Neil in West Jersey
06-01-2012, 12:43 AM
Sometimes I go a long time without digging a colonial or early US copper, other times it seems like they jump out of the ground and into my pouch. That is the way this year has been going.
Back in March I tried out a sports field hoping for some jewelry and ended up digging six large coppers and a half cent. Sites that I pounded for years with few signals gave up some nice Draped Busts this year. It was beginning to seem like I had the Midas touch for a while, but nothing was a bigger surprise than the coin spill I dug in May.
The day started out with me and my buddy Ben heading out to The Shore for his first try at beach detecting. It was a very disappointing effort, with little to show for our efforts but some clad and a sore shoulder from swinging my Minelab Excalibur.
After about an hour Ben decided that this was not for him and asked if I was interested in heading to his grandparent's house which was not far from the beach. He told me it was built in the 1930's and he had found some Wheaties there in the past. Luckily I also brought my White's V3i and I would have been happy at that point to dig a Mercury Dime or possibly even an SLQ or a Barber. So we washed off our gear and headed over the river and through the woods...
Almost immediately I dug some nice Wheaties that were fairly deep. After about 20 minutes I was getting a bit agitated by the painful sting of no-see-um bites so I was getting ready to call it quits. About this same time I got a solid silver dime reading at around 8 inches, so I called Ben over to watch me dig it. I was sure I had an older dime. it was quite a bit deeper than the 8 inches displayed; 11 inches was more like it. Once I had it in the dirt pile I swept my pinpointer over the pile looking for the silver and nearly fell over when I saw a large copper! I quickly grabbed it and immediately knew this was a King George halfpenny.
After our excitement began to die down we both went back to swinging our detectors with newborn energy and excitement. About 3 feet away I got another deep coin signal with a lower VDI. I think I may have another one, I yelled over to Ben. Yeah, right was his reply. I dug another deep plug and plucked out another large copper! I held it up and he could not believe it. I decided to slow down and work the same area, and right between my other two holes got another coin signal with an even lower VDI. I thought this one was going to be a nickel based on the VDI, but out came copper number III!!!
Once I was able to get the coins home for cleaning, I was able to ID the King George as a 1722. The other two appear to be a William and Mary Halfpenny and a William III Halfpenny.
Ben dug his first half dime, laughing while he told me he dug play money. He was overjoyed when I informed him what he had found!
I am up to 18 coppers for the year now but I don't expect to get many more until the fall when the vegetation begins to die down. I have my eyes on some new sites, including a little known tavern site.
Thanks for looking!
Back in March I tried out a sports field hoping for some jewelry and ended up digging six large coppers and a half cent. Sites that I pounded for years with few signals gave up some nice Draped Busts this year. It was beginning to seem like I had the Midas touch for a while, but nothing was a bigger surprise than the coin spill I dug in May.
The day started out with me and my buddy Ben heading out to The Shore for his first try at beach detecting. It was a very disappointing effort, with little to show for our efforts but some clad and a sore shoulder from swinging my Minelab Excalibur.
After about an hour Ben decided that this was not for him and asked if I was interested in heading to his grandparent's house which was not far from the beach. He told me it was built in the 1930's and he had found some Wheaties there in the past. Luckily I also brought my White's V3i and I would have been happy at that point to dig a Mercury Dime or possibly even an SLQ or a Barber. So we washed off our gear and headed over the river and through the woods...
Almost immediately I dug some nice Wheaties that were fairly deep. After about 20 minutes I was getting a bit agitated by the painful sting of no-see-um bites so I was getting ready to call it quits. About this same time I got a solid silver dime reading at around 8 inches, so I called Ben over to watch me dig it. I was sure I had an older dime. it was quite a bit deeper than the 8 inches displayed; 11 inches was more like it. Once I had it in the dirt pile I swept my pinpointer over the pile looking for the silver and nearly fell over when I saw a large copper! I quickly grabbed it and immediately knew this was a King George halfpenny.
After our excitement began to die down we both went back to swinging our detectors with newborn energy and excitement. About 3 feet away I got another deep coin signal with a lower VDI. I think I may have another one, I yelled over to Ben. Yeah, right was his reply. I dug another deep plug and plucked out another large copper! I held it up and he could not believe it. I decided to slow down and work the same area, and right between my other two holes got another coin signal with an even lower VDI. I thought this one was going to be a nickel based on the VDI, but out came copper number III!!!
Once I was able to get the coins home for cleaning, I was able to ID the King George as a 1722. The other two appear to be a William and Mary Halfpenny and a William III Halfpenny.
Ben dug his first half dime, laughing while he told me he dug play money. He was overjoyed when I informed him what he had found!
I am up to 18 coppers for the year now but I don't expect to get many more until the fall when the vegetation begins to die down. I have my eyes on some new sites, including a little known tavern site.
Thanks for looking!