Got out to a great location my friend had found where 20,000 Union troops had camped. We found a small field that looked promising and began hunting. After about 15 minutes, I got a solid 12-34 bullet signal and sure enough at 6 inches down pulled out a very nice Burnside bullet with a beautiful tan patina. There is nothing like pulling an item out of the ground that was last touched by a soldier over 150 years ago. A little lead always makes my day.
After another hour or so digging up all sorts of signals, I came across an iffy one that was predominantly reading iron and landing in the lower right corner of the screen but every once in a while it would hit on 11-44 and 12-44. It did it consistently enough that I decided to dig. I immediately saw that there were multiple iron targets in the hole and began pulling nails out of the hole. I scanned the hole again with the E-Trac and the 12-44 was not only still there but was beginning to dominate the screen. At about 6-7 inches I pulled some dirt out of the hole and saw the shine of old silver. Sitting in the dirt was a Seated dime! It has been a long time since I have found a Seated so I forced myself to relish the moment while I waited on my friends to come over and see it in the dirt. I then pulled it out to see that someone had clipped it in the past for some unknown reason right above where the date would have been. I was a bit bummed at first that I could not date the dime but quickly came to appreciate that it had probably been cut by a soldier in camp. The more I look at it, the more I love it. Like a carved bullet, perhaps a bored soldier in camp decided to give this seated dime his personal touch and then inadvertently left it for me to find over a 150 years later. However it happened, it now has a special place in my collection.
After another hour or so digging up all sorts of signals, I came across an iffy one that was predominantly reading iron and landing in the lower right corner of the screen but every once in a while it would hit on 11-44 and 12-44. It did it consistently enough that I decided to dig. I immediately saw that there were multiple iron targets in the hole and began pulling nails out of the hole. I scanned the hole again with the E-Trac and the 12-44 was not only still there but was beginning to dominate the screen. At about 6-7 inches I pulled some dirt out of the hole and saw the shine of old silver. Sitting in the dirt was a Seated dime! It has been a long time since I have found a Seated so I forced myself to relish the moment while I waited on my friends to come over and see it in the dirt. I then pulled it out to see that someone had clipped it in the past for some unknown reason right above where the date would have been. I was a bit bummed at first that I could not date the dime but quickly came to appreciate that it had probably been cut by a soldier in camp. The more I look at it, the more I love it. Like a carved bullet, perhaps a bored soldier in camp decided to give this seated dime his personal touch and then inadvertently left it for me to find over a 150 years later. However it happened, it now has a special place in my collection.
