My dad and brother jointly own 40 acres of woods and meadow lands that they use for hunting. We had always known that there was an old well on the property, now filled in. My brother mentioned that there was a spot near the old well where tiger lillies come up every year, and there was also a huge old cedar tree in the same area.
Although it isn't typically the type of site that I would hunt, my brother suggested that I try hunting around the old well just for the heck of it. To be honest I wasn't expecting to find anything, but I decided to try it just to satisfy his curiosity.
Boy, am I glad he talked me into it.
The detecting was very difficult because of the scrub brush, fallen branches and small saplings everywhere. However, within 10 minutes I got a solid 12-35 signal that was only about 4" deep. I was honestly very surprised when an Indian Head cent appeared in the dirt. When I wiped some of the dirt off the front I couldn't believe my eyes.
It was an 1877! My first one ever!
We immediately took the four wheeler back to the deer cabin so we could put our glasses on and make sure our eyes weren't deceiving us. Sure enough, the date was clearly 1877. We secured the coin at the cabin and went back to the site. About 10 feet away from the spot where I found the 1877 I found another Indian Head. It was only about 2" deep and it was dated 1899. Further detecting in this area yielded only a few shotgun shells, lead slugs, a copper ring and a D buckle.
My dad and brother are going to clear the area of saplings, scrub brush and fallen branches and then my dad is going to mow the entire area with a Bush Hog. I will definitely be detecting the site again in the future. Right now it's so difficult to swing the detector that it's truly a miracle that I was able to find anything.
Here are all of the finds from the site:
Here is the 1877 Indian Head before I did anything to it:
And here it is after I got some of the dirt off of it. All I've done so far is rub it with my fingers. I'm afraid to do anything more to it.
I got the recovery of the 1877 Indian Head on video, so I will be uploading that tonight. I don't think any metal detecting find has ever excited me as much as this one, and it was made extra special because my brother was with me. Needless to say, he was thrilled that his hunch about this site was on the money!
Thanks for looking and happy hunting!