Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice - UPDATE!!

Narthoniel

Bronze Member
Jul 1, 2008
1,755
6
Virginia Beach
Detector(s) used
Excal 2 and E Trac
Hello,

This morning I told my wife I did not want to hunt the woods that I planned to go to. I have tried all week to find a different site to spend this weekend's hunt. My weekend was cut short by an unusual day of work on Saturday, so I was NOT staying in today. A hunt with no loot is better than no hunt at all.

The predicted rain missed us and instead we had a beautiful day in the 80s. Upon my arrival, I noticed the woods were very saturated from all the recent rain and a lot of standing water was present. I figured I would stick to the high ground and hope for the best. Two weeks ago I spent a couple hours here and found nada. Lots of trash for sure, but nothing old.

About an hour or so into today's hunt I stumbled onto some bricks while digging a target. Nearby I found old glass bottles on the surface. I began to wonder what was there once, if anything. I worked the area well but no dice, nothing worth mentioning. As I began to work my way deeper into the woods and I finally found a good signal that was not an ancient soda can. After battling with 2 roots a big flat button popped out and I let out a yell. This baby is bigger than a quarter, by far my biggest button. As of yet, no detail is visible, but I still have some dirt to clean off.

About a half hour later my second button of the day showed itself. This is smaller, close to a nickle size in diameter. The backmark says "PLATED" and there are a few stars. I am not done cleaning this one, it looks like it may come out nice once finished. I need to head back to that area as I did not cover it well at all(these woods are huge!). About an hour later, I heard a chirp, but kept walking. I glanced at the screen, and saw one of those readings that makes your heart flutter and jumped backwards. It turns out I had just barely brushed over a target with the edge of a swing. A few short seconds after finding it again a big ol' copper disc popped out! My fifth large cent of the year! I had hoped to get a date, but there is severe damage, and I don't think I will be able to get it to reveal it's age. I suppose it really is not nice to ask a Lady how old she is, but I really want to know! I have only been able to date 2 of my coppers so far this year.

Soon after the LC joined the party, I stumbled onto a huge bottle dump! I called my wife and sent a friend an email via her to see if he could come help me date it. I have never done bottles, and he has a good deal of experience with them. After that, I started to head back to the truck - now half a mile behind me - carrying a couple neat bottles. I was planning to head home when Josh called me. I explained what I had found, and he headed straight over. An hour later he arrived, and man did he do a job on that site! We found 2 pieces of intact china(a plate and a saucer) with Navy emblems on them. He said the bottles all seemed to date to the 1920s-1940s. I brought a ton home, and the wife cleaned a few, most are still filthy. There are still hundreds of bottles all over the place there, and about 80-90% are intact. Here are some photos of the ones I brought home. My wife cleaned a few, but most are still filthy. The milk bottle on the front is very nice, it has a phone number on it for the dairy. It has 5 didgits in the number!

bottles1.JPG
bottles2.JPG
navy plate.JPG

It was difficult, but I managed to pry him away to do some more detecting. We had about 90 minutes of daylight left, and what a great time it proved to be. Not 15 minutes in I hit an iffy signal that rang up as a zinc penny about 10 feet from where I found the LC. 4 minutes of digging later, I realized I missed, and the target was on the side of the hole. When I finally found it, I stared in amazement at what I held - a tiny tiny little coin! I walked over and showed him the dirty little thing, and when i handed it to him, he takes his dirty gloved hand and wipes the face hard two times and says, "Yep, she's sittin!" before I could scream. Thankfully there don't appear to be any scratches evident from it. I am glad I was able to teach him how to handle silver coins in the field. After some coaxing, this coin did reveal it's age - 1844!! My second half dime in as many months. This was my oldest silver coin ever, beating out last month's 1857 half dime. This year is off to a great start!

Soon after my excitement lessened, I was back at it when he called me over. He had just dug a ring! It is brass, has a nice design on it, and appears to be very very old. Around that time he noticed a hole, and said, "Man! That looks like a cellar hole! Have you hunted around it yet?" I had not. We stuck near it for the next hour.

10-20 minutes after his ring find, I hit a nice signal in the button range. A few numbers below zinc penny. I told him, "Sweet, another nice signal!" And started to dig. I was hoping for another nice flat button, but what rolled out was ANOTHER tiny silver coin! I spent about 3 minutes gently dabbing the dirt with saliva to try and coax some detail out of it. I was praying for a bust half dime. But that find waits for another day. After a few miniutes I showed him the coin again, slightly cleaner, and he almost fell over. "Dude...I see a shield..." I screamed, felt very dizzy and lightheaded. The coin went right into a very safe place, and only when I got home and cleaned it up did it tell it's story. This little beauty is a 1802 Half Reale!!! Only a short time after setting a new silver record, I had beaten it again!

I began to feel bad for gettin all the goodies, so my next good target I gave to him. It was a very nice looking flat button about the size of a nickle. I have not heard any details about it yet. Soon after this was found, he called me over again, saying, "You will never guess what I just found!" He was right. He had just dug up his SECOND brass ring!! Lucky dog! Both appear to be along the same time period as the coins we found.

Soon after that, the sun started going down, so we grudgingly turned torward the truck. Soon after turning, he walked a few feet in front of me and passed me to the left. After he passed me, I walked right across the path he had just walked, and picked up a chirp in a patch of iron. I said, "Man, you just walked over a good one!" I scanned it from several directions, and almost walked past it too. Sounded like iron pretending to be not iron so I would relieve it from its gloomy resting place. But every other swing that nice chirp sounded through, so I turned on iron mask and dug. When a small silver coin rolled out, I almost fell over, and so did he. This one was clearly visible as soon as it rolled out. SPANISH SILVER!!! And yet again, for the third time today, I broke the record. My oldest silver coin to date, which I don't think will ever be broken, is now a beautiful half reale that is 228 years old. 1781!!!(edited the date - thanks Buckleboy)

As I was revelling in my newfound coin(by sitting down due to feeling lightheaded), he picked up a NICE signal 5 feet from my reale. Out popped a BEAUTIFUL copper coin, and we never saw the detail! All we know is that it is smaller than a LC, and very close to a quarter in size. I cannot wait to hear what he dug, as I suspect it to be a half cent or perhaps colonial. Only time, and peroxide, can tell. A few minutes later I picked up my fourth button for the day - a nice little cuff button. By this time it was almost dark, and we had to call it quits if we wanted to find our way back to my truck.

I do not think I will ever be able to top this hunt. 1 old silver is enough to make me ecstatic - 3 of them is beyond insane. I think I will be spending a lot of quality time in these woods. It appears that there was a fire here at some point - All 4 coins that I found show evidence of being cooked. I also found 3 ticks on me when I got home. And they were not in appropriate places either! How they got down my pants I do not know, but I will be a walking can of DEET next time!

I hope you enjoyed my long winded story. If I bored you, I am very sorry. Either way, I hope there are dozens of colonial silver coins out there for each and every one of us!

Thank you for reading and Happy Hunting!
Anthony
 

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Upvote 0

John987

Hero Member
Jan 13, 2009
626
6
Upstate New York
Detector(s) used
Compass X-80 Challenger, Yukon 77B Professional
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

WOW!! Extraordinary finds!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!
HAPPY HUNTING!

John
 

treasurefiend

Gold Member
Mar 17, 2008
7,445
93
Chicago IL
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Excal_II Minelab_Explorer_SE_Pro w/ SunRay pinpointer & Garrett_Ace250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

Holy cow!!!!! Awesome!!!!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 

hogge

Silver Member
Mar 13, 2008
3,814
1,503
Pittsfield Ma.
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Teknetics T-2SE--Whites Prism IV
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

Nice spanish silver and 1/2 dime. I love the seated coins! Congrats Hogge :thumbsup:
 

gibsondan

Full Member
Nov 15, 2008
178
1
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

This has been, without a doubt, the most enjoyable post I've ever read on this forum. You have a talent for writing. I felt like I was there with you guys and felt the excitement. You'll be telling this story for the rest of your life. It's a great one!
 

mistergee

Silver Member
Jan 8, 2008
3,370
39
Pennsylvania
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

WOW....nice going Anthony....when i found CRH i forgot all about wanting to get a MD.....now i want one again.....WTG on the Spanish silver :thumbsup:
 

bula

Hero Member
Mar 13, 2008
606
3
southern utah
Detector(s) used
White MXT
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

Wow, what a spot, you did call in sick today right. It sounds like you could spend another two or three days there. Those are some awesome finds.
 

hikeinmts

Bronze Member
Dec 13, 2008
1,268
30
South Korea
Detector(s) used
Cobra II/Minelab Sovereign
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

NOT BORING!!!! NOT BORING!!!! Tell us another story, about your next time. Wow!!! After you hunt an area, then take some shovels and try to rake off about 1 foot of leaves and topsoil. Then hunt again. No telling what youall are going to find. This could be the only woods you hunt the rest of your life.
GREAT HUNT!!! GREAT POST!!!
 

Harry_Morant

Bronze Member
Jan 11, 2006
1,001
42
Canberra
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

What a fantatic collection of items - well done!
 

Marchas45

Bronze Member
Mar 22, 2009
2,046
381
A Place In Heaven
Detector(s) used
Excalibur 1000, Garrett Scorpion.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

Man o Man! great find should keep you going for a while, Great finds, hope you find lots more. I can feel your excitement. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 

Wallhangers

Hero Member
Jul 28, 2008
897
59
SW Michigan
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Minelab Explorer SE Pro, T2 SE
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

Great hunt, great story. Congratulations on the milestones you hit and thanks for sharing with everyone. I would love to hit a site like that someday. Can't wait to hear a follow-up. That would be a site that I would hunt all day and grid it effectively. Good luck!
 

OP
OP
Narthoniel

Narthoniel

Bronze Member
Jul 1, 2008
1,755
6
Virginia Beach
Detector(s) used
Excal 2 and E Trac
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

Thank you all for the kind words. I am about to go do a short hunt before I have to work today. May not get back again til the weekend.

I appreciate knowing I did not bore you with my drawn out account of the day. I don't know that I could ever have another day like this one. I think a brush trimmer and a rake will be MD tools of choice once I comb the areathuroughly(in many many months!)

Anthony
 

River Rat

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jan 6, 2006
20,846
2,531
SE Louisiana
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Ace 250 & Ace 400
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

Most excellent finds, Anthony :thumbsup: No boring story...loved it! That site seems potential for some more excellent finds. I would be hunting there for a long time.

:wink: RR
 

Captn SE

Silver Member
Apr 1, 2007
2,774
13
Southern CA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE; X-1 Target Probe; Pro Coil, 6x8 SEF, Coiltek Platypus Elliptical, Sunray X8, Expl. 1050 coils
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

:notworthy: :notworthy:

That is fantastic, Anthony!! :thumbsup:

That's a day you will never forget. You've come a long way from the beach hunter you started out as when you first PM'ed me last year!

Congrats on some very special finds!

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan
 

OP
OP
Narthoniel

Narthoniel

Bronze Member
Jul 1, 2008
1,755
6
Virginia Beach
Detector(s) used
Excal 2 and E Trac
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

Captn_SE said:
:notworthy: :notworthy:

That is fantastic, Anthony!! :thumbsup:

That's a day you will never forget. You've come a long way from the beach hunter you started out as when you first PM'ed me last year!

Congrats on some very special finds!

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

Heh, you make a good point. About 6 months ago I was bugging the hell out of you about machines for the turf. At that time, I had never touched the dirt, and seeing what I have been able to find as a novice takes me back a bit. I still have yet to master this machine, but I am getting better. The 1761 nearly eluded me, since it was nestled into iron, but I managed to pull it out anyway. I still appreciate all your guru advice back then. You are one of the primary people who helped me get into the turf. Thank you much for all you did then!!
Anthony
 

jimbob450

Hero Member
Feb 26, 2008
620
11
spokane,wa.
Detector(s) used
Whites Classic I.D.
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

That was an excellent post and a very good hunt. May the
old coin gods keep shining on you. Jimbob
 

cntrydncr1

Gold Member
Feb 23, 2007
7,806
777
Bradenton, Fl
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
ACE 250, Minelab Excal II, ETrac, Infiniuim
Re: Lightning has struck not once - not twice - but thrice

Awesome hunt Anthony!!! You must be ecstatic!
 

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