MTtrashdigger
Elite Member
Good Day Everyone! as i reported in my last post, the weather in MT has been incredibly warm and dry this winter and has allowed me to detect more than ususal. Yesterday was near 60 with calm winds and mostl sunny. for the past few weeks I have been concentrating on very small areas but in and near our oldest business districts. And by old, most of the area was originally built up around 1890-1920 , so its not that old. But since then, most of this area has been paved over, torn down and rebuilt and no longer looks historic. .All of the curb strips have been narrowed or removed and most of the sidewalks have been replaced. But there are a couple of small street medians and a few curbstrips where there are mature trees, so I have some hope there is a bit of original dirt left.
Yesterday, I decided to hunt a short, narrow curb strip with some mature trees. After covering about half of it and only finding a couple of clad coins and the usual trash, I got a solid, and deep 97 on my Manticore right at the base of one of the trees. These types of signals for me have usually been crushed cans or deeply buried and unused sprinkler heads., But I dig them anyway and I am glad I dug this one. I cut out the plug with my shovel and and removed it and then pushed the shovel as deep as I could and loosened up the soil in the hole, as I usually do on deep targets. As I lifted a big double handfull of dirt to put on my towel, I immediately felt the weight and edge of something heavy and round. I dropped the dirt on my towel and was almost afraid to brush the dirt away. I saw the edge and shakily took the first pic with my phone, I picked it up, knocked the dirt off, set it back down, and there laid my 2nd Morgan dollar! My first was also a curbstrip find. This one is a 1898 S and due to the wear, it obviously circulated for a while before it was dropped. You can also see I scratched it on the reverse side.
I researched this date and mint mark and 4.1M were struck. Most went into storage and apparently weren't released into circulation until the1920s -1950s, and many were used heavily in Las Vegas casino slot machines. Interesting history and a very lucky find! Thanks for following along and good luck out there!
Yesterday, I decided to hunt a short, narrow curb strip with some mature trees. After covering about half of it and only finding a couple of clad coins and the usual trash, I got a solid, and deep 97 on my Manticore right at the base of one of the trees. These types of signals for me have usually been crushed cans or deeply buried and unused sprinkler heads., But I dig them anyway and I am glad I dug this one. I cut out the plug with my shovel and and removed it and then pushed the shovel as deep as I could and loosened up the soil in the hole, as I usually do on deep targets. As I lifted a big double handfull of dirt to put on my towel, I immediately felt the weight and edge of something heavy and round. I dropped the dirt on my towel and was almost afraid to brush the dirt away. I saw the edge and shakily took the first pic with my phone, I picked it up, knocked the dirt off, set it back down, and there laid my 2nd Morgan dollar! My first was also a curbstrip find. This one is a 1898 S and due to the wear, it obviously circulated for a while before it was dropped. You can also see I scratched it on the reverse side.
I researched this date and mint mark and 4.1M were struck. Most went into storage and apparently weren't released into circulation until the1920s -1950s, and many were used heavily in Las Vegas casino slot machines. Interesting history and a very lucky find! Thanks for following along and good luck out there!
