CZconnoisseur
Active member
Took a little weekend trip to the Windy City to visit some friends who live in a 1900s-1910s era neighborhood. I had never detected here before but the potential for so many old coins was too great to NOT take the Deus! We drove up on Sat night and didn't arrive until 5:00am the next morning, but right as the sun came up I turned on the Deus in the usual 12 khz program and swept some of the yard to get an idea of target density - no digging yet just wanted to see what I was working with. The EMI was fantastically crappy in ALL frequencies, and this was something I just had to work around, but there were plenty of targets just begging to see the light of day!
Went to sleep after a quick scan, slept until noon, and then the party started! I helped cook some ribs in between several types of Polish beers, and in almost no time was feeling ready to get started
uhh...detecting! This was Mother's Day, and around 1:30 my friend's grandmother showed up...she remembered my name but I felt like such a putz for not remembering hers...
She doesn't speak much English, and has trouble hearing, but at 85 years old she is still sharp as a tack! About an hour later my friend's parents show up and by this time most of the cooking is finished. I was tasked at pulling the extra table out of the basement and setting it up in the living room, but after a couple Tyskies, an Angry Orchard, and one or two Zwyiecs my coordination wasn't really there. I was doing well until I had to attach the legs to the table using a ratchet - easy stuff, right? Well, on the third leg I forgot to tighten the two bolts COMPLETELY and when I flipped the table over to set it down I saw the wobbly leg, overreacted, and fell onto the table and then the floor 
Rather than everyone being concerned, we all broke out into laughter...even Grandma chuckled which is a rare thing! 
The same table would claim another victim that day...my friend's wife! That night we were breaking everything down when she decided to flip over the table and disassemble it...this table has a tile surface and is very top-heavy - well, she flipped it alright, and took a header into the bookcase and fell onto the table much the same way I did
Poor Karolina! I tried not to laugh and my friend warned her to leave the table alone but she wasn't having it - definitely good times.
After a good visit with their extended family, I let the alcohol detoxify somewhat and began searching the yard. This house was built in 1911 and the lot next to it had never been built on...and the neighbor's house is the same way! If you've ever been to some parts of Chicago there are houses that are 4 feet apart and the lucky ones have a vacant lot next door which is usually community property b/t the two adjacent houses. It must have been about 5:00 when I got started - and the first two coins were dated 1964 - a nickel and a penny. Third target was a 1945 Wheat, and the trash here was very manageable - most of it was aluminum siding scraps.
The ground was of a very dark and sticky consistency with most of the clad having a stubborn layer that had to be tumbled away. However, this ground is much kinder to copper coins than the soil here in W Tenn and for this I was thankful. Most coins were 2-4" deep - there were a couple shallow surprises - namely a 1" deep 1928 Wheat and a 2" dateless Buffalo nickel not 10 feet from the Wheat.
Stayed in 12khz the entire time and fought EMI most of that time - it died down a good bit around midnight. When I had covered the entire lot and retrieved most of the shallower targets, I turned Reactivity to 2 to look for those deeper targets. I remember getting a faint non-VDI hit after pulling a bottlecap and recovered an 8" Wheat dated 1925. Four feet away there was a slightly stronger signal that read "81-84" and from 6" deep came a worn 1919 Wheat. The 1920 Mercury dime was a shallow 3" deep hit that read 87-88 in 12khz, and sounded like every other copper penny recovered. Sometimes thin dimes will read like a copper penny - I've learned to just dig it all if it sounds good, and out of curiosity I will dig crappy-sounding targets "for fun" and get surprised at times!
The next day we had to pack up and leave in the early afternoon, so I got up around 10:00 and gave it a couple more hours. Stayed in 12khz and Reactivity = 2 and almost right away there came a very faint low-to-mid toned non-VDI hit close to where the first Wheat was located. I dug a 6" plug and got a hit in the center of the bottom of the hole, thrust my fingers into the dirt and felt a coin...it felt like a nickel - and from 8-9" out came a fairly detailed 1918 Buffalo! I measured the depth on this one - and sat there for a minute in disbelief - what a detector! THis only fueled the fire and I knew my time was running out, so I decided to get rid of N2 and dig every solid hit with what time I had left. Nearby I got a fairly solid "64" that was junker ring #1 - still an exciting find! Then came another solid hit at "74" - not sure how I missed it before - but this was junker ring #2...a larger and more solid (but of a zinc alloy
) ring that sounded just a *hair* different from the usual "coin targets".
Then the neighbor came out and wanted to see what I had found. Reluctantly because time was running out, I showed him a few of the nicer finds...he then gave me permission to hunt his 1911-era home on a future trip! We were talking about coins and he asked how did the detector work around a chain-link fence - I said "Well, not too good...you have to swing parallel to the fence to avoid falsing". He and I were talking and I told him I found a mercury dime "here" and motioned the coil over the spot, but only inches away I got a low-to-mid tone that sounded almost like a nickel between 12-18" from the fence. Decided to dig it while he watched - and much to our surprise I pulled a 6-7"deep nickel, but I couldn't see Jefferson or a Buffalo anywhere. Took it over to the hose and saw the date - 1892!!!
"Well that's pretty #@^%#ing awesome!" he exclaimed...I think I had some exclamatory R-rated remarks too! A perfect top-off to a great hunt with friends, good food, family, and detecting! What else could one ask for (besides a gold coin or two LOL
)
Went to sleep after a quick scan, slept until noon, and then the party started! I helped cook some ribs in between several types of Polish beers, and in almost no time was feeling ready to get started
uhh...detecting! This was Mother's Day, and around 1:30 my friend's grandmother showed up...she remembered my name but I felt like such a putz for not remembering hers... She doesn't speak much English, and has trouble hearing, but at 85 years old she is still sharp as a tack! About an hour later my friend's parents show up and by this time most of the cooking is finished. I was tasked at pulling the extra table out of the basement and setting it up in the living room, but after a couple Tyskies, an Angry Orchard, and one or two Zwyiecs my coordination wasn't really there. I was doing well until I had to attach the legs to the table using a ratchet - easy stuff, right? Well, on the third leg I forgot to tighten the two bolts COMPLETELY and when I flipped the table over to set it down I saw the wobbly leg, overreacted, and fell onto the table and then the floor Rather than everyone being concerned, we all broke out into laughter...even Grandma chuckled which is a rare thing! The same table would claim another victim that day...my friend's wife! That night we were breaking everything down when she decided to flip over the table and disassemble it...this table has a tile surface and is very top-heavy - well, she flipped it alright, and took a header into the bookcase and fell onto the table much the same way I did
Poor Karolina! I tried not to laugh and my friend warned her to leave the table alone but she wasn't having it - definitely good times. After a good visit with their extended family, I let the alcohol detoxify somewhat and began searching the yard. This house was built in 1911 and the lot next to it had never been built on...and the neighbor's house is the same way! If you've ever been to some parts of Chicago there are houses that are 4 feet apart and the lucky ones have a vacant lot next door which is usually community property b/t the two adjacent houses. It must have been about 5:00 when I got started - and the first two coins were dated 1964 - a nickel and a penny. Third target was a 1945 Wheat, and the trash here was very manageable - most of it was aluminum siding scraps.
The ground was of a very dark and sticky consistency with most of the clad having a stubborn layer that had to be tumbled away. However, this ground is much kinder to copper coins than the soil here in W Tenn and for this I was thankful. Most coins were 2-4" deep - there were a couple shallow surprises - namely a 1" deep 1928 Wheat and a 2" dateless Buffalo nickel not 10 feet from the Wheat.
Stayed in 12khz the entire time and fought EMI most of that time - it died down a good bit around midnight. When I had covered the entire lot and retrieved most of the shallower targets, I turned Reactivity to 2 to look for those deeper targets. I remember getting a faint non-VDI hit after pulling a bottlecap and recovered an 8" Wheat dated 1925. Four feet away there was a slightly stronger signal that read "81-84" and from 6" deep came a worn 1919 Wheat. The 1920 Mercury dime was a shallow 3" deep hit that read 87-88 in 12khz, and sounded like every other copper penny recovered. Sometimes thin dimes will read like a copper penny - I've learned to just dig it all if it sounds good, and out of curiosity I will dig crappy-sounding targets "for fun" and get surprised at times!
The next day we had to pack up and leave in the early afternoon, so I got up around 10:00 and gave it a couple more hours. Stayed in 12khz and Reactivity = 2 and almost right away there came a very faint low-to-mid toned non-VDI hit close to where the first Wheat was located. I dug a 6" plug and got a hit in the center of the bottom of the hole, thrust my fingers into the dirt and felt a coin...it felt like a nickel - and from 8-9" out came a fairly detailed 1918 Buffalo! I measured the depth on this one - and sat there for a minute in disbelief - what a detector! THis only fueled the fire and I knew my time was running out, so I decided to get rid of N2 and dig every solid hit with what time I had left. Nearby I got a fairly solid "64" that was junker ring #1 - still an exciting find! Then came another solid hit at "74" - not sure how I missed it before - but this was junker ring #2...a larger and more solid (but of a zinc alloy
) ring that sounded just a *hair* different from the usual "coin targets".Then the neighbor came out and wanted to see what I had found. Reluctantly because time was running out, I showed him a few of the nicer finds...he then gave me permission to hunt his 1911-era home on a future trip! We were talking about coins and he asked how did the detector work around a chain-link fence - I said "Well, not too good...you have to swing parallel to the fence to avoid falsing". He and I were talking and I told him I found a mercury dime "here" and motioned the coil over the spot, but only inches away I got a low-to-mid tone that sounded almost like a nickel between 12-18" from the fence. Decided to dig it while he watched - and much to our surprise I pulled a 6-7"deep nickel, but I couldn't see Jefferson or a Buffalo anywhere. Took it over to the hose and saw the date - 1892!!!
"Well that's pretty #@^%#ing awesome!" he exclaimed...I think I had some exclamatory R-rated remarks too! A perfect top-off to a great hunt with friends, good food, family, and detecting! What else could one ask for (besides a gold coin or two LOL
)
....those are some mighty fine trophies and an excellent write up!