washingtonian
Gold Member
Hey folks,
Well, I had a free evening so I lined up some time to hit a few sites on my list. I struck out at the first 3 sites I tried. After an hour and a half of hitting a community center, a church, and a construction site I had no old coins and hardly any modern ones either.
I was legitimately close to calling it quits for the day but grabbed some dinner and recouped. I chatted with the neighbors and they said I'd be welcome to do a second pass of their little yard (where I found a merc and a few Wheaties last week).
While I was killing time waiting for them to open their back gate, I decided to take another spin around my own yard. I got a funky signal that was borderline penny and decided to dig. Well, I got down about 3" where it said it was and hadn't pulled it up yet. I figured it was just a big piece of copper junk which is why I was a little careless when digging down another couple inches.
I was shocked when this big green disk came out of the hole. I was thinking Token or something until I saw the bust on it. I kept wiping the dirt away and noticed it said "Queen Victoria" on the front and "One Cent" on the back. I did a little research and found that she only lived until 1901. "Cool!" I thought to myself, I found an 1800s Canadian large cent.
Only problem was, the back didn't match the back of Canadian large cents from that era. I kept wiping dirt away and finally got the date...1881! Wow! I've never found a single coin from the 1800s so that's a big leap back into the 19th century.
Well, the only other thing I could make out was "KON" on the back so I decided to let it sit in some lemon juice while I continued detecting. After letting it sit and cleaning it a bit I could finally make it all out "HONG KONG". "Holy Smokes!" I'm thinking to myself, always thought my first 1800s coin would be an Indian Head, this was quite the shock.
I hit my neighbors' yard for a while and it looks like the only decent thing I missed was a 1930-S wheatie. The junk jewelry came from their yard too.
I did a little more swinging in my own yard to round out the night and found this interesting button. Anyone ever see something like it? Looks like an Air Force button from WWII to me.
Well, that's our hobby for you folks. A bad day can turn into a great day with one hole.
Happy hunting out there!
-Washingtonian
Well, I had a free evening so I lined up some time to hit a few sites on my list. I struck out at the first 3 sites I tried. After an hour and a half of hitting a community center, a church, and a construction site I had no old coins and hardly any modern ones either.
I was legitimately close to calling it quits for the day but grabbed some dinner and recouped. I chatted with the neighbors and they said I'd be welcome to do a second pass of their little yard (where I found a merc and a few Wheaties last week).
While I was killing time waiting for them to open their back gate, I decided to take another spin around my own yard. I got a funky signal that was borderline penny and decided to dig. Well, I got down about 3" where it said it was and hadn't pulled it up yet. I figured it was just a big piece of copper junk which is why I was a little careless when digging down another couple inches.
I was shocked when this big green disk came out of the hole. I was thinking Token or something until I saw the bust on it. I kept wiping the dirt away and noticed it said "Queen Victoria" on the front and "One Cent" on the back. I did a little research and found that she only lived until 1901. "Cool!" I thought to myself, I found an 1800s Canadian large cent.
Only problem was, the back didn't match the back of Canadian large cents from that era. I kept wiping dirt away and finally got the date...1881! Wow! I've never found a single coin from the 1800s so that's a big leap back into the 19th century.
Well, the only other thing I could make out was "KON" on the back so I decided to let it sit in some lemon juice while I continued detecting. After letting it sit and cleaning it a bit I could finally make it all out "HONG KONG". "Holy Smokes!" I'm thinking to myself, always thought my first 1800s coin would be an Indian Head, this was quite the shock.
I hit my neighbors' yard for a while and it looks like the only decent thing I missed was a 1930-S wheatie. The junk jewelry came from their yard too.
I did a little more swinging in my own yard to round out the night and found this interesting button. Anyone ever see something like it? Looks like an Air Force button from WWII to me.
Well, that's our hobby for you folks. A bad day can turn into a great day with one hole.
Happy hunting out there!
-Washingtonian
Last edited:
Upvote
20
. If only that coin could talk, and say how it got all the way over there. Congrats! 
