A Scout Hunt turns into my oldest coin and oldest relic!

[Stef45]

After work I had about an hour to detect so I decided to scout a site that I have been eyeing up since I started detecting. I went expecting to find some ruins of an old church but i wasn't able to locate it today. My very first signal was silver! A 1940-d Merc (silver #12). Right up against a big old live oak. I wandered around after that looking for something to give me a clue to where the church would have stood. Found nothing but shot gun shells all from the 1920's to 1950's. I then worked my way back to where I first walked into the area of the woods and I got a nickel signal about 6inches deep came out pretty crusty (but i'll get to that at the end). My last signal I dug was a 4 inch 33-34 which ended up being an old buckle which looks to be my oldest relic. I have it posted up on "what is it" but preliminary findings suggest that it is a post 1750's saddle buckle. When I got home I received some advise from DirtStalker on how to clean up the nickel. After a little soaking and a light brushing i could see the "5" with stars around it and knew it was a SHIELD Nickel! Which is my oldest coin dug regardless of the date. I'm trying to get a date but it keeps looking like 1832 which i know isn't possible. Plus I'm not sure if the rays rubbed off or if it never had rays which would date it at 1867. Either way awesome hour of scouting. Any I.D. on the buckle is appreciated!

 

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[toasted]

Thats the toastiest shield nickel Ive ever seen but a shield nonetheless and not an easy dig. Nice find

 

[Stef45]

Thats the toastiest shield nickel Ive ever seen but a shield nonetheless and not an easy dig. Nice find

Ha yeah should have seen it before I cleaned it up! Looks a little better in person can make out a lot of the "5" shield side is real bad which is why the date is being elusive.

 

[nsdq]

1882 ? still a sweet find

 

[Loco-Digger]

Congrats on digging your oldest coin to date. Those shield nickles usually come out toasty. That site deserves some more detecting.

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[s.c.shooter]

Great find!

 

[trapperart]

Very nice finds congrats

 

[terpfan]

Toasted but definitely a shield nickel. I'd be very happy with that coin. Its still on my wish list.

 

[CoilyGirl]

All nickels are pretty much toasted but still that is a terrific find. Love the pretty buckle too.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Congratz on a couple of old finds!

 

[treblehunter]

Sweet hunt

 

[treblehunter]

Good scouting trip, keep hitting that spot

 

[against the wind]

Nicely done
Those shields are hard to find in decent condition.
Congrats

 

[Scrappy]

Nice finds. Those shield nickels have such small dates that it's a detail that's missing often enough. I don't think I see rays but I'm often wrong according to my wife

 

[Carolina Tom]

Well done my man! The buckle is really nice.

Congrats on the shield nickel. I got my first in January, and looks about like yours. The ground is not nice to those little rascals.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Darby]

Very nice finds. Love the buckle. I found one with a very similar shape that the pros here said was very early. Big congrats

 

[park pirate]

Nice congrats..

 

[Stef45]

Very nice finds. Love the buckle. I found one with a very similar shape that the pros here said was very early. Big congrats

Darby you have the link to that I.D.? and thanks I'm pretty pumped about the finds.

 

[Darby]

Darby you have the link to that I.D.? and thanks I'm pretty pumped about the finds.

Look at Feb 5, 2015 post of mine "blue stone cufflink". I looked back at it and it's not exactly the same but close in shape. Congrats again