OLD Church Gives Up... An Oldie!

Brendan M.

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Location
Warrensburg, New York
Detector(s) used
White's DFX, Bullseye II pinpointer, Gray Ghost Headphones
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello Again!

Today was an interesting, at times awesome, day in the field. Check out this story:

I headed out at about 3:30 pm after taking care of biz at home (gotta keep the wife happy :wink:) and went to my usual old park. Well, after about three hours of sweating with very little to show for it, I decided to call it quits. I jumped in the car, chomped down a granola bar and headed out for round two somewhere else.

Maybe I was feeling a little delirious, or maybe it was just frustration, but at any rate I felt a little more aggressive than usual and decided to knock on the pastor's door at a local church -- one of the older churches on Long Island, I might add. After about two minutes of friendly chit-chat the Reverend kindly told me to knock myself out, as long as I carefully patched up his lawn. Deal!

Now this was exciting stuff, but it's also kinda funny. You see, there's a fellow detectorist I know who attends this church, and he's already hunted this place quite a few times before. When I asked him about it, he told me he found nothing, save for some clad (and I believe him). When I started hunting, the Reverend also mentioned that the place had been hunted before (by the guy I know), and that this person had covered every inch of ground. I politely explained about different machines, ground conditions, blah blah blah, and said I'd like to give it a try myself. This fellow I know is a nice guy but pretty green (and uses an iffy machine), so I figured he simply missed the goodies. Away I went.

It didn't take long to realize I was right, and that this spot is going to be my new second home: After about 15 minutes of searching a side yard I hit a signal about 3 inches down, and out came this very worn, very old-looking copper disc. Even with just a field cleaning I knew it was probably an old British colonial copper, so I giddily pocketed it and kept searching.

With what little time I had, I focused on the front lawn and some of the side yard. Not a ton of finds, but the front lawn gave up a gorgeous old brass key plate, which I'm thrilled to add to my collection. And oh yeah, the coin was a 1724 George I Halfpence!!!! It's worn to hell, but the date is clear, so I'm cool with that. :wink: Not to mention, this is now the new oldest coin I've found. It's knocked off the 1738 1 Reale I found last month (although that baby remains my favorite find to date). Needless to say, I'm going back!

Stay tuned......

Cheers and HH,
B
 

Attachments

  • 1724 George I Halfpence Reverse (Medium).webp
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  • 1724 George I Halfpence Obverse (Medium).webp
    1724 George I Halfpence Obverse (Medium).webp
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  • Key plate Lg (Medium).webp
    Key plate Lg (Medium).webp
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Upvote 0
civilman1 said:
Oldie but definetley a Goodie.....Can't believe that date stand's out like it does for being that old.....Great Job :thumbsup:

I know, right? The whole thing was downright bizarre. I NEVER would've suspected any of it. If only LCs held up so well....
 

Natman said:
What a find! And at 3 inches deep! Amazing. When I'm really in the mood to hunt and have no place to go, I ask permission at places I would normally shy away from..I guess desperate times call for desperate measures!!

WTG :thumbsup:
Nat

Indeed, Nat. You can't let a perfect day of hunting end in skunkage :wink: A TNetter's gotta do what a TNetter's gotta do.

I'm still shocked by the shallow depth. I was thinking about it a lot today. Maybe they moved around some dirt or something at some point. I mean geez, I almost didn't dig it, because it was so shallow. Imagine that!

Cheers and HH,
B
 

tymcmurray said:
Beautiful coin!!!
I would love to find a george I or II!
Enjoy your future hunts there and good luck.

Thanks!

Keep plugging. (Pun intended.) You'll get yours!

Cheers and HH,
B
 

Neil in West Jersey said:
Great finds! It is funny, I was thinking about you at about 10:30 last night as I was driving home from the East End. As I was passing the park I was realizing I hadn't seen many posts from you lately. I brought my detector hoping to get out yesterday morning, but I got "the look" from my wife!

I did see some potentially good sites not far from you, so next time I am out your way I will give you a hollar!


Congrats on your new oldest find!

Neil

Thanks Neil. I'm gonna send you a PM.

Cheers,
B
 

WTG bmanley :occasion14:

I'd hit the whole site HARD !!

Whats the history of the church ? ...and before the church ??

Congrats on a Geo I 1724 !!

Derek :icon_study:
 

awesome finds brendan congrats and good luck on the next hunt
 

silverfreak said:
Nice :thumbsup: Holy cow that's an oldie :icon_sunny:
dgaughan said:
awesome finds brendan congrats and good luck on the next hunt

Thanks guys!!!
 

Derek752 said:
WTG bmanley :occasion14:

I'd hit the whole site HARD !!

Whats the history of the church ? ...and before the church ??

Congrats on a Geo I 1724 !!

Derek :icon_study:

Thanks Derek, as ever. :wink:

The church is early 1800s, but the grounds are much older, in use since the 1600s I'd imagine. A few different uses of the land over the years. Aside from that it's just a really nice old church with a good amount of ground to cover. There's a small cemetery and some woods on the property. The Reverend is super nice, so this is a real treat to hunt.

I'm definitely going to pound the place. Luckily the soil is really easy to dig. So I don't mind digging most of my signals.

Stay tuned!

Cheers and HH,
B
 

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