Been Hunting for it for 49 Years & Found it Today!

[Texas Jay]

Hooray! I finally broke my silver half dollar jinx today! Found a 1914-S Barber silver half dollar, 9-10 inches deep with my Garrett Ace 250. I've been metal detecting for 49 years and a silver half dollar has always eluded me until this one popped out of the mud today. I have found a few clad halves over the years and always figured that my first silver half would be a Kennedy, a Franklin, or maybe a Walking Liberty but I really didn't think it would be a beautiful Barber. Please excuse my poor photography but I was a wee bit excited to say the least. ha.
~Texas Jay
Central Texas Treasure Club

 

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[masterjedi]

Awesome find ! How great for you !

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Congrats on your deep find! Great to see you picked that up with your 250.

 

[Texas Jay]

Thank you, masterjedi and doggoneitdignit. The Ace 250 surprised me again with this find. It seems the more hours I put on it, about 65 now I think, the better and deeper it gets. ha. Looks like Charles Garrett was right when he said that the operator needs to get 100 hours on his detector before he really understands its capabilities. My detecting buddy, who uses a XP Deus and his new Equinox 800 and who is the ideal detecting partner for me, gets more impressed with the Ace 250 the more I hunt with it. On Thursday, when I flagged the target area, because of the impossibility of digging the target out with my short 3-in-1 digging knife because of the fire ant den it was in the middle of, he beat me with the Deus when he found a nice 1893 Indian Head cent in the same area.
~Texas Jay

 

[A2coins]

Glad you found her now cherish that beauty

 

[Texas Jay]

Glad you found her now cherish that beauty

Thank you, A2coins. I will cherish it, thanks to another kind member of treasurenet who sent me a nice bezel to put it in so I can wear it on a chain around my neck. I found 2 neck chains in the past few weeks with my detector but both have broken clasps, which is the reason they were lost. One is a thin Italian sterling silver chain and the other is a thicker and sturdier chain, probably stainless steel, so I'm going to have my friend repair both so I can choose which one to hang the half on.
~Texas Jay

 

[Rings&bling]

I am replying to this late, but what was the VDI number on the silver half? Do you remember? I am still learning my Garrett ACE 400, and just now starting to listen fairly well to what it is telling me.

 

[BLK HOLE]

Congrats on the big silver!! Santa came early LOL

 

[Texas Jay]

Thank you, A2coins. I will cherish it, thanks to another kind member of treasurenet who sent me a nice bezel to put it in so I can wear it on a chain around my neck. I found 2 neck chains in the past few weeks with my detector but both have broken clasps, which is the reason they were lost. One is a thin Italian sterling silver chain and the other is a thicker and sturdier chain, probably stainless steel, so I'm going to have my friend repair both so I can choose which one to hang the half on.
~Texas Jay

Early this month, I gave myself a Christmas present. I took my 3 broken neck chains to my friend, who employs a jeweler in his shop, and had him put new clasps on the two that I mentioned above and repair my gold chain that had a broken link. I also had him clean and polish the dark black splotches off of it because I never intend to sell it. He mounted it in the nice silver bezel that a treasure hunter on this site, who I've never met in person, sent to me when he learned of my find several months ago. Now, I'm proudly wearing it around my neck, hanging from the Italian sterling chain that I found beside one of our city park's walking paths. Since I started wearing it, I swear that my luck is getting better than ever!
~Texas Jay

 

[HighPlainsHunter]

How about a picture TJ?

 

[Texas Jay]

How about a picture TJ?

I hope I can post one of the necklace to this thread in a week or two, HPH, but I don't own a cell phone (I hate them) and my old digital camera isn't what it used to be so in order to get a clear photo, after about 10 tries ha, I can only take it outside as the camera doesn't do well indoors. Then, I have to upload it to my laptop before I can post it.
Here's a pic I took of the half, with the old camera, shortly after I found it. I took this indoors as you can tell.
~Texas Jay

 

[Joe-Dirt]

Nothin like a big honkin hunka silvahhhhhhhhhhhhh as we say up in New England

 

[trdking]

Geez, Now what are you going to do? haha Great stuff

 

[Texas Jay]

Geez, Now what are you going to do? haha Great stuff

I'm already diligently seeking my next goal - my first U.S. gold coin. Hopefully, finding it won't take as long as finding this silver half. If it does, I'll still be swinging my detector when I'm 113 years old. ha
~Texas Jay

 

[Jeff Kinzli]

Congrats on a nice find. I remember my first seated half, that was awesome, it was at a demo site in Salinas, CA.

What sort of spot did you find it? Park? School? Open land? Did you do some research to know that was a good spot to go?

 

[Texas Jay]

Congrats on a nice find. I remember my first seated half, that was awesome, it was at a demo site in Salinas, CA.

What sort of spot did you find it? Park? School? Open land? Did you do some research to know that was a good spot to go?

Hi Jeff. Yes, I've been researching my town and county since I was a young man. But in late 2017, I happened upon an old map of our town which showed the area had been a city park in 1930. After some more checking, I found that the field where I later found the half was still owned by the City so my detecting buddy and I were allowed to search it. We detected the area a couple of times before I found it. The time before, he found an 1898? Indian Head cent about ten yards from where I later found the Barber half. His coin was only about 4" deep while mine was about 9". We also found pounds of iron and brass horse tack and other very old unidentified iron objects in the field. We still haven't learned why there was so much of that in the small field. Here's a photo of a small portion of the horse tack etc. that we found there.
~Texas Jay

 

[Texasgirl66]

Fellow Central Texan I need some help and not very computer savvy I have some beautiful rocks that were acquirednear Jarrell Texas one very large weighing prob 30lbs....having trouble uploading pics...cani send to an email anyone please...was told may be petrified palmwood but i dont think so...its fer sureclear and yellow quartz crystal

 

[Hawks88]

That’s an awesome save TJ. Congrats

 

[Texas Jay]

I am replying to this late, but what was the VDI number on the silver half? Do you remember? I am still learning my Garrett ACE 400, and just now starting to listen fairly well to what it is telling me.[/QUO

Hi. The Ace 250, unlike your Ace 400, does not have VDI numbers. It has symbols instead. The Barber half registered fairly solidly on the half dollar symbol but occasionally would flicker to the dime symbol. Since it pretty well locked into the half range, I knew I had to dig it and I'm glad I did.
​~Texas Jay

 

[Texas Jay]

Fellow Central Texan I need some help and not very computer savvy I have some beautiful rocks that were acquirednear Jarrell Texas one very large weighing prob 30lbs....having trouble uploading pics...cani send to an email anyone please...was told may be petrified palmwood but i dont think so...its fer sureclear and yellow quartz crystal View attachment 1721982 View attachment 1721983

I'm sure not an expert on minerals or rocks but I'd suggest contacting the Geology Department at your local college or university. I believe they would be happy to help you. Here's an online guide that I found that may give you some information.
~Texas Jay

https://www.minerals.net/MineralMain.aspx