You Just Never Know (what you're going to find)

by Jeff Herke

I had a couple of hours to kill during the Christmas holidays. I secured permission to hunt the area around three 1940 – 1950 era ranch style homes that had been prepared for moving. The oldest looking of the three homes had four very large trees (one oak and three pecan) around it. This area looked to be the most promising, so I began by hunting around the large pecan tree in the right front yard. I had gone about 10 feet toward the tree and got a quarter reading at three inches. I thought it would be a piece of junk but out popped a 1962-D silver Washington quarter! What a way to start a hunt!

I continued to hunt in rings around the tree, but all of the other signals were miscellaneous junk. I was working along the edge of the driveway under the edge of the house on blocks and got a high penny/dime reading at four inches. Out came a 1937 plain Mercury dime!

I moved toward the large oak tree in the left front yard. I found a new quarter, dime and several pennies. My time was about up so I started to swing a beeline back to the truck. About half way back I got another high penny/dime reading at 5 inches. I saw the glint of a silver dime but could not believe my eyes when I saw that it was a worn Seated Liberty dime! I quickly stuck it in my pocket to wash later and re-scanned the area to if there were more or others in the area. No such luck! I finished the beeline back to the truck but was already planning a return trip for the following day.

The Seated Liberty dime turned out to be an 1854-O in worn (good) condition. It also had an indentation in the back like the tip of a knife blade. The indentation was about 1/16” long but had not gone through the coin.

The following afternoon, I re-hunted the area that produced the Seated Liberty dime at a 90 degree angle in a crisscross pattern. About half way across this area, I got another high penny/dime reading at 3 inches. I saw the glint of silver again! It was not a Seated Liberty dime, but a nice 1945 plain Mercury dime! In the next row of swinging I got a new penny reading but the depth was around 5 inches? This signal turned out to be a white lead fired two-ring civil war era bullet!

There are two lessons to be learned here:

#1 Don’t shut your detector off and walk back to the car! Always make the most of your time (and finds) by working all the way back to your car. I can’t tell you how many additional coins I’ve found by doing this.

#2 You just never know what you are going to find in any given place.

Two Ring Civil War Bullet.

Two Ring Civil War bullet.

1962-D Washington Quarter, 1945-P and 1937-P Mercury Dime.

1854-O Seated Liberty dime.

Click here for more finds from Jeff Herke.

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