusiasm. The wet ground was alive with iron chatter and it looked like it was going to be a bust....:veryangry:
By about lunchtime, we started getting to sites where the grass dried out and the ground wasn't spongy to walk on. Slowly but surely some deeper, older targets started to surface. I had coaxed a couple silver dimes and a couple wheaties out of the ground - nothing to get excited over.
The second-to-last place was a very large square... we spotted a DFX'er out there working the ground - Guvner figured that if this guy was out there expecting to make some finds, there must be something for us "Explorers" to find.
That White's might have done some good for him, but he kept his distance from us so we didn't find out. I suspect that he didn't want us to know that he was clearing away the clad and nails for us... The ground was deep and I finally started to get more depth... A Merc Dime showed up around 7 inches and it sounded fairly good. Next came an Indian Cent from about the same depth. My last dig had me going...... I dig a low penny hit deep, and in the process of scooping dirt out of the hole, I saw little silver discs in the dirt everywhere!
I though I had a bunch of half dimes, but as I picked them up for closer inspection I noticed that they were all blank and lightweight.... just aluminum. No clue what they were supposed to be... One more stop at another square - a proven, albeit heavily hunted site. I make my way along the side into a corner and get a faint but steady penny-dime hit. When I cut out the plug and probed the bottom, I get a slight high pitched warble...
"Sure would be nice if this was a Seated Dime for my Grand Slam today." I thought to myself... from about 8 inches down, up comes a small clump with a thin silver edge poking out! Sure enough, it was Seated - a worn out dime from the 1850's.I slowly troll through the trash sounds and get a faint hit right on nickel. Out comes a Shield Nickel - 187? Finally some older coins today!
I noticed Guvner had pretty much hung around one spot so far, so I hunted my way over to see how he was doing. Didn't get far before I had another good high hit. This one about the same depth as the others, so it was no surprise to see an old 2 cent piece come up from the hole, but this one is a Beauty! 1866 in very nice shape - one of the best ones I've ever dug.
I got to Guvner and found out he had a Merc and some Wheaties. At least he didn't get skunked, but he did voice his dismay about ever answering the phone when I called that morning... I know he had a blast though - his enthusiasm over finding wheaties is infectious indeed!
The pic below is the day's finds for me. The ring is an older Premium Ring... I found one exactly like it many years ago, but never got any ID on it. It has something missing off the face and a balance on one side and a hand holding a torch on the other side. The extra loop at a right angle to the band is what makes it interesting - anyone have any ideas???
Until next time - Take care and HH, Mike.
[attachment 202718 26jun11finds.JPG]
Congrats on the slam Mike, Some awesome finds. Real nice 2 center
