CZconnoisseur
Active member
Yesterday I had a little over an hour to hunt a curb strip in a 1900-1920 era neighborhood before having to drive home after our cookout....After becoming nearly comatose after the grilling, drinking, laughing, and chocolate cake I was finally ready to find some older coins after not being able to hunt all week....
Second signal that sounded "coinlike" turned out to be a nice 1920 buffalo, and then deeper and a little offset was a 1930 Wheat. I went low and slow once I got the Buffalo, running a 4Khz Reactivity 3 program that is able to nab coins in most cases at the 7" level maximum. The soil is very soft and sandy, but is much more mineralized than other parts of the state. Digging is wonderfully easy, and many times the older coins end up looking very preserved after tumbling.
Pulled a few zincolns out of a small area, and just off to the side I got a higher-pitched 67-69 indication with more than half of the horseshoe shaded. At only 3" deep, I felt a coin at the bottom of the hole, and then saw a green wreath looking back at me. This would be the oldest coin for the weekend, a nice 1887 Indian that tumbled into a handsome example except for a couple pits on the obverse. Went on to find another couple of shallow Wheats before the better half ended my fun by driving up and blowing the horn, signaling the end of the day
Today however I had most of the daylight hours to pick up where I'd left off, and hopefully get permission to hit some virgin ground in the neighborhood. Started hunting where I got the Indian, and pretty quickly came across a 5" Wheat dated 1929 S after about 10 minutes. The next old coin wouldn't surface for another 3 hours and when it did I was surprised! Pulled a 1941 Merc from 120 feet further down the curb strip after digging loads of aluminum, zinc pennies, deep iron nails of various sizes, and assorted foil at various depths. Right next to the Merc I pulled a Wheat....and then had my eyes on a house across the street that had just been mowed....
I waited for who I thought was the owner to come around the front of the house so I could approach him. Finally, he came around to take some items to the curb...and started talking to him. I wasn't in any hurry to get started so he and I talked for a few minutes about the hobby. He was taking care of the house for his brother who lived elsewhere, and always wanted to "start detecting" but never picked up a machine to try it out. I suggested a few beginner models - and that's when I interjected and said "Let me show you how it works!" I took off the phones and set the speaker to "ON" - was in Full Tones and 4Khz. I passed a nickel, penny, and quarter in front of the coil and he noticed the different tones - a quick way to guesstimate what you have the coil over before digging. Showed him the difference between the little pops and squeaks from iron vs a coin signal, and he seemed to start to get the idea.
Three swings in I had a 1940 Wheat at 3" deep. It was on! Five feet away came another Wheat, this one dated 1935 S. A few feet further and I got a funny longer signal which turned out to be 2 war nickels and 1 Wheat in the same hole. After a few minutes he came around the front again and I showed him what I'd found already....he then became a little reticent of me pulling up all the goodies in his brother's yard and wanted me to stop I convinced him to let me finish the first half, and I'm glad I did...got a solid 84-85 indication at less than 2" deep and much to my surprise a 1942 Washington rolls out of the hole! I really thought it was going to be a clad quarter at that depth - but you just don't ever know! Last coin was a 1929 S Wheat, and a foot to the side of it was a folded Colorado tax token.
At the end of the hunt I layed out everything for the roundup photo on his porch. I had promised him half of what I found in his yard - and much to my surprise he only wanted two Wheats! I thanked him and ended up in a park, which was where I found some more clad, a junker ring that got me excited for a second or two, and a couple other tidbits.
Second signal that sounded "coinlike" turned out to be a nice 1920 buffalo, and then deeper and a little offset was a 1930 Wheat. I went low and slow once I got the Buffalo, running a 4Khz Reactivity 3 program that is able to nab coins in most cases at the 7" level maximum. The soil is very soft and sandy, but is much more mineralized than other parts of the state. Digging is wonderfully easy, and many times the older coins end up looking very preserved after tumbling.
Pulled a few zincolns out of a small area, and just off to the side I got a higher-pitched 67-69 indication with more than half of the horseshoe shaded. At only 3" deep, I felt a coin at the bottom of the hole, and then saw a green wreath looking back at me. This would be the oldest coin for the weekend, a nice 1887 Indian that tumbled into a handsome example except for a couple pits on the obverse. Went on to find another couple of shallow Wheats before the better half ended my fun by driving up and blowing the horn, signaling the end of the day
Today however I had most of the daylight hours to pick up where I'd left off, and hopefully get permission to hit some virgin ground in the neighborhood. Started hunting where I got the Indian, and pretty quickly came across a 5" Wheat dated 1929 S after about 10 minutes. The next old coin wouldn't surface for another 3 hours and when it did I was surprised! Pulled a 1941 Merc from 120 feet further down the curb strip after digging loads of aluminum, zinc pennies, deep iron nails of various sizes, and assorted foil at various depths. Right next to the Merc I pulled a Wheat....and then had my eyes on a house across the street that had just been mowed....
I waited for who I thought was the owner to come around the front of the house so I could approach him. Finally, he came around to take some items to the curb...and started talking to him. I wasn't in any hurry to get started so he and I talked for a few minutes about the hobby. He was taking care of the house for his brother who lived elsewhere, and always wanted to "start detecting" but never picked up a machine to try it out. I suggested a few beginner models - and that's when I interjected and said "Let me show you how it works!" I took off the phones and set the speaker to "ON" - was in Full Tones and 4Khz. I passed a nickel, penny, and quarter in front of the coil and he noticed the different tones - a quick way to guesstimate what you have the coil over before digging. Showed him the difference between the little pops and squeaks from iron vs a coin signal, and he seemed to start to get the idea.
Three swings in I had a 1940 Wheat at 3" deep. It was on! Five feet away came another Wheat, this one dated 1935 S. A few feet further and I got a funny longer signal which turned out to be 2 war nickels and 1 Wheat in the same hole. After a few minutes he came around the front again and I showed him what I'd found already....he then became a little reticent of me pulling up all the goodies in his brother's yard and wanted me to stop I convinced him to let me finish the first half, and I'm glad I did...got a solid 84-85 indication at less than 2" deep and much to my surprise a 1942 Washington rolls out of the hole! I really thought it was going to be a clad quarter at that depth - but you just don't ever know! Last coin was a 1929 S Wheat, and a foot to the side of it was a folded Colorado tax token.
At the end of the hunt I layed out everything for the roundup photo on his porch. I had promised him half of what I found in his yard - and much to my surprise he only wanted two Wheats! I thanked him and ended up in a park, which was where I found some more clad, a junker ring that got me excited for a second or two, and a couple other tidbits.
