19th Century Coins Found at Old Swimming Hole

UnderMiner

Silver Member
Jul 27, 2014
3,779
9,633
New York City
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur II, Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Broke out the detector today to uncover some history from my grandpa's old neighborhood. This is from a location that he told me he and his friends would go swimming in the 1930's and 40's. All land finds. I will break out the Excalibur II to do some underwater detecting of the area next week.

1883 Indian Head Cent:
20220915_180945.jpg

20220915_180921.jpg


1890 V Nickle:
20220915_152037.jpg

20220915_152030.jpg


1919 Buffalo Nickle:
20220915_172100.jpg

20220915_224254.jpg


1945 Wheat Cent:
20220915_175202.jpg


A silver-plated brass belt buckle with a patent date of Nov. 13th 1923. This was most likely lost by a kid who took off his belt to go swimming as I found it just by the water's edge:
Polish_20220915_222015837.jpg


Some of the old shell casings I dug. A .22 short rim-fire casing, a .32 short rim-fire casing, and a .32 short center fire casing:
20220915_215939.jpg

My grandpa told me that he and his friends would sometimes shoot .22 rifles in this area as well. According to him it was where the locals historically always went to do target practice with small arms. I feel that the presence of a .32 short rim fire casing gives credence to the fact that people have been shooting small arms here for a very long time. I don't know when .32 short rim fire pistols were last produced but I know it was likely before the turn of the 20th century.

This place was a popular swimming hole so I used the detector in places where I imagined people would throw their clothes before jumping in the water. I just thought, where would I put my pants if I were going swimming? Where would I sit to chill with my friends? I saw this big rock and said, that's the place I would sit, and boom an 1890 V Nickle right there, right where a pocket would spill a coin. Some kid sat there 130 years ago and lost his nickel.

Here is mostly everything I dug minus a few wrappers and balls of tin foil I threw away:
Polish_20220915_222122759.jpg

The two nails below the coins are hand-made square brass rivets. I am quite certain that these are from a boat. Alot of pull tabs.

As I was digging a Praying Mantis crawled on my arm. I took alot of pictures of it as it crawled and then when it was on my elbow I held it up to the sun to make it look like it was grabbing it. I call this picture Praying to The Sun:
20220915_145518.jpg
 

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Upvote 32

Digger RJ

Gold Member
Aug 24, 2017
19,508
33,618
SW Missouri/Oklahoma
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030; Minelab Equinox 800;
XP Deus 2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Broke out the detector today to uncover some history from my grandpa's old neighborhood. This is from a location that he told me he and his friends would go swimming in the 1930's and 40's. All land finds. I will break out the Excalibur II to do some underwater detecting of the area next week.

1883 Indian Head Cent:
View attachment 2046688
View attachment 2046689

1890 V Nickle:
View attachment 2046693
View attachment 2046694

1919 Buffalo Nickle:
View attachment 2046690
View attachment 2046698

1945 Wheat Cent:
View attachment 2046692

A silver-plated brass belt buckle with a patent date of Nov. 13th 1923. This was most likely lost by a kid who took off his belt to go swimming as I found it just by the water's edge:
View attachment 2046686

Some of the old shell casings I dug. A .22 short rim-fire casing, a .32 short rim-fire casing, and a .32 short center fire casing:
View attachment 2046687
My grandpa told me that he and his friends would sometimes shoot .22 rifles in this area as well. According to him it was where the locals historically always went to do target practice with small arms. I feel that the presence of a .32 short rim fire casing gives credence to the fact that people have been shooting small arms here for a very long time. I don't know when .32 short rim fire pistols were last produced but I know it was likely before the turn of the 20th century.

This place was a popular swimming hole so I used the detector in places where I imagined people would throw their clothes before jumping in the water. I just thought, where would I put my pants if I were going swimming? Where would I sit to chill with my friends? I saw this big rock and said, that's the place I would sit, and boom an 1890 V Nickle right there, right where a pocket would spill a coin. Some kid sat there 130 years ago and lost his nickel.

Here is mostly everything I dug minus a few wrappers and balls of tin foil I threw away:
View attachment 2046685
The two nails below the coins are hand-made square brass rivets. I am quite certain that these are from a boat. Alot of pull tabs.

As I was digging a Praying Mantis crawled on my arm. I took alot of pictures of it as it crawled and then when it was on my elbow I held it up to the sun to make it look like it was grabbing it. I call this picture Praying to The Sun:
View attachment 2046699
Very Cool!!! Congrats!!!
 

Jose The Goon

Hero Member
Apr 1, 2017
567
1,502
East Coast
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Whites 6000D, 6000Di, Eagle, & PI 1000
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Congrats ! Great finds. To think your grandfather used to go there with his friends & could have owned some of the things you found. That Buff/Indian must have been in great shape the day it was lost. Nice detail on the 1919. Old swimming holes are great places to hunt. You have a great place to keep going back to. Who knows what's waiting for you in the water. Some gold perhaps ?? Good luck !!!!!!!!!!!
 

jewelerguy

Gold Member
Jun 28, 2011
11,428
8,912
Oklahoma
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White's XLT
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copied this statement from the wikipedia page for .32 short rimfire: During its lifetime, the .32 rimfire was loaded with black powder, followed by semi-smokeless and smokeless powder loadings. While it was popular as a very effective small game caliber, it was considered obsolete by the late 1930s, in part due to the introduction of high-velocity versions of the .22 Long Rifle using smokeless powder
 

pepperj

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2009
37,434
138,758
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Deus, Deus 2, Minelab 3030, E-Trac,
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Nice going on the land finds.
Your Grandfather must be getting up there in age now to have been swimming back then.
Living history I call them now-can't beat the old historical memories passed along.
Best of luck on the water hunt.
 

Gare

Gold Member
Dec 30, 2012
7,434
14,001
Canton Ohio Area
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Presently using Deus 2's & have Minelabs, Nokta's Tesoro's DEus's Have them all . Have WAY to many need to get rid of some
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
NICE FINDS and BTW Thanks for saving PEOPLES FEET from the TRASH YOU GOT ALSO :)
 

Sandog

Bronze Member
Nov 27, 2017
1,323
2,892
Treasure coast
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Broke out the detector today to uncover some history from my grandpa's old neighborhood. This is from a location that he told me he and his friends would go swimming in the 1930's and 40's. All land finds. I will break out the Excalibur II to do some underwater detecting of the area next week.

1883 Indian Head Cent:
View attachment 2046688
View attachment 2046689

1890 V Nickle:
View attachment 2046693
View attachment 2046694

1919 Buffalo Nickle:
View attachment 2046690
View attachment 2046698

1945 Wheat Cent:
View attachment 2046692

A silver-plated brass belt buckle with a patent date of Nov. 13th 1923. This was most likely lost by a kid who took off his belt to go swimming as I found it just by the water's edge:
View attachment 2046686

Some of the old shell casings I dug. A .22 short rim-fire casing, a .32 short rim-fire casing, and a .32 short center fire casing:
View attachment 2046687
My grandpa told me that he and his friends would sometimes shoot .22 rifles in this area as well. According to him it was where the locals historically always went to do target practice with small arms. I feel that the presence of a .32 short rim fire casing gives credence to the fact that people have been shooting small arms here for a very long time. I don't know when .32 short rim fire pistols were last produced but I know it was likely before the turn of the 20th century.

This place was a popular swimming hole so I used the detector in places where I imagined people would throw their clothes before jumping in the water. I just thought, where would I put my pants if I were going swimming? Where would I sit to chill with my friends? I saw this big rock and said, that's the place I would sit, and boom an 1890 V Nickle right there, right where a pocket would spill a coin. Some kid sat there 130 years ago and lost his nickel.

Here is mostly everything I dug minus a few wrappers and balls of tin foil I threw away:
View attachment 2046685
The two nails below the coins are hand-made square brass rivets. I am quite certain that these are from a boat. Alot of pull tabs.

As I was digging a Praying Mantis crawled on my arm. I took alot of pictures of it as it crawled and then when it was on my elbow I held it up to the sun to make it look like it was grabbing it. I call this picture Praying to The Sun:
View attachment 2046699
Excellent finds, excellent post, excellent creativity on the photo. thanks.
 

Chilli

Hero Member
Feb 10, 2022
848
2,926
OZ
Detector(s) used
Xterra 705
Garrett 24k
AlgoForce E1500
Broke out the detector today to uncover some history from my grandpa's old neighborhood. This is from a location that he told me he and his friends would go swimming in the 1930's and 40's. All land finds. I will break out the Excalibur II to do some underwater detecting of the area next week.

1883 Indian Head Cent:
View attachment 2046688
View attachment 2046689

1890 V Nickle:
View attachment 2046693
View attachment 2046694

1919 Buffalo Nickle:
View attachment 2046690
View attachment 2046698

1945 Wheat Cent:
View attachment 2046692

A silver-plated brass belt buckle with a patent date of Nov. 13th 1923. This was most likely lost by a kid who took off his belt to go swimming as I found it just by the water's edge:
View attachment 2046686

Some of the old shell casings I dug. A .22 short rim-fire casing, a .32 short rim-fire casing, and a .32 short center fire casing:
View attachment 2046687
My grandpa told me that he and his friends would sometimes shoot .22 rifles in this area as well. According to him it was where the locals historically always went to do target practice with small arms. I feel that the presence of a .32 short rim fire casing gives credence to the fact that people have been shooting small arms here for a very long time. I don't know when .32 short rim fire pistols were last produced but I know it was likely before the turn of the 20th century.

This place was a popular swimming hole so I used the detector in places where I imagined people would throw their clothes before jumping in the water. I just thought, where would I put my pants if I were going swimming? Where would I sit to chill with my friends? I saw this big rock and said, that's the place I would sit, and boom an 1890 V Nickle right there, right where a pocket would spill a coin. Some kid sat there 130 years ago and lost his nickel.

Here is mostly everything I dug minus a few wrappers and balls of tin foil I threw away:
View attachment 2046685
The two nails below the coins are hand-made square brass rivets. I am quite certain that these are from a boat. Alot of pull tabs.

As I was digging a Praying Mantis crawled on my arm. I took alot of pictures of it as it crawled and then when it was on my elbow I held it up to the sun to make it look like it was grabbing it. I call this picture Praying to The Sun:
View attachment 2046699
Love those Indian Head coins. 😀
Was super lucky to find one once here in Oz. Not the best condition but one of my favourite finds for sure, very rare to get them here and nobody I know had ever found one in Australia 👍
Great finds there.
 

Lenrac2

Silver Member
Apr 1, 2021
2,784
6,456
Illinois
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Denise-Nokta Legend/Garrett Apex Nox600
Bob-AT Max/ Nox800
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Great finds! I love the mantis pic!!
 

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