Coinshootin and sharpshootin

WinstonTX · Dec 17, 2011

Coinshootin' and sharpshootin'

My son and I got out in the gorgeous late-fall weather (mid-60's and sunny!) today and were rewarded with good times, some clad, and a WW2-era (I think) US Army sharpshooter qualification medal with "carbine" hanger! Both the main piece and the hanger are marked STERLING on the back :icon_thumright:

which leads me to believe WW2. I have read that they stopped making them out of .925 silver in the 60's. Any input on era would be appreciated, though. I wonder how this got into the ground? We were detecting a vacant lot where a house once stood. Perhaps the kids were playing with dad's medal, or maybe it fell off during a photo shoot? It is missing its backing pin... maybe that's how it ended up on the ground in the first place. Either way, we were really excited by this recovery. Also picked up '36 and '57D wheaties -- always happy to dig a wheatie.

hikeinmts · Dec 18, 2011

Re: Coinshootin' and sharpshootin'

I was in the Army in the 1960's, and never saw any of the marksmanship medals made out of sterling. That
doesn't mean that none were made, just that I didn't see, or don't remember seeing, them.
Good hunt......I think you said that it was in the 60's. Is that warm for where you live, or is that common
for December? Here, has been uncommonly warmer than normal, but temps dropped last week, and are
staying down.....probably will develop the frost layer so I won't be able to do any hunting / digging soon. Have to
wait until the spring.
Hope you get a couple more good hunts in before the 1st of the year.

jewelerguy · Dec 18, 2011

Re: Coinshootin' and sharpshootin'

cool marksman badge :thumbsup:

Cool Hand Fluke · Dec 18, 2011

Re: Coinshootin' and sharpshootin'

hikeinmts said:
I was in the Army in the 1960's, and never saw any of the marksmanship medals made out of sterling. That
doesn't mean that none were made, just that I didn't see, or don't remember seeing, them.
Good hunt......I think you said that it was in the 60's. Is that warm for where you live, or is that common
for December? Here, has been uncommonly warmer than normal, but temps dropped last week, and are
staying down.....probably will develop the frost layer so I won't be able to do any hunting / digging soon. Have to
wait until the spring.
Hope you get a couple more good hunts in before the 1st of the year.

The older marksmanship badges were all made out of sterling silver. This one is probably either from the Korean War or WWII. "Carbine" indicates the M1 Carbine riffle that was issued to infantry solders in the 1940's to mid 1950's.

Very nice find!

WinstonTX · Dec 18, 2011

Re: Coinshootin' and sharpshootin'

Thanks, for the info guys!

Houston weather this time of year is a crapshoot. It can be 60's or 70's, or it can be 30's (unusual, but it has happened a few times in the last 10 years or so). The ground never freezes down here, so detector season is year-round. We pay for that in the summer, though :icon_sunny: