Deus Snaps Up Another Early "S" Mint - A Rare One....

CZconnoisseur

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Jun 29, 2015
209
327
Colorado Springs CO
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XP Deus All Three Coils (9" currently), Tesoro Vaquero 8x9 and 5.75" DD coil, Fisher F70, White's Spectrum XLT, White's IDX, Garrett AT Pro, Fisher 1265-X, Fisher CZ5, Fisher CZ6, White's TM808, White
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All Treasure Hunting
Last week leading up to the Fourth of July we've been busy moving...finally got the majority of that mess in the rear-view mirror, and yesterday was the first time to get out in about a week.

Last hunt I bagged a VG-ish 1902 S Barber dime, and Mike had found two earlier "S" mint Barber dimes from the same little area on previous hunts. We've been going low and slow and taking our time here, and have both been rewarded with period coins mainly from the 1890-1920 timeframe.

So yesterday I picked up just a few feet from that last Barber, looking for the little peeps and squeaks that are often deep keepers. About 20 minutes into the hunt I got a tiny, desperate signal and from about 8" comes a handsome 1893 Indian cent. Next few targets were deep nails and a couple square nails, but that's usual for here so no big deal....

I wandered over into a slightly trashier area and got a shallow nickel hit, and lo and behold...from 5" came a 1981 Jefferson nickel :icon_scratch: How it's escaped both Mike and I remain a mystery after all these hunts, but if we've missed that shallow nickel...what else have we missed??? Dug a few pieces of foil and small aluminum, just as we always do, and then I remember getting a "50/50" hit - one that could go either way, but it's DEEP so it bears recovery....

Much to my surprise I saw a small silver coin which was a 1917 Merc...looked for the requisite "S" mintmark but this one was a Philly variety - there goes the "S" mint streak I thought to myself....there was a bent square nail about 4 inches from the Merc almost in the same hole - got that out expecting to hear more coins - but this hole was dry....

Had a brief lull and then got a fairly shallow 7-inch deep 1905 Indian cent just a little offset to where we've been hunting - an area that has lots of buried small trash but Mike and I are slowly pulling "everything that beeps" one target at a time - but the rewards are well worth it...

The next signal I decided to dig didn't have any magic tonal properties - it sounded like a deep beavertail, but those also can sound like coins...I remember being able to get a non-VDI hit in 4khz - it was steady from all sides and didn't crackle or sound clipped; and in 12kHz I actually got a 94-96 VDI but not on every sweep....just one of those signals that are worth digging, but you don't have too high hopes for. Saw a nickel in the dirt pile and then the 1896 date made my day! I could see the stars on the obverse, and for some reason it looked funny...didn't think too much of it and started to fill the hole when the Carrot went nuts on something deeper in the dirt pile. I saw the back side of a Wheat cent, and thought for a second "Oh, just a Wheat?!"

Turned it over and saw it still had some detail - then saw the date...1909. There was (and still is) some corrosion on both sides of the Wheat, but under the date I thought I saw a mintmark - and then immediately turned it over to look for the VDB. No VDB but still - after some tumbling the "S" mintmark became very clear and I couldn't believe it!

Honestly though - for being stuck next to a V nickel for probably more than 100 years this Wheat is in remarkable shape! The pictures show the corrosion patterns on the V nickel and Wheat cent - hard to believe what the world has come to since those coins were dropped...

SAM_2712.JPG SAM_2713.JPG SAM_2714.JPG SAM_2715.JPG SAM_2711.JPG
 

Upvote 17

Texas Ed

Bronze Member
Feb 5, 2016
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579
Texas Gulf Coast
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AT Pro - CZ-3D - Tesoro Cortez - Sea Hunter Mark II - GTI 2500 - GTAx 550 - F75 S E - F19 - Pro Pointer AT - Pro Pointer II - Perdator Raptor Model 31
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Metal Detecting
Great bunch of coins and all in good shape with nice detail "congrats" on your finds, persistence payed off well - thanks for sharing your pictures and story with us & wish you many more while out dirt fishin.

Texas ED
 

JeffInMass

Silver Member
Jan 14, 2006
4,711
7,154
Cape Cod
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Minelab Manticore, Minelab Equinox 600, Minelab Explorer SE Pro, Explorer XS, Fisher CZ6A
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Congrats on the awesome finds- Great work!! Take away the corrosion and that 09-S is a pretty high grade. GL on future hunts.

-- Jeff --
 

ArDirtSlinger

Hero Member
Mar 13, 2014
606
569
Arkansas
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XP deus; MI-6 pinpointer, TRX pinpointer, Lesche digger, Lesche Sampson, Predator Piranha
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Relic Hunting
V nickel is in great shape!!! Congrats...
 

ggossage

Hero Member
May 18, 2009
609
214
Eastern Nebraska
When it comes to the 1909 wheat, I always run down the checklist with excitement: 1909, check, VDB check, "S"....never for me yet and I've found at least 10 of those suckers....one day it'll come!
Those are a fine group of coins CZ and the sleuthing you've had to learn and put into practice is great for us all, so thank you for the details!
 

tabman

Bronze Member
Jul 5, 2011
2,306
7,241
Germantown, Tennessee
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Presently: CTX 3030, Tesoro Modded Cibola, F75LTD-2, XP Deus, Tesoro Mojave, MXT Pro, Tesoro Eldorado, Whites MXT All Pro, Minelab Equinox, Fisher CZ5 & CZ3D
Primary Interest:
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Taylor you're doing a fantastic job finding those older deeper coins. Big Congrats! I'm glad that you're out swinging again.

tabman
 

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