Mayo South Elgin
Sr. Member
Side walkin and Park Pilferin'
When Lowbatts notified me that more sidewalk work was being done locally, I thought it might be a good place to go diggin for the oldies. The first area I tried didn't yield much other than strange bits of old metal, a couple mem cents, and that very ornate piece pictured below. When I found it, it was bent almost in half and the back side had a rod brazed or soldered on which may have allowed a ribbon or belt to pass through. It looked like there was another two attachment points for something else that was missing. I succeeded in flattening it but broke off the rod while trying to straighten it as well.
The second session of sidewalk coil swingin started out amazing. I had gone about 15 feet when I noticed what looked like a pulltab laying on the surface dirt but near the grass and chain link fence of a front yard. I kicked it away from the fence to pick it up and it was then that I realized it was a ring with a really nice looking heart shape stone in the center, flanked by two rectangular stones at each side. It quickly went into my pocket. Later examination revealed the band was stamped .925.
Most of the rest of the sidewalk was an assortment of weird signals including rapid machine gun like interference which I think emanated from the 3 semi trailer rigs parked along the way. Possibly their gps or other tracking devices caused electrical disturbance.
On to the park digs.
The dirt in this park has a mix of nice black dirt in some areas, in other areas it's only 2 inches of grass before you hit gravel from an old parking lot or driveway. We were finding deep mems and other clad coins and then I got two goodies (2 different days) - one at 2 inches, the other at 3 inches. Also got 1930D and 1916D wheat pennies.
Unfortunately I didn't have the video camera with me for my first ever half dollar find - a nice 1943 Standing Liberty (at 3 inches!) We had just been talking about Neil's half dollar find and I mentioned that was on my list since I had never found one yet!
I called Tim over as a witness before I removed it from the hole. When I yelled over to him and shouted "Today's the day" he was in the middle of digging a hole also. It turned out we were both digging our oldest coins of that day at the same time. Tim's was the Indian Head penny.
On the photo of the back of the half I put a pointing hand at a line which I wasn't sure if it should be there or not. Should the eagle's wing have that extra line?
The second day at the same park I hit the motherlode. Of glue tubes. Back in the day it was a cheap high and I guess this park was the place to be when destroying brain cells with toluene based model glue. Found the shell of half of a toy gun. The 1943 Quarter was under a thin patch of grass, in the gravel at 2 inches! I did get video of finding the quarter - that will be posted soon.
It was fun to get out after all that rain we had but it also woke up some mosquitoes.
Oh - and I found Satan's left horn.
When Lowbatts notified me that more sidewalk work was being done locally, I thought it might be a good place to go diggin for the oldies. The first area I tried didn't yield much other than strange bits of old metal, a couple mem cents, and that very ornate piece pictured below. When I found it, it was bent almost in half and the back side had a rod brazed or soldered on which may have allowed a ribbon or belt to pass through. It looked like there was another two attachment points for something else that was missing. I succeeded in flattening it but broke off the rod while trying to straighten it as well.
The second session of sidewalk coil swingin started out amazing. I had gone about 15 feet when I noticed what looked like a pulltab laying on the surface dirt but near the grass and chain link fence of a front yard. I kicked it away from the fence to pick it up and it was then that I realized it was a ring with a really nice looking heart shape stone in the center, flanked by two rectangular stones at each side. It quickly went into my pocket. Later examination revealed the band was stamped .925.
Most of the rest of the sidewalk was an assortment of weird signals including rapid machine gun like interference which I think emanated from the 3 semi trailer rigs parked along the way. Possibly their gps or other tracking devices caused electrical disturbance.
On to the park digs.
The dirt in this park has a mix of nice black dirt in some areas, in other areas it's only 2 inches of grass before you hit gravel from an old parking lot or driveway. We were finding deep mems and other clad coins and then I got two goodies (2 different days) - one at 2 inches, the other at 3 inches. Also got 1930D and 1916D wheat pennies.
Unfortunately I didn't have the video camera with me for my first ever half dollar find - a nice 1943 Standing Liberty (at 3 inches!) We had just been talking about Neil's half dollar find and I mentioned that was on my list since I had never found one yet!
I called Tim over as a witness before I removed it from the hole. When I yelled over to him and shouted "Today's the day" he was in the middle of digging a hole also. It turned out we were both digging our oldest coins of that day at the same time. Tim's was the Indian Head penny.
On the photo of the back of the half I put a pointing hand at a line which I wasn't sure if it should be there or not. Should the eagle's wing have that extra line?
The second day at the same park I hit the motherlode. Of glue tubes. Back in the day it was a cheap high and I guess this park was the place to be when destroying brain cells with toluene based model glue. Found the shell of half of a toy gun. The 1943 Quarter was under a thin patch of grass, in the gravel at 2 inches! I did get video of finding the quarter - that will be posted soon.
It was fun to get out after all that rain we had but it also woke up some mosquitoes.
Oh - and I found Satan's left horn.
