bookfisher
Bronze Member
Well the ole woods had me working hard today, but it paid off in the end. Got there about 5:00 PM and for the about the next hour and a half wasn't finding anything worth keeping. Finally, a little later, I find a small 19th century silver plated button; okay it's a start. Then, about a half hour after the button, I get a strong quarter reading; getting excited and cutting the plug, and extracting some dirt from the hole, I came up with a large and heavily dented colonial copper, but it was too corroded to ID in the field. Then came the creme de la creme. It was starting to get late, with about an hour of light left, so I decided to turn my direction towards the car and begin to slowly exit the woods. About 5 minutes into my slow exit, I get a strong penny/dime reading at about six inches near a small tree. Using my 26" garden shovel (which is ideal for woods hunting) I cut and pull out a decent size plug. Scanning the hole, the target is still in the hole, but I get a bit disappointed, since the signal is now weaker, but still bouncing around screwtop to penny dime. Now I have to deal with roots. Standing up and using the shovel I start cutting roots, making sure I'm safely on the perimeter of the hole, so not to damage the object that's still down there. But since it's getting late and I'm tired, I'm working like a madman, cutting roots and pulling dirt from the hole. Finally, when I think I've extracted enough dirt from the hole, I scan the pile, and praise be to God, the object is in the pile and now its back to reading penny penny/dime! I grab my pinpointer and start probing the pile, hoping I'm going to come up with a 19th century dime. Well I did better than the 19th century! What I found was a 1778 Spanish 1 Reale! My oldest dated coin I've found so far. I have found several pre 1760 King George II colonial coppers, but they're to far gone to read the dates. There's no better feeling when your out MDing, then finding a coin that exceeds your expectations. Also, when I got home tonight, I cleaned the large copper, and it appears to be a post 1760 George III Farthing, since I can just about see the image of Britannia on the back and the inner rim circle on the front. Coppers are bittersweet - exciting to find, but usually frustratenly corroded. Looks like I'll be back in the woods tomorrow!
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