Back to a recent site yesterday, the old farmhouse with the clothesline, which has given up 3 silver dimes and a ton of wheaties, but nothing older than a 1909 penny.

Got a nice big deep silver signal after about 2 hours of swinging, and the dirt is rock hard, so I work the hole for a while, and get a ferrous nail.  Typical, but the signal was too good, so I rescan the hole, and it is still there.  Pound the dirt some more, another nail.  Keep going at it, another nail.

All in all, 5 nails, and still no big silver, but I still hear it down there.  Are you kidding me?  All these from the hole, after about 10 minutes of working the hard dirt.

Still hear that silver down there, and eventually I get it, out pops a 200 year old half dollar!!  Or should have.  Out pops a half dollar sized silver disk.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!  What a heartbreak.

I don’t know what it is, or how old it is.  No markings, but the size of a half dollar, and passes the acid test for silver (also dug a toasted 1880 indian head, my first at this site, and an old button, posted for size reference).  The silver disk weights a touch over 11 grams.

Five nails in the hole (can your machine do that?), 10 minutes of digging, for that heartbreak.  It is really hard to describe the experience of seeing that in the hole at an old site.

And, on Sunday, hit a site I’ve been working and written about a bit, finishing out the old section of the site with no silvers on the day, but did snag a 64 rosie and silver ring in a newer section.  Its hard to say when the newer section was built, not on the 50s aerials, but on the 70s aerials, so not clear if there is more silver there.

A composite pic of the 2 hunts for the gallery: