Metal Detector’s Blog

On October 22, 2006 I was relic hunting near Fredericksburg, Virginia. I had just dug three Confederate Gardner bullets and received another signal on my Explorer XS that sounded and IDed like another bullet.

After dumpung my second shovelful of dirt I was surprised to see a small silver coin on top of the dirt pile. I thought I had just dug a piece of Spanish silver but when I picked up the coin I knew I was wrong.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was holding a worn 1792 half disme! I knew I had found something special but it wasn’t until I went home and did some research did I realize how special it was. The 1792 half disme was the first coin minted by the United States.

There were 1500 minted of which around 250 are known to exist today. It is reported that the silver used to mint this coin came from George Washington in the form of his silver serving set. Thomas Jefferson hand delivered the freshly minted half dismes to George Washington and he dispersed them to dignitaries and friends. Some found their way into circulation as is evident by the wear on mine and others. Estimated price on my find is $10,000 .

I am thrill to have found this piece of our nations past. In October 2004 I dug a 1916 D mercury dime. I never dreamed I would ever top that find but I did. Thank you Minelab!

Marc Sciance

My occupation is in Sales, but while a contractor was developing the property where I was previously employed I saw people metal detecting. After asking them what they were finding and hearing about the Civil War relics they were finding I got hooked!

That was about 8 years ago, and I’ve been metal detecting beaches or anywhere I can find Civil War relics ever since!

I was recently hunting in a construction site, looking for Civil War relics with my Fisher 1266-X and a shovel. Nobody was with me while I hunted that day, and the top soil had been piled up from the construction that was going on nearby. It was already dark out, but I had a flashlight and was determined to get a hunt in that day. After only about 10 minutes I got a signal, and about 8” down I found my favorite find to date.

It’s a sweet, and I mean sweet, Virginia Staff Officer’s Coat Button. I had to use my flashlight to see exactly what kind of button it was, but it was a friend of mine who identified it; he’s been detecting Civil War relics for over 20 years and knew what it was right away.

I’ve been told I’ll never dig another button in such good condition.

Timothy C., Winchester, Virginia.

Last summer a friend and I were detecting a site when I found this 1773 Spanish reale in shockingly good shape. It was about 4 inches down. This was at a site along the El Camino Reale trail in central CA. We knew that there was a small and short lived trading post on the spot in the mid 1800’s and there were a lot of corresponding seated coins found. However, we also knew that it was in the area of one of D’Anza’a camps as he mapped the inland trail of California in the spring of 1776.

In those days there was really no such thing as coin collecting and therefor the reales that we did find were extremely worn and very thin. I know that the same night I found this one my friend found an 1812 reale but like the other reales found, it was extremely slick and you could barely read it. Being as the reales weren’t made very well to begin with, we can say with almost certainly that there is no way this coin could have been carried around for the 80 years necessary to make it to the era of the trading post and still look so detailed. The picture doesn’t even do it justice. The fact that it was most likely dropped from one of D’Anza’s party makes sense perfectly with the amount of wear it has. Further excursions found other relics from that earlier time period but we didn’t find anymore coins.

That’s not surprising however, as we know from the journal entries that they only camped there for 1 night and there were only around 12 men in the entire party at this point in the trail. It’s just soooo cool knowing almost without a doubt that in all likelyhood this coin was dropped less than a year after our country existed. And the possibilty that this coin travelled with D’Anza as he was the first to map the inland trail of California just overwhelms me. I purchased this Musketeer Advantage detector in December of 2001.

Thanks for letting me share my story.

Carraig

I have had my new Fisher Coin Strike for about 3 weeks now, and I continue to learn more about it each time I take it out. It is a bit different to operate than any detector I have used in my 35 years of detecting. That said, I do like a challenge!

For the past few years, my brother and I have spent most of our coin hunting time at old home sites and old fair grounds in a four county area. With high gas prices, limited time, and extreme hot temperature, I decided “why not learn my new Coin Strike close to home”? The city park where I live is only about 3 blocks from my house. Spending most of my recent detecting time in open spaces, detecting in a park setting with modern trash would require some getting use to.

I’ve detected this park several times over the past 20 years and have found quite a few old coins. But I’ve been at this hobby long enough to know that the possibility of finding an oldie or two still exists. The first outing with the Coin Strike was a real eye opener as I wasn’t in the habit of digging bottle caps.

Digging them made me realize why there are still could be old coins there. The trash and bottle caps are doing a fine job of masking some good targets. Not wanting to leave any old coins behind, I decided to dig bottle caps as well. That evening, I dug a few wheaties and memorials and several bottle caps. Being a persistent individual, I went back a few days later with the small coil on my Coin Strike. I set the machine with full discriminate for iron 99. I notched out foil, nickels, and tabs, set the threshold at -5 and sensitivity at 3. Within 15 minutes I dug a 1897 O Barber dime and a 1891 Indian Head. I continued to detect, being a bit more excited (and optimistic) now. I continued for about another 45 minute and recovered some modern clad dimes, 2 more wheaties and 10 memorials. A couple days later I got to thinking about that dime and decided to look up the value in the Red Book. Lo and behold it was a RARE dime I had found with only 666,000 minted!!

I must admit that after the first time using the Coin Strike I was a little disappointed, but each and every time out I learn something new.I would be willing to bet that by fall, when the crops get out of the fields, the Coin Strike and I will be out there in some of our old favorite spots finding some goodies we’ve missed in the past.

Bill

I was searching in a small patch of a garden that’s not far from where the old garrison once stood on the original farm in 1650. The owner of the property often drives his tractor along the side of the corn garden to access his field, and by chance I decided to go over the area with my Minelab Explorer II. . .
“I’ve considered myself a Metal Detectorist for about 30 years. On and off since the 1970’s, I had given the hobby up for several years and started getting back out there in 2003. About a mile from my house, in beautiful New Hampshire, there is a farm owned by wonderful folks. It’s run full-time, ‘round year – they grow produce in the summer and Christmas trees in the winter.

Last fall they gave me permission to hunt their property and I’ve spent a lot of time out there. I’ve even found many large coppers and some really old 1700’s pewter spoons. But my best find was something all together different and very, very old.

I got a strong signal and after digging about 5” deep a silver buckle popped out. I didn’t even clean the mud off until I got home, but when I did I recognized it right away. I cleaned it under running water and saw a beautiful, small silver shoe buckle that was used from 1650 to 1720. The chape and tongue design are noted in several reference books as those of the Tudor-Georgian period.

I showed the owners and they were really happy to see that piece. They’ve encouraged me to hunt the farm as often as I would like and as a gift to them I hand-painted a beautiful 1800’s bottle to display in their shop. This is the only silver buckle I have ever found there, but it is also one of the oldest pieces in my collection.

Ed in New Hampshire

Douglas P. from St. Thomaston, ME. has been metal detecting for some time now. He has previously owned 2 “Good” detectors but when he stepped up to the Top-of-the-Line Minelab Explorer II it was as if he was discovering metal detecting for the first time. His incredible finds include such a wide variety of valuables you hardly know where to begin such as valuable coins, rings and jewelry. Plus he has found a number of items that presently defy description, but they probably are very very valuable.

Walking while metal detecting, down old roads that have existed since the founding of Maine, Douglas has located and recovered incredible items from the 18th century. Anyhwehere from Fugio Cents to old rings, a beautiful hand-painted broach and an antique metal bookmark.

The broach features a Francois Gerard painting of Madame Recamier. This portrait painter was a court artist for both King Louis XVIII of France and Napoleon. He was also famed for his paintings of non-aristocratic subjects such as Madame Recamier.

Among all the treasures Douglas has found, 2 coins in particular that are worth more than the average cent. The 1892 Canadian Large Cent is valued at $6.00 whereas the 1787 Fugio Cent is worth up to $2,400.00! Douglas still thinks the Fugio cent with the American Congress pattern worth $175,000.00 is still somewhere in the ground waiting for him and his Explorer II.

Well, you just never know Douglas….good luck!