Tommybuckets
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2015
- Messages
- 1,056
- Reaction score
- 1,894
- Golden Thread
- 1
- Location
- Bodymore, Metalland
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excal, Safari, Garrett infinium, Whites prizm 4
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I had the chance to hunt one of Maryland's first land grants yesterday. This site was incredible. It has Colonial artifacts right beside coins lost last week and you can't swing once without at least an iron signal. The family made their money as ship builders for the US during the War of Independence and after and there are four 20 pound cannonballs in the driveway. The walkways and area right around the house were clean of good sounding targets and it had been hunted before so I decided to try the massive front yard. I was swinging the Minelab Safari with the 15 inch WOT coil. This coil has sniffed out a large cent at 20 inches so I knew it would hit those deep old coins. What the Safari lacks in target separation and brains it makes up for in depth and coverage.
The lawn was the size of a football field and the EMI was overwhelming. The ground was soft as butter and there were several types of dirt. The red orange coin eating dirt, the black fluffy coin preserving dirt and some sandy loamy areas. The mosquitoes were like a flock of blackbirds engulfing me. First target was this nicely preserved Navy button which may be from the War of 1812. He's got the slightly longer neck. Well that got my blood pumping! The third target was a toasty large cent (that I suspect is a Flowing Hair type) so I tightened up my search pattern. TID was bouncy and impossible with the EMI so I dug any deep iffy signals that seemed to not be entirely iron. All the 1800s stuff was at 9-15 inches just under a layer of oyster shells and TID was bouncy as there was iron in the hole with several of the coins. The coins had large diffuse halos.
The Indian head rang up like a nickel which surprised me. I think its the "fatty" variety and its a different composition of metal than later Indians. I got a huge target that rang in like a can. When I dug it it was a silver plated decoration off a saddle with a piece of leather still attached. I got closer to the house and the next few coins were hidden in and under a matrix of nails. It felt like I was digging ghost targets since after popping the plug neither the pin pointer nor the detector could sense the target. I just kept digging down, down down until I could get the pointer to tell me I was close.
The unidentified (possibly French) coin rang up like a large cent on a few swings (32 Safari =78+/- AT pro) and I was so surprised with it and the next several digs I didn't take any in situ pics. I am counting it as a half because of the weight but since its not US its technically not a half dollar but the equivalent. Technicalities. Next I hit a few square nails and a large cent but it was toast. Then I got a cleaner signal and the Barber came out shallow at about 6 inches and clean and shiny. I was pounding a tiny area and digging anything that would give me a response out of the iron range. I got a really good signal but when I dug down there was a wire (probably live) and I couldn't work around it since the pointer was going off on the wire. Luckily it appeared I didn't cut the wire so after rooting around blind I filled it back in.
The Seated Liberty was the toughest coin since there was a bent square nail in the hole and it was hemmed in by roots. I kept cutting with the lesche and going deeper at a painfully slow rate until it came out with an oyster shell and a cool piece of a ceramic pot. A seated liberty half has been a bucket lister for me forever and I never thought I'd find one. I couldn't even read it I was practically shaking and I gave it a wipe and there she was! At this point I just started laughing maniacally because I was in disbelief and the care taker came out to check on me. I was laughing because I would have walked away from all these signals except for the Barber if I was anywhere else because they were so trashy. It felt like the worse the signal the better the coin. All three large silvers and a large cent were in close proximity to one another and there is still a giant target I want to investigate in case its a pile of coins but the care taker wasn't as enthusiastic when I said it would be a big plug, even after showing him the finds. Theres also the wire running straight through the site so I can't just attack it.
After I regained my composure I grabbed my phone and went away from the EMI. If I dug any more holes in that area there wouldn't have been any grass left. The plugs look like a minefield. I next found an old gas lamp, some plated napkin holders and the Roosie, the quarter and a wheatie near some junk jewelry so it looked as if they liked to picnic on the front lawn. I did get a few pics there. Before I knew it it was dark and the mosquitoes were trying to carry me off so I reluctantly packed it in.
I can't wait to go back and work this site with the AT pro and a smaller coil as it may run quieter than the Safari. I am worried a small coil won't get me to depth but I'll let you know. I am also surprised that I didn't find any half dimes or older nickels, only Jeffersons. I know they must be here but are too small / deep to get a response. Any rate that's the story of my best coin day ever with three bucket listers! When I get all the artifacts cleaned up I'll post some pics. I always wanted some inspirational finds to post for you all. Thanks!
The lawn was the size of a football field and the EMI was overwhelming. The ground was soft as butter and there were several types of dirt. The red orange coin eating dirt, the black fluffy coin preserving dirt and some sandy loamy areas. The mosquitoes were like a flock of blackbirds engulfing me. First target was this nicely preserved Navy button which may be from the War of 1812. He's got the slightly longer neck. Well that got my blood pumping! The third target was a toasty large cent (that I suspect is a Flowing Hair type) so I tightened up my search pattern. TID was bouncy and impossible with the EMI so I dug any deep iffy signals that seemed to not be entirely iron. All the 1800s stuff was at 9-15 inches just under a layer of oyster shells and TID was bouncy as there was iron in the hole with several of the coins. The coins had large diffuse halos.
The Indian head rang up like a nickel which surprised me. I think its the "fatty" variety and its a different composition of metal than later Indians. I got a huge target that rang in like a can. When I dug it it was a silver plated decoration off a saddle with a piece of leather still attached. I got closer to the house and the next few coins were hidden in and under a matrix of nails. It felt like I was digging ghost targets since after popping the plug neither the pin pointer nor the detector could sense the target. I just kept digging down, down down until I could get the pointer to tell me I was close.
The unidentified (possibly French) coin rang up like a large cent on a few swings (32 Safari =78+/- AT pro) and I was so surprised with it and the next several digs I didn't take any in situ pics. I am counting it as a half because of the weight but since its not US its technically not a half dollar but the equivalent. Technicalities. Next I hit a few square nails and a large cent but it was toast. Then I got a cleaner signal and the Barber came out shallow at about 6 inches and clean and shiny. I was pounding a tiny area and digging anything that would give me a response out of the iron range. I got a really good signal but when I dug down there was a wire (probably live) and I couldn't work around it since the pointer was going off on the wire. Luckily it appeared I didn't cut the wire so after rooting around blind I filled it back in.
The Seated Liberty was the toughest coin since there was a bent square nail in the hole and it was hemmed in by roots. I kept cutting with the lesche and going deeper at a painfully slow rate until it came out with an oyster shell and a cool piece of a ceramic pot. A seated liberty half has been a bucket lister for me forever and I never thought I'd find one. I couldn't even read it I was practically shaking and I gave it a wipe and there she was! At this point I just started laughing maniacally because I was in disbelief and the care taker came out to check on me. I was laughing because I would have walked away from all these signals except for the Barber if I was anywhere else because they were so trashy. It felt like the worse the signal the better the coin. All three large silvers and a large cent were in close proximity to one another and there is still a giant target I want to investigate in case its a pile of coins but the care taker wasn't as enthusiastic when I said it would be a big plug, even after showing him the finds. Theres also the wire running straight through the site so I can't just attack it.
After I regained my composure I grabbed my phone and went away from the EMI. If I dug any more holes in that area there wouldn't have been any grass left. The plugs look like a minefield. I next found an old gas lamp, some plated napkin holders and the Roosie, the quarter and a wheatie near some junk jewelry so it looked as if they liked to picnic on the front lawn. I did get a few pics there. Before I knew it it was dark and the mosquitoes were trying to carry me off so I reluctantly packed it in.
I can't wait to go back and work this site with the AT pro and a smaller coil as it may run quieter than the Safari. I am worried a small coil won't get me to depth but I'll let you know. I am also surprised that I didn't find any half dimes or older nickels, only Jeffersons. I know they must be here but are too small / deep to get a response. Any rate that's the story of my best coin day ever with three bucket listers! When I get all the artifacts cleaned up I'll post some pics. I always wanted some inspirational finds to post for you all. Thanks!
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