Obtainable Coin Types (In your area)

[Westernlegend1]

Here is another "Fatty" this one was found where an old sidewalk was being replaced.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Here are some of the "run of the mill" Indian heads, over the years most of the copper type coins tend to get corroded.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Yes, most of the old Indian Heads come out of the ground damaged, but once in awhile a good one surfaces. This one was found with a Bounty Hunter in yet another shaved down yard demo site. 1885 is supposed to be one of those Semi-key dates. After folks start finding these older coins, we pick up much general knowledge of the "Red" book. We tend to know a good one when we dig them out in the field.

 

[Westernlegend1]

This is that 1874 Indian Head that was in that first yard demo site I posted about earlier. The old Bounty hunter signal bounced between Zinc cent and screw cap on this and many others.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Small Brass

Digging small brass is important when trying to find old deep coins. The smaller the bit of brass you can dig the more likely you will find more older coins.
Signals that bounce between good and bad are worth digging too. After all it could be a old nail next to a good old coin.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Once I got into this hobby my goals for metal detecting changed.
First there was the find enough clad to pay for the machine.
Then there was finding something old (before 1900).
Then I was pushing trying to find a coin dated before the forming of the city I lived in and then the founding of the state itself.
I reached all those goals with my old Bounty Hunter machine. But I was to surprise myself with Civil War relics and other nice finds along the way. Later I'll post some of those other finds.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Here is one of my first Civil War finds. This button was found where a house got torn down and the yard was scraped down. For those swinging Bounty Hunter models this will read in the junk range. Coat buttons read higher than cuff buttons due to a larger mass of metal. Once you find your first one than you will learn button back marks when you research your find to determine its age.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Here is an Infantry "I" button that I found in another of those shaved down yard demo sites. It seems that the community had mustered many troops for the North. Over time I found several of the yard demo sites gave up these relics of the War Between the States.

 

[Westernlegend1]

General Grant Stayed Here

This next group of finds was made where another big sidewalk project took place. But one of the weird things was digging 3 old hotel key fobs from a famous and still operatiing bed and breakfast located down in Illinois. Some folks long ago must of taken a riverboat to my old hometown and discarded these.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Yes that old dirt holds many interesting items. Later I'll post some more of the little treasures that makes one wonder about the people who once tread where we are lucky enough to get to hunt.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Illinois State Seal Button

Here is an Old button that I found with the BH in a yard demo site. It was cold winter hunting that day, it warmed up enough to melt a couple of inches. Sunny south facing slopes will sometimes allow some hunting even when the rest of the area is still frozen.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Here is an old Minnesota token I found in my first year of metal detecting. This one is from Clements, Minnesota, it was found in a regular yard hunt in my old home town. Later doing some research on the token I discovered the town of Clements was founded about 1904. What made this a strange find was the fact that Clements was hundreds of miles away. It must of been an interesting story as to how the token made it so far considering that was the day of model T cars and train travel. I placed a call to this town's chamber of commerice and found they were having a meeting later that night, the lady said she would bring up the token and the business name to the others. What was odd was the fact that she and her husband both metal detected. The next day I called her back and she told me that no one had ever heard of this business before. The town was about 4 city blocks square so it was an interesting find for them to learn about also. They were preparing for their 100 year celebration of being a town, August 4th if I remember correctly. Later a token collector bought the piece and told me there were 13 of these known. It is important to check those seemingly unimportant finds out, they might be more rare than one would think.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Any coin anywhere?

I am taking the time to include that a rare "Contential Dollar" was discovered in the past in Kansas. This occured back in the 1970's or 1980's.
I am giving some thought to posting some stories of "Big" little known treasure finds that were made in the past. Examples are the two largest gold coin hoard finds made by shovel by the same individuals. Another that would be of interest, is the largest silver cache discovery made in the United States. These would be stories of the pre-metal detector days. They should be interesting reading for the upcoming frozen winter months.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Here is another unlisted token that I dug back in the mid-west. This token?s history was vague the other side said ?Last Chance Saloon?. It did well on eBay when I sold it, the problems happened when it came time to receive payment. The bidder was local and came over to pay and get the token. He had bid also on another token that he did not win. I well post that one later. that one did very well and went for over $100. He looked at the token and then claimed he did not want it, his explanation was he was driving up the price to drive off the winner of the other token. He received a negative feedback and really got stewed over it. To a token collector a negative feedback is a kiss of death on eBay. He had to pay an addition fee to eBay to get the negative feedback removed. The end result was he had to fork over the amount of the token that he was trying to win in the first place. A good rare token will had some stiff bidding place on it. I have found that lots of times tokens are worth more money than the majority of the coins we find. Location found an old yard demo site.

 

[Westernlegend1]

This token was found at a school yard, they had shaved down a large circle shaped area. I went home to get my Bounty Hunter detector. By the time I got back almost the whole thing was covered in gravel. The only area not covered was the edges of the circle. I scanned this area and got a weird bouncing signal. I dug up a rusted metal box and opened it up. Inside was some deteriorated papers and broken glass vials and the token. I still to this day think the vials held at one time medical morphine. I took the token home and researched it. It was an unlisted one for the town I lived in. I also dug a semi-melted Indian Head, I was never able to determine what year it was. It appears that at one time the school yard was a residential area and most likely held a few businesses too. The token was interesting due to the spelling of the town and it was incused. Estimates of the age of the token were from about 1870. On eBay it sold for over $100. For all I know this might be the only known example for this old time saloon.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Seeing places as they once were, or in other words thinking old. When I go to a location such as in this case a yard with an old house I look for what once was. Is there crumbled cement from an old foundation? Any traces of broken brick from a building that no longer exists? Depressions from an old walk or path? For this find I noticed an opening that looked like an old garage had once stood in the yard. I scanned this area and dug a interesting token, the business had closed in the 1980?s after operating for about 100 years. The find did not have a large value, but it was a historic place in our cities past. They sold cigars and tobacco and even had illegal gambling.

 

[Westernlegend1]

The main purpose of this thread is helping those new to the hobby to make some nice finds. Epi-hunter was interested in new ways to gain permission, so I'll type up some of the stuff that worked for me. I was also interested in doing some stories on the old time treasure hunters and their discoveries they made back before the days of metal detectors. They used shovels and were called "Pot Hunters." So it looks like I got some work for the coming winter months.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Gaining Permission

Gaining Permission​

So how do you over come being shy or afraid to ask for permission to hunt property of others? Normally we fire that old metal detector up in our own yards for the first time to see how it works. We than seem to venture with our machine to public parks and the property of relatives, this tends to be due to several factors. One is relatives know us and are most likely to not say no. The other is we feel public parks are ours to also enjoy. But some places do not allow metal detecting in public parks are several reasons.
1. It could be because someone had really done a job tearing the place up in the past.
2. It could be they are worried about damage to the grass. (I have found that even being careful with plugging animals will come along and tear out the plugs, squirrels are famous for this).
3. The number of reasons are unlimited, and often times make no real sense at all.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Gainig Permission Part 2

So let's looks for places to hunt and find a way to get access on to those spots. Where do we want to hunt? If you are after jewelry than parks and beaches would be the place to go. Now I never cared for the hassle of park hunting, seems like every kid there will be drawn like a magnet to me and I end up watching other folk?s kids. Also someone who thinks they own the park eventually comes along and reads the riot act. So why spoil a good planned outing? Why even go there in the first place? Others might prefer to hunt parks and beaches but not me. Somehow my mind got corrupted with thoughts of old valuable items that were to be found.

 

[Westernlegend1]

Gaining Permission Part 3

So to begin to learn were we want to spend our limited time metal detecting, and where we want to work on gaining permission to hunt lets go to our local library. The internet has much valuable info, but this info is limited to what someone took the time to put on the internet.

Now our local library has much more valuable and locally detailed info for the exact location that each of us lives in. The library is also very useful for a couple of other reasons. It is where we can place orders for books on the hobby thru the inter-library loan system. Many of the best books can be the older ones we no-longer see available for sale. The info on treasure hunting wrote about by the old timers is for the most part still true to this day.

2. It also has computers at some locations and I am sure some members use these to access the metal detecting sites.

3. Old atlases and maps are often available to view, though these tend to be in the archives section due to they can no longer be replaced.

4. Years ago many communities took the time to publish centennials in celebration of the 100 or 150 years anniversary of the founding of their respective communities. These are books full of pictures of old time gathering spots, swimming holes, churches and local businesses. Many of these structures are no longer are standing, but often times the addresses of them are given. Why spend hundreds of hours reading words to glean just a few possibly useable facts that might or might not pan out? Take the time to look at those old pictures, when you do, imagine the possibility of the coins and other relics that those folks most assuredly dropped! Remember to take pencil and paper along to record locations, addresses and dates of operation. From this info we can get a general idea as to what types of items lay in the ground around those sites. Over time anyone that does this will build a listing of their local area and the potential hunt sites. It is only a matter of time till one gains access to hunt near these potential hot spots.

Historical Societies ​

These are another great source of info for those days that are no longer. Often times material was donated to them due to someone had passed away. After all we can not hang on to everything, the donated material was given a home to be shared with the community. It was some folk's way of giving back to others. Take the time to check out if they gave you the gift of knowledge!