1917 WLH

angellionel

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Jan 10, 2006
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Location
Western MA
1917 Wlh

I spent the early part of Saturday doing some shallow water detecting at a beach on the Connecticut shore. It was raining nonstop, but I still enjoyed the time there even though I didn’t find any gold, but just a handful of clads and several lead weights. As far as good finds, Sunday would be a different story.

Today I had planned to detect at two different sites, one is an open field, somewhat hidden from the view of the nearby roads, and the other a wooded section near a river. I only had about four hours to detect, and the plan was to spend two hours at each site. The field, my first stop, was a disappointment. Although it looks good at first glance, a close inspection of the soil, after cutting a few plugs, convinced me that it had been brought in and layered over the original for a good six inches or so. Always the optimist, I worked it anyway, spending about an hour and thirty minutes slowly sweeping the coil, carefully listening for any deep sounding targets. Aside from a few mems, nothing else was found. It was time to head to the second site.

The wooded section at this site faces the river, and it’s near some very old stone structures. It’s somewhat isolated from the nearby neighborhoods, and gives off an air of creepiness. Looking across the river, I noticed a dirty tent about fifty feet from the shore, with some trash littering the surrounding ground. It appears that someone actually lives there. Sad. Still, I would have to be very alert. You just never know. Anyway, I started what I came to do – coinshoot.

After an hour and about $2.50 in clads, I received a very nice tone, with the VDI hitting 92, and pinpointing at just over seven inches. I kept sweeping the coil from different angles, at first certain that it would end up being a small piece of metal, but the tones were even on all swings, and the target was pinpointing small. Now I had a shot of adrenaline hit me. This was a coin – no doubt. I removed much of the leaves covering the ground and cut a wide plug. Several scoops of soil later, I had the coin ?– a beautiful 1917 Walking Liberty half! The good condition of the coin was evident even though it was crusted in with soil. I wrapped it in tissue before placing it in the pouch.

Another 20 minutes later I received another high tone, reading 86 and pinpointing at 6 ? inches. Following the same steps as with the half, I cut the plug wide enough to allow me some wiggle room, since the roots can be a problem. Soon enough I was holding the target, a very nice 1904 Barber quarter! Yep, I had a big smile on my face. I passed the coil over the hole again, and there was another signal, but this was a low and subdued tone, with the VDI barely breaking 15. Removing another scoop of soil brought the target to light. I could barely make out what it was, but after carefully removing some of the layered soil, I saw that what I had was a Buffalo nickel, though I couldn’t make out the date. That would have to wait until I could give it a mild cleaning.

I worked the area for another 15 minutes or so, and then headed back to the car for the drive home, happy as can be.

Angel

The scans are of the coins before they were cleaned and the result after a 10 minute soak in ammonia. The dated Buffalo (1920), was a sweet surprise. The dates are usually worn off.

coins040906A.jpg

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coins040906B.jpg

coins040906BB.jpg


coins040906C.jpg

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Nice finds! Your WLH is in much better condition than my "37 I found yesterday. Congrats on all the great finds. HH


DeepBeeps
 
Great finds as always Angel. Your 1917 WLH is in much better shape than the one I found last year.
 
Those coins look great Angel...

So how many fishing weights you have so far? I have about 12 pounds of them lol... Along with about 2 dozen castmaster lures.... Its amazing the stuff out in the water.
 
Hey, thanks for viewing and for the comments guys! :grin:

Cfmct-PI said:
So how many fishing weights you have so far? I have about 12 pounds of them lol... Along with about 2 dozen castmaster lures.... Its amazing the stuff out in the water.

Well, I've only hit the shore with the Excalibur two times, once at Rocky Neck (where I stumbled onto the bracelet) and then Sound View, so I haven't had the chance to build a "collection" of lead as you have, Craig. :lol:

They do sound off good. I have about seven so far, ranging from 1 to 3 ounces each. They'll come in handy when I take up fishing again. ;)

You're right, there's a variety of stuff out there, but I guess that's what makes it exciting - not really knowing what you're scooping, and hoping that it is gold.

Angel
 
Beautiful coins Angel, congrats! Man those must have been a rush to find.

Keep those lead weights, I used mine to make an anchor for my canoe last year. :lol:
 
boot said:
How many silver coins have you found this year, Angel?

I?m not sure how the rest of the year will go, since it is getting very difficult to find the sweet spots, but here?s the inventory so far, a total of 40 silver coins:

Barber Half = 2
Walking Liberty Half = 3
JFK Half = 1
Barber Quarter = 4
Standing Liberty Quarter = 1
Washington Quarter = 3
Seated Liberty Dime = 1
Barber Dime = 3
Mercury Dime = 19
Roosevelt Dime = 3

scott-devon said:
Beautiful coins Angel, congrats! Man those must have been a rush to find.

Keep those lead weights, I used mine to make an anchor for my canoe last year. :lol:

Thanks, Scott! It definitely was a rush! :yes:

Hey, that?s a good use for the weights. You must have pounds of the stuff! :lol:

Angel
 
Nice going on the silver and buff angel. I just love those WLH even though I have only found one of them so far. They sure do make a sweet sound.
 
Could you explain your Ammonia method? I am an extreme newbie.
 
SteveMN said:
Nice going on the silver and buff angel. I just love those WLH even though I have only found one of them so far. They sure do make a sweet sound.

They really do. That's why I like having ToneID on, the signal from a half or a quarter clearly stands out. :grin:

boot said:
Could you explain your Ammonia method? I am an extreme newbie.

Generally, only the silver I find goes into an ammonia soak, usually lasting from 10 to 15 minutes. The next important thing to do after removing the coin from the ammonia is to use a very soft toothbrush, mild soap and water. This removes the clinging but softened soil and stains. It's especially effective on rust stains. It doesn't remove all of the sulfide staining a coin may have though.

As far as copper, for me it's a no-no. They will discolor badly, leaving an ugly orange tinge. I do soak some nickels, though the results vary. The war-era nickels (silver clad), on the other hand, do clean up nicely.

user18 said:
Angel, those are beautiful finds as usual!

Thanks, Epi!

Angel
 
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