Hard to believe it but another Double Eagle!

49r Relics

Hero Member
Jan 11, 2008
789
686
Gold Country (California)
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I feel just as weird posting this as I did when I found it. Me and my buddy Ron do all of our relic hunts as a team. Every once in a while, when they can, Andrew and Scott might come along but mostly it's me and Ron. He gets, genuinely happy and excited on all my finds as I do his. There is no competition between us as if there was, it would just change every week as we each have our equally epic moments. We're swing the same machines with the same settings at the same sites with 1000's and 1000's of hours on the CTX3030. When I found the 3 double eagles I was absolutely in shock, as any of us would be. I also felt some remorse as only Me and Andrew found coins that day and not Ron. Was awkward and we all wish he could have scored too. It's 99% Luck and 99% Skill so you never know what's going to happen at any site. So this find a week later at a completely different site was even more tough for me to feel happy about. Granted it was another find of a lifetime but it felt bitter sweet as I saw the look on both Andrew and Ron's faces when this coin was dug. It's hard to explain but this hobby for me is mostly about the camaraderie and the adventures.

So, getting back to that map I found that led us to the site where Andrew found the 1864 Half, followed by a $5 gold piece and 8 more pre-1897 halves, then me finding the 3 $20 Gold Pieces . . . when I first started to chart out the sites, I started to number them as we got permission and checked with the county for titles, etc. The first site I had marked "Site001" was where we found that epic coin spill. The next site ("Site002") we got to go quickly check a week later. It was loaded with iron and we could tell right away that no modern detector had ever been there and probably no detector had ever been there at all as it is not a site that is easy to find. We were all 3 there detecting for about 30 minutes when Andrew was complaining that his XP Deus was hitting on all big iron, he was a bit frustrated so we helped him try some different settings by comparing signals. He called me over to check a signal and while walking back to my original area, I heard a high conductor. It was shallow, loud and right next to the road, maybe only 10' from the pavement near a fence so I was definitely thinking aluminum can but it was a pretty tight signal so I dug it anyways. When I first saw the coin I wasn't sure what it was, it looked like a large token and I thought it was aluminum because for some reason it felt light to me. So to play a trick on Ron, I called him over and flashed it quickly to make him think it was a gold coin, to our astonishment, it was!!! I could't believe it, my eyes and senses were playing tricks on me, in my hand was another $20 Gold Piece!! We turned the video camera on and Ron read the date off as 1859 and I was completely floored, yet as I said above, I felt awkward and weird that I just found another one. I didn't let either him or Andrew make a big deal out of it, just tried to downplay it out of a bit of embarrassment. So I dug it, we looked at it, I put it away in my finds pouch and we went on like it never happened. We all checked the area very carefully for more! All I found after was a few relics. Ron found a nice, early seated dime (holed) and Andrew worked on settings. On the way home it sunk in to all of us what had just happened. I don't have the words to say anything other than I am very grateful and I still say, if you want to find the good coins and relics, do your research and find a site with lots of potential that nobody has ever hunted!

At the end of this video you will see a picture I sent Ron and posted to my Facebook page back in September when I opened my fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant and thought, that's a weird fortune to see in a fortune cookie, turns out it came true!!

Happy Hunting, Mark Dayton



1859-S Obverse.jpg
1859-S Reverse.jpg
 

Last edited:

cjon455

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Jun 4, 2012
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That's just incredible, what a time you're having so far this year, you're a good man for feeling bad for your buddy, I know what you mean about comraderie, banner vote in!
 

pepperj

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Feb 3, 2009
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Congrats on the twenty dollar piece, you guys are having one crazy time out there. All the best on the return hunts and I hope the gold streak will continue for you all.
 

UnderMiner

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I feel honored to be one of the first to see this incredible post! Congratulations on another historic discovery! :treasurechest::headbang:
 

Seek Ye First

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Sep 23, 2014
61
102
Central Ohio
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Congrats on your great find! Just curious though after watching your video, what time of day do you do your detecting? The video shows you using lights on your camera to record; do you hunt at night or early in the morning?
 

Dug1898

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Sep 27, 2011
178
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Fingerlakes Region, NY
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Mark, I read back through the whole thread and see its too bad about not being able to make Banner with find (pg 10). There's too many crazy rules in this world, lol. I was wondering like everyone else how these coins came to hit the ground. Your research findings about gold coin for land and real estate transactions and then the saddle bag theory make perfect sense.

Now the gold nuggets. Do you think they also were drops or could they be original to the ground? The soil just doesn't look like the usual gravel nuggets are found in. Your newest nugget with the old and quartz is beautiful and looks like the stuff foun in the 16:1 mine. Not sure how close you are to that area as I'm a real rookie from Ny State. If I could guess I'd guess it was from a robbery of an assay office or a bank; but that just guessing'. I love this stuff man, so keep it up and keep us all entertained with your gold on gold discoveries with some more silver thrown in. Lmao :happysmiley: Green with envy! Dug
 

jeff of pa

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Dec 19, 2003
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Awesome Finds !

Very Nice Video Mark !!!!
 

Ron (CA)

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Feb 1, 2005
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Mechanicsville VA
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Another Banner Worthy find!!

Mark, Great post and I know you felt awkward but there was no reason. As you stated, we both get over great stuff and it was just your time!! (4 fricken times in a a row!! ) :notworthy: But I do know I was excited and amazed that another $20 popped out at one of our sites and truly happy for you!! But I will not lie, it would not have hurt my feelings if it showed up under my coil!! LOL

Congrats again!!

Ron
 

SeabeeRon

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Aug 5, 2007
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Santa Cruz, CA.
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Thanks for sharing Mark! Seeing these gold coins come out gives this life long Cali guy huge hope!!
 

Guest 1551

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Aug 4, 2013
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you are enfeugo this year! I guess technically the more correct term is one lucky b******. ;)
 

OP
OP
49r Relics

49r Relics

Hero Member
Jan 11, 2008
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Gold Country (California)
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Don, You know me better than that :icon_study:

This coin came out looking pretty clean but it was very shallow, less than 1/2" and we just dug a beautiful tongue buckle there 2 nights ago, also right on top. So in the winter, he has his cows in this pasture and has for 29 years so I assume that this coin was either obverse up, or obverse down, and either way, maybe the cows moved it around, or? But it came out of the ground with very little dirt on it, but the dirt that was there was really tough to get out with the waterpik and soaking. Only after I sprayed all the dirt off, i used a very delicate and fine camel hair makeup brush to dab straight at it lightly. This caused no scratches but as you can see in these pics, the obverse had these very micro almost like stress lines instead of scratches, but the reverse looks great. You really can't see it at all with the naked eye but my camera reveals them. :camera: So I am dumbfounded by this but that's how it came out. I did lots of research on conservation of gold coins before we even thought about cleaning any of our gold coins from the big coin spill.

HH, Mark

Looks like the obverse has been cleaned with a Brillo pad: hopefully not cleaned at all.
Great recovery in an event !!
Don....
 

OP
OP
49r Relics

49r Relics

Hero Member
Jan 11, 2008
789
686
Gold Country (California)
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030, Garrett AT Pro, Makro Racer 2, Garrett Pro-Pointer, Detector Pro Grey Ghost headphones, Lesche diggers, Apex picks.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
A little bit of both. In the Summer, we all hunt at night, even in the parks, because it's way too hot here. However, it's getting tougher to find time to get out so when we do, we make a whole day of it. For both of these reasons, we hunt at night sometimes. But, more importantly, we mostly hunt at night at our sites that are in plain view as we don't want passerby's to see us out with detectors. The land owners actually prefer this as well. On this video, you will here a car drive by every now and then. We are in the wilderness so an occasional coyote or 2 might check us out, or in the parks at night we stay close together and in a group, but hunting at night is not for everyone . . . We also have hunted in major storms! :weather_rain:

Congrats on your great find! Just curious though after watching your video, what time of day do you do your detecting? The video shows you using lights on your camera to record; do you hunt at night or early in the morning?
 

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