Big silver from the campgrounds

time4me

Bronze Member
Aug 30, 2005
1,296
44
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, Explorer II, Excalibur
I got out for about 4 hours yesterday, and headed straight for the campgrounds that I've been hunting for almost a year now. There are over 400 acres of land there, and around 35 original campsites, many of which have fallen out of use and off of the current map. There are also tons of open fields where the finds are few and far between, but usually end up being something good.

IMG_1494.jpg


Anyways, I started in the open fields, and after a while I got an iffy signal on my E-Trac, but decided to dig it anyways. I was very happy to see a little gray disk pop out of the ground.

IMG_1497.jpg


Turned out to be a 1951 Rosie, but heck - I got my silver for the day, so I could relax and fully enjoy the rest of the hunt :icon_thumleft: Going back over the hole gave me a null on the threshold, so I figure there was iron under the dime, which is why it gave me such an iffy signal.

IMG_1500.jpg


I also decided to dig many of the low tones on this hunt while out in the fields, as I've found over a dozen silver rings in the fields of the campgrounds. The only gold ring I found was because it gave off a very high tone and VDI number due to it being 24K gold. I figured if I was going to find any 10K or 14K gold rings, which I know must be there, I needed to start digging lots of trash. Well, after digging quite a bit of trash, a bunch of clad, and some other odds and ends, I decided to change my strategy and go find some more silver coins in one of the campsite areas.

So I moved on to one of the centrally located campsite areas which had produced some good finds in the past, but also proved to be a difficult area to hunt. I'm not sure if it is from the ground mineralization or what, but in many areas of this campsite, my detector just nulls out most of the time, so I assume it would not give a signal on a coin :BangHead:

Today I decided to try cranking down the sensitivity in manual mode until I could get a pretty consistent threshold on the E-Trac. I had to go down to around 8 to 10 sensitivity, but this seemed to work and I started picking up some clad.

Then I hit a bare spot near some trees...

IMG_1508.jpg


I got a strange signal here, that I assumed was an aluminum can or some other scrap metal because it was so loud and seemed very large when I switched to pinpoint mode. I raised my coil off the ground about 4 inches, which allowed me to pinpoint it better. I had only dug out about an inch of the dirt, when a very dark but large disc appeared.

IMG_1501.jpg


IMG_1502.jpg


You can imagine my surprise when I cleaned off some of the dirt and saw the flowing robes of Lady Liberty :hello2:

IMG_1503.jpg


While I was a little disappointed that I missed out on the thrill of seeing that big silver flash in the dirt, a Walker is a Walker, and this is only my third ever. I don't know why it is so black - maybe there were campfires built over the top of it for many years.

After spending another hour in this general area and finding more clad and trash, I started hiking back through the fields again. In the middle of one of the fields I got a nice BANG of a high tone. About 4 inches down was a round object in a bezel that looked like it must have been attached to a necklace or something.

IMG_1510.jpg


IMG_1511.jpg


I couldn't see any details as it was caked in dirt, so I threw it in my pouch looking forward to cleaning it later at home, and hoping for some really cool medal or coin of some sort. Well, my curiosity got the best of me about 20 minutes later, so I dug it out of my pouch and wiped off enough dirt to see a clad half dollar :-\ Why someone would put a 1972 half dollar in a bezel to be worn on a chain is beyond me. Oh well, it was still a half dollar, and I'm sure the first time I've ever found two half dollars in the same day :headbang:

Here's the rest of the loot for the day, and the keepers all cleaned up...

IMG_1513.jpg


IMG_1519.jpg


IMG_1521.jpg


IMG_1523.jpg


IMG_1525.jpg


Does anyone have any suggestions for how to get the black tarnish off of the Walking Liberty half without buffing it? Maybe I'll just leave it black like it is - it's kind of cool that way.

Happy Hunting!!!

Jim
 

Upvote 0
Just the way that walker is she's a beauty, congrats.

Sometimes I'll use MAAS metal polishing creme on my common date coins. It works great.
 

i would leave it, i like the colors.
but you can do something with baking soda tin foil and boiling water.
boil 1in of water make a tinfoil boat to put the coin in (about 4in around), float the coin in the boat in the boiling water cover it with baking soda and use a spoon to add some of the boiling water to the tin boat. boil the floating boat till the water in the boat is not getting any more blue colered, then empty the boat and repeat if you want. i use that method on a merc that i pulled outa the ground black as can be. went thro the tinfoil salt thing 4 times (about 5 min per time) and you can watch the tarnish come off the coin. it dosnt get it all but it takes a lot off. good luck and nice find!
 

The black is character & proves you dug it :icon_thumright:
 

Wow, Jim!!!

Congrats on the superb finds!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I think they lost their walker out of that necklace and stuck the JFK in there in its place... ;D

Sounds like you have a great spot to hit all year long!
 

Great place to hunt and nice digs. Monday, I'm heading to my favorite large picnic grounds where I found three silver halves last year. You got me needing that silver half fix, hope I can do it. Congrats!! :notworthy:
 

is the bezel silver?
 

jorge del norte said:
is the bezel silver?

No, the bezel is not silver. In fact, it appears rusted on one side. Yeah, too bad it wasn't a seated liberty half in a sterling silver bezel, huh? Of course as long as I'm dreaming, why couldn't it have been a $20 gold coin in a 24K bezel :dontknow:
 

Sweet finds!!!!
 

TOTALLY AWESOME!
 

Nice walker Jim!! The tarnish gives it character but I think I'd be tempted to take a little baking soda to it and show off some silver ;D
Jerry
 

Ohio Jerry said:
Nice walker Jim!! The tarnish gives it character but I think I'd be tempted to take a little baking soda to it and show off some silver ;D
Jerry

Thanks Jerry, I'm tempted to shine her up a bit, but I know I'd regret it afterwards and then there'd be no going back. I've decide to leave it as is.

I'll just have to find myself another one that is already silver!

Jim
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top