I do miss spending some time detecting at the parks, but I can't pass up the opportunities for old coins and gold rings that shallow water detecting can also offer, like what I picked up during this early morning's hunt.
There were no gold rings this time, but I did find an old sterling silver ring, twelve silver coins - six quarters and six dimes, plus several old nickels, wheat cents, and an air corps bracelet.
The quarters are dated 1909-O, 192?, 1926, 1930, 1935, and 1941. It was great seeing three Standing Liberty quarters emerge from the water, two with full dates, but the best quarter is the scarce 1909-O Barber. Only 712,000 were minted. :drool:
Here is the 1909-0 Barber quarter after removing most of the heavy sulfide using the baking soda and aluminum foil trick. I was careful to leave some of the tarnish intact, which still gives it the desired 'aged' look. The quarter had been lodged between a small and large rock, so it took some effort prying it out of there while balancing in neck deep water. :shocked02: Unfortunately the contact marks across the face appear to have been caused during this effort. Out of the 119 silver coins I have pulled out of this lake it had to happen to this one.
She is still a beauty though! :yes:
The dimes are all mercs, dated 1937, 1937-D, 1941, 1942, 1942, and 1944.
I love how well the nickels hold up while in the water. They are dated 1911, 1915-S, 1916-S, 1929, 1938-D, and 1943-P. The 1915-S nickel is also a scarce date coin. :drool:
This is a neat sterling silver ring, and it screams old.
This 12k gold filled air corps bracelet is a neat find too. The back is engraved with To Helen from Jerry.
The rest of the finds, a junk ring, pendants, and wheat cents.
HH!
There were no gold rings this time, but I did find an old sterling silver ring, twelve silver coins - six quarters and six dimes, plus several old nickels, wheat cents, and an air corps bracelet.
The quarters are dated 1909-O, 192?, 1926, 1930, 1935, and 1941. It was great seeing three Standing Liberty quarters emerge from the water, two with full dates, but the best quarter is the scarce 1909-O Barber. Only 712,000 were minted. :drool:
Here is the 1909-0 Barber quarter after removing most of the heavy sulfide using the baking soda and aluminum foil trick. I was careful to leave some of the tarnish intact, which still gives it the desired 'aged' look. The quarter had been lodged between a small and large rock, so it took some effort prying it out of there while balancing in neck deep water. :shocked02: Unfortunately the contact marks across the face appear to have been caused during this effort. Out of the 119 silver coins I have pulled out of this lake it had to happen to this one.
She is still a beauty though! :yes:
The dimes are all mercs, dated 1937, 1937-D, 1941, 1942, 1942, and 1944.
I love how well the nickels hold up while in the water. They are dated 1911, 1915-S, 1916-S, 1929, 1938-D, and 1943-P. The 1915-S nickel is also a scarce date coin. :drool:
This is a neat sterling silver ring, and it screams old.
This 12k gold filled air corps bracelet is a neat find too. The back is engraved with To Helen from Jerry.
The rest of the finds, a junk ring, pendants, and wheat cents.
HH!
Also love the glass, turn of the century ring. For costume jewelry, they were beautifully done. Thanks to a world wide recession/depression, the fine European artists were without jobs, so the took jobs in America, where we were only producing costume jewelry. We got world class artists, doing junk jewelry designs :clapping: Lucky us :lol:
