Update added! Half inch deep Barber half dollar and a few other goodies

ToySoldier

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UPDATE IN POST #15

I went to a spot I had noticed a few days earlier where the town had scraped up some old neighborhood public dirt into a big pile just waiting to be hauled off or spread out. The rest of the site was ready for concrete, and I wasn't going to risk messing up their forms or string lines, so I stayed outside of the roped off area and turned my attention to the dirt pile.

Sensitivity at 50% to just focus on targets shallow enough to pop out with the tip of my pinpointer. I didn't notch anything out. I could have done this hunt with any detector that can signal low versus medium/high conductors.

I hit a couple of memorial pennies, then a wheat, then a a nickel so badly corroded I could only tell it was likely pre-Jefferson. Then, with a few minutes to spare, I hit a "too good to be true" shallow signal. But, in this case, that's what I hoping to hear. Out popped a Barber half. It was completely black with tarnish and I could only see the outlines.

I had to go, but I came back the next evening and popped a few more wheat pennies and a decent looking Buffalo. No more silver.

I cleaned the 1897 Barber just enough to leave some tarnish to show detail. It's pretty smooth. The line across the face is a weird pattern in the tarnish and not a gouge. She ain't pretty, but she looks good to me. You can see some recent scratch marks, but that must have been from when the dirt was scraped.

The unknown nickel was as corroded as I've ever seen. I tried gentler measures to ID it, but resorted to something more drastic and it turned out to be a buffalo. I've censored the results to protect sensitive viewers. The better looking buffalo barely gave up the last two digits of the date. 1924.
 

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Nice finds. I've thought about checking a few piles around here that I have seen. But they tend to rope off the area and I don't feel comfortable jumping the line. Now thinking I should have.
 
Nice finds. I've thought about checking a few piles around here that I have seen. But they tend to rope off the area and I don't feel comfortable jumping the line. Now thinking I should have.

They had the area where they were doing the construction/concrete roped off, and I didn't go into it. The dirt I detected was piled up chest high along the sidewalk outside of that area.
 
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Yep thats a nice haul there! Timing is huge when looking for tearouts, they pour them so quick. I had a street tearout here in MA that we hunted for about a week and a half and found some really good stuff. I just remember driving through one day and it was all covered, I almost cried :laughing: good luck out there, and happy hunting!
 
Great job netting that Barber half!! Sure looks good to me too, regardless of condition! The “censored” nickel made me chuckle - I’ve definitely learned a few lessons the hard way by taking a cleaning just a tad too far :lol: And it always seems like nickels end up being the poster child :lol: just no easy way to clean ‘em.
 
Way to take advantage of a opportunity Soldier. Congrats on the Barber Half, the Buffalo's and the Wheat's. I'd bet there is more in that pile that is deeper in Trapper.
 
Way to take advantage of a opportunity Soldier. Congrats on the Barber Half, the Buffalo's and the Wheat's. I'd bet there is more in that pile that is deeper in Trapper.

I bet you're right. My guess is that they're going to take a foot or two off of the dirt piles and use that as backfill around the new concrete. Then, the rest will get hauled off or spread out. I don't get to that part of town much, but if my timing is good I might get a chance to find out.

Normally I wouldn't go through the trouble, but digging options are limited right now. Yards are like concrete and the occasional thundershower isn't enough to make a difference.
 
Update:

I drove by this part of town again tonight and saw that they're still working on this project. I slowed down to see if the dirt piled up outside of the construction zone had changed. Yep. The section where I found the Barber half had been scraped down to spread some of that dirt out around the new concrete. This exposed a new layer of old dirt in the dirt pile.

I had my detector in the trunk and still in a coin program from my last hunt. I grabbed my pin pointer, a small digging tool, and lowered the sensitivity since I wasn't going to dig anything deep. It was getting dark fast. I went straight to the part of the dirt pile that had been scraped and literally within one minute I popped out a shiny, thin silver coin.

1900 Barber dime. Silver number 30 for the year.

She was 5 feet over and about 2 feet below where the Barber half dollar had been. Just like the Barber half, ANY detector would have hit it. Just like the Barber half, she's seen better days. But, she looks good to me! I scanned around for a few more minutes, found a modern nickel and a modern Australian coin, and then it was too dark to keep going and not look sketchy near the construction.
 

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Good play by play. I never get tired of barbers and buffalos, even if super-kissed by the ground ! Heck, our coins wouldn't be half as fun if they came out of the ground candy-apple clean, eh ? :laughing:
 
Congratulations on persevering and getting more finds from that great spot .

Thanks! It's pretty wild that this one big pile of old dirt has turned out a small handful of coins, and that included two barbers, two buffalo, and some wheaties. More good coins than clad and barely any junk. I guess that's due to the original depth of that dirt. If I go back and find a Barber quarter then I wouldn't blame somebody for not believing me. That's not going to stop me from keeping an eye on it and trying!

Good play by play. I never get tired of barbers and buffalos, even if super-kissed by the ground ! Heck, our coins wouldn't be half as fun if they came out of the ground candy-apple clean, eh ? :laughing:

Interesting that the tarnish is exactly the same on both coins. Not sure why because I doubt they're using any chemical fertilizers. But, the soil where they were originally located stays pretty damp.
 
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