AirmetTango
Forum Supporter
I haven’t been out detecting in a couple weeks - too hot and too dry - but today I had the itch. With ground conditions the way they are and no new permissions anyway, my only option was an old field permission essentially in my own backyard which also happens to be my only field that didn’t get planted this year. At this point, I’ve hunted it pretty hard, especially in the area where the homesite used to be, so now I’m lucky to come back with a keeper or two out of a 2 or 3 hour hunt - sometimes nothing worth keeping at all.
Anyways, I was spending the cooler early morning today swinging in the “no man’s land” areas well away from the former homesite, and after two hours, I was beginning to resign myself to coming home with nothing more than a shotshell headstamp and a crushed part of an oil lantern. The sun was getting higher, and the thin cloud cover was disappearing fast - it was getting noticeably hotter despite a nice breeze. I knew it was almost time to pack it in, and I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with the finds for the day. To help myself feel better, I started to think about some of the previous cool finds I’ve recovered from the site while I continued to hit “just one last section...I know there’s more here”. And as I swung, I eventually found myself thinking that it was funny that despite all the things recovered there, I never found a single nickel...
...It was even odder that within minutes of having that thought, I got the coil over a tight, somewhat subdued mid-tone, indicating mostly 12 on the EQ800 VDI, but occasionally hitting the sporadic 11 or 13. I knew it might be a nickel, but I fully expected another bit of corroded brass. I dug out a plug, but the signal was still deeper in the hole and my pinpointer said a little off to the side. “Uh-oh”, I thought, “that’s a tell for iron”. Well, it must have been a bit on edge, as an extra scoop with my gloved hand brought out a deeply corroded coin! Right away, I could see a large “5” and some stars...a Shield! Only my third Shield nickel, but my second for the year! It’s in pretty bad shape and the date is a lost cause, but she’s a beauty in my eyes! And I always love the crazy coincidences that pop up in this hobby! I gotta start thinking about how strange it is that I haven’t found a gold coin on the site!!
Anyways, I was spending the cooler early morning today swinging in the “no man’s land” areas well away from the former homesite, and after two hours, I was beginning to resign myself to coming home with nothing more than a shotshell headstamp and a crushed part of an oil lantern. The sun was getting higher, and the thin cloud cover was disappearing fast - it was getting noticeably hotter despite a nice breeze. I knew it was almost time to pack it in, and I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with the finds for the day. To help myself feel better, I started to think about some of the previous cool finds I’ve recovered from the site while I continued to hit “just one last section...I know there’s more here”. And as I swung, I eventually found myself thinking that it was funny that despite all the things recovered there, I never found a single nickel...
...It was even odder that within minutes of having that thought, I got the coil over a tight, somewhat subdued mid-tone, indicating mostly 12 on the EQ800 VDI, but occasionally hitting the sporadic 11 or 13. I knew it might be a nickel, but I fully expected another bit of corroded brass. I dug out a plug, but the signal was still deeper in the hole and my pinpointer said a little off to the side. “Uh-oh”, I thought, “that’s a tell for iron”. Well, it must have been a bit on edge, as an extra scoop with my gloved hand brought out a deeply corroded coin! Right away, I could see a large “5” and some stars...a Shield! Only my third Shield nickel, but my second for the year! It’s in pretty bad shape and the date is a lost cause, but she’s a beauty in my eyes! And I always love the crazy coincidences that pop up in this hobby! I gotta start thinking about how strange it is that I haven’t found a gold coin on the site!!
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