2010 in review - the good stuff

2010, my fourth year detecting, is in the books. I always enjoy putting all my finds together for the year and taking some pics. I'm a little shy about posting my collection of loot on this forum given the insanse treasures I'm always seeing posted here, but at the end of the day I'm having as much fun as anyone, so here it is!

2010 was a good year. I would say it was my second best year overall after 2009. I did a bit less detecting in 2010 than I did in 2009. I lost a few weekends of detecting due to family obligations, visits from friends, and whatnot. The weather and ground conditions were an issue on several occasions, with some very wet times, some very dry times, and a very early winter.

I also upgraded both of my detectors this year. I came into the year using my BH Tracker IV in tot lots and my Minelab Sovereign GT in the dirt. Neither upgrade proved to be the big, amazing improvement I was hoping for. In June I picked up a used Tesoro Compadre thinking it would replace the Tracker. There's no doubt it's more sensitive than the Tracker, but the 5� coin makes it very slow going. In August I bought a used Minelab E-trac. The E-trac is nicer in many ways than the Sov, and certainly is a step up, but I really have yet to notice any significant increase in depth or sensitivity over the Sovereign. However, while I did revert back to the Tracker in most tot lots, I'm still swinging the E-trac in the dirt, and will continue to do so next year.

So on with the finds!

In terms of clad, this was my third best year in both number and value. I wound up with 8,381 coins total worth $679.48. I think my clad number will continue to decline due to increased competition in the tot lots and also the fact that I am starting to exhaust all my best clad spots. No place ever dries up completely but they sure do slow down after a while.

Here’s the clad, almost all rolled and ready to be hauled to the bank. It was my best year for clad dollar coins -14, and clad halves - 3.

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118/Clad%202010.jpg

It was an odd year for old coins. Last year I found a half cent, some large cents, some two centers, and a handful of Indian head pennies. This year I did not find a single one of any of these. But, in the three years prior to 2010 I had found ZERO Buffalo nickels (or any earlier variety of nickel). So I was quite please to find my first Buffalo nickel this year. And I was somewhat mystified to not only find five more after that over the course of the season but also three V nickels as well (all dated 1899). I hunted more or less all the same spots. I dug all the same signals and actually dug a slightly lower percentage of nickels overall. So I have no idea how this happens. I’ve learned to never expect finds to be predictable.

Anyway, here are the nickels.

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118...s_Old_2010.jpg

I dug a boatload of wheat pennies - around 250 (more than any other year) - and a good number of older (pre-1959) non-war Jefferson nickels.

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118...ckels_2010.jpg

It was my best year for silver coins - I wound up with 58 total which was two more than last year. Once again Rosies were the most common, followed by Mercs. Four of the silver coins, however, were very exciting to me - a 1912 Barber half, a 1909 Barber dime, a 1919 Canadian dime, and an 1877 seated dime. There's a 1934 Walker in there which is a great find for me, but it's in pretty rough shape.

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118...Coins_2010.jpg

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118...Great_2010.jpg

My silver jewelry finds declined versus last year, both in total and in ratio to clad. I wound up with a total of 41 silver items, 17 of which were rings. I found a few good sized pieces though, including a great sterling butter knife from the early 1900s. The total weight of all the silver items, including whatever stones are in there, is 148 grams.

Here are the rings - the two scout rings (one Girl Scouts and one Cub Scouts) are among my favorite found rings ever:

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118...Rings_2010.jpg

Lots of earrings this year, including one matched pair:

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118...rings_2010.jpg

And the miscellaneous silver items - the knife, a few chains, religious medals, etc. The bird pin with the red stone eye is a favorite find of mine.

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118..._Misc_2010.jpg

As with silver, the number of gold items I found this year was down - 11 in 2009 versus only 7 in 2010. I was lucky though that a few of the items I did find were large, so the combined weight of the items was not much lower than in 2009.

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118/Gold_2010.jpg

I found a few nice relics this year. My favorites are a crotal bell (my first), a sweet New York State chauffer's liscence (expired in 1927), and a pin from the 1939 New York State World's Fair. Also in the picture are some older buttons, a lead seal, the head of a silver plated small spoon, some buckles, etc, etc.

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118/Relics_2010.jpg

And lastly, three nice finds that don't really fit in anywhere above - a tungsten ring I found on vacation at the beach, a 1919 Canadian large cent (oddly enough found about 10 feet away from the 1919 Canadian dime), and a National Defense Service Medal.

http://www.angellionel.com/misc/z118/Misc_2010.jpg

So that's my year: I'm looking forward already to getting out in the Spring, wondering what little treasures and bits of mystery are waiting in the ground out there. Thanks to the forum as always, and the folks who met up with me for hunts this year... hope to see you again next year!

Happy hunting!

Hmmm... well, I'm clearly not smart enough to figure out how to insert pics where I want them in my post... If someone can explain it to me I'll try to fix it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by z118

Hmmm... well, I'm clearly not smart enough to figure out how to insert pics where I want them in my post... If someone can explain it to me I'll try to fix it!

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Z, I think that when you upload your photos to the server you lose the ability to place them where you want. You would have to host your photos elsewhere and then use the IMG tags to insert the link to each photo. That way, though, you can insert the photos anywhere you want within your post.

What I did in this case was to save and upload your photos to a folder on the server, and then I inserted them where you wanted them to show. Let me know if I missed something.

You did have a wonderful year by the way! Those are excellent finds, and no doubt you had a great time digging them up. Great photos too! I wish you much more success in the new year! :beerbuddy:

Thanks Angel, both for fixing the pics and for the compliments! They mean a lot, especially coming from the king of all things silver! lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by z118

Thanks Angel, both for fixing the pics and for the compliments! They mean a lot, especially coming from the king of all things silver! lol

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lol lol

Hey, no kidding, that photo of the Barber half and the three sweet dimes had me drooling! :drool: lol

That's an awesome year worth of goodies Z! I like the junk in your other post too. Nice going!!! thumbsup01

Great year of finds, well done!! Looks like you do very good digging it all. That is a very impressive $$ total. $100 would be a good year for me.

You had an excellent year Z. :happydance01: Those are some fine pictures :drool: I can't imagine finding any gold at all. It's been so long ago lol You do better than you give yourself credit for. I would be happy with those totals anyday. thumbsup01

That is an absolutely incredible year z. I love the photos :happydance01: Fantastic post!

Awesome year!!!! Congrats!!!!!!!!! :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:

Great year <: That is quite alot of digging.

:shocked04: :shocked04: :shocked04:

You had a very, very impressive year across the board! Congrats. :beerbuddy:

Were you able to date or get any additional info on the silver knife?

I found several of the pump organ reeds that you have pictured in photo #10.

The Barber half, dime, seated and canadian are awesome!

Very, very impressive.

Congrats on a fantastic year. :beerbuddy:

heck of a year Z! i'm dreading gathering my stuff and laying it all back out :-\ i never kept it seperated :confused:

WOW and WOW...That looks like one incredible year to me... Well Done!!

I would be on cloud nine to have finished up a year with so many great finds!!

thumbsup01

That's a great year for sure!!! Love those halfs :clapping: Here's to an even better year for ya in 2011 :cheering: :cheering: :cheering:

:shocked04: hey those are very impressive totals Z even just the clad count alone is outstanding :clapping: :clapping: and then add the silver and gold :smitten: , like i said very impressive my friend :yes:. great year :peace:

Tremendous finds, Z! <: Simply outstanding! I can only imagine the feeling of unearthing that Barber half.

Clearly, you have mastered the Sov. I cannot wait to see what 2011 has in store for you.

-PP

WOW............Great Year..............Congrats. :clapping:

[move][size=1:crazy:t] <: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! :happydance01: [/move]

Great pictures!