Todays Adventures

[mlw67]

Today's Adventures

I started out today going to a big old park (Washington Park, for you Portlanders) to see if I could find some oldies like bscofield has been doing lately.

Mind you, I'm not really a park hunter. I just thought I would give it a try. So after sinking a few mine shafts deep, deep down and not finding anything, and after hunting about 2 hours with a few measly pennies for my efforts, I started to head back to the car.

Part way back to the car I had the thought that most guys probably were hunting this place on full discrimination, so I turned mine way down to see what would happen. What happened was I dug about a bazillion caps and pulltabs on my way to the car. The bonus was a 1940 nickel that also turned up this way. Yippee.

So I left the park a bit disgruntled, having used up most of my hunting time confirming what I already figured--that there are probably no easy coins in Washington Park.

I stopped on the way home to hunt a teeny spot I had noticed this morning when I was going to an estate sale. I hunted *maybe* 15 minutes, and pulled out way more clad than I found at the park, plus a 1947-D quarter. WHY do I bother going to the parks in the first place? This is not the first time I thought I would try it and left disgruntled. Pfffft. Hey, I got some silver and learned a lesson. Trust my instincts.

The first picture is finds from the park.

The second picture is what I should have been hunting all day.

 

[Nate in Ohio]

Re: Today's Adventures

Yes, the parks can be very challenging and very frustrating. It helps to keep hopping to different parks and trying different locations (like in the woods). Of course private property is the best and easiest sites to hunt, but usually area there is limited and the spots run out quick. Then you gotta find some stranger (perhaps) to negotiate another hunt with. It's not easy to just line up a bunch of private sites for huntin. Anyway, congrats on the quarter. Keep huntin, HH!

 

[mlw67]

Re: Today's Adventures

Some interesting viewpoints on here!

I think Badger sums up how I feel about it the most. I want it quick!

Partly I think I was spoiled from hunting back in the 70s and 80s.

I remember in 1983 finding a 20-foot wide by 100-foot long strip of dirt that had been a park from 1890 to 1955. My buddy and I were the first people to set a coil to that dirt, and we spent months digging bucketfulls of old coins out of there. I found my first Morgan there along with lots of other lovelies.

I guess some part of me keeps hoping that I'll find some place like that again. Heck, I looked almost all summer for a particular spot like that (probably this site would be better) but without much to show for it--and I don't mind that I don't have much to show for it, because of what it promises should I find it. Next spring will tell me a lot. So yeah, I guess I'm looking for another good spot in general--and the park isn't it.

Today I went to some strange locations I had picked out to survey, and though I didn't find much, strange locations yielded strange finds. Check out this curvy 1951 Canadian cent!

PS: I've had lots of indian heads ring up as zinc pennies, so I concur with that--for whatever reason they ring up a bit lower than other pennies a lot of the time.

 

[coolcash2004]

Re: Today's Adventures

Nice finds!

-CC

 

[279785]

Re: Today's Adventures

Nice finds!!

ML

 

[Boobydoo]

Re: Today's Adventures

Nice silver quarter, love it, congrats!
Hope your instincts serve you well next time too! Good luck!!

Smiles!
BDoo

 

[JerV3]

Re: Today's Adventures

Nice 47 you got there.

HH Jer

 

[desecrator]

Re: Today's Adventures

As for the IH's, the last two I dug were basically solid masses of green corrosion. It took forever to scrape enough away to even get a date. Anyway, both read +54/+55 on my XLT. This IS the usual zinc cent reading. In old spots though, I always dig solid signals. The worst that happens is you dig a new cent... The last IH I dug last week was 1 1/2" down in a "well hunted" part of my park (if 3 Mercs within 20' is "well hunted" ). I was sure it would be a Zincoln, but I was rewarded with a quite crusty 1897 IH. Now, in a 1950's area where I'm shooting for late era silver, I'd be far less likely to dig a mid +50 reading.

Oh, and I've also noticed that old nickels tend to read in the low +70's like copper pennies. I think it just depends on how old coins corrode and decay in the ground...

 

[mlw67]

Re: Today's Adventures

Thanks for all the great comments everyone! I really appreciate it.

I think coins tend to 'halo' in certain ground conditions causing them to ring up funny. Thus the zinc reading on indian heads. I never noticed the high reading on old nickels, but that could be a difference in our soils. I do find it interesting that you (desecrator) said you were using an XLT, since that is the machine with which I first noticed that phenomena. My Classic IDX does the same thing.

 

[desecrator]

Re: Today's Adventures

Yeah, our ground here does some nasty things to old cents and nickels (but on the upside, the silver comes out beautiful). Today, I dug a V Nickel (I think its an 1884, but it must have been heavily worn when it was dropped) that had a complete thick green crust of corrosion. I've only seen this before with IHs and early Lincolns. This read mostly in the low +20's but one pass did show in the +70's. My guess is that because "nickels" are actually a copper/nickel alloy, the nickel might leech out in our soil, leaving a mostly copper coin. It seems like the older the nickel is, the more it behaves like a cent... the 1901 V nickel I found in the same park last week was far less corroded and the Buffaloes I've found here show no green at all. Either way, I dig solid signals in both ranges, so an inconclusive VDI is overruled by a good tone...

It would, however, be a moot point if I could just find all silver coins