Chris(SoCenWI)
Well-known member
Howdy all,
I was going to go for a long(ish) drive to check out a new site, but wussed out and went local instead. I headed over to a farm that I detected heavily last spring and found a few LCs and pretty IHs.
Last few trips there have been much swinging and little digging. Think I got one IH last time I tried. But it's a new year and what the heck.
First off found a War Nickel in an area that I had hit many times before. That was a good sign.
Later headed over to the ditch along the road in front; I hadn't detected this before. Powerlines overhead and figured the ditch was more recent and any older coins would have disappeared, plus can slaw, etc. I started at the top of the slope. Got a wonderful hit and out came a copper disk that at first thought might be a LC but too small. Very pretty 2 cent piece. Then a couple of feet farther an indian head. Decided then that detecting the rest of the ditch would probably be a good idea. On the return pass I detected lower in the ditch and got a wheat and another IH, 1876. Bright enough out that I could read the date.
I made another pass along the top of the ditch and got a wonderful deep signal. Pretty sure I had been over this part before. Just one of those times when you didn't put the coil over this patch of ground for some reason. It did not ring up like silver, was expecting another IH. I probed down with my periscope and found it 8 inches or more down. Dug it up and out of the hole came a silver rim. I hadn't found any old silver coinage at this site and was sure this was going to be seated, or perhaps even bust. Pretty disappointed to see it was a merc. I think it is probably an error coin, it was really a seated but they made a trip into the future and picked up some Merc dime dies and accidentally swapped them. Not sure how it got so worn.
[attachment 160612 2010-04-27.jpg]
The 2 Cent 1868, and the 1876 IH are in very nice shape, but have a bit of the crudies starting. West of here the soil is sandy and kind to copper, farther east is clay and many IHs are trashed. I may try electrolysis on these at some point in the future. Going to get me a precision Voltage Current regulated variable DC supply.
Chris(SoCenWI)
I was going to go for a long(ish) drive to check out a new site, but wussed out and went local instead. I headed over to a farm that I detected heavily last spring and found a few LCs and pretty IHs.
Last few trips there have been much swinging and little digging. Think I got one IH last time I tried. But it's a new year and what the heck.
First off found a War Nickel in an area that I had hit many times before. That was a good sign.
Later headed over to the ditch along the road in front; I hadn't detected this before. Powerlines overhead and figured the ditch was more recent and any older coins would have disappeared, plus can slaw, etc. I started at the top of the slope. Got a wonderful hit and out came a copper disk that at first thought might be a LC but too small. Very pretty 2 cent piece. Then a couple of feet farther an indian head. Decided then that detecting the rest of the ditch would probably be a good idea. On the return pass I detected lower in the ditch and got a wheat and another IH, 1876. Bright enough out that I could read the date.
I made another pass along the top of the ditch and got a wonderful deep signal. Pretty sure I had been over this part before. Just one of those times when you didn't put the coil over this patch of ground for some reason. It did not ring up like silver, was expecting another IH. I probed down with my periscope and found it 8 inches or more down. Dug it up and out of the hole came a silver rim. I hadn't found any old silver coinage at this site and was sure this was going to be seated, or perhaps even bust. Pretty disappointed to see it was a merc. I think it is probably an error coin, it was really a seated but they made a trip into the future and picked up some Merc dime dies and accidentally swapped them. Not sure how it got so worn.
[attachment 160612 2010-04-27.jpg]
The 2 Cent 1868, and the 1876 IH are in very nice shape, but have a bit of the crudies starting. West of here the soil is sandy and kind to copper, farther east is clay and many IHs are trashed. I may try electrolysis on these at some point in the future. Going to get me a precision Voltage Current regulated variable DC supply.
Chris(SoCenWI)
