๐Ÿฅ‡ BANNER This could have been a once in a lifetime hunt!

Jamesbondaka

Sr. Member
Mar 18, 2010
378
303
Portland, Oregon/ I travel
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
1
๐Ÿ† Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
V3i xlt dfx gmt mxt f75 Exp SE ace 150 Umax etrac goldmaster coinmaster Cz-5 Cz-3D Goldengate 3D BH 300 ctx 3030 jeohunter
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
This could have been a once in a lifetime hunt! MORE FOUND

4 Part Story with 4 different hunts with more treasure and pics ......maybe more soon!

A friend of mine said he had a day free so, we set up a hunt. I knew of a very large park yet to be explored by either of us. We hunted for several hours and got about 15 coins or so...it was so clean and not even one pull tab!
We gave up on it and decided to go have lunch. After, my friend Danny said he had a little time but not much as he had a football game to watch. We headed to a new site that Danny got permission to hunt. When we arrived at the home site and were surprised to find a demolished house, everything was gone! Pushed up and the burn piles were still smoldering! Debris strewn all over the lot like a tornado just blew thru. The bulldozer left piles of earth with a mixture of insulation, old wiring, nails, glass and the fall leaves. Everthing had changed! I think most people would have just driven away but since we didn't have much time, we decided to make the best of this "war" zone. I was thinking..."what did Danny bring me to"? We hunted for a short time and Danny found a hot spot for pennies, a lot wheat backs. He invited me to hunt with him but I said, "thats your spot". He insisted and I started digging up a few wheat backs. I was a bit tired at that point so decided to leave him and venture on. I headed to another area about 75 feet away. I got decent tones but all trash mostly. I really expected the detector screen to say, "Enough already"! or "No More"! Tons of iron, pipes, wires and just your run of mill....trash. It was driving me crazy! Several times I was 2 seconds away from going to the semi manicured lawn next to where we were hunting. I kinda had enough. The day was fun but it wasnt very productive. Danny headed my way and he told me he got a bunch of pennies. He asked how I was doing and I said not too good but this signal I just got sounded good. It was dollar range signal! I dug down a few inches and up popped 3 pennies, all together. I said just old pennies. I checked the hole again...I still got the dollar signal. It was a good signal but not too deep and not very strong. Probably some kind of trash. I told Danny, it was a good steady signal....lets hope! Wow, up popped the unmistakable look of a silver dollar! I didnt touch it. I said to my friend....you WONT believe this! YOU WONT BELIEVE THIS! Hes looking at me puzzled and I pointed at the hole.
A nice 1921 morgan silver dollar was peeking at us. The iron & trash etc was trying to null out and confuse the signal.
I didn't know this day would EVER happen. Ive known of people hunting 30 years to only find 1 dollar. Ive been doing this about 3 years. Its my lucky day! Danny gave me the high 5 and took some pics. We started hunting again and Danny and got some more wheat backs. About 5 minutes later, I got another signal. Up pops another! I yelled at Danny, another one!!! Hes saying wow...its your lucky day. It was! Then, Danny got a signal. He probes it and I can see the shine from 10 feet away. He scores a very nice dollar in a plastic pouch. High 5 again and pics. He is beaming and I was happy for him. WE continued to hunt. I'm getting multiple signals all over the place. I'm pulling up wheat pennies as fast as I can unearth them. Lots of them! Then, I get 3 signals all in a 2 foot radius. One silver dollar, then another... then a third! I am exstatic! 20 minutes ago, I'm almost ready to pack it in. Now, I'm plucking 5 silver dollars and lots of wheat backs like a crazy person. Danny gets another dollar, then a Franklin half. There were so many wheats that I would probe the signal with my pinpointer...set it down...and it would beep again. So, I would move it....and it would continue to beep again....Coins everywhere! I continue to pull up 2 more dollars and Danny has several halfs. You have NO idea whats coming...and neither did I. I got a silver tone...moved a small amount of dirt and I instantly new what I had. Now, with 7 silver dollars and hundred or two of wheat pennies, I yelled at Danny again. Can you believe a 10 oz silver bar???....in the wrapper. Danny could not believe it and I was almost speechless. It was now dark and we continue to hunt continuing to pull up mostly wheat backs but a occasional silver. We searched in the dark using mostly just the light from our probes. It was almost a frenzy. All in all, Danny missed his game by about 5 hours. I think he can live with that. I know I can! I walked out with 287 pennies, 1 franklin half, 10 oz bar of pure .999 silver AND 10 Silver dollars. Danny got several dozens wheat backs, 2 Silver dollars, 7 halfs and two nice tokens yet to be identified.
Wow, what a day!!! In general, it was a nice day. No rain, if there was, we wouldn't have hunted. I would not have ever found this stuff if Danny did not take me there. I don't think we would have found all we did if I hadn't decided to keep looking in such a trashy area. So, we would both be nowhere without each others help. Happened on my departed Dads birthday too...Thanks for the inspiration! This might have been once in a lifetime experience and I will never forget it.
I hope WE have some good luck again... as I do everyone, so don't give up and who knows maybe you will have some silver in your future and turn your trash ...into Treasure!
 

Attachments

  • first silver dollar (Large).jpg
    first silver dollar (Large).jpg
    86.5 KB · Views: 2,639
  • silver dollar day 3 find extra (Large).JPG
    silver dollar day 3 find extra (Large).JPG
    108.1 KB · Views: 2,722
  • silver dollar day 10 oz bar (Medium).JPG
    silver dollar day 10 oz bar (Medium).JPG
    56.5 KB · Views: 2,508
  • silver dollar day 10 oz bar close up (Medium).JPG
    silver dollar day 10 oz bar close up (Medium).JPG
    52.3 KB · Views: 3,568
Last edited:
Upvote 67

CRUSADER

Gold Member
May 25, 2007
40,812
45,166
ENGLAND
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
27
๐Ÿ† Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus II v0.6 with 11" Coil
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
seriously Crusader, you are ridiculous

:laughing9: Insults now...

I will live the rest of my live being ridiculous, if I want to stay smiling.:leprechaun-hat:

Funny how some bring up about me being in the UK, which has no bearing on how I act whilst detecting because I would do the same in the US (& many US members on here do as well). Last word on the subject, as I was going to ignore this until the insult.

Congrats to the finders, I just wrongly assumed he might of mentioned such a find, everyone likes to enjoy a good story & great find. No-boby more than the owner of the land.

Although I'm starting to realise its a pointless assumption.???
 

Last edited:

aicrag

Tenderfoot
Nov 2, 2012
8
3
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
hope to find like that..that so nice..happy hunting and soon i will be also..
 

strateloss

Sr. Member
Aug 21, 2012
266
111
NJ
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX3030, E-TRAC, ProFind25, Garrett Pro Pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Excellent hunt!! Well done!! Thanks for sharing the pics and story.
 

Erik in NJ

Silver Member
Oct 4, 2010
4,037
3,043
The Garden State
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE Pro & CTX-3030
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I guess I'm inclined to agree with Crusader on this one. If indeed it was a cache and the property owner or his relatives might have left the cache there at some point (though some of the coins are older--it was not an old cache as there's a Ben Franklin half from the 50's and then you could check the date of the oldest wheat cent) in my opinion the proper thing to do would have been to notify the owner of the find--sort of like finding a nice ring and being able to return it.

Not that I doubt the story at all, but I was interested in why if the silver bar was found in a wrapper, that the bar itself was covered in dirt. Second, one would think that such a wrapper itself would have some value (historical as well) so I'm curious as to why it would have been torn off and discarded. There's also the silver dollar that was found in a plastic bag which in and of itself would have been interesting to see. Was it just a single coin in the plastic bag? Anyway, I'm not doubting the find, just a lot of loose ends that raise questions that's all. Let's see what else lays in waiting at this site... Good luck there guys!

:laughing9: Insults now...

I will live the rest of my live being ridiculous, if I want to stay smiling.:leprechaun-hat:

Funny how some bring up about me being in the UK, which has no bearing on how I act whilst detecting because I would do the same in the US (& many US members on here do as well). Last word on the subject, as I was going to ignore this until the insult.

Congrats to the finders, I just wrongly assumed he might of mentioned such a find, everyone likes to enjoy a good story & great find. No-boby more than the owner of the land.

Although I'm starting to realise its a pointless assumption.???
 

Erik in NJ

Silver Member
Oct 4, 2010
4,037
3,043
The Garden State
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE Pro & CTX-3030
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Looks like the cents were in paper rolls. I'd leave them as they are for visual effect or put them in a tumbler with some fish tank gravel and a bit of water and lemon juice to clean them up. They're not worth much, so my choice would be to leave them as is for display.

Thanks all!

Here is one pic as I continue to go thru the pennies. I know these are wheat back pennies. I hope no key dates, as the condtion is the worst. I know that some are steel pennies. I guess the heat from the fire had to be pretty hot to do this.

Some coins not in this pic are in very decent shape...lets hope some good dates.
 

Gunrunner61

Silver Member
Jan 12, 2011
2,963
457
Dalton,Ga.
Detector(s) used
Whites MXT, E Trac, Garrett Pro Pinpointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Amazing.....the only word to come to mind.................HH
 

OP
OP
Jamesbondaka

Jamesbondaka

Sr. Member
Mar 18, 2010
378
303
Portland, Oregon/ I travel
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
1
๐Ÿ† Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
V3i xlt dfx gmt mxt f75 Exp SE ace 150 Umax etrac goldmaster coinmaster Cz-5 Cz-3D Goldengate 3D BH 300 ctx 3030 jeohunter
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
(quote from Erik In NJ)
I guess I'm inclined to agree with Crusader on this one. If indeed it was a cache and the property owner or his relatives might have left the cache there at some point (though some of the coins are older--it was not an old cache as there's a Ben Franklin half from the 50's and then you could check the date of the oldest wheat cent) in my opinion the proper thing to do would have been to notify the owner of the find--sort of like finding a nice ring and being able to return it.

Not that I doubt the story at all, but I was interested in why if the silver bar was found in a wrapper, that the bar itself was covered in dirt. Second, one would think that such a wrapper itself would have some value (historical as well) so I'm curious as to why it would have been torn off and discarded. There's also the silver dollar that was found in a plastic bag which in and of itself would have been interesting to see. Was it just a single coin in the plastic bag? Anyway, I'm not doubting the find, just a lot of loose ends that raise questions that's all. Let's see what else lays in waiting at this site... Good luck there guys(end quote)


If you look earlier in this post you would read that WE did notify the owner and he said we could have whatever we found and if we wanted to take metal, lumber, pipes etc...it was ok as the land would be developed soon. The silver bar had(has) a generic plastic covering that most bars of that nature come in. It is in one of the pics on the ground, also noted in previous posting. The plastic holder has some tears/cracks in it. If something is in the ground especially for a long period of time...the dirt finds its way into EVERY crack and crevice available. The plastic covering is not worth anything in my opinion. It was not discarded, as you put it. And a single coin in a plastic bag....save it??? I dont see why...its just a plastic bag.

I think your statements are inaccurate and I think you do doubt it otherwise you wouldnt have posted it on here.

Posted are 2 more pics(the plastic on ground) & (plastic close up)for your doubts & "loose ends".
 

Attachments

  • silver dollar day 10 oz bar (Medium).JPG
    silver dollar day 10 oz bar (Medium).JPG
    57.9 KB · Views: 280
  • PB290117 (Medium).JPG
    PB290117 (Medium).JPG
    62.7 KB · Views: 247
Last edited:

Bev

Sr. Member
Mar 2, 2012
299
174
New England
Detector(s) used
Garrett At Pro
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Really nice, imagine how many houses get demolished and incredible things like these are just left behind! I am really happy for you!
 

Silver Searcher

Gold Member
Sep 27, 2006
10,386
2,656
UK
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
:headbang:

1..You were given permission to hunt.
2..You were told you could take and keep what you found.
3..it's got $od all to do with anybody else.
Great finds, I hope you are going back, could be more there.:dontknow:

SS
 

Erik in NJ

Silver Member
Oct 4, 2010
4,037
3,043
The Garden State
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE Pro & CTX-3030
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I don't doubt the authenticity of your finds because the rules state that all finds are assumed to be real, so I'm assuming it is real.

I guess the heat from the fire had to be pretty hot to do this

Thanks for posting the wrapper. Guess I was just curious how the plastic wrappers on the bar and the plastic bag containing the other silver dollar didn't melt since all those cents found in the viscinity appear pretty fried according to your post. Did you guys find any more there today? I know you mentioned you had the lights from your pinpointers to work with so maybe you got all the coins.
 

OP
OP
Jamesbondaka

Jamesbondaka

Sr. Member
Mar 18, 2010
378
303
Portland, Oregon/ I travel
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
1
๐Ÿ† Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
V3i xlt dfx gmt mxt f75 Exp SE ace 150 Umax etrac goldmaster coinmaster Cz-5 Cz-3D Goldengate 3D BH 300 ctx 3030 jeohunter
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I don't doubt the authenticity of your finds because the rules state that all finds are assumed to be real, so I'm assuming it is real.



Thanks for posting the wrapper. Guess I was just curious how the plastic wrappers on the bar and the plastic bag containing the other silver dollar didn't melt since all those cents found in the viscinity appear pretty fried according to your post. Did you guys find any more there today? I know you mentioned you had the lights from your pinpointers to work with so maybe you got all the coins.

Well...I guess if the rules say you have to think that...then I guess its all true. ... As it is!

Now, the condition of the plastic wrapper is in question?:icon_scratch: Who knows how long ago this was? Who knows if the items were placed on one occasion or several? Who knows how close the fire was in relation to all the coins and items? I was not there when the items were placed under the house, lost or otherwise...its all guess work. If you read earlier posts...I noted that there were some burns marks on the half dollars(see pic)and on the bar itself. If you look in the dirty & cleaned up bar pics posted, you will see a burn mark on the upper left hand corner that wasnt able to be cleaned off.

There is no conspiracy here. Your "loose ends" arent welcome. It might be appropiate to know of your facts before you make "statements".


I dont think Elvis is alive either but I did see him one time.
 

Last edited:

got2dig

Bronze Member
Feb 9, 2012
1,180
552
Mid-Tenn
Detector(s) used
XLT
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
I have been told that I would keep all the finds, but I allways stop by the property owners and let them know what a I dig and pass some good stuff to them. that's just the way I'am. And will help me get more spot to hunt. Very nice hunt love the photos. This will be the hunt you base all your hunts on from now on. good luck. HH

Love all that SILVER!
 

OP
OP
Jamesbondaka

Jamesbondaka

Sr. Member
Mar 18, 2010
378
303
Portland, Oregon/ I travel
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
1
๐Ÿ† Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
V3i xlt dfx gmt mxt f75 Exp SE ace 150 Umax etrac goldmaster coinmaster Cz-5 Cz-3D Goldengate 3D BH 300 ctx 3030 jeohunter
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Heres some of the pennies, somewhat "cleaned up". Oldest one so far is 1911.

Thanks for all the positive comments and emails!
 

Attachments

  • PB300120 (Large).JPG
    PB300120 (Large).JPG
    136.6 KB · Views: 219

cntrydncr1

Gold Member
Feb 23, 2007
7,806
777
Bradenton, Fl
๐Ÿ† Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
ACE 250, Minelab Excal II, ETrac, Infiniuim
awesome hunt James!! congrats! I too think this was a cache that got disturbed in the demolition. GET BACK THERE!
 

greydigger

Bronze Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,360
33
Aloha, Orygun
Detector(s) used
wishing stick
Primary Interest:
Other
Did I see that you hunted PDX ?
I live just west of there. Aloha
Great find and story !
Grey
 

thrillathahunt

Silver Member
Jul 24, 2006
4,591
952
TEXAS
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I can't for the life of me understand why this gentleman has to continually defend himself. He had permission to hunt and to keep his finds! End of story.

Jamesbondaka, great finds man. I can relate to your situation there.
 

detectahead

Silver Member
Dec 1, 2007
2,563
872
Western, N.C.
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Equinox 600, Bandido UMax II, Fisher F5, Tiger Shark, Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
All I can say is, totally freaking awesome!!!!!! If u want to give the owner a momento of YOUR finds, great, I do the same with owners myself. The word "finds" includes many things not just coins.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top