Garrett424
Silver Member
- Jun 20, 2014
- 3,164
- 2,284
- Detector(s) used
-
Teknetics Omega 8000
Teknetics Delta 4000,
Deteknix XPointer,
Fiskar's Big Grip Digger & my old Army Trench shovel for the tough jobs
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
I was hunting an area where I recently found an 1807 Draped Bust LC. It's loaded with iron and trash so after about two hours in the heat and 20 some odd nails later I decided to wrap it up. I was IN MY CAR leaving and just happened to slow down and look at one small strip I haven't really hunted heavily. My gut told me to try one more time and once again the old intuitive hit paid off. I freakin' love it when that happens.
I backed up, parked the car, downed some more water, got my stuff and walked back. After about maybe 5 minutes I got a beautiful tight, high hit, a solid 89 ringing up in the half dollar range. I just knew this was gonna' be something good. As usual I was imagining big silver but to my surprise, out popped a New Jersey Copper; minted from 1786 to 1788. Honestly, I had no clue what it was. I'd never seen one before in my life.
It wasn't even two inches down either. I couldn't believe it. It's been sitting there for two freakin' centuries right under the surface. I could have easily found this one with my cheapie Tracker IV had I just swung over it.
Here it is before I cleaned it:
And here it is after a warm water rinse and a brief olive oil soak:
It's definitely a bit toasty so I can't get a date at this point. But, I know it's pretty old based on the brief time this coin was minted. I'll leave it in the oil for a few days (or months) and keep my fingers crossed.
This was one of those really aggravating hunts where nothing good was showing up. I dug a ton of nails, pop tops, bottle caps, can slaw, an old rusty Ilco padlock and only two modern copper pennies. The place is SO littered with iron I was just trying to get some of it out of there to see what lies beneath.
This coin was literally surrounded by iron on all sides. But as we all know, in this hobby persistence always pays off sooner later. Just showing up is more than half the battle.
So far I've pulled two nice old coins from this spot and you can bet I'll be going back. It may turn out to be a really good one. It is so far anyway.
It feels awesome to join the 1700's club even if the coin isn't in the greatest shape. I'm just thankful there's enough detail to identify it and it looks beautiful to me. Now, I wonder where I might find something from the 1600's........
Thanks for looking and HH.
*******UPDATE********
Thanks to Don In South Jersey I now know the date of this one; 1787, the year the US Constitution was adopted and signed. Amazing.
Thank you Don In SJ.
I backed up, parked the car, downed some more water, got my stuff and walked back. After about maybe 5 minutes I got a beautiful tight, high hit, a solid 89 ringing up in the half dollar range. I just knew this was gonna' be something good. As usual I was imagining big silver but to my surprise, out popped a New Jersey Copper; minted from 1786 to 1788. Honestly, I had no clue what it was. I'd never seen one before in my life.
It wasn't even two inches down either. I couldn't believe it. It's been sitting there for two freakin' centuries right under the surface. I could have easily found this one with my cheapie Tracker IV had I just swung over it.
Here it is before I cleaned it:
And here it is after a warm water rinse and a brief olive oil soak:
It's definitely a bit toasty so I can't get a date at this point. But, I know it's pretty old based on the brief time this coin was minted. I'll leave it in the oil for a few days (or months) and keep my fingers crossed.
This was one of those really aggravating hunts where nothing good was showing up. I dug a ton of nails, pop tops, bottle caps, can slaw, an old rusty Ilco padlock and only two modern copper pennies. The place is SO littered with iron I was just trying to get some of it out of there to see what lies beneath.
This coin was literally surrounded by iron on all sides. But as we all know, in this hobby persistence always pays off sooner later. Just showing up is more than half the battle.
So far I've pulled two nice old coins from this spot and you can bet I'll be going back. It may turn out to be a really good one. It is so far anyway.
It feels awesome to join the 1700's club even if the coin isn't in the greatest shape. I'm just thankful there's enough detail to identify it and it looks beautiful to me. Now, I wonder where I might find something from the 1600's........
Thanks for looking and HH.
*******UPDATE********
Thanks to Don In South Jersey I now know the date of this one; 1787, the year the US Constitution was adopted and signed. Amazing.
Thank you Don In SJ.
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I dream of the day that I break into the 18th century.
