CZconnoisseur and I haven't been posting in a while...not because we haven't been hunting/finding...it's just been a busy summer.
I felt this was worth taking a break from 'life', and posting...
It started out as a typical hunt. The weather was actually cooperating for a change.
It had been raining for several days straight...making the ground perfect for digging.
But of course, the moisture 'lights up' the deep iron, so we were not going to get away without 'paying our dues', and digging rusty square nails.
And of course, all the other trash a public area collects over 150 years of use. :sad:
Because the ground was much softer than usual, we had chosen a park that typically has hard ground...hoping it would be easier diggings.
After digging a couple of junk signals, I got a really nice, faint high tone that sounded promising.
Digging down about 9 inches, up popped a round coin. I immediately called out "Coin", then quickly followed with, "Silver!" when I saw the color.
CZ came over to check it out, and when it was obvious it was a pretty sharp Barber dime, he kindly offered to find a discarded bottle of water to help wash it off.
While he was 'foraging', I dutifully double checked the hole to make sure there were no more signals....and shazaam!...the pinpointer went off in exactly the same spot I pulled the Barber!
When CZ got back with the water, we carefully cleaned off the date and mint mark areas to read "1911-D". And pretty darned sharp.
I let him know of the second signal, and he wanted to see me dig it. I hesitated for a moment...savoring the possibility that it 'could' be another coin...but knowing full well it could just as easily be a co-located bit of trash.
So carefully digging down another inch plus, I pulled up a ball of dirt...in which we could both see the silver rim of another dime!
Woohoo! Gently popping off the dirt revealed an even older, better Barber dime...a 1901-O.
It's been a long time since I dug a Barber coin spill. It was sweet!
The rest of the hunt saw both of us pull some deep wheats, and CZ snagged his own silver...a Rosy. (Which in these heavily hunted parks, is typically harder to find than a Barber!)
Another great coin 'rescue' operation!
mike
I felt this was worth taking a break from 'life', and posting...
It started out as a typical hunt. The weather was actually cooperating for a change.
It had been raining for several days straight...making the ground perfect for digging.
But of course, the moisture 'lights up' the deep iron, so we were not going to get away without 'paying our dues', and digging rusty square nails.
And of course, all the other trash a public area collects over 150 years of use. :sad:
Because the ground was much softer than usual, we had chosen a park that typically has hard ground...hoping it would be easier diggings.
After digging a couple of junk signals, I got a really nice, faint high tone that sounded promising.
Digging down about 9 inches, up popped a round coin. I immediately called out "Coin", then quickly followed with, "Silver!" when I saw the color.
CZ came over to check it out, and when it was obvious it was a pretty sharp Barber dime, he kindly offered to find a discarded bottle of water to help wash it off.
While he was 'foraging', I dutifully double checked the hole to make sure there were no more signals....and shazaam!...the pinpointer went off in exactly the same spot I pulled the Barber!
When CZ got back with the water, we carefully cleaned off the date and mint mark areas to read "1911-D". And pretty darned sharp.
I let him know of the second signal, and he wanted to see me dig it. I hesitated for a moment...savoring the possibility that it 'could' be another coin...but knowing full well it could just as easily be a co-located bit of trash.
So carefully digging down another inch plus, I pulled up a ball of dirt...in which we could both see the silver rim of another dime!
Woohoo! Gently popping off the dirt revealed an even older, better Barber dime...a 1901-O.
It's been a long time since I dug a Barber coin spill. It was sweet!
The rest of the hunt saw both of us pull some deep wheats, and CZ snagged his own silver...a Rosy. (Which in these heavily hunted parks, is typically harder to find than a Barber!)
Another great coin 'rescue' operation!
mike
