Age, depth, and environment

[Skrimpy]

I got a puzzler here. My grandfather used to take me detecting when I was a boy and never really got into it until recently. I started going detecting with a buddy and started learning how to use the XLT. I had my first good find the other day and was very excited. It was an 1865 two cent piece in really good condition. The funny part is that it was right on top of the ground! It was in a grove of pine trees that had to be about 75 to 100 to years old, which made me wonder why it wasn't below the roots. It was giving a funny signal but the detecter was reading 0" so I kicked the pine needles a little and there it was. I would think if there was something laying there it would either be under the roots or about 6-10 inches below the pine needle compost. Go figure.

[stud564]

Welcome to the forum! Did you have allot of finds there. If not it is possible that someone else hunted it and droped it. Thats all i can think of.

[Skrimpy]

Not too many there but...there should be. It may have been hunted in the past but I couldn't see that coin not having been found anywhere but there...especially if it was dropped by another hunter.

[stud564]

you said it was under some pines. Which means it was under a pine tree. In northern Iowa the trees saag down and block rain snow hail. it is possible that this protected it from the elements.

[Born2Dtect]

Unless the dirt was disturbed, by digging or farming, I would say that it was a recent drop. (less than 3 to 5 years ?).

Ed Donovan

[Skrimpy]

It's in fantastic condition but it was pretty caked with dirt. Took about two weeks of soaking in O.O. to get most of the dirt off. It was on a hiking trail (in use as such since the late 1700s) and there several very old trees recently fallen over. My thinking is that when they uprooted themselves this thing may have been tossed a few feet to where I found it.

[Davisdog]

Though I am still kinda new at detecting, I'll share my experiences with you. I like to hunt in thick, overgrown picnic grounds and old homesites in the woods. I've found several coins in similar circumstances to what you described.

Pine trees have a lot of roots near the surface. This can keep coins from sinking down. In addition, the soil under pines is usually very soft and easily disturbed. Your coin could have been brought to the surface by a digging animal in the recent past, but I would tend to believe that it either never sank, or did sink, then the growing roots pushed it to the surface.

I can't imagine an 1865 coin being a recent drop. Seriously, if you found one, then dropped it on your way out of the woods, would you really go home without finding it again? I wouldn't.