NoThisIsPatrick
Full Member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2015
- Messages
- 136
- Reaction score
- 634
- Golden Thread
- 1
- Location
- Washington
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Equinox 800
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
This involves a long story, so bear with me. The titular find occurred yesterday, but I’m a touch late in posting it because I’m still in shock.
This story starts last weekend really. In the Pacific Northwest, we don’t have the benefit of hundreds of years of history like other parts of the country. But we make do with what we got.
Last Saturday, I found a site that was untouched. My theory is that it was dirt that had been moved from a previous site and sat still since the 1950s or so. I ended up finding 9 silvers the first day, including two walking liberty halves and a dime trifecta. The greatest day detecting in my life to that point.
This is the first time I’ve had a site where it felt like every signal was something good.
The next day, I traveled to a different spot. For whatever reason, luck was on my side and provided multiple silvers. But once the silver dried up, I was summoned by a friend to a tearout up north.
This tearout wasn’t particularly old - maybe 1930s, and the new foundation was already laid with dirt spread everywhere. I worked my way through the dirt and came upon a squeaky high tone. Figured it might be a quarter or something but flipped the plug and bam! My first Morgan Dollar!! Took 5.5 years to find one and it was worn but dammit I love it!
Ended the day with 6 more silvers totaling 15 on the weekend. Crazy output and the most prolific weekend since I’ve started this hobby.
BUT IT DIDNT STOP.
The next week or so I got out sporadically. I’ll post those hunts in this thread separately as it was typical stuff like a couple mercs, some buttons, etc.
Fast forward to this past Sunday. I called up Brandon who was driving over from Ellensburg to meet me near the spot where I found all those silvers the first day.
Since I live closer I beat him there and started swinging. Wasn’t finding much, couple wheats and some odds and ends. All of a sudden, some random guy on a bike goes by me and says “that’s a stupid f*cking hobby”. I was dumbfounded and turned around to face him, but was met with “that’s creepy as f*ck dude.” I just sat there and laughed at him as he rode away. That was a first.
Less than five minutes later, I got a choppy 18-22 on the Nox. I dug a plug and saw the target was straight down. Figured it was probably a wheat or maybe an IHP, but I was NOT expecting to see what I saw…
Gold! A gold coin rim, to be exact. I knew it was a coin instantly. I sat up, muttered “no way” to myself, grabbed the clump of dirt with the coin, and sprinted back to my car. The only time in my detecting career I’ve left a plug open. I didn’t care. In that moment, I wanted to see what I found.
I got to my car and instantly FaceTimed Brandon, who was 20 minutes behind me at this point.
“DUDE. YOURE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT I JUST FOUND.”
My detecting buddies and I always pull pranks on each other, so he probably thought I was pulling his leg at first. But when he saw the gold rim in the dirt, he knew as well as I did that this was legit.
I wiped the dirt off gently, revealing a beautiful old eagle and the inscription “five d.”
The rest of the hunt was surreal. I barely remember it now but I think I got an IHP and a merc, but I couldn’t focus on anything except that coin. In fact, I had to check my pocket every five minutes or so to ensure I hadn’t dropped it.
1905-S five dollar gold coin.
They’re out there folks!
And I hope that guy on the bike finds me again! Maybe he was the good luck charm!
Attachments
Last edited by a moderator:
