KirkS
Sr. Member
- Jan 10, 2017
- 282
- 375
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Explorer SE, Tesoro Sand Shark, White's TreasurePro, Tesoro Compadre, Fisher F2 + TRX
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
I was given the go ahead to hunt a house that was built in 1927. The area I live in (St Petersburg, FL) isn't really a very old city, like much of Florida (exception being St Augustine). But I was excited, as this was my first permission, and the house sits on a double corner lot in an old area of town. Lady mentioned her mother lost a small silver ring a few months ago, and asked to keep my eyes open. In some aspects, I was intimidated by this; what if I don't find the ring? But at the same time it motivated me to find the ring.
Anyway, I started out by the kid's playhouse (also quite old, but build date unknown), as I figured grandma lost it while playing with the kids. Started with my Compadre, and I pulled about 30 nails from the playhouse area. I figured it would make it a safer environment for the kids, and the mom was very appreciative of this. I then switched over to my Explorer SE, and started on the south side of the yard, along the neighbor's property line towards the curb, and then went up and down parallel to the curb covering about 1/3 of the yard in the 3 hours I was there.
Not far from the playhouse, near the property line, I pulled my first legitimate wheatie! I had found one other at a local volleyball court in about 1 inch of sand, which I figured was a recent drop. But this wheatie was 4-5" down, and what I call a period drop. Date is 1944. I'm stoked now!
Along the curb there was plenty of trash, which I expected, and I pulled 3 more pennies (1961D, 1964D, 1980). Then I got another coin signal. I didn't pay attention to the numbers, or too close attention to where it fell on the Smartfind Screen, but I dug. And at about 6", I got my first Indian Head Penny! It's an 1896, and in pretty good shape, too! I really couldn't believe it. This area has flooded a couple of times over the past 100 years, and I just wasn't expecting to find much in the way of old coins in the area.
Now about my theory that was killed.
At the time that this house was built, there were about 16,000 people living in the entire St Petersburg Metro area, including Gulfport, FL, which was originally planned to be the city that St Pete was to become. In 1896, St Pete was less then 10 years old (founded 1888), and Gulfport was only 12 years old (1884). With so few people in the area during that time, I really figured finding a coin of that age would be a needle in a haystack. I had somewhat resigned myself to expectations of clad and the occasional silver coin.
I highly doubt I'll ever find colonial stuff down here like you guys in New England, or CW stuff like the Mid Atlantic states, but now I have some glimmer of hope for some decent older stuff!
If you haven't figured it out by now, I can't make a long story short.....
HH!
Anyway, I started out by the kid's playhouse (also quite old, but build date unknown), as I figured grandma lost it while playing with the kids. Started with my Compadre, and I pulled about 30 nails from the playhouse area. I figured it would make it a safer environment for the kids, and the mom was very appreciative of this. I then switched over to my Explorer SE, and started on the south side of the yard, along the neighbor's property line towards the curb, and then went up and down parallel to the curb covering about 1/3 of the yard in the 3 hours I was there.
Not far from the playhouse, near the property line, I pulled my first legitimate wheatie! I had found one other at a local volleyball court in about 1 inch of sand, which I figured was a recent drop. But this wheatie was 4-5" down, and what I call a period drop. Date is 1944. I'm stoked now!
Along the curb there was plenty of trash, which I expected, and I pulled 3 more pennies (1961D, 1964D, 1980). Then I got another coin signal. I didn't pay attention to the numbers, or too close attention to where it fell on the Smartfind Screen, but I dug. And at about 6", I got my first Indian Head Penny! It's an 1896, and in pretty good shape, too! I really couldn't believe it. This area has flooded a couple of times over the past 100 years, and I just wasn't expecting to find much in the way of old coins in the area.
Now about my theory that was killed.
At the time that this house was built, there were about 16,000 people living in the entire St Petersburg Metro area, including Gulfport, FL, which was originally planned to be the city that St Pete was to become. In 1896, St Pete was less then 10 years old (founded 1888), and Gulfport was only 12 years old (1884). With so few people in the area during that time, I really figured finding a coin of that age would be a needle in a haystack. I had somewhat resigned myself to expectations of clad and the occasional silver coin.
I highly doubt I'll ever find colonial stuff down here like you guys in New England, or CW stuff like the Mid Atlantic states, but now I have some glimmer of hope for some decent older stuff!
If you haven't figured it out by now, I can't make a long story short.....
HH!
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