This is the second post reviewing my finds of 2010. It covers April and May. During this two month period I found another 187 silver coins.
APRIL 2010
101 SILVER COINS - 4 COPPER - 14 INDIAN HEAD CENTS - 4 SILVER RINGS - 1 GOLD RINGS
It was now April 1st, and on this day I found my 200th silver coin of the year, a 1944 mercury dime.
On this day I headed to a Connecticut Park in the hopes of coaxing a few old coins out of the ground. I did well, picking up six silver coins, two Barbers dimes, dated 1901-O and 1907, three mercury dimes, dated 1916, 1918-D, and 1945, and one Roosevelt dime, dated 1947. I also dug up several wheat cents and two Indian Head cents, dated 1889 and 1898, as well as a sterling silver ring and a large cent dated 182?. It was my 9th copper at that time of the year.
It was Sunday afternoon before I had some time to go detecting. After reviewing my list of sites I decided to head to a park located in Tolland county CT, one I had not been to since 2009. Silver coins are scarce at this small park, but occasionally it yields a keeper or two. This time I managed to pick up two dimes from under the roots of one of the large trees bordering the sidewalk, a 1906 Barber dime and a 1938 mercury dime. The park also yielded a 1869 shield nickel and six Indian Head cents, dated 1864, 1864-L, 1882, 1886, 1893, and 1909.
In the mix this time around were some old nickels in addition to a few silver coins. The V nickels are dated 1905, 1905, and 1912.
A short hunt yielded me a few more silver coins. I love finding mercury dimes. It is a beautifully designed coin.
During another short hunt I picked up a Draped Bust large cent, as well as a 1927 Standing Liberty quarter and a 1946 Roosevelt dime.
This was a fun find. It's a Yangtze Service Medal. It is slightly larger than a half dollar, and thicker and heavier too. The Yangtze Service Medals were issued between 1926 and 1932 and are serially numbered. The one I found is numbered 1095. There is some information on the medals
HERE and
HERE.
I hit three local parks, and all yielded silver. The first park gave up three Roosevelt dimes and one 1944 mercury dime. After a while I headed to another site, where I dug up a few old wheat cents and one 1923 mercury dime. I then moved on to the third site, and from there I managed another two mercury dimes, dated 1925 and 1936, as well as several old wheat cents. A few days later I detected at a Connecticut park and picked up a 1906-D Barber half and two Roosevelt dimes.
George (coinnut) and I made plans to meet up detect at a Connecticut park. We arrived at the park early in the morning, and remained there until late in the day. The weather was perfect. We had a great time detecting. We both scored with silver, though at first we did have a slow start. I began to pick up some silver by the afternoon and by the end of the day I had managed to dig up a total of sixteen silver coins - three Washington quarters, eight Roosevelt dimes, one Canada silver dime, and four mercury dimes.
This time I met up with another forum member, Matt (z118). We headed to a Connecticut park to give our machines a workout and to hopefully pick up a few keepers. Matt could not remain long though, and was back on the road by noon. I remained at the park, and by the time I had to leave I had in my pouch eleven silver coins - ten dimes and one Walking Liberty half.
April has been a good month for finding silver. I managed to find three on this day, a nice looking 1942 Walking Liberty half dollar and two dimes. I also dug up the usual clad, several wheat cents, and a sterling silver pendant. By this point the Walking Liberty half made my 260th silver coin of 2010, and it is also the 5th silver half dollar I picked by this time of the year.
During a short hunt at a local park I picked up two silver quarters, a 1892 Barber and a 1948 Washington. I dug up several old wheat cents too, as well as a sterling silver piece.
This particular hunt was quite fun. I found copper, silver, and gold. The park I worked gave up ten silver coins, a 1939 Washington quarter, three Roosevelt dimes, dated 1952-D, 1956, and 1959, three mercury dimes, dated 1918-S, 1926, and 1945, and three Barber dimes, dated 1898-O, 1906, and 1914. There are 22 wheat cents in the pile. The heavy band is 14kt gold. The copper is dated 182?.
John (midas) joined me to detect at one of the parks I had been hitting recently. I ended up with eight silver coins by the time I had to leave, five mercury dimes, dated 1918, 1935, 1939, 1942, and 1944-S, and three Barber dimes, dated 1900, 1910, and 1916-S.
This had been a particularly lovely day, sunny and with a cool breeze. It made for a pleasant afternoon at the park, and the finds weren't bad either. I scored with nine silver coins, four Indian Head cents, a good amount of wheat cents, two old nickels, and two religious pendants. The Barber quarter is dated 1895-O, and the dimes are dated 1905-S, 1918-D, 1936-S, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1943, and 1946.
There were several neat finds on this hunt, which included silver dimes, Indian Head cents, wheat cents, a silver ring, a medallion with the seal of Connecticut on it, as well as other items. The dimes are dated 1901, 1901, 1914-D, and 1945.
The next few finds are from my last two hunts in the end of April. The first photo is of five silver coins I dug up during a late afternoon two hour hunt at a local park. The Barber quarter is a 1915-D. The other photo is of another Barber quarter I picked up while detecting at a local site with John (midas).
MAY 2010
86 SILVER COINS - 7 COPPER - 7 INDIAN HEAD CENTS - 1 SILVER RINGS - 0 GOLD RINGS
It was now Saturday. I had intended to do some yard work and overall landscaping, but the day was much too beautiful to not take advantage. I grabbed my E-Trac and headed to one of the parks. As it turned out the decision was a good one as I managed to pick up eight silver coins, the best ones being a 1764 Spanish Reale and a type I dateless Standing Liberty quarter.
On Sunday I had an earlier start at the park as I wanted to avoid the crowd, ATV's and motorcycles I faced on Saturday. Even so I had to leave the park earlier than planned since the area was a mob scene by about 2:00 and the guys with their ATV's were running wild! Anyway, I did pick up several silver coins before packing it in. The best one was a 1909-D Barber dime, of which 954,000 were minted. It had been my first silver coin of the day. Below is a photo of it while it had still been embedded in a clump of soil.
A local park was my hunting ground late in the afternoon on this day. Detecting for only a couple of hours I concentrated my efforts at a marshy site. Digging for targets was a pain due to the water and mud, but the effort paid off. I was able to pick up two silver coins, a 1964 Washington quarter, and a 1896 Barber quarter. I also managed a large cent, dated 1851, but it is in poor shape.
Late afternoon hunts at local parks yielded a few interesting items, plus a few silver coins. I like the old Gold Medal advertising pin. It was issued by the Washburn Crosby Co., which became General Mills in 1928.
| Before heading back home I decided to take a walk into the wooded area surrounding the park. It was easy enough to swing the coil but after a short while the mosquitoes were attempting to feast on me. I didn't have any repellent so I knew I was not going to last long.
While continuing to battle the mosquitoes I hit on a soft tone by the base of a large tree, with Fe/Co numbers hitting a steady 12-39. I pinpointed the target and pushed my trowel into the soil, but it was going to be troublesome to dig - there were several large roots in the way!
It took me about eight minutes to finally pry my way through the very thick roots, creating a small entry into the soft ground which allowed me to slowly scoop out some soil and retrieve the target. It ended being a very worn Spanish Reale, just slightly smaller than a dime. It was too worn to make out a date. It did not matter though. It was still a fine find.
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The weekend was a washout. There had been too much rain and strong winds which would have made detecting at the park quite uncomfortable. Even so I did manage about an hour or so at a local park on Saturday and dug up up a 1914 Barber dime and a silver pendant. I left as soon as the rain picked up. The other eight silver coins are from a few days later. I was pleased to see a date on the Standing Liberty quarter. The 1917 and 1923 mercury dimes have an S mint mark. The other finds were a Draped Bust large cent and a good luck token.
Late in the afternoon I took a drive to one of the local parks and spent a bit over two hours gridding the trashy picnic grounds, going over the area from two directions. By the time I had to leave I had managed to pick up four silver dimes, dated 1911-D, 1927, 1944, and 1947, as well as fourteen old wheat cents, the oldest dated 1909 VDB. Among the finds too were a medallion and a 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition adjustable band ring.
| It's a good thing that it remains light until after eight at this time of the year, since it allows me to get in a few late-in-the-day hunts.
This time I made my way to a Connecticut park, and though it had been busy with baseball and soccer players I was able to work one of the available fields. I enjoyed my time out, and a little over four hours later I had six silver coins in my pouch, along with several wheat cents and a good number of clad coins.
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Saturday morning I met up with John (midas) to detect at a town common. As we expected, the site was awash with many shallow clad coins and trash. Still, such sites can yield a few good targets if one works it patiently enough. I picked up four silver dimes from the common, all old - two Seated Liberty dimes, dated 1888 and 1891, and two Barber dimes, dated 1908 and 1914. I also picked up four Indian Head cents, dated 1880, 1882, 1901, and 1909. In the mix was also a 1906 Liberty nickel and several old wheat cents. Then on my way home from the town common I stopped at a park I had not been to since the year before. I detected there for about 90 minutes and picked up four more silver coins, two mercury dimes and two Roosevelt dimes.
Again I met up with John (midas) to detect at the town common. This time the common yielded just one old silver coin, a 1913 Barber dime. I also picked up a 1947 Roosevelt dime. The surprise of the hunt was an 1850 Bank of Upper Canada Half Penny Token. It was down a good 9 to 10, and with the tone and Fe/Co numbers it was generating I first thought I had a silver quarter. Then at noon while on my way home I stopped at the same park I had hit the day before and picked up another two silver coins, a 1952 Roosevelt dime and a 1943 mercury dime.
On this day I spent a few hours in the afternoon detecting at a local Park and picked up a few silver pieces - an old sterling silver pendant, a 1908-O Barber quarter, a 1908 Barber dime, and two mercury dimes, dated 1937 and 1945.
This time I opted to detect at a Connecticut park instead of one of the local sites. I had expected the park to be very busy seeing as it was turning out to be a beautiful sunny day, but it ended up not being as crowded as I had anticipated. What I dreaded most was seeing the ATV users racing up and down the park. Thankfully they were absent. Anyway, by the end of the hunt I had six silver coins, several wheat cents, a religious pendant, and one silver ring.
I had intended to detect in the morning at a park in Central MA, but I got caught up with other things and had to change plans. Instead at noon I headed to another Connecticut park I had not been to since September of 2009. I figured it would be a relaxing and quiet hunt at that park on a Sunday, and it was. It was slow going at first, but by the time I called it quits I had five silver dimes in my pouch, as well as several wheat cents and an 1837 Canada half penny bank token.
Taking advantage of cooler weather I headed out to see if I could locate a site I had been to only once the year before. At the time I had neglected to add the coordinates to my GPS. It took a while, but I finally found the site after driving around the area for about 25 minutes.
I decided to work grid, detecting the area for several hours. It paid off, as I managed to find seven silver dimes, dated 1900, 1914, 1917, 1918-S, 1919, 1920, and 1945, as well as a corroded large cent.
A return trip to the same site proved worthwhile, as I managed to dig up four more silver coins - three Barber dimes, dated 1908, 1913, and 1916-S, and a 1919-S mercury dime. There were plenty of old wheat cents too.
I took another crack at the site I had detected the previous two days and walked away with some more goodies - a beautiful and heavy sterling silver medal, probably from 1920, as inscribed on the back, a 1901 Barber half, two Barber dimes, dated 1901 and 1907, two mercury dimes, both dated 1925, some old wheat cents, and three Indian Head cents.
My last hunt of May yielded me two more silver coins, several wheat cents, a large cent, and a token. The second photo is of two old wheat cents that had been stuck together.
By this time my silver coin count for the year stood at 385.
eace: That Yangtze service medal is awesome!
:yes: :thumbsup01:
