Another Score

I realize that people are going to read this and think you never scored a first time let alone again. But it can be tough to find coins over 50 years old. Tim and I have been out numerous times at homesteads old enough for turn of the 20th century finds, but come home empty handed.

Wheat cents are fairly easy to find, however, even those can get us excited, especially if we been swinging for a couple hours. Silver coins and coinage before the modern designs, such as a buffalo nickel, can be difficult to find. That is why when I do find silver, I consider it a win. And today, I won again!

This is actually historic for me, it marks the 3rd time in a row I’ve gone out and recovered a silver coin. Almost, 4 times in a row, but I had an outing in between with not much more than a Tootsie car. Anyway, this Sunday morning, I was able to dig up about $1.28 in clad, six wheat cents, and a 1951 Roosevelt dime.

What did you find today?

Silver again!

All week long I’d been yearning to search for another silver dime. After this past Sunday, I had I counted my tally for the year and I was at 9 silver dimes. So, I was hoping that within a little less than two months, before the end of the year, I’d make that an even 10.

My brother was feeling under the weather, so he was unable to join me. But I called my dad up and we met to hit the field where I had found the war nickel the Sunday before. I was in luck! About 30 minutes in I swung, heard a crisp 28 tone and right on the surface, without even digging, I could see some nice shinny silver. It was a 1944 Mercury dime!

Pumped up as ever, I continued to search the area. About 30 minutes later, I uncovered a 1954 Rosie. It is unusual for silver to tarnish in GA soil, but the obverse of this one was blackened. I didn’t know for sure it was silver until I was able to get it cleaned up a bit to be able to read the date.

My dad didn’t make the board this hunt, but he did find around $1 in clad. I think my total clad was about 73 cents. I was lucky enough to snatch 3 wheeties too.

My First War Nickel!

This past Saturday Tim and I went detecting but didn’t find anything exciting. Sunday morning I was making plans with my dad to meet him and my mom for lunch and he wanted to meet later in the afternoon because he wanted to hit the dirt to do some detecting. After getting off the phone with him, I thought to myself, I should get out there too, and boy, I’m glad I did.

It was a fantastic morning! I went out to a field where a I knew for sure used to sit a house from the 50’s. Not too old, but I figured old enough for silver. I ended up getting a few neat finds. The tally included $1.16ish in clad, a wheat cent, an 1942 mercury dime, a Namco token, an 1909 Canadian one cent piece, and my first war Nickel dated 1942 P.

Obverse of significant finds from 11/1/2020. Includes 1942 War Nickel, 1942 Mercury Dime, and a 1909 Canadian One Cent Piece.

The ground was very wet that morning and when I dug the nickel I couldn’t see the date or mint marking. But, I knew it was something special because it had a glow that just seemed to bright for a regular nickel.

Don’t be lazy. Get off your keister and do some swingin’ and a diggin’. I’m sure glad I did!

Reverse of significant finds from 11/1/2020. Includes 1942 War Nickel, 1942 Mercury Dime, and a 1909 Canadian One Cent Piece.

Silver Barber dime found!

Mike found a 1908 Barber dime in North GA this past weekend! He also nabbed a early 20th century ox knob or something very similarly shaped. My significant finds from the same hunt included a 1907 Indian head penny, a WWII military button and a 1950s era token.

1908 Barber dime and ox knob found using Minelab Equinox 800. 1907 Indian head penny, WWII button and 1950s token found using Garrett GTI 2500

The token is in really bad shape, but enough information is shown to identify it as a early 1950s Capitola Flour Mill Token good for 5 cents in trade.

1950s Capitola flour mill token — good for 5 cents in trade
The Capitola flour token was really nice when it was dropped…too bad aluminum oxidizes so bad in southern soils!

Mike and I had a great hunt. Early 20th century coins and relics are really tough to find in North Georgia. I hope you enjoyed the finds and we’ll see you out in the field!

Metal Detecting North GA

Here are some of our metal detecting finds in the last few months. I think a photo speaks a thousand words, so I’ll let the photos do the talking.

WWII era button — found using Equinox 800 (This button was gifted to the owner for letting us go detecting on his property)
Assorted clad coins and ring found using Equinox 800 in school yard. When Mike found the ring, I was really impressed, but unfortunately it turned out to be a fake.
These are very typical finds for shallow water hunting in North GA. These finds were from about 1-1.5 hrs in the 1-3 feet of water using a Whites TDI Beachhunter
More shallow water metal detecting finds — White’s TDI Beachhunter
3rd shallow water detecting trip — the small treble clef is marked 925 — White’s TDI Beachhunter
4th shallow water metal detecting hunt — White’s TDI Beachhunter
The ring found metal detecting using White’s TDI Beachhunter is marked Titanium
Old “shoe” buckle, 1954 silver half dollar, assorted coins and pocket watch found using Minelab Equinox 800 in North GA
Assorted junk found metal detecting — 1930s Chevy wheel cover or hub cap, pieces of 1950 GA license plate, Zippo Alaska souvenir lighter and 7 wheaties dated 1917 to the 1950s — All found using Garrett GTI 2500
One of the wheatie’s I found was shot with a small caliber rifle. The coin is dated 1944 and I can imagine the guys in the front yard throwing up coins in the air and trying to shoot them. It looks like they got one!

These photos are from numerous outing’s metal detecting. The “best” find goes to Mike with his Equinox 800 with the 1954 Benjamin Franklin silver half dollar. I bet that was a exciting find!

Found Civil war relic and a tale of two nickels

Mike and I hit north GA again this weekend looking for civil war era relics and we had a blast! Mike scored some serious coin finds by landing two really old nickels. The first find was a 1867 US Shield nickel! 1867 was only the 2nd year the US mint starting producing US 5 cent pieces from Nickel!! It was Mike’s first shield nickel and I’ve never found one, so it was extremely exciting. When Mike first showed me his find, I thought he had found a “V” nickel, but he kept saying, I don’t see a “V” on it. We both looked at the coin and then at each other and almost shouted simultaneously “shield nickel!!!!”.

1867 US “shield” nickel found using Minelab Equinox 800

When we spoke with the property owner, she said she had no problem with us detecting the property, but 15 other metal detectorists had beat us to it! That’s assuming she remembers every single one too, the number could be even greater! To say the least, this site has been hit hard over the years!

After Mike’s shield nickel find, we continued to hunt the civil war era home. I found the following copper relic which at the time Mike and I had no idea of its purpose:

Civil war era US issued sling blade belt tongue or batwing found using GTI 2500.

After a lot of internet searching, I finally identified the relic. The piece was part of a US issued carbine belt that would have been used around their shoulder to help a soldier carry his weapon.

Here is a complete example of the US issued Carbine belt. I found the piece that secures the end of the leather belt.
Another view of the 1867 shield nickel and “V” nickel found using a Minelab Equinox 800

Mike’s 2nd great find of the day was the above “V” nickel found on the adjacent property. A partial date is just barely visible with “188x” shown and “V” nickels were first made in 1883, so that dates his 2nd nickel between 1883 and 1889!

Mike and I had a great day of metal detecting. We also found numerous pieces of trash and a few clad coins. We hunted three old homes, the oldest was dated to 1840 and was used during the US civil war. Mike’s other nickel was found on the property adjacent to the 1840’s home which was built around 1890. This is just another example of the old metal detecting adage, “a site is never completely worked out”, so get out there and hit some hunted out sites!

Civil war US soldier shown using Carbine sling

A Day Full of Metal Detecting

I woke up naturally at 5:30am, I had my alarm set for 6:00, but I didn’t need it today! I was in the water by 6:15 and my first signal was a quarter.

I was using my dad’s Garrett AT MAX and its super sensitive, so I was getting a lot of deep signals. Unfortunately, this area of the beach is real rocky and very tough to dig. My scoop would hit rocks and I was finding it difficult to penetrate deep enough to recover the finds. I was on a good potential gold target (40-45 on the meter), but after 4 or 5 unsuccessful scoops I was starting to get frustrated! On the next attempt, I had the target a bracelet and it was snagged on the side of the scoop, I had almost missed it again!

Bagging the find, I decided to try the sandy area where its much easier to dig. Last time I was getting a lot of targets that evaded me. I would get them out of the hole, but they would fall thru the holes of the scoop. I slowed down this time and did a little better and netted two more earrings!

Metal detecting finds using Garrett AT MAX in shallow water

I had a blast and found 15 “bad” targets and 5 “good” ones. Unfortunely, all the jewelry items were costume jewelry, but I’ll hit gold eventually!

The “good” finds from the morning hunt

When I got home, I quickly changed and took Jimmy out to go potty. I then rang my dad to see if he wanted to join me on my next hunt. He said sure and we headed off to site that had produced numerous silver dimes, two silver quarters and great relics and tokens in past hunts.

After briefly talking with the land owner, we both headed off in different directions. The site is a working farm from the 1930s to 1950s. The county records show it dates to 1906, but so far all the old finds are from that period.

Dad quickly found two pocket knives and a large cow tag marked 74. I had found one on a earlier hunt marked 69. The owner said they had 200 cattle in the 1980s, so they’re probably from that period. She said they only stopped raising them because the local vet refused to help take care of them. Who would think, in Forsyth county GA, you can’t get a vet. How times change!

After a few hours, we tallied our finds. I had a few clad coins, a toy truck, a farm nozzle, a key and bullet shell and three wheaties dated in the 1940s and 1950s.

“good” finds from the 2nd hunt of the day — found using a Garrett GTI 2500

Dad and I were beat, so we showed the home owner our finds and called it quits for the day. You don’t need spectacular finds to enjoy metal detecting. You just need to get out there and enjoy the day! See you all out there and good luck!

Shallow water beach metal detecting trip

I set my alarm for 5:45, I wanted to hit the beach around first light. I didn’t quite meet my deadline and I pulled into the boat launch parking at 6:30am. The sun was completely up and a few people were milling around, but the park didn’t open until 8am. Luckily the boat launch is open 24 hours and is right next to the beach area, so I just walked over with my Fisher Aquanaut 1280-X and immediately got into the water.

The temperature was a cool 62 degrees, but the water felt warm. In fact as I hunted the shallow water, I was only cold when the wind hit my wet shirt. There are not a lot of targets in the shallow water, but there are a few. My first target was a crusty zinc penny (everyone’s favorite). As I continued to work the beach, I got a good signal and out popped a women’s ring. It didn’t look like it was made from a precious metal and on closer inspection when I returned home, I confirmed it. Just another piece of costume jewelry, but still a exciting find!

I received numerous targets but were unable to locate them. I think they were small and were falling thru the holes of my scoop. I did visually see one of them and it was a tack like you would use on a cork board. Unfortunately, it fell thru the scoop before I could retrieve it. I attempted to locate it again, but I didn’t have any luck.

I continued to work the beach slowly, the targets were few and far between but when I got one my heart raced. In the middle of the beach around chest deep water, I got a good signal. When I looked in the scoop I immediately saw it, another ring! This one was a larger men’s ring, but again it didn’t look like it was gold or platinum. It had a dark finish to it and I was hoping it was silver and it had tarnished. Upon inspection, I think it’s one of the newer titanium or stainless steel rings that now pretty popular. Oh well, maybe next time…

Metal detecting finds — GA homesites

Mike and I hit a few homesites in North GA in the last couple of days. On Thursday (Mike was on vacation and I’m currently fuloughed from my job) we went back to the 1906 farm house. I found another silver quarter! This one was another Washington quarter dated 1948 and pretty worn out, so it was probably lost in the 1950s or 1960s.

Metal detecting finds using GTI 2500 — 1906 farm N. GA

In addition to the silver quarter, I also found six wheaties, a good luck charm, a small buckle and a few toy gun parts that are steadily found on this farm!

Today, we went west and asked permission at a couple of homesites in the area that was occupied by the Cherokee indians prior to the Indian removal act in the 1830s.

I struck out on the first two sites, but our final stop gave up 5 more wheaties using my trusty GTI. I usually average about one silver coin to every 6 wheaties found so hopefully next time I’ll find that elusive barber dime or quarter!

More wheaties, but no silver this time out (Garrett GTI 2500 finds)

Mike did great too, he found three wheaties at the 1906 farm house and four wheaties and a 1942 silver dime in the western sites we hunted.

Overall, we had a blast at all the sites and you just never know what you’ll find until you dig it up! Hope to see you all out there and good luck!

Minelab Equinox 800 — 15″ coil depth

Mike and I tested his new Minelab Equinox 800 EQX 15″ Double-D smart coil in our very mineralized Georgia soil (deep south). In addition to the heavy mineralization, the soil was also damp from a substantial rain that occurred in the early morning hours. The following videos outlines our results:

Here are the tabulated results:

Minelab Equinonx 800 — EQX 15″ Double-D smart coil depth results in heavy mineralization