Dr. Ace
Sr. Member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2007
- Messages
- 426
- Reaction score
- 1
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- South-Central Iowa
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab E-Trac, Garrett Ace 250
I had a couple of hours to hunt after work today, and since the weather was beautiful, I took advantage to get out with the detector. The past three days it feels like I have been struggling to get the finds. I had managed about $6 in clad since Saturday, but today the coins just didn't seem to want to be found. I was hunting along a parking lot, near a grade school that was closed last year and sold to the college. This parking lot runs adjacent to a vacant lot that used to have a house on it. I started at the back of the lot and was working my way towards the street. About half way there, I got a strong dollar signal on the Ace 250. I turned 90 degrees and tried again, still a strong dollar signal. I have dug a lot of junk that showed a dollar signal, but this one stayed very repeatable, so I told the Ace that this was its chance to prove what it could do.
I wasn't disappointed. I carefully dug my plug, just in case there really was a dollar in there. The target wasn't in the plug, so I re-pinpointed and dug an inch to the left. About four inches down, at the bottom of the hole, was a large round object. I pulled it out and looked at it. "It's too big to be a coin," I thought to myself. It was really heavy. I wiped some of the dirt away and saw the word 'Liberty' along with some other writing. The other writing looked foreign. (Turns out it was! E Pluribus Unum.) It wasn't until I saw 1882 that I realized I had a silver dollar! Woo-hoo! The coin was pretty heavily encrusted, making it hard to read. I have been soaking it, trying to clean it up, but whatever is on there is pretty hard. It almost seems like concrete. If anybody has any suggestions on how to clean it, I would be glad to hear them.
This is by far my oldest coin - my previous record being a 1905 Indian Head Penny. It is also my first silver dollar. What began as a nondescript day of detecting was really brightened by my find. Finds like this are the reason we detect!
Thanks for looking, and HH all!
Dr. Ace
I wasn't disappointed. I carefully dug my plug, just in case there really was a dollar in there. The target wasn't in the plug, so I re-pinpointed and dug an inch to the left. About four inches down, at the bottom of the hole, was a large round object. I pulled it out and looked at it. "It's too big to be a coin," I thought to myself. It was really heavy. I wiped some of the dirt away and saw the word 'Liberty' along with some other writing. The other writing looked foreign. (Turns out it was! E Pluribus Unum.) It wasn't until I saw 1882 that I realized I had a silver dollar! Woo-hoo! The coin was pretty heavily encrusted, making it hard to read. I have been soaking it, trying to clean it up, but whatever is on there is pretty hard. It almost seems like concrete. If anybody has any suggestions on how to clean it, I would be glad to hear them.
This is by far my oldest coin - my previous record being a 1905 Indian Head Penny. It is also my first silver dollar. What began as a nondescript day of detecting was really brightened by my find. Finds like this are the reason we detect!
Thanks for looking, and HH all!
Dr. Ace
Upvote
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Dr Ace finds old Morgan silver dollar ...film at 11:00 WOO HOOOOOO 
