WooHoo! Barber half! (UPDATE) Barber quarter and other pics added!!!

cheese

Silver Member
Jan 9, 2005
3,331
1,087
South Georgia
It's a first for me! Quarters seemed to be the biggest I could find, but today was different. I was hunting the old spot in town where I had found an old compass, clay pipe, and some other relics. I've been wondering where the old coins were...beginning to get discouraged. I got another loud repeatable signal and dug without taking too much care, and popped out a brown cruddy disk. In the fading light, I just thought it was a round plug or maybe an aluminum token (I'm used to silver coming up shining). I rubbed it a bit to see if I could see any detail...and saw that it was a barber! I jumped up and took off across the lot towards the other end, where my brother and my friend were hunting...hollering the whole way. What a rush! It's not worth a fortune, but at the moment, it felt like I won the lottery.

I don't know why I get such satisfaction from finding stuff like this. If someone just gave it to me, it wouldn't have been so cool. But anyway...I cleaned it in the sink with water and a brush, but it only cleaned up enough to see it a bit better. I took pics after cleaning in the sink. You can't read the date. I decided to electrocute it a little bit. Man, the crud just bubbled up and brushed off of it revealing a much prettier coin than I thought I had!

This week turned out to be great for me and my friend. He found his first Barber dime...a 1892. I found my first indian cent...a 1904, and then I found my first half...a barber at that. It's an 1898 O. I can't quit looking at it.

Maybe I'll get to give it another shot tomorrow!
 

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tsgman

Bronze Member
Sep 13, 2005
2,139
30
Springfield, Missouri
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Re: WooHoo! Barber half!

Nice! Still on my wish list. Tsgman
 

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cheese

cheese

Silver Member
Jan 9, 2005
3,331
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South Georgia
Re: WooHoo! Barber half! (UPDATED) barber quarter, and other pics!!!!

Well, we got out again today. Dug a lot of holes. A hole lot of holes :D. My wife went with me too today. As usual, when she goes, she kicks my butt in the nicest finds for the day. I found a merc (1919) and a wheat, and she found a barber quarter! (1903). Whats wild is that she was walking in a path that was cut by the motorgrader, at night, and SAW the quarter laying there! Didn't even have to detect it! She also found a brass social security card! I found a lot of valve stems and valve stem caps, a ford model T hubcap, what may have been the lid off a cigarrette case, and junk galore. A couple cops came by, and were very friendly and interested in our finds. Since we weren't in the nicest part of town, and it was late (we didn't leave until after 1:00 am), they rode by a few times while we were there and tooted the horn to let us know they were watching out for us.

It won't be long now before the area is not huntable. The bulldozers and heavy equipment is out there putting in underground plumbing. A slab will be poured over the majority of this site before long, and a building on top of that. Gotta get it while I can. Anyone got a sniper coil for a fisher CZ? I need to find one.

Here's the stuff
 

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JerV3

Gold Member
Feb 28, 2005
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Three Rivers
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Congrats on the barber half.

Thay are exciting to find

HH Jer
 

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cheese

cheese

Silver Member
Jan 9, 2005
3,331
1,087
South Georgia
Thanks y'all.

Paul, I though about taking pics of the site too. I'll try to remember to take the camera with me next trip if it's not at night when I go.

The main part is where an old building once stood. It was one of the big "main street USA" type buldings from the early 1900s. These coins were under where the building stood. The merc didn't come from there though...it came from an old park in town. Some of the modern trash is from the grass around the back part of the lot. They also cut a few inches of dirt out right by the road. That road was there back in the 1800s...probably around 1850. This town dates to the 1820s.
 

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cheese

cheese

Silver Member
Jan 9, 2005
3,331
1,087
South Georgia
Here are some pics of the site. We went again this evening and found more junk. I found a 1917 wheat and my wife found a zinc cent near the sidewalk but that's all the coins for today. I just found out I have until thursday to hunt it before they dump the rock on the lot and then the paving begins. Anyone want to help clean out the site? (so many targets it won't ever get cleaned out).

The good news is that they are going to spead a pile of dirt that was scraped off the lot out onto the back part of the lot. There is no developing going on in that part of the lot, so we can hunt the dirt for a long time.
 

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rebelLT

Sr. Member
Feb 26, 2007
448
4
SE Kansas
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Explorer SE PRO, XLT, Teknetics Omega
Nice stuff you found there! Barbers of any kind are getting harder to find.
 

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BIG61AL

Guest
Dude! a 1898 o half dollar has a book value of $40.00 in good condition which is about what yours is looking like to me. Great find!!!!
 

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cheese

cheese

Silver Member
Jan 9, 2005
3,331
1,087
South Georgia
Yeah, it had a lot of crud on it. I've never found a silver coin that looked so bad. I thought it maybe had been in a fire or something. It wouldn't scrub off, and I couldn't even see the date. I figured I'd go ahead and do electrolosys on it and see what happens. The crud just bubbled off the coin in flakes, revealing a nice coin underneath! I couldn't believe it. There are several fine scratches on it that I may or may not have put on it during the cleaning, but it's a heap better now than it was when I found it. I don't know if my scrubbing put those scratches on it or if they were already there. I'm sure I put some of them on it. Funny thing is...the scratches show up good in the picture, but you can't really see them just looking at the coin.

I went by the lot today as I was passing through and they already dumped the rock, spread it out, and rolled it flat. Oh well. There's still a lot of ground there to cover.

Big61Al...I saw that in my Red Book. That's a good figure I guess, but I wouldn't sell it for twice that. ;D ;) I guess if I found something worth several thousand dollars, I might sell it...depending on what it was. It's just nice to look at my finds and remember the moment.
 

Salvager

Hero Member
Sep 4, 2006
651
9
Queensland, Australia
Detector(s) used
Minelab Sov. Elite / Explorer II
Very nice finds! Must be sad seeing such a good site being hidden forever.

Thanks for the pics.

Have fun,
Salvager
 

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