Back in June I found a spot where I pulled a Seated HalfDime, Seated Dime and a Morgan Dollar from. A hunt I will NOT soon forget. I decided not to go back to the spot and hunt it hard until I could bring my old hunting buddy who rarely is able to get out to detect any more due to his new business. Last week he came up to see his family and also spend a day with me detecting. I picked him up early and we planned to detect all day long.
Arriving at the spot I gave him the quick tour. After an hour I found only a 1902 Indian but it was in great shape. Then I found a bucket lister…a 12-24 signal yielded my first fatty indian! 1860! Soon after that I got a 12-27 signal that turned out to be an old button.I need your help ID-ing it. It has an eagle and shield on it and“Excelsior” below it BUT what seems odd is that there is no back mark. Maybe it is a replica? Also pictured is an anchor button with an iron shank on it…kinda thinking that it might not be too old? Again your thoughts about these are welcome.
We had been there since 8am and it was now after 1pm and I asked Micah if he wanted to grab some lunch and move onto another spot. He had not found anything except for a couple wheaties. But he wanted to stick it out another hour or so and what a great decision that was! I was about 25 yards away and he came over to me and asked me to look at some thing in his hole. As I approached he said that it was deep, big, round and silvery! I was thinking maybe an old quarter or half….NOPE it was another MORGAN DOLLAR! He said it was a terrible signal but consistent enough to cut a plug and see what was below. This one beat mine by a year…1881! It was about 50 yards from where I dug mine. I was so glad that he found it! Travelling all the way from Tennessee was now worth it! If I had found it he would have put a Lecshe in my back and buried me in the hole where the Morgan was.
We stayed there for a couple more hours and I dug 4 moreIndians…1873, 1885, 1904 and 1905. All of them were pretty corroded. Micah found an 1879 indian.
As the sun set I realized that I had not dug a silver yetand so we decided to jump over to another spot that I thought might have a silver. I visited this spot earlier in the summer and found a couple wheats so I knew it was old enough for silver.So we get out of the car and we decided to just cherry pick the high tones…I did not want to waste time digging wheaties. 3 minutes in and I get a nice high tone and sure enough I see a silver dime in the hole!It ended up being a 1945 merc! It was now dark and we decided to give it 15 minutes more before heading home. 5m inutes later I tell Micah that I have another nice high tone. I cut the plug and scoop out some dirt and in my pile I get a great 12-46/12-47 signal. I finally find it (remember its dark out) and I know I have a silver quarter. I walk over to him and turn on the light on my phone I see the back….I was in SHOCK! It turns out to be an 1876 Seated Quarter!!!! What a thrill and now we have to leave!
When this coin was dropped it was in great condition but 130+ years in the ground gave it a heavy tarnish. I could barely read the date.I decided to try a couple things to get ridof the tarnish but nothing worked. I then decided that since it was not worth much and that I was not selling it and that I really wanted to see the date that I would use a little spit and aluminum foil. Wow that tarnish came off quick! Under it the silver was pitted severely. Im not sure I would do that again but it is what it is now.
On Saturday we both met up at a park near where he was staying. We planned to detect for a couple hours before he headed back to Tennessee. I ended up with 1946 Rosie and a 1942 Merc and he found a nice 1924 merc.
I’m betting Micah will be moving up here in the next year or so!
Thanks for looking! Jared
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