My wife and I were driving the grandkids across town to a local lake in Kalispell, MT when I spotted some sidewalk removal in progress in front of an old school in an old part of town. These sidewalks went in back in the 1920's for the most part and I jump on them when they are being torn up if I can find them. I could not tell from driving by if they had already laid down the gravel bed, but I made a mental note to get back to check it out as soon as I had some time. As it worked out, I got back late that same evening and the dirt under the sidewalk still had not been removed. I slowly hunted about 50 feet of old dirt wit my E-trac, and in only about an hour I had found two 1900 Barber dimes and a 1905 IH penny (badly corroded), plus a small pearl handled picket knife and what I believe to be a decorative end to a hat pin. Unfortunately, the dirt under this section of sidewalk had been consistently wet for many years and there was a lot of pitting on the penny and on both dimes.
On Monday evening I went back over there to see if they had torn up any more, and sure enough they had gone the rest of the way down the block. I was able to spend another 45 minutes and only found one coin, but it was a keeeper. It was an 1896-S Barber quarter. It came out shiny and not pitted as the others had been. Evidently it had not been wet for a hundred years like the others. This one brought out the happy-dance as it was a first for me for this coin type, and a semi-key date besides. Thanks for looking.
On Monday evening I went back over there to see if they had torn up any more, and sure enough they had gone the rest of the way down the block. I was able to spend another 45 minutes and only found one coin, but it was a keeeper. It was an 1896-S Barber quarter. It came out shiny and not pitted as the others had been. Evidently it had not been wet for a hundred years like the others. This one brought out the happy-dance as it was a first for me for this coin type, and a semi-key date besides. Thanks for looking.
