Screamed like a girl!!

Mammothman

Jr. Member
Feb 1, 2011
35
0
Jal, New Mexico
Detector(s) used
Garrett Ace 350
I think I must have scared the neighbors when I saw what I found today. The story, there is an empty lot north of my apartment building that once had a house on it. It didn't occur to me until yesterday to detect the area and by the time I got out it was almost dark. The wind came in freezing and without a jacket it ran me off, but not before I found a 1924 Wheat Penny, the oldest coin found so far. The find gave me hope, as did some good pings as I trudged back to the apartment. Today the sun was well down and it was hard to see, but I couldn't resist hitting the area again. Right off the bat I hit a 1977 penny, which spurred me on. Several bottle caps, a door latch plate and aluminum cans later the Ace 350 pinged like crazy. It was a shallow hit and I scraped away the thinnest layer of dust to find three coins laying in a circle about 3 inches in diameter. Scooped them up and rechecked, no more pings. It was too dark to see the coins, but I knew I had two dimes and a penny. By this point it was so dark I gave up any more hunting, reluctantly, and headed home. Got the coins into the kitchen and ran some water over them to wash away the dust. I picked up the unidentified penny first to find it was a 1919 Wheat. I was ecstatic, but nothing could prepare me for the next sight. I picked up one of the dimes to find a 1914 Barber Dime and screamed like a little girl. Prior to this my oldest find was the 1924 wheaty the day before and a 1942 penny over the weekend. I grabbed up the second dime to find the 1924 Mercury and I blew the roof off my apartment screaming. I was shaking from excitement. Finding coins before had always been exciting, but nothing like this. I figure this must have been a pocket drop for the coins to be so close together. I want to find a way to clean up the coins and shine them a bit and mount them in something for display. If I wasn't hooked on MD'ing before I'm a fanatic now. I just want to keep screaming. Advice on what to clean them up with?
 

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Upvote 0

SeaninNH

Bronze Member
Jul 16, 2010
1,127
74
New Hampshire USA
Detector(s) used
Fisher F70
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
NICE SCORE! :headbang:

Go back there and hit that place hard. So far I have found 6 mercs, 1 rosie, 1 barber and a 1943 P war nickle at the park that I found my first merc at.

Where there is 1 silver there are more!
 

Baldingboy

Bronze Member
May 17, 2007
2,240
34
Southeast Missouri
Detector(s) used
Minelab SE Professional with 6" Coil
Soak the silver in Silver Jewelry Clean for about 15 seconds and then rinse them off under the faucet. The wheat, just use soap and water. If it is dingy still and has enough detail to be more aggressive, you can clean it a multitude of ways. Go to the main page and click about half way down on the link for "Cleaning and Preservation". You will find anything you need to know about cleaning every coin there.

Congrats on your finds. I have been detecting since 2007 and NEVER found a Barber. You are really fortunate to make such a find. Keep up the good work. It's a fantastic, addictive sport!!

Baldingboy
 

tim g

Jr. Member
Mar 1, 2010
33
15
Hartsville, TN
Detector(s) used
White's Eagle Spectrum / Fisher CZ-21 / Minelab Xterra 505 / White's Classic III / DetectorPro Pirate
PLEASE don't use silver polish on coins. It will make them shine, but it will also take away detail. I have found that dipping a wet toothbrush in baking soda and lightly scrubbing the silver coin with it will shine it up nicely without damaging the coin.
 

TheRandyMan

Hero Member
Apr 3, 2010
576
16
Dallas, Texas
Detector(s) used
Excalibur II, Minelab Etrac, Ace 250k, Discovery TF-900
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
It really does these old bones good to hear the screams of "First Detecting Love" :wav:

Congrats! Keep up the great work and never let the fire die!!! :blob8:
 

curbdiggercarl57

Silver Member
Nov 19, 2007
4,362
1,041
Largo, Florida
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Whites Silver Eagle, DFX, Shadow X-2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I just three responses telling you how to clean your coins.

Real simple, don't.

Even if they aren't too valuable numismatically, getting in the habit of cleaning coins
can somewhere down the line cause you much grief.
One day you might find something, clean it, and then find out that you pretty much destroyed any value.
Been there, done that.
Carl
 

mainer

Silver Member
May 3, 2005
3,405
38
Maine
Detector(s) used
Minelab Etrac
Fisher F75 SE
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
CurbdiggerCarl57 said:
I just three responses telling you how to clean your coins.

Real simple, don't.

Even if they aren't too valuable numismatically, getting in the habit of cleaning coins
can somewhere down the line cause you much grief.
One day you might find something, clean it, and then find out that you pretty much destroyed any value.
Been there, done that.
Carl

I agree Carl. :icon_thumright: That being said those are two nice looking coins. :thumbsup:
 

ANTIQUARIAN

Gold Member
Apr 24, 2010
12,844
27,390
Upper Canada 🇨🇦
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Lesche Piranha 35 Shovel & 'Garrett Carrot'
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Very nice coin finds there Mammothman! :icon_thumright:

I agree leave the patina :o, if you ever decided to trade or sell it . . . I'd let the next guy polish off the history! :'( Once you polish it you can never put the age back on!

Dave
 

neuseman

Full Member
Mar 11, 2011
202
19
Beaufort NC
Detector(s) used
Ace 250 and Omega 8000
I still scream when I find a clad quarter!!!! Afraid what Id do if I found silver. Probably scream like 2 girls.
 

Diggin-N-Dumps

Gold Member
Sep 9, 2009
6,046
3,781
Fort Worth,Texas
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030 / AT PRO / Etrac w/ NEL
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
tim g said:
PLEASE don't use silver polish on coins. It will make them shine, but it will also take away detail. I have found that dipping a wet toothbrush in baking soda and lightly scrubbing the silver coin with it will shine it up nicely without damaging the coin.

Awesome Finds!!!.. I personally wouldnt clean them at all, keep them the way they came out,

The thing is..You can always clean them later, but you can never Unclean them if you do so now :thumbsup:
 

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