Captn SE
Silver Member
- Apr 1, 2007
- 2,774
- 13
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Explorer SE; X-1 Target Probe; Pro Coil, 6x8 SEF, Coiltek Platypus Elliptical, Sunray X8, Expl. 1050 coils
Hello Everyone,
I'm so ecstatic right now, I can hardly think. I still can't believe I found my oldest American coin today and it's a half dollar. It was a very hot day today (101 degrees), and I didn't know how long I was going to detect this afternoon. I stayed under the shade of the oak trees, finding about 6 wheaties. Then as the sun was going down, I ventured into an open area of the park. In a few minutes, I had my first silver coin, a mercury dime, hiding next to iron. I said, "Great, I got a silver"! I was happy to just leave at that time, but decided to swing a little more. About 15 minutes later, that's when it happened. When I detected the target, I thought maybe at best it was a deep clad quarter. I had pulled wheats/memorials from 7" at this meadow in the park before. The target was hiding in an iron patch of turf. My SE was nulling quite a bit. Then all of a sudden, bang!! I hear the threshold come back, followed by the sound of a coin. The depth meter was about halfway down, so I really didn't think that it could be something really good. When I made the plug and took some dirt out, I just then realized it was deeper than I expected. At about 7", out pops this white disk. I knew it was silver. My first glance was the back of the coin, which was an eagle. My hand was shaking. I turned the coin over and saw the lady liberty sitting. My eyes nearly came out of their sockets.
I was in disbelief. I just stared at the coin for a while. I took a clad quarter out of my pouch for size comparison. Yep, it was a half; an 1858 O seated half dollar. This is my oldest American coin find to date, and also my first ever seated coin. I then got up and started doing the happy dance.... Then I started calling all my md'ing buddies to tell them of my find. We've all detected this part of the meadow countless numbers of times. Ron(CA), remember the '64 rosie you pulled from that meadow that was hiding next to iron? Well, the seated half was about 20' from that spot. The coin was being masked by iron all around. I checked the area around the hole, and verified this was the case. I've pulled some mercs, rosies, Indian heads, and 1 barber dime from this area before. I could never believe there would be a seated half yet to be found.
The coin has good detail, but is definitely oxidized. I will take a photo of it the way I found it. Should I use electrolysis on it?? I would love to see it all cleaned up, but will just leave it as is for now.
This find just keeps reinforcing the fact that no matter how many times we swing our detectors over the same areas, there are still great coins that haven't been found yet right under our feet. Just maybe next time, we'll find one. Well, today was my day to find that elusive coin. I'm on cloud 9!!
Thanks for looking,
CAPTN SE
Dan
I'm so ecstatic right now, I can hardly think. I still can't believe I found my oldest American coin today and it's a half dollar. It was a very hot day today (101 degrees), and I didn't know how long I was going to detect this afternoon. I stayed under the shade of the oak trees, finding about 6 wheaties. Then as the sun was going down, I ventured into an open area of the park. In a few minutes, I had my first silver coin, a mercury dime, hiding next to iron. I said, "Great, I got a silver"! I was happy to just leave at that time, but decided to swing a little more. About 15 minutes later, that's when it happened. When I detected the target, I thought maybe at best it was a deep clad quarter. I had pulled wheats/memorials from 7" at this meadow in the park before. The target was hiding in an iron patch of turf. My SE was nulling quite a bit. Then all of a sudden, bang!! I hear the threshold come back, followed by the sound of a coin. The depth meter was about halfway down, so I really didn't think that it could be something really good. When I made the plug and took some dirt out, I just then realized it was deeper than I expected. At about 7", out pops this white disk. I knew it was silver. My first glance was the back of the coin, which was an eagle. My hand was shaking. I turned the coin over and saw the lady liberty sitting. My eyes nearly came out of their sockets.
I was in disbelief. I just stared at the coin for a while. I took a clad quarter out of my pouch for size comparison. Yep, it was a half; an 1858 O seated half dollar. This is my oldest American coin find to date, and also my first ever seated coin. I then got up and started doing the happy dance.... Then I started calling all my md'ing buddies to tell them of my find. We've all detected this part of the meadow countless numbers of times. Ron(CA), remember the '64 rosie you pulled from that meadow that was hiding next to iron? Well, the seated half was about 20' from that spot. The coin was being masked by iron all around. I checked the area around the hole, and verified this was the case. I've pulled some mercs, rosies, Indian heads, and 1 barber dime from this area before. I could never believe there would be a seated half yet to be found. The coin has good detail, but is definitely oxidized. I will take a photo of it the way I found it. Should I use electrolysis on it?? I would love to see it all cleaned up, but will just leave it as is for now.
This find just keeps reinforcing the fact that no matter how many times we swing our detectors over the same areas, there are still great coins that haven't been found yet right under our feet. Just maybe next time, we'll find one. Well, today was my day to find that elusive coin. I'm on cloud 9!!
Thanks for looking,
CAPTN SE
Dan
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