Tom_in_CA
Elite Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
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I got out with some buddies for the previous holiday weekend for a hunt. At one of our "back-pocket" gold rush country sites. This site, on a previous hunt show & tell posted here, had produced some goodies :
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=279643
Eg.: foreign coins from the early 1800s, seated half, etc.... So we went back to try our luck again this last weekend. And were not disappointed. However, I got my b*tt kicked by my friends. They out-hunted me big time, d/t I got no coins this time. And they're not letting me forget it ! haha
Coins this time were a super crisp 1853 P quarter, and a super crisp 1853 P dime (ironically matching years). Other than that .... Chinese cash coins (obligatory for gold rush sites). And utterly zero clad ! A real dream site, in that .... any "penny/dime" signal has you holding your breath . Saying "come to papa". But lots of period "whatzitz" and relics, that keep you relishing in the history. Eg.: lantern parts, gun parts, old hardware doohickies, toe-taps, powder flask parts, buttons, buckles, etc...... We were in hog-heaven
And a crowning glory was my friend's gold nugget. These are sometimes found in gold rush country relicky sites (ie.: the tent city or saloon-row zones). And it's debatable how they got there. Certainly .... since this is gold country after all, it's *possible* that it's a naturally occurring nugget. However, we are in relic mode mindset. And since 99.99% of nuggets found in nature never exceed pinhead size, it's very rare that "coin machines" would find naturally occurring nuggets. HOWEVER, since gold hunting is what was historically going on there, and since nuggets (and powder ) were historically used as forms-of-exchange (eg.: a pinch of powder or a nugget buys you a drink), then : It's possible that some nuggets got carried around as forms of money. Ie.: miners literally carried nuggets around with them. And carried back to to their tent-city hobbles,stores, etc.... And could have lost them there, outside of the natural normally occurring nugget settle-zones.
No matter how it got there, we're not complaining. It weighs 13.3 grams. Thus assuming 24k, he had $670-ish of raw gold alone. It read in the low nickel range and was 4" deep. So : Hat's off to my friend for not missing that whisper !
As you can see: Powder flasks, miners buckles, period hardware, coins, rifle-butt plate, etc... Fun fun fun !
Anyone care to venture some grade guesses on the two coins ?
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=279643
Eg.: foreign coins from the early 1800s, seated half, etc.... So we went back to try our luck again this last weekend. And were not disappointed. However, I got my b*tt kicked by my friends. They out-hunted me big time, d/t I got no coins this time. And they're not letting me forget it ! haha
Coins this time were a super crisp 1853 P quarter, and a super crisp 1853 P dime (ironically matching years). Other than that .... Chinese cash coins (obligatory for gold rush sites). And utterly zero clad ! A real dream site, in that .... any "penny/dime" signal has you holding your breath . Saying "come to papa". But lots of period "whatzitz" and relics, that keep you relishing in the history. Eg.: lantern parts, gun parts, old hardware doohickies, toe-taps, powder flask parts, buttons, buckles, etc...... We were in hog-heaven
And a crowning glory was my friend's gold nugget. These are sometimes found in gold rush country relicky sites (ie.: the tent city or saloon-row zones). And it's debatable how they got there. Certainly .... since this is gold country after all, it's *possible* that it's a naturally occurring nugget. However, we are in relic mode mindset. And since 99.99% of nuggets found in nature never exceed pinhead size, it's very rare that "coin machines" would find naturally occurring nuggets. HOWEVER, since gold hunting is what was historically going on there, and since nuggets (and powder ) were historically used as forms-of-exchange (eg.: a pinch of powder or a nugget buys you a drink), then : It's possible that some nuggets got carried around as forms of money. Ie.: miners literally carried nuggets around with them. And carried back to to their tent-city hobbles,stores, etc.... And could have lost them there, outside of the natural normally occurring nugget settle-zones.
No matter how it got there, we're not complaining. It weighs 13.3 grams. Thus assuming 24k, he had $670-ish of raw gold alone. It read in the low nickel range and was 4" deep. So : Hat's off to my friend for not missing that whisper !
As you can see: Powder flasks, miners buckles, period hardware, coins, rifle-butt plate, etc... Fun fun fun !
Anyone care to venture some grade guesses on the two coins ?
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