What was your very first silver coin dug?

Cool Hand Fluke

Bronze Member
Nov 28, 2006
1,730
5,614
In the Heart of Wine Country in Northern Californi
🥇 Banner finds
2
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Fisher CZ6, CZ5, Coinstrike, Fisher CZ20, Fisher 1235X, Tesoro Conquistador, Whites Surfmaster P.I. ,
, Garrett Pro Pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I've told this story before on T-Net.

Back in the summer of 1985 I rented an old Whites Coinmaster metal detector. My wife and myself took the machine out to a elementary school soccer field and tried it. While my wife was swinging this contraption she received a beep. I dug it up for her. At about 3 or 4 inches in depth was a 1889-S Morgan Silver Dollar! I have been hooked ever since!
 

TerryC

Gold Member
Jun 26, 2008
7,735
10,996
Yarnell, AZ
Detector(s) used
Ace 250 (2), Ace 300, Gold Bug 2, Tesoro Cortes, Garrett Sea Hunter, Whites TDI SL SE, Fisher Impulse 8, Minelab Monster 1000, Minelab CTX3030, Falcon MD20, Garrett Pro-pointer, Calvin Bunker digger.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Cool Hand Fluke said:
I've told this story before on T-Net.

Back in the summer of 1985 I rented an old Whites Coinmaster metal detector. My wife and myself took the machine out to a elementary school soccer field and tried it. While my wife was swinging this contraption she received a beep. I dug it up for her. At about 3 or 4 inches in depth was a 1889-S Morgan Silver Dollar! I have been hooked ever since!
Great story, Fluke. To answer the post question, I truly cannot remember my first silver find but I do remember my first silver dollar. It was at an old train station... LOTS of junk. The dollar (1882) had a really dark patina except for the very bright and shiny GOUGE my digger put across the obverse. Ouch! Still a nice find, though. TTC
 

Slingshot

Bronze Member
Apr 3, 2004
1,074
1,204
Southern Appalachia
Detector(s) used
Whites CM2 BFO, Harbor Freight 9 function, BH Pioneer 202, Fisher F22
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Around 1982 with a Compass Judge II TR detector in the village of Stone Mountain, GA. I dug my first silver coin, a well worn Barber dime, I think it was a 1903. That really hyped me up that day! hahaha ;D
 

Cool Hand Fluke

Bronze Member
Nov 28, 2006
1,730
5,614
In the Heart of Wine Country in Northern Californi
🥇 Banner finds
2
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Fisher CZ6, CZ5, Coinstrike, Fisher CZ20, Fisher 1235X, Tesoro Conquistador, Whites Surfmaster P.I. ,
, Garrett Pro Pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
TerryC said:
Cool Hand Fluke said:
Great story, Fluke. To answer the post question, I truly cannot remember my first silver find but I do remember my first silver dollar. It was at an old train station... LOTS of junk. The dollar (1882) had a really dark patina except for the very bright and shiny GOUGE my digger put across the obverse. Ouch! Still a nice find, though. TTC

Silver dollars are one of those amazing finds that just really make your day. Since that summer day in 1985 I have dug up 4 more silver dollars, 3 Morgan and 1 Peace. I seem to average about one every 6 years or so. Super difficult coin to find. Doing a little math I figured that you have to dig about 30,000 coins to find one silver dollar!
 

mlayers

Gold Member
Oct 29, 2007
5,576
429
Northern, OH
Detector(s) used
DFX, White PI, Bounty Hunter, Whites Surfmaster II and Excalibur II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I remember back when I got my first detector back in 1978. I got my first Bounty Hunter 840. I went to the local court yard and man did I find some coins. I found 21 silver dimes that day and 4 silver quarters and 1 silver walker. I been hooked ever since.......Matt
 

birdman

Gold Member
Jan 28, 2005
7,458
2,393
Choctaw Beach Florida
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800 and ORX, tesoro Cibola with garret,whites and minelab pinpointers
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My first was an 1853 3 krulzer dug in Germany about 6 years ago.. It was in nice shape and the size of a dime. I felt like I had just dug a chest of gold coins.
 

tmanfromtexas

Hero Member
Mar 12, 2006
755
25
Deep East Texas near Toledo Bend
Detector(s) used
ETRAC BABY
I had been hunting for about 3 years with my Ace 250. I had found enough clad to pay for it including a clad quarter cache of $40.00. I had went to work in NW Indiana and was hunting an old ball park when I got a deep coin signal. I dug down and out popped a 1952 Washington quarter. After that I started to look to upgrade. I went to a Tesoro Cortez, then an F75, then to the mighty etrac. I found my first rosie and merc at a park in Gary Indiana if I remember right. My first barber dime at Washington park in Chicago, my first and only seated at Jackson Park in Chicago, my first walking liberty half in a park in Chicago, my first Barber quarter was at a school in Lowell IN. It was a 1901 (no S :-[) in beautiful shape. BUT the one I remember the most was the first standing liberty quarter. I had borrowed the etrac from my hunting buddy GOIO while my F75 was in the shop. We were hunting a park in Hammond In. My first good signal was a deep quarter signal next to a tree. I dug down and found a beautiful 1924D SLQ in wonderful condition. It was my first silver ever found with the etrac and it was a beaut. I borrowed that machine for 2 weeks while my F75 was in the shop. I found more silver in that 2 weeks than I had the whole year. I went and bought the Etrac the day my F75 returned from the shop and havent looked back. TMAN...
 

jeepcj5

Jr. Member
Jan 12, 2011
58
1
Nampa Idaho
Detector(s) used
Etrac, xterra 505
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
semi key date Merc, first hunt with my etrac, this past March!!!
 

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Frankn

Gold Member
Mar 21, 2010
8,711
2,989
Maryland
Detector(s) used
XLT , surfmaster PI , HAYS 2Box , VIBRA-TECTOR
I have been hunting since '74 and can't really remember my first silver coin but my first silver dollar was found in a post hole bank with 12 others. I still have them. Let me see:1923,1923,1923,1923,1921,1901,1889,1899,1888,1921,1921,1921,1922.
Wonder what they are worth today along the way I also picked up an1884&85 dollars. The oddball of my collection was found out west, a 1948 Mexican coin marked cinco pesos 30 gramos.ley 0.900 I think it it is a 5 pesos coin.
I am not much of a coin collector. Frank
 

TerryC

Gold Member
Jun 26, 2008
7,735
10,996
Yarnell, AZ
Detector(s) used
Ace 250 (2), Ace 300, Gold Bug 2, Tesoro Cortes, Garrett Sea Hunter, Whites TDI SL SE, Fisher Impulse 8, Minelab Monster 1000, Minelab CTX3030, Falcon MD20, Garrett Pro-pointer, Calvin Bunker digger.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Frankn said:
I have been hunting since '74 and can't really remember my first silver coin but my first silver dollar was found in a post hole bank with 12 others. I still have them. Let me see:1923,1923,1923,1923,1921,1901,1889,1899,1888,1921,1921,1921,1922.
Wonder what they are worth today along the way I also picked up an1884&85 dollars. The oddball of my collection was found out west, a 1948 Mexican coin marked cinco pesos 30 gramos.ley 0.900 I think it it is a 5 pesos coin.
I am not much of a coin collector. Frank
The silver dollars, at an ounce apiece, are probably worth about $40 spot. Great find! TTC
 

RandyNorthridgeCa

Full Member
Mar 27, 2005
174
4
Northridge, Calif.
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, F-75, SE, explorer 2 on beaches), CZ-3D
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
In 1999 I had my detector for about three weeks. Came across a lot in Eagle Rock, Ca. where an old house had burned down. There were some huge palm trees in the front yard. They had scraped the yard of all the bunt down material and junk. All that was left was an old stone porch. They scraped so much dirt off the lot that some of the roots of the palm trees were exposed above the ground. I got a dime hit in the roots. The soil between the roots were dry and loose. When I stuck my probe into the roots the soil kind of poured out of the spot I was probing. Kept poking my probe into the roots and a silver dime slid right out and landed on the ground in front me. Kind of reminded me of the slots machines in Vegas when you use to have the coins pour out when you won. It was a 1905 barber dime. I was hooked to the bone! That empty lot is ( think it's on ave 64 or 66) is still there but it's fenced off now. I still pass by it every now and then hoping to get back in. ;D
 

Metal Illness

Hero Member
Jul 1, 2011
610
722
Englewood, Ohio
Detector(s) used
Minelab E-Trac
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My first silver coin was a 1912s barber dime. I hunted a park earlier in the day and found a small GOLD wedding band along with junk and some clad. I moved on to an older park in my old home town and found the Barber. Within my first two weeks of hunting I had found a 1895 Indian head penny, and on the SAME DAY my very first GOLD and SILVER. I've been HOOKED every since. I find myself swinging my coil every free minute I have, while the Harley sets in the garage!!!!
 

suprdave

Sr. Member
Aug 3, 2010
342
25
LeFlore County Oklahoma
Detector(s) used
Whites XLT
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
i was hunting a school yard in oklahoma and pulled up my first silver coin, a 1917 merc in very good shape . no one was there to see how excited i was, o well, ive found several since then but the merc is the most special and its priceless to me. im sure everyone else feels the same. mding is a very special hobby and very habit forming. suprdave ps now im looking for that gold coin
 

njnydigger

Hero Member
Jun 4, 2009
829
29
Detector(s) used
I've swung White's (MXT), Minelab (Safari) & currently run with an Omega 8000 by Teknetics & Fisher CZ-3D (1021 Model)
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My first silver was a merc dime :headbang: I had been detecting for quite a while - maybe 8 months or so - and hadn't found ANYTHING old...much less the silver I was so badly craving. I thought I was a pro detectorist at that point :laughing9: :laughing7: but in relaity I knew next to nothing. However...

I WAS smart enough to figure out that if I wanted to find old coins, I had to go to old places...instead of the newer parks & tot lots I was hunting. Well...

I was scouring the internet & came across some promising sites. I hit one of them & turned out that the site had all types of museums on the premises...meaning, it was OFF LIMITS TO HUNT :BangHead: BUT, there was a big mountain nearby.. So, I figured there must of been at least SOME activity on the mountain due to the close proximity to the main site. Well...

That idea turned out to be a winner :thumbsup: I found my first merc dime there as well as a crotal bell, my only 1800's suspender clip with the wearer's last name, a cool old lock & one of my nicest bottles. Sooooooooo...

You just never know. ALWAYS go with your gut! And never give up!! :headbang:
 

njnydigger

Hero Member
Jun 4, 2009
829
29
Detector(s) used
I've swung White's (MXT), Minelab (Safari) & currently run with an Omega 8000 by Teknetics & Fisher CZ-3D (1021 Model)
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My first silver was a merc dime :headbang: I had been detecting for quite a while - maybe 8 months or so - and hadn't found ANYTHING old...much less the silver I was so badly craving. I thought I was a pro detectorist at that point :laughing9: :laughing7: but in reality I knew next to nothing. However...

I WAS smart enough to figure out that if I wanted to find old coins, I had to go to old places...instead of the newer parks & tot lots I was hunting. Well...

I was scouring the internet & came across some promising sites. I hit one of them & turned out that the site had all types of museums on the premises...meaning, it was OFF LIMITS TO HUNT :BangHead: BUT, there was a big mountain nearby.. So, I figured there must of been at least SOME activity on the mountain due to the close proximity to the main site. Well...

That idea turned out to be a winner :thumbsup: I found my first merc dime there as well as a crotal bell, my only 1800's suspender clip with the wearer's last name, a cool old lock & one of my nicest bottles. Sooooooooo...

You just never know. ALWAYS go with your gut! And never give up!! :headbang:
 

RandyNorthridgeCa

Full Member
Mar 27, 2005
174
4
Northridge, Calif.
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, F-75, SE, explorer 2 on beaches), CZ-3D
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Nice story :icon_thumright: It's a very additing hobby. Know what you mean when you say every free minute. Everytime I pass a demo, old house remodel, or a pile of dirt somewhere I'm always thinking "wonder what I can find there". My wife thinks I'm nuts. ;D

Metal Illness said:
My first silver coin was a 1912s barber dime. I hunted a park earlier in the day and found a small GOLD wedding band along with junk and some clad. I moved on to an older park in my old home town and found the Barber. Within my first two weeks of hunting I had found a 1895 Indian head penny, and on the SAME DAY my very first GOLD and SILVER. I've been HOOKED every since. I find myself swinging my coil every free minute I have, while the Harley sets in the garage!!!!
 

Lost2Much

Jr. Member
Apr 29, 2011
46
8
South Pa.
Detector(s) used
MXT XP DEUS
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
After finding a bunch of LC's, IH's, and W's, I went across the road to my neighbor's yard, found a '57 Washington. 40 feet away, found a '97 Barber.
 

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