Yesterday I speculated about the possibility of pulling an old coin from the sparsely-targeted 50s park I’m working due to finding a couple of old flat buttons.

The past couple of hunts there, I’ve found a couple of rosies near the baseball field, but fill and grade were there in the 50s when they built the field, so I wasn’t expecting much older than that there.  Further out, in the more naturally contoured section, I found the flat buttons.  Being that this section is closer to a road that I believe is at least 200 years old, I decided to focus there and hope to score an oldie (and still score some more modern silver, as that was part of the park in the 50s as well), rather than work closer to the ball field.

It seemed like a mistake.  I spent nearly 4 hours in older flat button section, gridding it carefully, and got bupkis.   I got some constructive stuff, like deep clad and deep bottlecaps (those that read me know there is nothing better than finding deep bottlecaps (other than the goods themselves, of course)), but nada in the old coin department.  I couldn’t even muster a wheatie.  I decided to do one more rank of the grid, and if I don’t get a least a wheatie in that rank, I’m going elsewhere.

I did get a wheatie just at the end of that rank, but decided to go elsewhere anyway.  I hit the embankment by the ballfield, cause I love hunting embankments, but there was nada there as well.  This place is sparse.  I then went thru some bushes and across a creek to an “out of the box section” which doesn’t really look like park property (but is), cause I do well in these situations sometimes, and it is clear this zone hasn’t been hunted much due to the trash, but it is also clear why — no deep high tones other than a lone 60s penny. (This section merits further exploration on another day, tho).

Then I decide to just meander (I don’t like doing this cause its inefficient), and I hit a very deep rosie between the tot lot and the ballfield.  Are you kidding me?  Maybe sometimes I outthink myself, cause that is generally the last area I hit cause it is always harder hit by everyone else.  But, there was a silver there.  Maybe there are more.  Who knows?  I don’t think so, but we’ll see.

That area is obviously now high on my list, but there wasn’t the time to set up a new grid to work with my old grid (I keep all the grid points in my head, and it is too much to start new sections that I can’t complete before going back to work), so I decide to go back to the old section and just add on until I have to go, and I get bupkis again.

With not enough time to complete another rank before I have to leave, I just start meandering back towards the parking lot thru the old section, and hit a beautiful deep high tone bouncy signal.  Didn’t think it was a silver cause it was a bit low (CO 42, more ore less, but some bounce into the silver range), figured it could be an exotic silver, but was most likely a wheatie or deep memorial. (This was the zone that gave up a clad quarter at 8 inches yesterday).

Turned out to be an 1822 largie on its side at 5 inches.  I knew there would be old coins in this section.  The trick is to get a silver this old.  Here’s hoping, not likely.  But, at least we got our first copper of the season.