:usaflag: Paying My Dues!! :detecting:

[Cupajo]

Hello Fellow Hunters!

It would be great if every hunt was like the last two I had, but (and there is always a "but") things just don't happen that way!

Yesterday I spent 5 hours hunting in some of the nicest water/weather conditions (clear/calm/comfortable).

I located 87 targets and recovered 85 with the Dual Field. (I can be a bit tricky pinpointing, but obviously recoveries don't suffer too much!!)

[attachment 178442 Rough5HoursofHunting11-03-10004Large.jpg]

19 bottle caps (1 with the glass neck screwed on)

coins, fishing tackle, odd bits of junk, several bullets, 7-nickles (2 buffalo), 8 dimes (1-roosie, 1-mercs), 5 -pennies ( 2-wheaties), 5-clad quarters.

A silver toe ring, a tiny 1/20th 10K gold filled ring and a small brass religious medal to name a few.

From the old coins it's obvious that even though the area has been hunted hard by myself and others, there is still stuff out there for the finding!!

Is this a great hobby or what!!??

After 5 hours of moving a ton or so of sand and small boulders I thought I might have to have a back hoe haul my 69 year old bones home, but somehow I made it and after a buisy days work today I found the strength to write this post.

This is the kind of hunt I have come to see as "paying my dues" by cleaning up targets so I won't be bothered with them next time!!

GL&HH Fellow Hunters,

CJ

 

[Micheal_R]

n/t

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Regardless, you are finding some great treasure. You are doing good! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Royal]

n/t

 

[Cupajo]

Thanks Guys for your replies!

When silver coins are lost in the briny deep (or even shallow) they are attacked by the salt/wave action and slowly oxidize.

They often will waste away so badly you can bend the thin wafer/coin between your fingers!

Most of the time they are un-fit for collecting or marketing as rare and are only valuable for bullion content.

I did find a merc dime and a 1941 quarter recently that were in fair condition and I could make out the dates on them. They had no incrustation to peel away,
rather were coated with a very thin coating of silver oxide,

I am always glad to find them in any condition, but prefer to find them on dry land where they sometimes look brand new!

GL&HH Friends,

CJ

 

[Cupajo]

[attachment 178527 RazorThinRoosie11-05-10002LargeLarge.jpg]

[attachment 178528 RazorThinRoosie11-05-10006LargeLarge.jpg]

[attachment 178529 RazorThinRoosie11-05-10007LargeLarge.jpg]

A short photo essay illustrating the salt water damage to silver coins I mentioned above,

CJ

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

What about the silver coins found in fresh water, they suffer the same fate too? Kelley (Texas)

 

[Cupajo]

Hi Fred,

The more exposed to wave action the worse the destruction of the silver object.

Coins and jewelry are equally affected.

I haven't hunted fresh water, but suspect that silver in a saltfree environment will be in a lot better shape when recovered.

Thanks for your reply Friend,

CJ

 

[Micheal_R]

n/t

 

[Royal]

I have never found a silver coin that did not come out black. The can be cleaned though but most are damaged by the sand and water movement. Face it though, very few coins that we find have any real value other than bullion.

There is one place that the encrustation is exceptional, of all the places I have detected though. The Depot Beach on Lake Charlevoix. I suspect that somewhere in its past something has been dumped in the water, it is a beach now, that just destroys silver coins. I found a 1853 half dollar once that as I cleaned the thick layer of crud off the thing the design just flaked away. Now it is just a slug. I was lucky to see what it was before the face fell away. I have found a bunch of barber dimes there too and every one was junk. Black and double the normal thickness when found.

There is something in that soil

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

if the silver coins and rings are damaged from being in the water? I remember years ago that I did some metal detecting at a school with beautiful grass. Most of the silver coins found were a black or a blue color. Now I know why...the ground keepers were constantly watering the grass. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

n/t

 

[Cupajo]

Fred, as you know I have found plenty of gold since 1982 when I started metal detecting and on average 14K, 18K and the more pure alloys will not tarnish or oxidize.

12K, 10K and other alloys with a greater amount of metals other than gold will and do tarnish. (Not the gold, but the alloy metal.)

I was one of the first hunters to work the local beaches and found somewhere between 10 and 20lbs of silver coins and jewelry over the years and unless it was a very recent drop each piece showed signs of oxidizing.

I found 1 silver dollar that was maybe 3/4 intact.

I'll dig it out and post a photo.

Regards,

CJ

 

[Cupajo]

This is the only silver dollar I ever found.

After I cleaned it of the encrustation from the salt etc there was very little detail left.

[attachment 178580 OldSilver11-06-10004Large.jpg]

The Walking LIberty fared a bit better.

[attachment 178581 OldSilver11-06-10007Large.jpg]

The misc. jewelry and coins all came from the salt water beach I frequent and are in different states of corrosion depending on how long they were out there.

[attachment 178582 OldSilver11-06-10002Large.jpg]

To the upper left a couple of the rings had the band eaten away and one that was a wire ring is now almost gone!

The gold toned chain is Italian .925 and must not have been in the water very long.

[attachment 178583 OldSilver11-06-10011Large.jpg]

Oh yes, notice the two old watch fobs on the bottom of the pile.

One had a coin or medalion of some kind which was gone when I dug it up and the other has an old style car and airplane on it circa 1930s.

Best to Ya,

CJ

 

[bdahunter]

I've had some pretty thin dimes come up in my scoop but that's the first time I've seen that you can actually see through.

Good Looting to You, Mate.

BDA

 

[Cupajo]

Hey BDA,

Nice to hear from you!!

I don't "live" in the salt water like I did years ago, but I still get in the wet once in a while and have found a bit o the good stuff from time to time.

Thanks for you reply Fellow Hunter,

CJ

 

[Bayrat76]

It takes clad pennies just a few weeks in the water or beach sand down here to go to junk pile.