CAPTN SE's 2008 Year In Review ~ 365 Silver!!

[Captn SE]

Hello Everyone!!

2008 was the continuation of what has been an unimaginable two years of detecting since acquiring chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia and a gluten intolerance back in '06. With my passion of metal detecting, along with a strict diet, my days where I could only walk for 10 minutes before tiring are a thing of the past now. It's been almost 2 years now since purchasing my Explorer SE. Since then I have amassed totals of lost coinage(old and new) and jewelry that I never thought I was capable of finding from a plethora of local parks here in Southern CA. I have been blessed with having the time and health to detect over 100 different parks in the past two years. Recovering 1022 silver coins, over $1100 in clad coinage, 4500 wheatback pennies, and over 130 pieces of silver jewelry may be just numbers to many, but to me they represent my accomplishments, passion, camaraderie with my hunting buddies, and continued good health through detecting.

I did find a lot less in '08 than in '07, but to recover what I did from the same pounded parks that my hunting buddies and I pounded countless times in '07 has greatly surprised me.

Here's my totals from my 2008 detecting year. About 98% of these finds were from local parks in Southern Cal.

Silver coinage: 365
Wheatbacks: 1462
Injuns: 20
V's/Buffalos: 4

Clad coinage:
Dollar coins: 14
Kennedy Halfs: 1
Nickels: 141
Quarters: 771
Dimes: 2415
Pennies: Too many to count!

I had many great memories of 2008. My 1873 seated dime find at a park, along with many of my barbers and Injuns(1908 & 1909 "S" mints), antique jewelry, and 50 consecutive silver hunts with my SE Pro Coil, are just a few. One thing I will never forget is the amount of old coins I dug from two parks. One park produced 186 silver coins, and the other produced 62. That's nearly 70% of my total silver coin count for 2008. Parks like these are too few and far between down here. I hope this year I'll be able to find a few parks that produce silver coin counts in the 50's, but I think I will be traveling further to find them.

I want to personally thank everyone on the forum for your continued support and friendship. And to my hunting buddies I had the pleasure of detecting with in '08 (Mike(ratman), Mike(DanaPoinMike), Joe(DrJoePrime), Val(DanaPointVal), Curt(Bibleman), Ron(RonCA), Tristan, Jon(GoldenApples), Leo(fooleo), Marcus(WireBender), Thomas In Riverside, Michael In Monrovia, and Richard(Smitty)), all of you made this hobby so much more rewarding/meaningful to me. I'm glad I can share my finds, and get to hunt with great friends who show as high a passion/interest in detecting as I do. I put a lot of effort into this hobby. There's no shortcuts to finding the deeper coinage/relics. The number of turf plugs I've cut is in the thousands. I've worn out many pairs of jeans, gloves, and digging tools. I have chronically stiff hands in the morning with calluses in uncommon locations, in addition to having one arm that's measurably larger than the other. : Success comes to those who are willing to work hard enough at whatever they do, as long as they enjoy it to the max!!


Enjoy the pics!
Keep the Passion High!!
Good luck to all in 2009!!

Thanks for looking!

CAPTN SE
Dan

Pic #1: My '08 Silver Coinage

Pic #2: My Pile of Clad. Note: all the clad I dig, except for quarters, is incidental. I do not dig all penny, nickel, and dime signals in the turf. All of these either sounded like potential wheat/silver targets, targets that I had to clear to get to deeper signals, coinage I found in the same plug as my old coin, or were surface money. This is what it takes to find the oldies in the parks here in Southern Cal. Oh, yes, and a lot of trash targets (iron, aluminum, caps, bullets, etc.)


Pic #3: Here's all the jewelry, some relics, and marbles I found in '08. Mostly silver, but there is some gold mixed in.

Pic #4: Here's my two "S" mint Indians I found in '08. These are the only two Indian Head pennies with mintmarks(1908 and 1909).

[crazyjarhead]

Hey Dan............ I had to put on my sun glasses 8) Where did you find that Ohio thingy at?? I lost that mant years ago

[seger98]

WOW THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY......... WOW

[Natman]

GREAT JOB DAN!

I remember many of your posts throughout the year and I must say you really cleaned up on the silver (the other coins and jewelry find aint bad either )

May you stay healthy throughout the coming year so you can enjoy the hobby you love!

CONGRATS CAPTN DAN

Nat

[civilman1]

Absolutely Outsatnding Dan.....That is one pretty site buddy.Unbelievable year for you.....Can't wait til next Jan. and stay healthy

[The Bulgarian]

Well done Dan.Great job you did.

[oddcoins]

WOW Dan ~ that pile of silver is totally AWESOME!!!!! Such cool treasures you found ~ and those "S" mint Indians ~ WOOHOO!!!!!!!

GOOD LUCK in 2009!

8^)

[River Rat]

W W those are some really impressive finds...the silver, I'm just drooling over it all. Man, those are some really nice rings & things. You had a very reaping year, many wishes for more finds in '09. Good Luck & Happy Hunting, Dan.

RR

[The Buzzard King]

OMG

That's just absolutely amazing!
Talk about making a metal detector work for you!!!
The Explorer is paid for in clad, without even putting a dent in your silver profits!
That pile of silver is sick!
Congrats on a MONSTER year detecting! Good luck in 2009!


PS: What's in the guitar case?

[RONC(OR)]

Dan
You had a great year thats allot of silver WOW I always enjoyed your posts keep the silver coming hope the new year brings you lots of Treasure HH RonC

[John Deere Digger]

Super Dan, Most of us can only dream of finding that much silver.
JDD

[Pentico]

You had an awesome year captn.
Continued success in 09!

DN

[Detectingfreak]

Very Very outstanding job! I have been following your posts ever since I made it back onto treasurenet! You have really inspired me along with JuJu to get out and hunt! I love hunting and finding silver! Thanks for all the inspiration! You truley know your SE and how to use it. I bet you dug a lot of trash!!! I am guessing that you dug at least 20lbs or more. But I may be wrong because you may have dug only 5lbs of trash. I will wish you luck down in Calfiornia on your future hunts! Go out and get that silver!!!!!

[LI Tom]

Congratulations on another superb silver year Dan!!!It's an amazing amount of wilver out of public parks.

[gold nuggets]

You have amassed a large collection of silver coinage,
jewelery and clad this year.Like many others on T-Net, I have read and enjoyed
all of your posts and am wondering how you will ever top that next year.
Congratulations on a very successful 2008 and may you find a way to match or
top your 2008 totals in 2009. And thanks for the advice and suggestions. They work!!
Gold Nuggets

[Count Boris]

Simply great finds. Hope you have an even better 2009.
Boris

[PJ in WI]

What a year Capt-N. Because of you, I bought an SE this year and did ok for the amount of time I put into it. Your finds are impressive or rather amazing. I live up here the tundra of WI so we have been done up here for over a month. Your updates and pictures keep me wishing it was warmer here. Cograts and keep it up. PJ

[silverfreak]

Amazing....just amazing. I remember a comment you responded back to me with weeks ago. I said "don't you wish we would have had these explorers back in the 80's when silver was plentiful"?
Your response was....and I agree 100% after hearing it from you...."We wouldn't be finding the silver we are now if we would have had the explorers back then"
Great year Dan. Take care my friend

[BuckleBoy]

Captn,


Those are Impressive finds for the SECOND year in a row!

Congratulations to you on such an incredible haul. And Best Wishes to you for 2009, my friend.



-Buck

[Don in SJ]

Dan, I can see a trifecta coming for you, but yes, the law of diminishing return will eventually catch up and expanding might help alleviate that problem for awhile, but you will always have the memories of you 2007 and 2008 finds. Congratulations on a super year!

Don