1805 draped bust large cent and 1953 silver quarter in the same area!

FreeBirdTim · Oct 22, 2021

Beautiful 70 degree day today, so I decided to metal detect the spot where they had the Scituate Art Festival a couple of weeks ago. Found jack squat on the surface, but pulled out two great coins a few inches down.

First coin was a 1953D Washington quarter about 5 inches down. Very clear signal and rang up as an 87. Looks to be in decent shape as well.

About 50 feet away, I got an 88 signal. Hoping for another silver quarter, but ended up with a big copper instead! It was only around 4 inches down. Looks like it's an 1805 draped bust cent, but it's pretty toasted.

Very good day, but I'm wondering how I missed these two coins all these years. I do this spot every year after they have the art festival, but never found much there. The whole area is full of trash, so maybe that's how they managed to avoid my coil for the last eight years. It can be challenging to detect trashy spots with the AT Pro's larger coil, but I guess I won the battle this day.

stetam · Oct 22, 2021

Congrats on the great coin score! Isn't it amazing how you can still find stuff in a place you think you already hunted thoroughly to death?

Steve

FreeBirdTim · Oct 22, 2021

Steve, yup, it was a shocker to pull these two honking coins from a public spot I've done at least 10 times over the years. Even more amazing is that it's probably been done by quite a few other detectorists over the last 40 years and they missed them as well.

CallMeGrey · Oct 22, 2021

Congrats on the LC and silver GW!

TommyJay · Oct 22, 2021

Nice largie and washington! I would have expected the largie to be much deeper.

FreeBirdTim · Oct 23, 2021

Nice largie and washington! I would have expected the largie to be much deeper.

Just about all the LC's I find are in the 4 to 6 inch range. Can't explain it, but that's the way it is around here. Even stranger is the fact that all the 1700's 1/2 reales I've found have been 4 inches down or less. You would think they'd all be a foot down or more after being in the ground for 250 years, but that's not the case...

markinswpa · Oct 23, 2021

Nice save Tim, congrats on the GW and Draped Bust lc . Always nice to squeak one or two more coins out of a heavy hunted spot. Good luck, Mark

kaufenanger · Oct 23, 2021

Congrats on the Draped Bust and Washington!

KOB · Oct 23, 2021

Though not worth much , still a cool old find. What intrigues me more is your twilight zone moment on finding it. Also , I would think the same about the reales you find , all shallow. Were these fields tilled up at some point ? How do so many others miss these targets as well ? I know I have grided small beach areas to death from all different angles and continued to find good targets. I think just a lucky pass at an odd angle of the coil with an odd angle of the buried target made it possible. Very strange.

metaladdict · Oct 23, 2021

Coolness

CTpilgrim · Oct 23, 2021

Nice finds. It is crazy some of the stuff that gets missed. Well done

jimther · Oct 23, 2021

Tim… nice going with those keepers from a ‘hunted to death’ spot. Food for thought - how many square inches of ground might be in that location? After years of multiple detectorists pounding it, betcha not every square inch was covered. Or, if they were covered, perhaps nearby trash items to those keepers may have made for a decision NOT to dig. Anyway, happy you got them

FreeBirdTim · Oct 23, 2021

Also , I would think the same about the reales you find , all shallow. Were these fields tilled up at some point ? How do so many others miss these targets as well ?

This spot could have been a farmer's field at one time back in the 1800's. But a lot of the spots where I find big coppers and Spanish silver are steep hills or rocky areas that would be almost impossible to till or have crops growing there. So tilling probably has nothing to do with the shallow depth of these coins.

As for others missing these targets, I think the big problem is the fact that they've been having the art festival for the last 55 years on these grounds. That's a lot of potential pull tabs, bottle caps and other trash being dropped in the area! All that trash can mask a lot of the good signals. You know something's going on when I can unearth a big copper and fairly big silver on public land that's been detected by myself and others dozens of times over the years. I was tired that day, so maybe I was going slower than usual and that helped me to hear the tones in between the ridiculous amount of trashy signals. That's what's great about this hobby. You just never know what's going to show up on any given day!

FreeBirdTim · Oct 23, 2021

Food for thought - how many square inches of ground might be in that location? After years of multiple detectorists pounding it, betcha not every square inch was covered. Or, if they were covered, perhaps nearby trash items to those keepers may have made for a decision NOT to dig. Anyway, happy you got them

Thanks, Jim! It's not a very big area. I'd say less than an acre of land. But it is non-stop trashy signals. I did eventually discriminate out any signal less than 50. I was initially trying for any gold jewelry dropped at the festival, but gave up after digging a couple dozen pull tabs and four of the newer nickels.

Bottom line, it's very tough spot to detect and it takes a lot of patience. Those factors eliminate a lot of detectorists and no doubt frustrate most who have attempted to detect this area.

cellrdwellr · Oct 25, 2021

Nice digs Tim! I recently had a same situation. I went to a spot I've hammered for years, I'll be lucky to get a wheat out of here some days. I decided to slow down in an iron rich area, and squeeked a deep 1919 merc out of there. About a foot away a similar signal turned up a 1919 standing liberty quarter. I couldn't believe I missed them! But again, my detectors with a threshold completely null in this area, so much iron...So I go back a couple times since then and it's like it was before, tough to even get a wheat :laughing:

keep working that spot, you never know what could pop up! Good luck out there!

CharlieT84 · Oct 25, 2021

Congrats on the large cent. I wish they would come out of the ground in better shape.

ScaredOfClowns · Oct 25, 2021

Nice finds!

I'm still getting surprised at sites I've hunted for years - the ground is always (slowly) moving, conditions change every day, and digging up shallow signals and trash clears the way to find deeper targets. You also can't discount your own improved skill and experience.

Congrats and HH!

FreeBirdTim · Oct 25, 2021

Congrats on the large cent. I wish they would come out of the ground in better shape.

It is frustrating, but at least I could ID it. I've found at least 20 LC's over the years that I cannot ID at all.

FreeBirdTim · Oct 25, 2021

Nice digs Tim! I recently had a same situation. I went to a spot I've hammered for years, I'll be lucky to get a wheat out of here some days. I decided to slow down in an iron rich area, and squeeked a deep 1919 merc out of there. About a foot away a similar signal turned up a 1919 standing liberty quarter. I couldn't believe I missed them! But again, my detectors with a threshold completely null in this area, so much iron...So I go back a couple times since then and it's like it was before, tough to even get a wheat keep working that spot, you never know what could pop up! Good luck out there!

Thanks, Jeff! This hobby seems so simple, but there are so many factors that can affect your results. Being stubborn is definitely a good trait in this hobby! Detecting a spot over and over seems like a waste of time to some, but it can pay off every once in awhile. HH.

1805 draped bust large cent and 1953 silver quarter in the same area!

FreeBirdTim

Elite Member

Attachments

stetam

Elite Member

FreeBirdTim

Elite Member

CallMeGrey

TommyJay

FreeBirdTim

Elite Member

markinswpa

kaufenanger

Elite Member

KOB

metaladdict

Elite Member

CTpilgrim

Elite Member

jimther

Elite Member

FreeBirdTim

Elite Member

FreeBirdTim

Elite Member

cellrdwellr

Elite Member

CharlieT84

Elite Member

ScaredOfClowns

Elite Member

FreeBirdTim

Elite Member

FreeBirdTim

Elite Member

Similar threads