This is the nicest half cent I’ve ever found.  I think I’ve only ever found 4 or so, so they don’t come up too often.  This was found in a hunted out park, only 3 inches deep.  Go figure.  Here is the original blog entry.

Found: 12-May-2020; Location: park/school; Machine: E-Trac

14K gold, center opel, 18 side stones, what’s not to like? I don’t know what it’s worth, and I’ll never find out, as my wife likes it as much as I do.

Found in the dry sand, not too deep.

I guess such a piece should be higher on the list, as outside the half dime, it is by far the most valuable thing I’ve ever found.  I imagine all gold should make the list.  This is one of 7 gold rings I’ve found, but the only one to make the list.  I guess I’m just an old silver/copper snob.  Maybe I should look for more gold.

Found: 31-Mar-2010; Location: beach (dry sand); Machine: V3

This is my best gold find, both in terms of melt value and beauty.  The only reason it ranks lower than the gold opal ring is that my wife loved the latter and kept it, and still wears it.  But, I think this gold chain with gold charms is a real beauty.  If I wasn’t a silver guy, perhaps it would rank even higher.

Not much to say in about the hunt that wasn’t mentioned in the original blog entry.

Found: 30-May-2012; Location: park/school; Machine: E-Trac

6.05 gram 18K gold ring.  I think it is about turn of the century cause it was found 8 inches deep near where a copper and an IH were found, and cause of the styling of the mark.  Or so I’m told, I am certainly no expert.

Not all gold makes the list, and its not as pretty as some of the gold that has, but I like it cause its old.

Found: 24-Aug-2012; Location: park/school; Machine: E-Trac

This is the 4th Spanish silver I’ve dug (at the time of writing), but it is my first 2 reale.  Yes its worn, and has a hole, but I just don’t see many of these larger than 1 reale posted (I certainly don’t expect to ever find one again).

Its between the size of a quarter and a half dollar (for those that don’t know, Spanish silver comes as a 1/2 reale (6.25 cents), 1 reale (12.5 cents), 2 reale (25 cents), and so forth, so its kinda like an old quarter, tho certainly not nearly as rare as a 1700s US quarter would be).

This was a deep, iffy signal in a sparely targeted New England park.  I thought it was going to be a deep dime or quarter, and was quite surprised.

Found: 06-Apr-2012; Location: park/school; Machine: E-Trac

Beautiful semi-key date Indian Head with nice patina and full details, both sides.  Just have to get the dirt off of it someday.  Was found at the same mansion ruins as the 1821 2 reale above.  Found only 3 silvers at this site, but the site produced 2 entries for the top finds list.  Here is the original blog entry.

Found: 07-May-2013; Location: ruins; Machine: E-Trac

Finding Spanish silver isn’t nearly as exciting as finding American silver of the same age, but it is still pretty cool to find silver this old. This was my second Spanish silver find, but it was my first in decent shape, as my actual first, a half-reale, was barely identifiable. This is a nice coin for its age.

Found: 23-Mar-2010; Location: field; Machine: V3

This is a size 10 sterling silver thimble in beautiful shape.  This is my second dug, intact, thimble, and by far my prettiest one.  I found it in a private yard, and offered it to the owner, who I guess thought it was junk, and said keep it.  Well, I think it is cool.

Found: 25-Jan-2012; Location: private yard; Machine: E-Trac

Yes, its abused, but at least you can identify it. This was the first identifiable colonial copper I had found at the time, and is one of 17 coppers I had found in a rather small area, where there is no historical evidence (that I’m aware of), of a settlement, so this will be a cool research project for another day. And, who knew there was a “Republic of Vermont” back in the 1700s?  I certainly didn’t.

At the time I’d found this, this was the oldest identifiable coin I had ever found, and it was quite a thrill. I was a newbie then, and it was high on the list, now I realise that the MD snobs are not interested in abused coppers, I still think it is cool, and I understand only about 5000 or so were minted.  Will always be a special find for me.

Found: 08-Jun-2009; Location: field; Machine: DFX

This was my first ever 2 cent piece.  It wasn’t my first shield coin; that was this shield nickel that was in the same hole, and it came out first.  A 7 cent shield spill, hard to believe.

It rang up as a wheatie, and there was no inkling that the shield nickel was in there as well.  This was found on a club detecting trip to Prospect Park, in Brooklyn.  This was an awesome site, and I wish I knew how to use the E-Trac then, like I do now, as likely I would have found more that day. (I did find 4 clad dollar coins that day; and I think $23 in clad overall, but these were the only oldies).

Found: 30-Oct-2010; Location: park/school; Machine: E-Trac

This is canister shot.  One of the many ways humankind has come up with to kill each other over the centuries.  These date to the Civil War.  I found about 15 of these all in one place, and many I didn’t dig.  The original blog post has much more detail on this cool find.

Found: 27-Mar-2016; Location: field; Machine: E-Trac.

Its actually a pretty nice coin if I ever work on getting the caked on dirt off, trust me 🙂 (much nicer than this pic; I have a better pic somewhere I need to dig up). I just think it is cool to find obsolete denomination coins like a half cent, especially one that is not totally beat up (I found another one that was, same year).  (People outside of Chester County have to understand how acidic our soil is, and it is nearly impossible to dig coppers like they dig in New England and Ohio)

This one was found deep in the woods, near some ruins. It was only about 4 inches deep. I wasn’t sure what it was when I dug it. Dug it the same day as a nice large cent, quite a day of hunting for me.

Found: 28-Jun-2009; Location: woods/ruins; Machine: DFX

Another one that will clean up real nice once I work on the dirt. There is alot of detail still in the hair, and no damage. (The cruft is just caked on dirt).

This was the first target on the same day and place as the 1826 half cent above, and what is remarkable is that it was only an inch or two deep. Came up at +84 on the DFX, just like a clad quarter, which is what I thought it was going to be.

Found: 28-Jun-2009; Location: woods/ruins; Machine: DFX

This is only the second draped bust LC I’ve ever found.  The other is a 1798, and even more abused, and further down the list.  For an abused Chester County copper, I like it.  Was only 4 inches deep at a site that appeared to have been hunted fairly hard.

Found: 15-Aug-2012; Location: park/school; Machine: E-Trac

This is the only 1700s US federal issue coin I’ve found with readable date (I’ve found 3 dateless liberty cap large cents), and it is my first and only draped bust large cent.

Its abused, and takes a bit of trick photography to get it readable at all (it looks much worse, if you can believe it, in real life), but coins this old are still fun to find.

This was only an inch deep, in the tailings from the excavations at a construction site.  It sounded like a clad quarter, and when I dug it, it  was so beat I wasn’t sure what it was.  I sorta saw the bust, and I said — hey, that could be an old copper, but at the time I thought it was some sort of token.

Found: 11-Jan-2012; Location: construction site; Machine: E-Trac

You’ve gotta love gold. I’ve dug six other gold rings (at the time of writing), including some larger, but this was my first, when I really had no clue what I was doing, and it really got me hooked on the hobby.

This was interesting, ’cause when I hit the target with my detector, I just knew it was going to be gold. It was weird.

Found: 20-Aug-2008; Location: volleyball court; Machine: Ace 250

I answered an ad on a metal detecting forum to help a guy find a platinum engagement ring that he threw into a neighbor’s lawn. It was not clear how far or in what direction the ring was thrown, and there were bushes there into which it could have landed. The first day I spent 3.5 hours searching in oppressive heat, with no luck. I wanted to give it another go the next morning, and after 5 hours total searching, and 20 minutes before I was to give up, I found it. I was pretty excited, and he was ecstatic.

This ring was worth alot (we agreed not to mention value or post pictures on the net). He did give me a $100 reward. It was 60 feet from where he said he threw it, and he had been looking for it for a month, including with other detectorists. It was a very cool experience.

Found: 25-Sep-2010; Location: private yard; Machine: E-Trac

Yeah, a pretty crappy coin, but half cents are hard to find.  Draped bust half cents are even harder to find.  It also knocks one off my type coin bucket list.  Hopefully the next one will be better, but I am not optimistic on that score.  This originally made the cut when I thought it was the very rare 2/0 date, but it was not.  I should remove it, but here it is.

Found: 27-Jul-2012; Location: park/school; Machine: E-Trac