sgoss66
Well-known member
Headed out to my trusty old "hunted out" park today; finds at this old park are generally very thin here to begin with, and after a few hunting partners and I hammering the place with Explorers/E-Tracs for the past 6 months, it's getting REALLY thin!
Still, there are finds to be made; today, instead of search for deepies in the less trashy/more wide-open parts of the park, I decided to stick on the 5" SunRay coil and dive into some of the trashier, more heavily-used spots that I've been over many times in the past with larger coils.
I started off quite frustrated; at times I find myself working TOO hard, trying to turn an iffy, deep, likely-to-be-rusty-nail into a "partially masked silver coin next to a nail," and that's what I was doing for the first hour or so today. For some reason, I never can make that happen! I think only Bryce, and a few select others know the difference between a good-sounding nail false high tone, and a coin sitting next to a nail high tone!
So, I gave up on that idea, as a couple dozen bent rusty nails in my pouch, and nothing more, reminded me that I simply don't have the skill to do that! So I changed tactics a bit, moving super slow and looking for more repeatable hits that I could "separate out" from nearby trash. Immediately, I started having results. I got a 1-mil Oklahoma tax token first, and then a '19-S wheatie. Shortly thereafter, not far away, I got a '26-D wheat. Each of these targets had either iron or modern trash nearby -- likely why I had missed them with the larger coils.
The next target that sounded diggable was just slightly higher than a zinc penny, but showed about 4-5" deep, and knowing the depth of most targets in this park, I knew the 4-5" depth to be deeper than most zincs, and on the fringe of the depth that you can start to find Indians in this particular park. Thinking I had a probable Injun, I dug it -- and was very surprised to see a TINY silver coin rim in the plug. I did not know what I had; I thought perhaps Canadian, but unlike other fishscale coins I'd seen/dug, this one did not say "Canada" on it. Here it is, cleaned up:
[attachment 231539 threepenceobverse.JPG]
And, here's the reverse:
[attachment 231540 threepencereverse.JPG]
After googling, it turns out it's a British coin, a 1904 Edward VII threepence. It's a .925 (sterling) coin, and is MUCH smaller than a dime -- 16 mm in diameter vs. a dime at nearly 18 mm, and it weighs only 1.4 grams, versus 2.3 grams for a dime. I had never seen, nor found, a coin this small, and it makes you wonder how a turn-of-the-century British coin ends up in a local park in central Oklahoma! Definitely a memorable way to hit the 50 silver coin plateau for the year!
I also closed out the hunt with a large man's ring, looks to be "occultic" or "wiccan," with the "pentagram" on it. It doesn't look silver to me, but it is stamped .925, so maybe it is.
Here is the ring, along with the rest of the finds. You can kind of get an idea of the size of the threepence, compared to the wheaties...
[attachment 231541 5-2-12GoodFinds.JPG]
Thanks for looking,
Steve
Still, there are finds to be made; today, instead of search for deepies in the less trashy/more wide-open parts of the park, I decided to stick on the 5" SunRay coil and dive into some of the trashier, more heavily-used spots that I've been over many times in the past with larger coils.
I started off quite frustrated; at times I find myself working TOO hard, trying to turn an iffy, deep, likely-to-be-rusty-nail into a "partially masked silver coin next to a nail," and that's what I was doing for the first hour or so today. For some reason, I never can make that happen! I think only Bryce, and a few select others know the difference between a good-sounding nail false high tone, and a coin sitting next to a nail high tone!
So, I gave up on that idea, as a couple dozen bent rusty nails in my pouch, and nothing more, reminded me that I simply don't have the skill to do that! So I changed tactics a bit, moving super slow and looking for more repeatable hits that I could "separate out" from nearby trash. Immediately, I started having results. I got a 1-mil Oklahoma tax token first, and then a '19-S wheatie. Shortly thereafter, not far away, I got a '26-D wheat. Each of these targets had either iron or modern trash nearby -- likely why I had missed them with the larger coils.
The next target that sounded diggable was just slightly higher than a zinc penny, but showed about 4-5" deep, and knowing the depth of most targets in this park, I knew the 4-5" depth to be deeper than most zincs, and on the fringe of the depth that you can start to find Indians in this particular park. Thinking I had a probable Injun, I dug it -- and was very surprised to see a TINY silver coin rim in the plug. I did not know what I had; I thought perhaps Canadian, but unlike other fishscale coins I'd seen/dug, this one did not say "Canada" on it. Here it is, cleaned up:
[attachment 231539 threepenceobverse.JPG]
And, here's the reverse:
[attachment 231540 threepencereverse.JPG]
After googling, it turns out it's a British coin, a 1904 Edward VII threepence. It's a .925 (sterling) coin, and is MUCH smaller than a dime -- 16 mm in diameter vs. a dime at nearly 18 mm, and it weighs only 1.4 grams, versus 2.3 grams for a dime. I had never seen, nor found, a coin this small, and it makes you wonder how a turn-of-the-century British coin ends up in a local park in central Oklahoma! Definitely a memorable way to hit the 50 silver coin plateau for the year!
I also closed out the hunt with a large man's ring, looks to be "occultic" or "wiccan," with the "pentagram" on it. It doesn't look silver to me, but it is stamped .925, so maybe it is.
Here is the ring, along with the rest of the finds. You can kind of get an idea of the size of the threepence, compared to the wheaties...
[attachment 231541 5-2-12GoodFinds.JPG]
Thanks for looking,
Steve
Congrats
