Don in SJ
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- May 20, 2005
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Yesterday I made my third trip to the homestead that I found the TALLYO cufflinks at. I was determined to break my mini large copper drought (since November) and was devoting the entire hunt to just that one homestead, instead of the usual, exploring afterwards for more.
I started out good with another Tombac button, but this one had no design, and then a couple very old spoon handle pieces and all of this was coming on the south side of the open area of the homestead that was frozen solid on the previous hunts.
I finally got a very high tone signal and the crosshairs on the Explorer were far upper right, so I knew I finally had a chance for an old copper. I never checked the depth reading, but usually my first step before digging is clearing away the leaf litter debris at the spot I have the reading and then pinpoint and dig. Well, after I kicked away the leaf mulch, where I did my initial pinpointing on the target, there now was no reading! Shooo, I know I was not imagining it (thinking to myself) and put the detector over the debris that I kicked away. I had the reading again.
But, that means it was almost a surface target and perhaps just a quarter dropped by a hunter. 
Believe it or not, that reading gave me trouble, I kept picking up clumps of leaf mulch and had trouble locating the coin. Then I looked down and there laying on the ground was a LARGE COPPER!
I was pleasantly surprised it was not a clad coin and now wondered if I previously dug this coin on one of my first two hunts, when I had to hack with the axe for some readings and had to give up on them due to frozen ground, but I do not remember any readings that were of the high tone coin type........ So perhaps a previous hunter years ago, unearthed it and never found it, just don't know. The bad news is, I think a coin lying unearthed now deteriorates at a faster clip, so I did not know what I had at the time, as it was thoroughly encrusted in dirt.
I called the wife then and told her I was happy to get my first old copper of the year and by the size I was thinking it was a worn out KGII copper or Draped Bust Large Cent.
I continued hunting, found a buckle and a large , old, not sure how old but a nice rusted dinner knife, which could be period for the homestead and assuming it is.
I ended up with two buttons, the buckle, the knife and the NJ coppers so overall, not a bad hunt.
As I was walking back to my truck I took the coin out of the folder and now that it dried some, I could see some detail! I had a SHIELD, so I knew right away it was a New Jersey copper, and a large planchet one to boot......
My glee was somewhat diminished upon cleaning it, the ground did take its toll on the coin, all the details are there, and I easily identified the variety as a very common Maris 64-t variety. The coin was pock marked with corrosion, which might have been attributed to being in the leaf mulch, which is highly acidic. Anyway, very happy to get another New Jersey to add to my state copper collection.
Don
I started out good with another Tombac button, but this one had no design, and then a couple very old spoon handle pieces and all of this was coming on the south side of the open area of the homestead that was frozen solid on the previous hunts.
I finally got a very high tone signal and the crosshairs on the Explorer were far upper right, so I knew I finally had a chance for an old copper. I never checked the depth reading, but usually my first step before digging is clearing away the leaf litter debris at the spot I have the reading and then pinpoint and dig. Well, after I kicked away the leaf mulch, where I did my initial pinpointing on the target, there now was no reading! Shooo, I know I was not imagining it (thinking to myself) and put the detector over the debris that I kicked away. I had the reading again.
But, that means it was almost a surface target and perhaps just a quarter dropped by a hunter. Believe it or not, that reading gave me trouble, I kept picking up clumps of leaf mulch and had trouble locating the coin. Then I looked down and there laying on the ground was a LARGE COPPER!
I was pleasantly surprised it was not a clad coin and now wondered if I previously dug this coin on one of my first two hunts, when I had to hack with the axe for some readings and had to give up on them due to frozen ground, but I do not remember any readings that were of the high tone coin type........ So perhaps a previous hunter years ago, unearthed it and never found it, just don't know. The bad news is, I think a coin lying unearthed now deteriorates at a faster clip, so I did not know what I had at the time, as it was thoroughly encrusted in dirt.
I called the wife then and told her I was happy to get my first old copper of the year and by the size I was thinking it was a worn out KGII copper or Draped Bust Large Cent.
I continued hunting, found a buckle and a large , old, not sure how old but a nice rusted dinner knife, which could be period for the homestead and assuming it is.
I ended up with two buttons, the buckle, the knife and the NJ coppers so overall, not a bad hunt.
As I was walking back to my truck I took the coin out of the folder and now that it dried some, I could see some detail! I had a SHIELD, so I knew right away it was a New Jersey copper, and a large planchet one to boot......
My glee was somewhat diminished upon cleaning it, the ground did take its toll on the coin, all the details are there, and I easily identified the variety as a very common Maris 64-t variety. The coin was pock marked with corrosion, which might have been attributed to being in the leaf mulch, which is highly acidic. Anyway, very happy to get another New Jersey to add to my state copper collection.
Don
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One day I'll find one. Maybe I'll be able to start some poking around this weekend. The snow has been melting quite nicely this week.
That one is at the top of my wish list.
Very strong date on the coin. I would be pleased with that one. The Maris 63-s I found last year had a weak date.
