First Silver....in my own backyard!

Well the weather was better than predicted and since my 19mo son is a outdoors loving toddler, I figured I would have another go around the backyard. Why would I swing coil around an area I have already detected? Well, for one thing, I am more experienced with the slight differences in tones given off by my detector and I had also changed my threshold and sensitivity settings to something less conservative. In the course of trying to keep an eye on my 19mo son, I discovered about  cents in clad, some pieces of aluminum sheeting that I suspect were cut when the house was constructed in 1979, and a leftover piece of a water sprinkler. The real surprise came when I discovered a sterling silver pendant shaped like a lizard. I don't have a weight on it but it is indeed silver as it had the "925" stamp on the underside I was looking for.

First Old Coin...1946 S Wheat Penny!

Had an afternoon to venture some property just a mile outside of an old mining town of Neihart, MT. In its heyday, Neihart was a town that was built up from a boom in mining huge silver and lead ore deposits. I ventured around some and came upon a major dump site (lots of old cans) and picked up a couple 22 caliber bullets still intact. Other than a few other random pieces of metal and a screw cap to some type of heating units (rated at 150,000 BTU from a company called MTI in Perrysville, OH) there wasn't much I was getting of any interest.

 

As I made my way back to the cabin, I swung my detector just off the roadway. Just a mere two feet from the road's edge, right across from the cabin driveway, I got a solid beep that definitely sounded "coin." It was only a 1/2 inch in the soil and I picked it up and saw Lincoln's head. "Oh, just a penny" I thought as I turned it around - that's when I saw the wheat penny reverse side. Oh man, was I excited. On top of that, I brought it in and cleaned it soap and water and discovered it was a 1946 - with an S mint mark! - WooHoo! My first old coin and it was a San Francisco minted wheat penny. This is certainly a first that I will remember for a long time. Looking forward to other great finds in the future in that ol' mining town that dates back to the 1870s.

Been a while

So I have been tardy as of late in my metal detecting pursuits. What can I say? Life is happening. At any rate, I scouted the Fort Shaw property and now have permission to detect it whenever I am ready. In the meantime, I am curious about detecting another's friends property that is out of town but along the Smith River. Need to do some research on the history of the area so I can get an idea of what my be out there.

First set of rings!

Made a faithful return to that good city park that gave so much earlier. This time the real producers were THE EDGES of the tot lot. On two different sides, I recovered not one, but two different rings. Don't get too excited  about the stone, it's good ol' cubic zirconium (there's a chip in it). The target IDs on these didn't catch my eye, but when they were recovered, they certainly got my attention. A button and 26 cents in clad was also had this time.

Getting excited for a potential trip this weekend to a nearby tiny town of Fort Shaw and get a chance to hunt some ranch land. Maybe there will be a relic or two in the mix...

Interesting weekend finds

This past weekend I got some time to hunt at a different park in town. The park is considerably large and will take quite a few visits to thoroughly cover. For this first trip, I kept the hunt isolated to the tot lot along some of the more rugged terrain on the far end of the park. The tot lot yielded a very nice $1.22 in clad in just about an hour's time. In the far end of the park, I got some nice signals which turned up a railroad spike and a kitchen knife with the blade broken off. 

I'm sure there are other goodies out there so as soon as this 6" of snow that just fell in town last night takes a hike and gets a little warmer

My Mason jar totals

Up until this point, I had always taken my finds from the various parks around since I received my detector in early December 2011 and placed them in a mason jar that I lovingly named "Dan's Treasures" with masking tape. However, I never really kept track of my finds - so I decided to empty it out today and do an inventory. When all was said and done, I have collected an even $15.70 in clad. No really old coins to speak of (i.e. no silver finds yet).

Weekend finds

So I had a few hours to hit a new park with the improved weather. Around here though, when the weather gets better during the winter, it comes with a price - gusty winds. Fine by me, it's not like the wind is going to be blowing away what I'm looking for. This particular tot appeared to be hunted not too long ago as all I could salvage was 21 cents in clad. The other things included a Hot Wheels type car with "Sandman" along the sides. Temps will improve for next weekend as well so until then...