Step number two accomplished

[gordygroover]

Greetings all,
I figure my learning curve in the world of 'tecting is like this,
1, Find a coin
2. Find a wheatie
3. Find a silver coin
4. Find a piece of jewelry of worth

WHEW!!!! Took a few months but yesterday as I was driving in the old part of town I noticed a number of FOR SALE signs in front of homes built in the twenties and thirties.
Found a house that was definitely empty so I grabbed the yellow fellow and scoured the yard.
Just for a bit of history of my background, I have been hunting ballparks, school yards and our city parks. Trash and can-fetti have been as common as grass blades for most of my hunts so to hunt a private yard that wasn't a trash pit was a new experience.
Did find some miscellaneous crud...nails, wire clippings and such but finally hit a signal that sounded good.
Dug the plug and out popped the worlds smallest pocket-spill. Two pennies semi-fused together and as corroded and green as could be.
Hopeing against hope I gave them the spit-bath field test and BINGO!!! My first two wheaties!!
All right I know ninety percent of you are rolling your eyes....Two Wheaties, Big deal! But it is not the value of the find I am excited about. It is the step up the learning curve ladder that has got me pumped.
Now to get off my list is a silver-content coin. (got two in pizza change last week, does that count?)
No reason to post a pic......two pennies, I know but I am just waving my "Yay for me" flag.

 

[Goes4ever]

ah.........tell me you did not just stop there and hunt without permission?

congrats on the wheaties

 

[gordygroover]

actually I did hunt without permission.
Realator sign in the front yard and key lock-box on the door knob let me know that there was nobody to answer the door if I knocked.
True, I could have called the realator but you know what the people in the Bahamas say about permission and forgivness....

 

[Goes4ever]

good thing no one like a neighbor called the law on you............

 

[gordygroover]

actually the next door neighbor lady came out and asked if I was finding any "buried treasure?" She then showed me where the previous owners kids had their lemonade/Kool-ade stand and gave me permission to hunt her yard too as she could see that my plugs were replaced with virtually no sign of the lawn ever being disturbed.
The replacing of plugs with no sign of disturbance was the reason I spent so much time detecting in ball fields and parks. Pinpointing with the Ace was something I struggled with at first. I could get within a few inches one way or the other but I am now getting to the stage where I will be comfortable just using a coin popper with a few more months of swinging. (hopefully)
The yard configurations in the old part of town are front yards the size of postage stamps with the majority of the yard being the area between the curb and side-walk. The city owns that part of the property (of course the owner is taxed for it) and that part of the property falls into the same "freedom to hunt" category as all other city property.

 

[rmptr]

That little strip between the sidewalk and curb which the closest owner has planted grass on, and maintains, is called the parkway.

There are any number of parkway hunters in cities that do quite well...

Of course home owners get upset, from time to time, and it's best to move on, with a smile.

HH

 

[gordygroover]

how anybody could start digging in a lot or parkway while a house is still occupied takes more cajones than I could ever have. I have no problem chatting up people and by in large they are usually very friendly in regards to giving permission to sweep their property.
A good way to break the ice is to start a conversation with them as they are simply walking down the sidewalk or strolling out to fetch the mail.
Pretty much everybody has a bit of "the treasure hunter" in them and they get a charge out of it when you put your detector in their hand to let them give it a try.
Anything to break the ice.

 

[Paul(NWO)]

it belongs to the landowner and is private property. The deed to the lot extends to the middle of the street. The right-of-way is for utilities and the government only, city, county or state. You are trespassing if you hunt it but the police and don't have a clue as they are trying to keep the bigger crimes down. I don't suggest hunting it without permission. No matter where you live, it's a benefit to the hobby is you ask permission. I was denied permission to hunt an area near an 1812 fort because people had violated the owners property.

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

I used to live not too far from you in Monroe, Mi. Our property there stopped 1 ft. from the side walk. In WV it goes to the middle of the road.