Hey Diggers,
Yesterday was unseasonably warm for January in Illinois (above freezing) and I made the 2-hour drive up to meet Tony for an all-day hunt at our new spot. This park is quite old and large and the coins are few and far between. This is my second time hunting this park and I notice there are predominantly two distinct layers of coins. The first layer is the clad layer and it is from the surface to about 2 inches deep. The second layer is the old coin layer and it ranges from 7 to 10 inches deep. And then there is the occasional coin in between (that was missed by previous MDers).
I started in one corner of the park and got my first indian head penny signal after about 30 minutes of swinging. On my e-trac it sounded just like a modern zinc penny but since this target was at 7 inches deep, I suspected it was something better! A short time later, I got the same signal at 8 inches and pulled out two very crusty indian head pennies. I ended up with 6 IH pennies for the day. As I write this, I realize that is the most I have ever found in one hunt.
I got a faint nickel signal that was bouncing 13-12 to 15-12 and dug a nice buffalo nickel from about 7 inches deep. I was surprised to see the soil next the coin was discolored a bright green color but the coin was orange. That was kind of odd.
I decided to swing a bit out in the baseball field and after about an hour got a nice 12-13 at 5 inches deep. I was sure it was a nickel but I did not expect it to be a V nickel! Whoever missed that must have been MDing with pulltabs discriminated out because it was an easy target to find.
I worked my way over towards two GIANT Sycamore trees. I kid you not, the diameter of the trunks of these trees is easily 6 feet! I was mindlessly swinging along and got a sudden high pitch that reminded me of the signal I get with silver coins. I looked down at the display and was getting a bouncy 13-45 to 14-46 at 8 inches deep. I thought this has got to be silver to be that high-pitched and that deep. I dug down about 6 inches and stuck my probe in the hole. I got a weak signal at one side. I dug another inch and re-probed. The signal was stronger this time. I dug another inch and the probe was screaming at me. I scooped out one more handful of dirt, stuck the probe back in and heard........silence. It's out of the hole! (Bill Murray voice) I probed the dirt pile and got a hit on a ball of dirt. Looking closely, I could see the rim of a silver dime. I broke the clod apart and was pleased to see a Barber dime! My first silver for 2012.
For the day I got $3.95 in clad coins and a nice assortment of wheaties. I also found a silver-plated religious medallion. Tony also pulled a bunch of nice oldies (see his post) AND he bought me lunch! What a guy! I look forward to hitting that park again. Thanks for looking and best wishes to everyone, Dave.
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Originally Posted by Tony Two-Cent link=topic=8507.msg96147#msg96147 date=1326161486
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That is some sweet finds. 
Congrats on the first silver of the year. |
