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First Gold Coin and first Key date Indian!

Silverseeker

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Nov 25, 2004
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Location
Indian Wells Valley, CA
I usually try not to post my finds on too many forums, but two of the coins I found in the last two days are too good not to be seen by all. Following is the original text and photos that I posted yesterday on a different forum.

I located another aqueduct construction campsite this morning following a little research and lotsa gut feeling. I ended up in a huge area with loads of targets....ALL of them were old. This campsite was in use from 1908 to 1913 during the construction of the L.A. aqueduct. All of the targets below were found in a two hour hunt. There are some patent dates ranging from 1891 to 1908 on many of the items. I picked out all the easy targets, but you can bet I'll be back for the tough ones.

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OK, I saved the best part for last. I dug one lone Indian Head about an hour into my hunt. It was a later date, so I put it into my pouch and didn't give it much thought. I kept digging targets for another hour and decided to call it a day. I don't find alot of coins in desert sites, so one Indian was still a decent haul for a two hour hunt. When I got to the truck and put my equipment away, I pulled out my coin book to see what I'd found. I was expecting maybe a $4.00 coin.....or maybe a $15.00 one if I was lucky. I about had a heart attack when I saw it was $300.00 in G-4. And this coin is anything but G-4. I'd almost guess it was uncirculated when it was dropped. Even knocked down a grade or two due to minor corrosion, it may still be worth $400-500.

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The following is from day two, after a short hunt yielding only a Barber dime:

OK, I sit here typing with trembling hands. Not only did I have my greatest coin find yesterday, but I topped it less than an hour ago. After only a two hour hunt this morning, I got stir crazy this afternoon and drove back up to the aqueduct construction camp.

About an hour into my hunt, with fewer and fewer targets, I got a decent mid conductor target at about 3 inches. After digging hundreds of these signals in the last few days, I expected another button or suspender buckle. I dug a coin shaped object that appeared to be gold. Closer inspection caused a yell that must have been heard for miles. I was so excited that I couldn't hunt any more, so I packed up and headed home. I used extreme caution not to wipe it. (Remembering Tom's gold coin story) When I got home, I used water and blotted it with wet tissue paper.....no wiping.

From what I can see, there is no wear on this coin. Are there any experts out there that can give me a grade? There's a huge difference in values depending on grade.

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Upvote 0
holy cow crap............ well, thats all i got....... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
 
GREAT, GREAT GREAT finds!!!!!!!!!Each one itself would be a once in a lifetime find and to find two of them in two days is FANTASTIC....CONGRATS!!!!!! :):):):):)
 
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o My hands are trembling writing this response. I'd probably have a heart attack with either find, with both I'd be a gonner for sure. Holy cow!!!!!! Congrats ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
 
wow silverseekr, those are 2 great finds. Special congrats on the 5 dollar gold piece...that's incredible. I am so happy for you. I would have wet my pants!

Get them slabbed and graded and enjoy looking at them for many years to come.

BTW - You need to change your handle to Goldfinder!!!!!
 
Now your a member of the Gold coin Club!!! WTG ...That site you have there should give up plenty of nice finds . That area at that time in History was booming! Good Luck
 
Two of the best finds of the year. WTG!!

Beautiful coins!

99Brown
 
That's sure an awesome place to hunt.
Congrats on the superb finds!! There so purdy!!

Golden smiles!
BDoo
 
W :o W !!

L :D :D king good...WTG!!

;) RR
 
How lucky can you get? (V E R Y, V E R Y) . I'd say the IH cent would grade XF-45,
$500 range. :o If you were to sell it, you should demand 85% of the retail value, that's the going rate for this semi-key coin. Definitly worth sending to NGC or PCGS.
Those are the top two grading companies.
As for the gold IH coin, I can't make out the mintmark on the reverse (8 O'clock)
but it looks to be (fuzzy) about AU.
C O N G R A T's , You lucky dog !!!
:o
 
Awesome finds!!!!

I think I would send the ih to NCS for proper cleaning and then have them send it on to NGC for grading.
 
Oh man! Those are some Super de Ooper finds!

How much area do you have left to hunt? Who knows what else you might pull out?!

Congrats on some ultra sweet finds!
 
WOW!!! You found not 1 but 2 of the Holy Grails of detecting. Fantastic finds!!! You better hurry up and find out which is your best side, for those photos of you they'll be taking for the cover of Western & Eastern Treasures Let me be the first to ask you for an autographed copy when it comes out. WTG!!! HH
 
Congrats on your awsome finds and great post.


tinpan
 
Other than discovering a huge cache of treasure , you have accomplished the treasure hunter's dream in finding that gold coin. The vast majority of us will never find a gold coin in our lifetime! I'm not sure it has sunk in yet just how fortunate you are! This find will undoubtably go into the Tnet list of best finds, a shoo in! Excellent! Monty
 
Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very nice....one of the Pinnicles of MD'ing is to get one of those.

HH
-GC
 
Thanks for sharing the story and the pics, it always helps to hear others success stories!
 

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