He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Xraywolf

Silver Member
Feb 28, 2005
3,576
4,360
MI USA
Detector(s) used
Ace 400, AT Pro, equinox 800, Simplex,Vanquish 540
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Dang, I forgot how exhilarating finding old coins can be.
I have been pounding the tot lots and beaches this summer, but not much digging.

That changed today, when I dropped my daughter off at some meeting, and went out detecting.
Hit one tot lot that was empty about 7 pm, but a bunch of kids showed up so I walked away not long after.
Was on my way to another tot lot in a park about 5 miles away, when low and behold I noticed a huge sidewalk tear out in progress.
Actually not sidewalks, but the grassy medians between the sidewalk and the street, all completely stripped of grass, and about 3 inches of soil.
For blocks on end, at least 4 long blocks, on both sides, in an area that has many turn of the century houses, this looked like more fun than a kiddy lot.

Not even sure what they are doing here, but they stripped off about 2-3 inches of grass and dirt.
Often times I could dig down 6 inches with just my gloved hand, the sandy soil was so soft.
Other times, in areas by trees, the soil is just trashed by roots.

But I started swinging and pulled out what looks to be an old lid for a can of nails. A pocket knife a few feet from that, then this thing with gears that I have no idea what it is. Had some cloth attached, but it was so trashed that is just wiped away with the dirt, leaving what almost looks like belt buckle frames, and a couple little gears attached.
Found a sign, from the looks of the phone on it, probably 50's or 60's.

Coins - Found a bit of clad, then out popped the 1950 Rosey.
The 3 shield nickels were not found together, I just kept finding them at random spots.
The really crusted one I think is an IHP, and above that what looks to be some sort of token, and a 1920 Wheatie to round things out.

Didn't have much time, I was there for less than 2 hours, and the area is huge. Darkness was closing in, and anyways had to go back to get my girl.
Very nice houses in the area, most occupied by some pretty friendly folks. I thought some might get upset with me so close to their property, but they read the situation well. These medians are all chewed up, so it matters not if someone comes along and digs a few small holes.

I'm going back, as you might have guessed.
This area is going to be having a huge festival not this weekend, but the one after that, and folks around there were telling me they are pushing to get the topsoil and sod on before then, so theres not much time to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
In fact, anyone around the Detroit suburbs interested, shoot me a pm and I'll give you the location this weekend, there is way more than 1 guy can handle here.
Of course, probably wouldn't want to go there while guys are working, don't know when they stop, 3 or 5 pm would be my guess, so I'm more than willing to share this, but will restrict the location to pm's out of respect for the nice folks who live there.
I found all of this in less than 2 hours, and I doubt if I detected 1/50th of whats there, and even with that I passed over way more signals than I dug, there were so many.
 

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Upvote 0

BandB1

Bronze Member
Jul 11, 2008
1,558
1
SE Michigan
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Congrats on the cool finds, Shield Nickels :thumbsup:
Good luck when you hit it again.

HH.
 

DigginThePast

Gold Member
Dec 31, 2008
10,706
86
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Wow, those shields are in pretty nice shape. :thumbsup: Excellent find.
 

mlayers

Gold Member
Oct 29, 2007
5,576
429
Northern, OH
Detector(s) used
DFX, White PI, Bounty Hunter, Whites Surfmaster II and Excalibur II
Primary Interest:
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Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Man those are some great finds. Wish they would take the side walks up around here.....Matt
 

DPBOB

Silver Member
Apr 12, 2006
3,585
264
DES PLAINES IL
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AVATAR: MY Wife Saying....




"Your going Metal Detecting
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Don't give up yet
get back there as many time as you can.
I have been back to the street tear up this last month , at least 15 times.
got 15 silvers, silver ring, other nice finds too.

They don't last long so with that coinage I would spend as much time as I could there.

Hit it hard... Don't let the opportunity pass....
 

OP
OP
Xraywolf

Xraywolf

Silver Member
Feb 28, 2005
3,576
4,360
MI USA
Detector(s) used
Ace 400, AT Pro, equinox 800, Simplex,Vanquish 540
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Yeah I'm geeked, can't wait for the next few days, opportunities like this don't come around often, especially on such a large scale.
I'm justing hoping that they don't start laying the sod too quick.

I'm thinking the crusty one in the middle that I misidentified as an IHP is a V nickel, the outline of the face and the star pattern look nothing like a IHP or a Shield nickel.
I can see the start of the date, 1800 something, going to soak this one in olive oil for a few weeks or months, hopefully the crud will break free.
 

Jeff(or)

Full Member
May 17, 2007
190
44
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Looks like you had a great hunt, go back and hit it hard!! Congrats! :thumbsup:
 

Tank69

Silver Member
May 5, 2009
4,076
62
Yuma Az
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Eldorado , Fisher Gold Bug 2 , Whites MXT , Keen Dry Washer
Primary Interest:
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Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

great to give the old ticker a check from time to time huh lol I got mine today an see you got yours to , wtg :icon_thumleft: great finds
 

Wallhangers

Hero Member
Jul 28, 2008
897
59
SW Michigan
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Minelab Explorer SE Pro, T2 SE
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Wow, them shields are beauties! Nice job jumping on an opportunity and good luck on your follow-up hunts there.
 

davew0710

Sr. Member
Oct 3, 2008
392
0
Western Pennsylvania
Detector(s) used
E Trac
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Xraywolf said:
I'm thinking the crusty one in the middle that I misidentified as an IHP is a V nickel, the outline of the face and the star pattern look nothing like a IHP or a Shield nickel.
I can see the start of the date, 1800 something, going to soak this one in olive oil for a few weeks or months, hopefully the crud will break free.

The crusty one is too big to be an IH. It looks same size as nickels. Great night...4 V's :icon_thumright:
 

spartacus53

Banned
Jul 5, 2009
10,503
1,073
Whiting, NJ
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Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

WTG on those 3 shield nickels. I also love that pocketknife, that has to be from the 50's too, I had one just like it.
 

Evan/tn

Hero Member
Jul 7, 2009
580
4
Detector(s) used
spectra V3,MXT
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

nice looking shield's way to go!!
:headbang: :headbang:
 

sonny61

Sr. Member
Sep 9, 2008
292
43
Kentucky
Detector(s) used
Whites XLT, Prizm 4, Surfmaster ll
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

good looking shields, great shape.
 

OP
OP
Xraywolf

Xraywolf

Silver Member
Feb 28, 2005
3,576
4,360
MI USA
Detector(s) used
Ace 400, AT Pro, equinox 800, Simplex,Vanquish 540
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Thanks for the comments, I'll update this thread with any other finds.
Even though its not even 3pm I'm heading there right now, I figure part of it at least will be free from workers.
Not all that far away anyhow, just 5 miles or so.
 

creeper71

Silver Member
Dec 5, 2007
2,936
61
South Central PA
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

From what I can tell from the photos you have 3 sheilds an a V nickel I believe the V nickel is 1899 but can't make out.. could you please take closer pics so I can see the dates.. Also could you take closer pic of your 1883 sheild? I believe it maybe a 3over 2 ... need a very close pic of date to see... thanks!!!
 

history hunter

Bronze Member
Apr 12, 2007
2,043
558
Menasha WI.
Detector(s) used
Nox 800 AT Max, Mine lab se pro/ Teknetics 7500 / teknetics 8000 / fisher m-scope (aquanut) 1280x/2ea compass relic magnum 6 /compass yukon 77b (professional) /compass yukon 71b
Re: He scores ! 3 Shield nickels, & more

Awesome finds, I've been after a shield nickel for almost 41 years now. WTG!!
 

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