mr_larry
Hero Member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2010
- Messages
- 504
- Reaction score
- 169
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Northern California
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Explorer SE Pro
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Lady Liberty sings twice from the same hole! (with "as it happens" video)
Before telling you of my incredible day yesterday, I'll catch you up on my very brief metal detecting history.
I bought my very first detector in November of last year after many discussions with Minelab dealer Mike, from Woodland Detectors I wasn't sure if the Minelab Explorer SE would be too difficult to learn and was strongly considering the Sovereign GT. Thanks to Mike's patience and many phone calls for steering me towards the Explorer SE, a decision I will never regret.
On my first day detecting, Sonoma Mike was kind enough to invite me to a park in San Francisco where he would be hunting that day. I showed up with my detector and my Lesche and not a clue in the world. I had no pinpointer, no gloves, nothing to put my dirt on, no idea how to dig a plug, and I was making a pretty good mess. Luckily that park was pretty sloppy to begin with so I didn't cause too much damage. Late in the day on my first hunt, I met Jayson (Staydetuned) and his father, Dana Point Val.
I got off to a slow start, but hooked up with Jayson in December and we quickly became friends. My confidence about walking into a park and digging holes quickly grew as Jayson and I spent more and more time together. I have a park 2 block from my house that I have hit regularly, and I have probably logged 200 hours on my machine.
The day before yesterday I found my first silver quarter, a 1962 Washington. Previously I have found two 1945 silver war nickels and one silver 1950 Roosevelt dime. Naturally I wanted my next coin to be a Mercury dime.
So yesterday Jayson and I were going to hit a new park that he had found. We got to this place and drove around a bit and checked it out. Although neither of us said anything, we were both thinking we would get kicked out but we started swinging the detectors.
Naturally Jayson started finding shallow wheats at only a couple of inches deep. Although there wasn't a lot of modern trash I was finding small bits of sweet sounding iron. After two hours of hunting I had only managed to find a 1970 penny and a rather deep 1968 quarter.
Jayson was hunting about 150 feet away from where I was. I hit a target a few feet away from a cement slab where there was a picnic table and started digging. Whamo! I see a nice silver coin with an eagle on it. I didn't even know what it was so I left it in the hole and tried to call Jayson over.
Once in a while I'll call Jayson over if he is nearby to have him listen to a target, but he was really far away from me and he had his back to me. After the longest two minutes I finally caught his attention and he headed over. Mind you, my hopes for the day were that I would find a Mercury dime, and I pulled a beautiful 1933 Walking Liberty Half Dollar out of this hole. Here is a picture after finding the first Liberty half. I'm tickled pink and have no idea what is about to happen.
I didn't want to scratch the coin and there was a drinking fountain nearby, so I decided to rinse the coin. Just before heading over to the fountain, half jokingly and as an after thought, I put my probe back down in the hole and said, "I wonder if there is anything else down there?" Sure enough, the probe was singing.
We cleaned up the coin, regrouped and decided to film the retrieval of whatever else might be down there. Watch the video. You can watch the large version on YouTube by right-clicking the video and selecting "Watch on YouTube."
After pulling two Walking Liberty half dollars (1933, 1918) out of the same hole, I found another target 12-inches away that turned out to be a super clean 1937 Washington Quarter. All of the coins came from the San Francisco mint. Jayson surmises that all three coins were the result of a pocket spill from roughly 1937-1940. I must defer to his good judgment (and others that have chimed in privately).
The rest of the day was uneventful for me and I really had a tough time concentrating. Jayson found some silvers and a ton of wheats, but I'll let him tell you about that.
Thanks for reading and Happy Hunting!
PS: I'm still hoping my next coin will be a Mercury dime!
Before telling you of my incredible day yesterday, I'll catch you up on my very brief metal detecting history.
I bought my very first detector in November of last year after many discussions with Minelab dealer Mike, from Woodland Detectors I wasn't sure if the Minelab Explorer SE would be too difficult to learn and was strongly considering the Sovereign GT. Thanks to Mike's patience and many phone calls for steering me towards the Explorer SE, a decision I will never regret.
On my first day detecting, Sonoma Mike was kind enough to invite me to a park in San Francisco where he would be hunting that day. I showed up with my detector and my Lesche and not a clue in the world. I had no pinpointer, no gloves, nothing to put my dirt on, no idea how to dig a plug, and I was making a pretty good mess. Luckily that park was pretty sloppy to begin with so I didn't cause too much damage. Late in the day on my first hunt, I met Jayson (Staydetuned) and his father, Dana Point Val.
I got off to a slow start, but hooked up with Jayson in December and we quickly became friends. My confidence about walking into a park and digging holes quickly grew as Jayson and I spent more and more time together. I have a park 2 block from my house that I have hit regularly, and I have probably logged 200 hours on my machine.
The day before yesterday I found my first silver quarter, a 1962 Washington. Previously I have found two 1945 silver war nickels and one silver 1950 Roosevelt dime. Naturally I wanted my next coin to be a Mercury dime.
So yesterday Jayson and I were going to hit a new park that he had found. We got to this place and drove around a bit and checked it out. Although neither of us said anything, we were both thinking we would get kicked out but we started swinging the detectors.
Naturally Jayson started finding shallow wheats at only a couple of inches deep. Although there wasn't a lot of modern trash I was finding small bits of sweet sounding iron. After two hours of hunting I had only managed to find a 1970 penny and a rather deep 1968 quarter.
Jayson was hunting about 150 feet away from where I was. I hit a target a few feet away from a cement slab where there was a picnic table and started digging. Whamo! I see a nice silver coin with an eagle on it. I didn't even know what it was so I left it in the hole and tried to call Jayson over.
Once in a while I'll call Jayson over if he is nearby to have him listen to a target, but he was really far away from me and he had his back to me. After the longest two minutes I finally caught his attention and he headed over. Mind you, my hopes for the day were that I would find a Mercury dime, and I pulled a beautiful 1933 Walking Liberty Half Dollar out of this hole. Here is a picture after finding the first Liberty half. I'm tickled pink and have no idea what is about to happen.
I didn't want to scratch the coin and there was a drinking fountain nearby, so I decided to rinse the coin. Just before heading over to the fountain, half jokingly and as an after thought, I put my probe back down in the hole and said, "I wonder if there is anything else down there?" Sure enough, the probe was singing.
We cleaned up the coin, regrouped and decided to film the retrieval of whatever else might be down there. Watch the video. You can watch the large version on YouTube by right-clicking the video and selecting "Watch on YouTube."
After pulling two Walking Liberty half dollars (1933, 1918) out of the same hole, I found another target 12-inches away that turned out to be a super clean 1937 Washington Quarter. All of the coins came from the San Francisco mint. Jayson surmises that all three coins were the result of a pocket spill from roughly 1937-1940. I must defer to his good judgment (and others that have chimed in privately).
The rest of the day was uneventful for me and I really had a tough time concentrating. Jayson found some silvers and a ton of wheats, but I'll let him tell you about that.
Thanks for reading and Happy Hunting!
PS: I'm still hoping my next coin will be a Mercury dime!
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Now, just like walking into a casino for the first time and winning, you are SURELY hooked for life 
You don't often seen those 30's Washingtons too 
Well done, you deserved those big silver for your perseverence in that central spot!
