A Surprise in My Tumbles!

Yesterday I separated my pennies from my fake silver, worthless, American clad coinage that I dug this past year for tumbling.  I loaded the tumbler before bed last night, ready for rinsing and drying this morning.

I was quite shocked when I found this shiny little disc in with my junk clad.

It’s a 1943-P 40% silver War Nickel!  A surprise silver/gold find #98 for 2011!  I must have dug it on my last day of hunting, December 28, before bad weather and my kitchen paint job (one of my Christmas presents for my wife … along story) kicked in.  I dug a LOT of nickel signals that day and had a pouch full of nasty 5-centers.  I didn’t look at any of them very closely.  My bad …

The tumbler really did a number on that soft silver.  I can barely make out the date.

Oh, well … it just goes in with all my other “junk silver” anyways.  A nice surprise this morning, and I didn’t even have to go swinging to find it!

And I almost forgot … another surprise! I found a 1964-D silver Rosie in my daughter’s change last week.  I saw it laying on her dresser and thought that it looked suspiciously like silver.  I was right!  Bonus find!  I made the MXT “whump-whump” signal with my mouth as I waved my hand over the coin just to make it legal.   That was silver find #97 for me in 2011.

Here’s a picture …

Thanks for looking.  There’s still silver out there!  HH

19th Century Key Tags and a Lonely Indian

Let’s begin with my video from a couple of days worth of hunting …

I went looking for a change of scenery on Sunday. Decided to hunt an old homestead on the family farm of one of my church members. I hadn’t been there long before I dug a 1944 wheatie. That got me excited, knowing that silver has to be luring there somewhere.

A few minutes later, a well-meaning but uninformed relative of the land owner encouraged me to leave (pretty much ran me off). I didn’t put up any fight … just told her that it was no problem and that I would get everything cleared up. I made a call to my friend who rapidly ironed everything out. So, I’ll be heading back there soon. No worries …

Anyhow, I had about an hour before I had to be somewhere, so I went into town to hit an old lot that I hunted a year ago, but have not hit with my new MXT … I wanted to dig those lower VDI singals. Just managed a wheat and a 1967 Lincoln.

Then, yesterday I returned to the site of my old hotel. Here are the highlights of those digs:

I dug two more of the key tags!! Rooms 26 & 50! That makes three that I have dug on the site. Pretty awesome. Seriously, though, when I saw that first big disc I thought I was on an old copper. But the key tags are an awesome find.

Another interesting find was an old Frankfort Arms .45 bullet … not just the lead, but the fully encased, powdered and primed bullet. The head is marked, “FA 26.” Any info on the approximate age of this pistol round would be most appreciated. Here’s a close-up of the mark:

My final relic find was a 1920′s era (time of the fire) “Pompeian Bloom” lady’s rouge compact. It’s still hinged, and the hinge (unbelievable) still works! It was full of crud, and the mirror was gone. But I still found it to be an interesting find.

Finally, just as I was about to leave, I got a solid 57 VDI “screwcap” signal. On that hill, this usually means an Indian Head penny. Turns out this mean, green 1892 Injun was my only coin find for the day:

Here’s the total haul:

Thanks for looking! Enjoy the video. Stop by my channel and subscribe.

Happy Hunting!

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Garrett GTP 1350 & PP, Whites MXT / Oldest Coin – 1801 Draped Bust Large Cent / Silver Coins – 52 / Coin Count – 2,051 / Clad Total – $144.70

Cold Saturday Morning Finds – One Wheatie and Some Clad

I went back to the old house on our local school grounds today, this time with my new Garrett GTP 1350.

I hunted hard for about 3 1/2 hours. I guess I pulled the only two silver coins out of the ground the last time. This time my only “historical” find was a 1945 Wheat Cent. Otherwise, I dug 9 quarters, 9 dimes, 9 modern pennies, and one nickel. A total of $3.29 in clad. Most of them are pretty nasty – gonna need some tumbler time.

If only I could have found some more silver … Oh, well, maybe next time.

Here is a pic of my finds, including 7 of those aggravating little “whatzits” that read like a dime every time I find one.

I’m visiting the in-laws Monday and Tuesday in the Memphis area. I got permission to hunt an old church while I’m there. Counting on a little silver coinage from that one … I hope.

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NOOB: Hunting Since 11.24.08 / Garrett GTP 1350 & Bounty Hunter Quicksilver / Oldest Coin – 1912 Barber Dime / Silver Coins – 8 / Coin Count – 124/ Clad Total – $11.40 / Ring Count – 2