Thursday's Near Miss

[RLOH]

I haven't been detecting much because of some health problems and I am having one of my worst years ever in the "finds department". Yesterday was a cool, sunny day so I made up my mind to hunt longer than normal. I got to my first place shortly after sun-up. I got about an hour there until a bunch of electricians came and started digging trenches for underground cable. I found a silver roosie, a real nice buffalo nickle, and a no date standing liberty quarter. I hated to go, but moved on. I have three old (80 to 90 years old) schools that I hunt. The state of Ohio has been funding money for new schools to be built and they are tearing down the old ones and the local school boards are selling the properties. I have lost at least five places in the last six years to progress. I drove by these three old schools and two are being demolished and the one that was left had a hundred or so kids in the field I wanted to hunt. I got a coffee and headed for my old stand by, the fairgrounds. The last good find here was a 1842 Candian half penny, but slim pickens since. I parked my truck and hunted my way to the older section. The ground was concrete hard from lack of rain and I had not gone 50 feet and I picked up a 8 inch deep mercury dime. I have not had a three silver day in a long time so I was feeling pretty good with what I had found. The area I was headed to was a spot I had hunted many times and I can usually beg up an older coin. I try to remember what direction I hunted last so I can hunt the area from a different angle. There is small concrete pad that I use as a marker to start detecting and with no dew on the grass it is hard to grid because you can't see where you have been. On the second pass from this marker,I got a one way signal that pegged the cursor in the upper right corner. It would only repeat from one direction, but there was no null anywhere close to the signal. When there is no junk nearby a signal, I use the pinpoint button and the signal was small and crisp from one angle, but almost gone from 90 degrees. I had a good feeling that it was a coin on edge. I dug a slightly larger than normal plug and stuck my propointer in the hole. Nothing at the bottom. The hole was about 6 or 7 inches deep and since it was a bright day, I could see into the hole clearly. There on the side of the hole, I saw the vertical rim of a small silver coin about two inches up from the bottom. I popped it out carefully with my screwdriver and the caked dirt fell off the date side of a well worn mercury dime. I could clearly see the date"1916". There was a clod of dirt on the back side that came off in one piece without scraping the coin. My eyes are pretty bad, but I could see a mint mark, but could not tell if it was a D or S. The more I stared at it, the more convinced it was a D. I tried hunting on, but I wanted to see the mint mark asap. I got home and rinsed it off and felt like I was a little boy opening a present on Christmas morning. Dang, a S mark. The first 4 1916 mercury dimes I have found were all in pristine condition, but all were plain varieties. Close, but no cigar. I did learn one thing. Dig those "iffy one way signals" and you never know what might come out of the ground. One last note. the places I hunt are long gone of perfect repeatable signals and most all of anything of value is a funky signal. R.L.

 

[dewcon4414]

I feel you pain about those 1916 dimes... anyone who has been hunting very long has had that heart stopping 1916 pop out. Even here in Indy the parks are really picked over with more and more in the hobby and the better machines. I seem to find silver in wood of large parks and have to work the VERY trashy areas that most havent or wont hunt. Not certain as to what the next generation will be hunting. I mean there are some of us that pick it all up including pennies. The detector companies have a challenge to look beyond todays sales and see trends or they wont be in business.

Dew

 

[digginrebel]

A 1916 dime is what got my father into metal detecting with me. He wanted to see a machine work, so we walked over to my neighbor's yard and quickly got a good signal. Turned out to be a 1916 dime - he was a coin collector and was just amazed. We went that day and bought him a machine from a local dealer, this was back in the early 80's. He has since passed, but we had some good times hunting together! I still have his old White's 6000 Di Series 2 machine for a keepsake.

 

[Elton]

I know you have had a rough time from our PM's. Congrats on the Silver dimes, and on that "Almost 16 D"

 

[RLOH]

n/t

 

[sgoss66]

VERY cool story, and a very nice hunt, RLOH! And, great job on that on-edge Merc. ALMOST!!!!!

Steve

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I have had two experiences with 1916 mercs where I almost needed heart medicine.......that fleeting moment when it could be that "D" dime....priceless ! I have the P & S...just need that 3rd to complete the set.

 

[RandyNorthridgeca]

You made me smile because I did the same thing on one of the two that I have found. Had forgotten my glasses and I thought I saw a mint mark but couln't make it out. Drove all the way home and no mint mark . At least yours was an "S" good find anyway you look at it,

 

[Markdb61]

Still a nice find rloh