There is a quote from a John Steinbeck novel where he states the following,
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
While I understand his sentiments, there is nothing sweeter in my mind than a warm December day in Colorado. All to often by this time of year the smell of fresh dug earth, and the ripping noise of grass roots as my Lesche digger pries a plug from the ground are just memories. Last weekend I found myself in one of my favorite old parks in a neighboring town on one of those warm December days where the temperatures would hit almost 70 degrees. I had decided to work one of the parkway strips at the edge of the park with my E-Trac, and the stock coil. I started to find a few Wheats, then a 2 mil tax token. I had just pulled my first Silver of the day when thoughts of the old park, had me yearning for the other side of the sidewalk...
The 1895-O Barber Dime was well worn, but still had full rims on both sides.
I have found several nice Barber Dimes in this area of the park in past hunts, including a semi-key date 1913-S Barber Dime about 100 feet away from this find at the beginning of the year. I love the contrast of the old coin against the fresh dug ground.
The only clue that it was December was the lack of leaves on the old trees.
The days take consisting of a 1927 Mercury Dime, Tax Token, several Wheats including the steel War Penny, and the key date Barber.
The old park has been very good to me. I am very thankful that it gave up a key date coin that day, and the warm sun on my shoulders, and face just made the hunt for me. The weather report says snow is finally headed our way. So it is inevitable that the ground will harden with frost, sealing in the treasures until next year. Somehow I think this will be alright. You see It could just be that Mr. Steinbeck is right about this.
Keep Swing'in
Jack