Seated Saturday with Tony Two-Cent and the Four "Diggers"

I hadn't been detecting in so long I had forgotten what it's like! So it was a welcome invitation indeed when the four Illinois "Diggers" invited me to hunt with them yesterday. I met up with Daddy Digger, Digger Al, Digger Don and Ill Digger at an old fairgrounds. I had hunted this site before with Tim so I knew the quantity of finds wouldn't be super high, but there is definitely the potential for oldies!

I didn't get there until about noon, so I already had some catching up to do. My first good find was an old bronze "US" padlock. It came out of the ground looking really nice with a deep green patina and the hasp still moves on it.

A few minutes later in that same general area I got a solid 12-39 at 7" deep on my E-Trac and I was sure that it was going to be a wheat cent. Imagine my surprise when a thin silver dime popped out of the dirt. Imagine my further surprise when I saw that it was an 1873 seated dime! Woo hoo!

I circled around the area of the seated dime and found a 1942 Merc and a 1951 Rosie.

Digger Don and Digger Al decided to call it a day and begin their long drive home. They had made some good finds earlier in the day. Me, Tim and Dave went out to grab a bite to eat, and after that Dave headed home. Me and Tim went back to the fairgrounds where I found a 1944 Merc and four more wheat cents. By this time it was getting dark so we said our goodbyes.

It was the first time all 5 of us had gotten together for a hunt and we had a great time. I will let the other guys tell about their finds. Here are mine:

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Thanks for looking and happy hunting! :beerbuddy:

It was a good time! Congrats on all your finds Tony. You did very well sniffing out those few remaining oldies. I was a pleasure to finally meet Don and Alec too. We started the day off early at an 1877 farm house where Tim, Don, Alec, and I all got some good keepers. My first good signal turned out to be a 1901 Barber dime at 9 inches deep. A full LIBERTY so definitely an early drop. At the old fairgrounds I pulled the 1889 IHC from about 7 inches deep. There was several pieces of trash in the same hole and I was surprised I could still hear that coin! The e-trac is an amazing machine! The silver spoon bowl is a bit odd. It had two small marks where it was attached to something (perhaps a drawer pull?). There is still a hallmark visible so if anyone knows what it is please let me know!

Thanks again guys it was a lot of fun!

It definitely was a great day!! The only down side was that Dave & Alec were feeling a bit under the weather. But they both got silver. I bet that made them feel a little better. Dave, it was a pleasure finally meeting you and getting in a hunt.

Alec and I met up with Ill Digger first thing in the morning at a small park. Didn't find any coins there, but did manage to pull out a rusty old skeleton key. Ok, pretty cool. Then, Daddy Digger joined us and we got permission from a very nice older couple to detect their farm yard. We all scored a keeper there. I dug a 1927 merc, 4 wheats and the usual farm house relics.

After lunch, we all met up with Tony. With the exception of some clad and 2 more wheats, my finds were done for the day. But thats ok, I had a great time hunting with the Illinois "Diggers". Thanks Guys, I'm looking forward to the next time!!

On the way home, I stopped at two parks along the way. I recognized both of them from Tony's videos. I KEPT DRIVING. LOL
Congrats to all four of you on your finds for the day.Attachment 47844Attachment 47845Attachment 47846
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Indeed, it was a very fun day of hunting. Dave, it was a great pleasure to finally meet you in person, it was fun to detect with you. Tony I am glad you got back out, though it wasn't for long I'm glad I was able to detect with you again as well. Tim as well it was very fun detecting with you again. As stated previously by my dad we started off at an old park, where I got 2 wheats. As he also said we moved on to an 1870s farmhouse, where I dug a 1924 Merc, and a few more wheats. I also dug an old spoon there. After that we went to an old fairgrounds site from the 1870s as well, where Tim has dug a seated half in the past. All I got here was an old padlock type thing. Ironically, when I found the padlock it was ringing up like a 12-47 screamer, and came out rusty. After a peroxide bath, I can read "Rustles" on the bottom, I giggled a bit haha. All in all it was a very fun hunt, though like my dad said, Dave and I weren't feeling too good, my allergies decided they were Anti-Silver that day, and I ended up stopping because my eyes were so bad :( I hope all of us can get together again as it was a very fun day of hunting! Attachment 47863Attachment 47864Attachment 47865Attachment 47866Attachment 47867

Looks like that was a pretty successful group hunt. Nice job all. WD

Looks like all of you had a good time and some nice finds!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tony Two-Cent

I hadn't been detecting in so long I had forgotten what it's like! So it was a welcome invitation indeed when the four Illinois "Diggers" invited me to hunt with them yesterday. I met up with Daddy Digger, Digger Al, Digger Don and Ill Digger at an old fairgrounds. I had hunted this site before with Tim so I knew the quantity of finds wouldn't be super high, but there is definitely the potential for oldies!

I didn't get there until about noon, so I already had some catching up to do. My first good find was an old bronze "US" padlock. It came out of the ground looking really nice with a deep green patina and the hasp still moves on it.

A few minutes later in that same general area I got a solid 12-39 at 7" deep on my E-Trac and I was sure that it was going to be a wheat cent. Imagine my surprise when a thin silver dime popped out of the dirt. Imagine my further surprise when I saw that it was an 1873 seated dime! Woo hoo!

I circled around the area of the seated dime and found a 1942 Merc and a 1951 Rosie.

Digger Don and Digger Al decided to call it a day and begin their long drive home. They had made some good finds earlier in the day. Me, Tim and Dave went out to grab a bite to eat, and after that Dave headed home. Me and Tim went back to the fairgrounds where I found a 1944 Merc and four more wheat cents. By this time it was getting dark so we said our goodbyes.

It was the first time all 5 of us had gotten together for a hunt and we had a great time. I will let the other guys tell about their finds. Here are mine:

Thanks for looking and happy hunting! :beerbuddy:

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Tony and the Diggers. :lol:

Congratulations on that seated dime! :congrats: She is a little on the worn side, but those are tough to find in the Midwest! (Well, not for you :poke:) Surprised the conductive number came in that low, even with the wear.

I like the padlock a lot.

Remind me to stay out of Illinois when detecting... I think you guys have dug it all up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DaddyDigger

It was a good time! Congrats on all your finds Tony. You did very well sniffing out those few remaining oldies. I was a pleasure to finally meet Don and Alec too. We started the day off early at an 1877 farm house where Tim, Don, Alec, and I all got some good keepers. My first good signal turned out to be a 1901 Barber dime at 9 inches deep. A full LIBERTY so definitely an early drop. At the old fairgrounds I pulled the 1889 IHC from about 7 inches deep. There was several pieces of trash in the same hole and I was surprised I could still hear that coin! The e-trac is an amazing machine! The silver spoon bowl is a bit odd. It had two small marks where it was attached to something (perhaps a drawer pull?). There is still a hallmark visible so if anyone knows what it is please let me know!

Thanks again guys it was a lot of fun!

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That is a beautiful barber dime! Looks like it was dropped right after it was minted. Congratulations on the great finds! :clapping:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Digger Don

It definitely was a great day!! The only down side was that Dave & Alec were feeling a bit under the weather. But they both got silver. I bet that made them feel a little better. Dave, it was a pleasure finally meeting you and getting in a hunt.

Alec and I met up with Ill Digger first thing in the morning at a small park. Didn't find any coins there, but did manage to pull out a rusty old skeleton key. Ok, pretty cool. Then, Daddy Digger joined us and we got permission from a very nice older couple to detect their farm yard. We all scored a keeper there. I dug a 1927 merc, 4 wheats and the usual farm house relics.

After lunch, we all met up with Tony. With the exception of some clad and 2 more wheats, my finds were done for the day. But thats ok, I had a great time hunting with the Illinois "Diggers". Thanks Guys, I'm looking forward to the next time!!

On the way home, I stopped at two parks along the way. I recognized both of them from Tony's videos. I KEPT DRIVING. LOL

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Yeah, keep on driving :lol: Congratulations on the great finds!

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Originally Posted by DiggerAl

Indeed, it was a very fun day of hunting. Dave, it was a great pleasure to finally meet you in person, it was fun to detect with you. Tony I am glad you got back out, though it wasn't for long I'm glad I was able to detect with you again as well. Tim as well it was very fun detecting with you again. As stated previously by my dad we started off at an old park, where I got 2 wheats. As he also said we moved on to an 1870s farmhouse, where I dug a 1924 Merc, and a few more wheats. I also dug an old spoon there. After that we went to an old fairgrounds site from the 1870s as well, where Tim has dug a seated half in the past. All I got here was an old padlock type thing. Ironically, when I found the padlock it was ringing up like a 12-47 screamer, and came out rusty. After a peroxide bath, I can read "Rustles" on the bottom, I giggled a bit haha. All in all it was a very fun hunt, though like my dad said, Dave and I weren't feeling too good, my allergies decided they were Anti-Silver that day, and I ended up stopping because my eyes were so bad :( I hope all of us can get together again as it was a very fun day of hunting

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Congrats on the great finds! It's fun to see people from the forum getting together for detecting :thumbsup02: I love the padlock!

Incredible finds ! Love the silver !

Congrats on the bit of silver for each. Tony, nice seated even tho it's worn. I have been surprised a few times with the VDI and what actually gets pulled up. I can think of a few recent times where nickels were coming up reading somewhere close to a zincoln. Just yesterday it was a 1941, so not quite a war nickel to make a higher VDI understandable. Cans seem to have shifted numbers with a DD coil, but sometimes those solid pennies read just a tad low, literally at the low limit.

That Pinas coin is quite interesting. I knew a fair amount about the country (and culture). The US had a military base over there for a while. It was 1946 when they got independence from the US. My guess that coin was from a squid visiting there on tour and brough it back with him.

Tony and the rest of the Illinois Diggers. Great finds and I'm with Epi-hunter.....no reason to go to Illinois to detect. Why doesn't it surprise me that "you" find the seated dime.....:congrats:

So much to look at!! I'll have to stop back to take it all in :) I usually don't get over to this area of the forum but I'll have to check in more often. Great to see you all got together. :thumbsup01:

Well, here's my part of the story...."Digger"#4 :lol:
Don, Alec and I met up at a little park around 6 am to check it out. There I picked up a couple of wheats. Then we moved on, seen a couple of locals out tending their garden bright and early. Don asked them if we could detect their farm and they said sure. "But it's been detected before by a couple of fellas with some pretty high tech machines." Just as we were getting our gear on Dave "Daddydigger" pulled up, we all said our hellos and started swinging. My first good find was a 1955 dog tax, a couple of pistol balls, a handful of wheats, as Dave, Don, and Alec were digging up silvers. We were suppose to meet up with Tony about this time so we were about to say our thanks, show the homeowners our finds and move on. Just then I got a 11-32/35 around 5 or 6 inches. FINALLY! A old coin! It turned out to be a 1887 IH! So we showed the homeowners our finds and headed out. Stopped at Micky D's for a 99¢ heart-attack. Then we headed over to the fairgrounds. Things were pretty slim pickin's for me for most of the day. Just a wheat here and there with a bunch of clad mixed in just keep me busy. :rolleyes: After a short break I headed down to the area Tony was harvesting all the silver :poke: So not to encroach on his area I walked past were he and the others were hunting. I got down to the corner of the grassy area along the fence were there were 3 big trees. As I came around the back side of the first tree I got a 34 Co. at about 5 inches. Thinking this might be a IH I dropped down popped a plug and out rolls a coin. I was right! It was a 1893 IH! :yahoo:A couple of steps later the same signal....could it be? Sure enough a nice green 1900 IH!!:happydance02: As I was walking away from the tree I got a nice sweet 12 -47 ay 5 inches I was thinking "Please let this be a silver quarter." But it wasn't. Instead , one of my favorite things to find! A flower shaped 2½ trade token! :happydance01: So now I'm thinking I'm in a little hot spot, I doubled back towards the IH tree. Right up against the base I pulled a 1919 wheatie! So I followed the fence down to the end and started down the other direction along the fence. there I spotted a black & white marble laying right in the dirt under the fence! Sweet! I turned and headed towards the 2nd tree and as I got within 10 feet of it I got a nice 10-41 signal. Thinking it's gonna be a wheatie I cut a plug flipped it over and this big round disk slides off the side of it..."NO way!" It's a large cent!! :happy:I started to look around for the others but no one was in sight. Around the other side of that tree I get another similar signal. Cut a plug and another big round disk falls out onto the grass...NO WAY!?! It can't be another one. And I was right. It wasn't a U.S. LC. As far as my research has shown me it's a 1850's German Spiel Marke!!:shocked05: I couldn't believe it!! You just don't find stuff like this in Illinois! Just about then I seen Tony heading my way. As he's walking up to me I get a sweet 12-46 at 5 inches. He says "you've been down here a while, and by the look on your face your doing pretty good." I said" It took me all day but I finally found some goodies! And I think I might have my first silver of the day right here in this plug!" First I showed him the pennies, large coppers, marble and token. He said "You have been doin' good!" Now lets see whats in this plug. I flipped it over ans pinpointed it and seen the edge f a silver dime!! I jumped up and screamed ! :yahoo:"YES! FINALLY!" It turned out to be a1939 Merc! No SDHOS!! Dave and Don were walking up about that time (both getting ready to head home) I showed them my finds and we made our way back to out vehicles.


Here's some pics of my finds from Saturday:


http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/x...psoebycv4k.jpg

http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/x...pssbnrsxqs.jpg

http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/x...pstockfs3b.jpg

http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps29tnqcyw.jpg

http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/x...psog9cqymk.jpg

http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/x...psors7sbno.jpg

It was a fun day hunting with all the guys! I can't wait to do it again sometime.

As always thanks for lookin' & HH :peace:

Wow Tim... fantastic finds :clapping: :perfect10:

Loved reading this thread.

I've been waiting for your post Tim. It's true, good things do come to those that wait.


You ended up having an amazing day. Just so you know, Alec is jealous (but happy) about your Large Cent. LOL
Because of the fence, nobody probably hunted all the way back in that corner. What they should have figured is that a hundred years ago there was no fence and that would have been a great spot to view the track. Anyway, congrats on all your finds Saturday. We had a blast.

Good finds Tim! You really did very well finding the oldest coins of the day! The 1850s game token was originally gold gilt and represented a $10 dollar gold piece. The word COMPOSITIONS means to "adjust a debt" and SPIEL MARKE means "game money." These were basically gambling tokens. Like you said, you just don't find stuff like this in Illinois! But you did and I think it was the best find of the day. Congrats on getting a bit of silver too--you had a long way to drive in shame otherwise! LOL. Best wishes and HH, Dave.

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Originally Posted by Epi-hunter

Tony and the Diggers. :lol:

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Yeah, I wonder where I got that from? :angelic: :grin:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ill Digger

Well, here's my part of the story...."Digger"#4 :lol:
Don, Alec and I met up at a little park around 6 am to check it out. There I picked up a couple of wheats. Then we moved on, seen a couple of locals out tending their garden bright and early. Don asked them if we could detect their farm and they said sure. "But it's been detected before by a couple of fellas with some pretty high tech machines." Just as we were getting our gear on Dave "Daddydigger" pulled up, we all said our hellos and started swinging. My first good find was a 1955 dog tax, a couple of pistol balls, a handful of wheats, as Dave, Don, and Alec were digging up silvers. We were suppose to meet up with Tony about this time so we were about to say our thanks, show the homeowners our finds and move on. Just then I got a 11-32/35 around 5 or 6 inches. FINALLY! A old coin! It turned out to be a 1887 IH! So we showed the homeowners our finds and headed out. Stopped at Micky D's for a 99¢ heart-attack. Then we headed over to the fairgrounds. Things were pretty slim pickin's for me for most of the day. Just a wheat here and there with a bunch of clad mixed in just keep me busy. :rolleyes: After a short break I headed down to the area Tony was harvesting all the silver :poke: So not to encroach on his area I walked past were he and the others were hunting. I got down to the corner of the grassy area along the fence were there were 3 big trees. As I came around the back side of the first tree I got a 34 Co. at about 5 inches. Thinking this might be a IH I dropped down popped a plug and out rolls a coin. I was right! It was a 1893 IH! :yahoo:A couple of steps later the same signal....could it be? Sure enough a nice green 1900 IH!!:happydance02: As I was walking away from the tree I got a nice sweet 12 -47 ay 5 inches I was thinking "Please let this be a silver quarter." But it wasn't. Instead , one of my favorite things to find! A flower shaped 2½ trade token! :happydance01: So now I'm thinking I'm in a little hot spot, I doubled back towards the IH tree. Right up against the base I pulled a 1919 wheatie! So I followed the fence down to the end and started down the other direction along the fence. there I spotted a black & white marble laying right in the dirt under the fence! Sweet! I turned and headed towards the 2nd tree and as I got within 10 feet of it I got a nice 10-41 signal. Thinking it's gonna be a wheatie I cut a plug flipped it over and this big round disk slides off the side of it..."NO way!" It's a large cent!! :happy:I started to look around for the others but no one was in sight. Around the other side of that tree I get another similar signal. Cut a plug and another big round disk falls out onto the grass...NO WAY!?! It can't be another one. And I was right. It wasn't a U.S. LC. As far as my research has shown me it's a 1850's German Spiel Marke!!:shocked05: I couldn't believe it!! You just don't find stuff like this in Illinois! Just about then I seen Tony heading my way. As he's walking up to me I get a sweet 12-46 at 5 inches. He says "you've been down here a while, and by the look on your face your doing pretty good." I said" It took me all day but I finally found some goodies! And I think I might have my first silver of the day right here in this plug!" First I showed him the pennies, large coppers, marble and token. He said "You have been doin' good!" Now lets see whats in this plug. I flipped it over ans pinpointed it and seen the edge f a silver dime!! I jumped up and screamed ! :yahoo:"YES! FINALLY!" It turned out to be a1939 Merc! No SDHOS!! Dave and Don were walking up about that time (both getting ready to head home) I showed them my finds and we made our way back to out vehicles.

It was a fun day hunting with all the guys! I can't wait to do it again sometime.

As always thanks for lookin' & HH :peace:

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You had an awesome day at the fairgrounds, Tim! Way to think outside the box and score some oldies! Who would have thought there would be a large cent there? But my favorite find of yours is that German token that looks like a large cent. Very unusual coin, and it has to be really old! Congrats on your stellar day!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DaddyDigger

Good finds Tim! You really did very well finding the oldest coins of the day! The 1850s game token was originally gold gilt and represented a $10 dollar gold piece. The word COMPOSITIONS means to "adjust a debt" and SPIEL MARKE means "game money." These were basically gambling tokens. Like you said, you just don't find stuff like this in Illinois! But you did and I think it was the best find of the day. Congrats on getting a bit of silver too--you had a long way to drive in shame otherwise! LOL. Best wishes and HH, Dave.

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You are always the best at researching finds, Dave! That is some great info about the 1850s gaming token that Tim found. :yes:

Wow, those are some awesome finds guys! The 1901 barber dime is real looker and the large coppers are very cool! Sounds like a great time!