My Lifetime Finds: Updated with non-coin finds

[chuckbordell]

Well, since it's cold as heck here in Montana and I won't get out again until spring, I decided to do a little retrospective. I've been metal detecting since I was 12, with a few years off here and there for college, etc I've also been keeping meticulous records the whole time, charting my finds by date found, depth, year, condition, where found,etc. I thought the stats might be of interest to some people here at T-Net. The photo represents some of my favorite finds, but not not nearly everything, of course.

So, here we go: total coins: 15,551

Indian 1c - 153
Buffalo 5c - 125
Liberty 5c - 39
Shield 5c - 1
S. Roos. 10c- 214
Merc 10c - 264
Barb 10 - 57
seated 10c - 3
S. Wash 25c - 76
Standing 25c - 7
Barb 25c - 7
seated 25c - 3
Franklin 50c - 4
Walking 50c- 6
Barber 50c - 2
Seat 50c - 1
Peace $ - 2
Morgan 1$ - 1
Two Cents - 2
3c nickel - 1
S. Can. 10c - 10
S, Can 25c - 3
Can 1/2 dime - 1
Silver 1/2 Reale - 1

Oldest 1c - 1864
" 5c - 1867
" 10c - 1875
" 25c - 1858
" 50c - 1877
" $1 - 1888
" Canadian coin - 1859
" foreign coin - 1668 Chinese Cash Coin

Most coins in one day - 172
Most in one hole - 16
Deepest coin - 8"
Most silver in one day - 14 (11 dimes, 3 quarters)
Most valuable coin - 1909 S vdb Lincoln (x 2)
Rings - handsfull

Here's some statistics I've calculated from detecting for many years in both Pennsylvania and Montana: In PA, 6% of all coins found were silver. In Montana, 3 % of all coins found are silver. Oddly, the silver found in Montana has been of larger denomination and older than in PA. This seems backwards, but this is how it happened - Montanans worked mainly for the forestry and railroad industries up through the 1960's, and those jobs paid in hard cash far longer than they did in PA. So those large silver coins stayed in circulation in greater numbers in MT for more years, while in PA people picked the old coins out and also didn't mind using paper money. Banks were greatly distrusted in MT up until after WWII.

For those who might be curious about the number of wheat pennies I've found, well, I stopped counting them years ago but I weigh them from time to time. I've got about 30 pounds of them in a big bin. ;-)

thanks for looking

Chuck

 

[River Rat]

Re: My Lifetime Finds

Those are some awesome finds...great collection over the years, glad you kept up with the hobby. Would love to see the rings, can you post a pic of them?

RR

 

[BuckleBoy]

Re: My Lifetime Finds

Great to keep records--keeps the memory sharp after thousands of sites.

I'd also love to see photos sometime of relics and interesting items in your collection. What kind of hunting do you primarily do?



Regards,



Buckleboy

 

[chuckbordell]

Re: My Lifetime Finds

Plehbah- yes, the record keeping is very revealing in the long term. I sometimes do percentages of silver dimes versus total dimes, etc. etc. You'd never guess I got my undergraduate degree in Archaeology, huh?

Buckleboy- I'll put together a bunch of relics, tokens etc over the weekend and post a picture of them. I've found some very interesting items. I mainly coin hunt, since I've been landlocked both in PA and MT, except for a few vacations. Haven't done much relic hunting, but I'm sure I would enjoy it.

Not going to ba able to photograph the rings though, because I usually sell any gold jewelry almost immediately, although I have a pile of sterling lying around. I also give the gold rings out to family members like Mom, Sis, etc.

Chuck

 

[cntrydncr1]

Re: My Lifetime Finds

That is quite impressive. I hope to find some of those large coins someday!!! congratulations and keep on digging! It is funny..one day my sister asked me how I got interested in detecting and I said "I'll bet you didn't know I wanted to be an archeologist once upon a time?"

 

[Jerry1NJ]

Re: My Lifetime Finds

Great finds!!!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Re: My Lifetime Finds

Buckleboy- I'll put together a bunch of relics, tokens etc over the weekend and post a picture of them. I've found some very interesting items. I mainly coin hunt, since I've been landlocked both in PA and MT, except for a few vacations. Haven't done much relic hunting, but I'm sure I would enjoy it.

I look forward to seeing the photos. As you know, whether you Relic Hunt or not--relics can be found just about anywhere. Some of them really cool, and some of them very valuable.



Best Wishes,



Buckleboy

 

[chuckbordell]

Re: My Lifetime Finds: Updated with new relic photo

Here is a photo of some of my non-coin finds over the years. These are just the ones that were easy to grab off the shelves, I've got so many baxes and bags full of stuff that I need to someday organize.

Hope you enjoy,

Chuck

 

[Goes4ever]

what an awesome collection of finds! thanks for sharing

 

[Urban Grund]

Wow! The stats are cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[BuckleBoy]

AWESOME~!


I love the keys and tokens. Looks like a 12 1/2 center in the mix. Nice relics



-Buckles

 

[chuckbordell]

AWESOME~!


I love the keys and tokens. Looks like a 12 1/2 center in the mix. Nice relics



-Buckles

Yeah, Missoula had a lot of saloons back in the day, so I find tokens all over the place. Got the ones good for a free cigar or free drink, good for 5c, 12.5 c, etc. I can check out the old photos and actually see some of the saloons the tokens came from. Pretty cool.

Chuck

 

[donny_n_mo]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[River Rat]

I did enjoy, Chuck! Those are some great finds...I like the old reel. Thanks for sharing these with us.

RR

 

[adh247]

i like those peace dollars

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

Amazing collection, many more years to go!

 

[kdismuke1]

great collection. i like all of it. congrats.

 

[BuckleBoy]

This is a GREAT post! Thank you again for sharing.

 

[gold nuggets]

I enjoyed reading you post Chuck.
You have found quite a variety of items over the years.
Thanks for sharing them with us on T-Net.
Hope to make it back to Missoula sometime this summer
for a visit. Will look you up then.
Gold Nuggets

 

[crazyjarhead]

Awesome collection