Kimster
01-28-2011, 10:10 PM
My father owns two adjoining lots, with a little house on one lot, on the north coast of California. We lived in that house from the time I was one to three-years-old (1948 thru 1951). The property has been in the family for around 100 years. 100 years ago, it had a barn on it. My dad has always kept the property as we used it as a vacation home until he retired in the 70's, when he moved in permanently.
The house occupies about 1/6th of the property. My dad brought in around 20 yards of gravel several years ago in order to have a place in the back to park his truck. This graveled area occupies approximately another 1/6th of the property. The rest of the property is open grass (volunteer, but a beautiful, wild coastal mix) that my dad keeps mowed.
I visit him for about one week out of every month. In the past, I had hunted the property with my Prizm III. I had found several wheaties, two pieces of antique jewelry and the green truck pictured here. But when I hit the property with my new MXT Pro this week, great things began to happen, and I've only hunted about 1/4 of the open area with the MXT.
The first thing I found was a silver dime (1964 Roosevelt...just made it). It's not pictured here as it is currently in the tumbler (it's not a key date and I just wanted a shiny silver dime).
My next find was the Eisenhower dollar (does this coin contain some percentage of silver?). I got a hit that was nothing more than a slight increase in the threshold volume with no VDI number. I assume this is what is meant by the term “whisperâ€. The depth came up as between 10 and 12 inches (it bounced between the two). In an attempt to follow Jeff Foster's advice in The MXT Edge, I dug it. What a surprise to pull out this coin. It was around 11 inches down. Lesson learned! Thanks Jeff! I think I’ll leave this coin as it is, without tumbling.
My next find was the very cool Tootsie Toy race car! This, and all the other cars I found, came up as a “Bottle Capâ€, with a VDI of around 56. I would not expect to actually find any large number of bottle caps in my dad’s yard, and was overjoyed to get several Bottle Cap hits when I quickly surveyed the yard before I left to return home (lots more to dig!).
The sad thing is that I hit both the Tootsie race car and the green truck with my digging tool, and damaged both. The damage you see in the photos was due to my careless digging (another lesson learned, twice!...from now on Bottle Caps in my dad’s back yard will get very careful treatment). The green truck had all four tires still intact, one of which I later broke off when trying to slide it on the axel (leave the tires where you find them on these old toys).
The yellow truck front end, which was the last thing I found before quitting for the day, came out as you see it. A careful sweep of the area revealed no other pieces.
The ironic thing is that these toy cars may have been mine. I have been the only child of the right age living in this house since 1951, though it may have come from an earlier time (perhaps someone can verify the time frame for the Tootsie Toy cars).
All three cars may be Tootsie. However, the racer is the only one on which I can find a label verifying this (see photo). The label has worn off (or was never effectively stamped – see photo) on the green truck. The only word that can be made out is “madeâ€. The part of the yellow truck that is missing most likely contained the label for that toy. All are all metal with rubber tires (the yellow truck front end came up with 1/2 of the right front tire - no tires remained on the racer).
The house occupies about 1/6th of the property. My dad brought in around 20 yards of gravel several years ago in order to have a place in the back to park his truck. This graveled area occupies approximately another 1/6th of the property. The rest of the property is open grass (volunteer, but a beautiful, wild coastal mix) that my dad keeps mowed.
I visit him for about one week out of every month. In the past, I had hunted the property with my Prizm III. I had found several wheaties, two pieces of antique jewelry and the green truck pictured here. But when I hit the property with my new MXT Pro this week, great things began to happen, and I've only hunted about 1/4 of the open area with the MXT.
The first thing I found was a silver dime (1964 Roosevelt...just made it). It's not pictured here as it is currently in the tumbler (it's not a key date and I just wanted a shiny silver dime).
My next find was the Eisenhower dollar (does this coin contain some percentage of silver?). I got a hit that was nothing more than a slight increase in the threshold volume with no VDI number. I assume this is what is meant by the term “whisperâ€. The depth came up as between 10 and 12 inches (it bounced between the two). In an attempt to follow Jeff Foster's advice in The MXT Edge, I dug it. What a surprise to pull out this coin. It was around 11 inches down. Lesson learned! Thanks Jeff! I think I’ll leave this coin as it is, without tumbling.
My next find was the very cool Tootsie Toy race car! This, and all the other cars I found, came up as a “Bottle Capâ€, with a VDI of around 56. I would not expect to actually find any large number of bottle caps in my dad’s yard, and was overjoyed to get several Bottle Cap hits when I quickly surveyed the yard before I left to return home (lots more to dig!).
The sad thing is that I hit both the Tootsie race car and the green truck with my digging tool, and damaged both. The damage you see in the photos was due to my careless digging (another lesson learned, twice!...from now on Bottle Caps in my dad’s back yard will get very careful treatment). The green truck had all four tires still intact, one of which I later broke off when trying to slide it on the axel (leave the tires where you find them on these old toys).
The yellow truck front end, which was the last thing I found before quitting for the day, came out as you see it. A careful sweep of the area revealed no other pieces.
The ironic thing is that these toy cars may have been mine. I have been the only child of the right age living in this house since 1951, though it may have come from an earlier time (perhaps someone can verify the time frame for the Tootsie Toy cars).
All three cars may be Tootsie. However, the racer is the only one on which I can find a label verifying this (see photo). The label has worn off (or was never effectively stamped – see photo) on the green truck. The only word that can be made out is “madeâ€. The part of the yellow truck that is missing most likely contained the label for that toy. All are all metal with rubber tires (the yellow truck front end came up with 1/2 of the right front tire - no tires remained on the racer).