Huge opportunity

About three weeks ago I had been hunting a roadside sports field and managed to unearth an 1872 Canadian 25 cent piece. My first Victorian coin. That was followed by an 1814 Halifax Broke Token commemorating the capture of the USS Chesapeake by the HMS Shannon in 1813. The first British Naval victory during the war of 1812. Upon leaving this site I discovered that the field was private property and was part of a rather distinguished institution with history dating back to the late 1700's. I felt terrible. When I got home I decided to write to the individual responsible for managing this institution and apologized for having been there...albeit briefly...without first acquiring his permission. I also sent him pictures of the two coins I discovered (I was only there for an hour) and asked if it might be possible for me to secure permission to hunt the site. Surprisingly he was fascinated by my finds and asked "Can we meet before you sweep?". I'm getting ready as we speak to drive down to meet him and to perform a quick demonstration of non-destructive recovery technique. He advised that providing I don't leave any holes or other visible signs of damage that I could hunt the area.....over 60 acres worth!!! You should see this place...it's amazing...and the rich history is amazing. I told him that if I were to find anything of historical significance to the institution that I would be very proud to hand them over for proper preservation and display. I've also volunteered to assist them in organizing their extensive photographic archive they've been working on for the past few years. Any coins I find are mine. Win win situation. I may have a couple of hours to hunt today after meeting if weather holds up and if not I'll be heading down with a friend of mine next weekend to hunt from dawn to dusk to see what we can find. I can't even begin to describe how excited I am about this opportunity. It has never been hunted before to his knowledge. The area has has the grounds in some areas plowed and excavated in years gone by for various reasons but most of the site is virgin. I'd go into more detail about the area but y'all know when you find a spot like this ya gotta keep some things to yourself.

JeffNS, So, where in Nova Scotia are you, just longitude and lattitude would suffice.
That will keep you busy. The letter was a nice touch. The manager may be as exicited as you. Can't wait to read your posts.

Jeff,

Sounds like a chance of a lifetime. You may want to keep notes as you go! It certainly qualifys as "History Channel" material....... major historical significance. Use the deepest/best detector from the start.......... just in case time becomes 'limited/restricted' there.

WoW!!!! Honesty pays off. Big Time!!! Best of success Jeff. And the curator sounds like a really cool person, who appreciates the value of a ethical detectorist.

Ok...met with the head honcho today and I got the green light for at least a few hunts then I may have wait until next summer before hitting it again. Anyway, I had my CZ3D with me....that needs to go to Tom very soon....and had one hour to sample what I could of over 60 acres. There is one very limiting factor that is going to make this a bit less of an opportunity than I had hoped however. Suffice is to say the grounds of this institution have been "groomed" and from my samplings it would appear there's about 8" of relatively recent fill laying on top of original...1700/1800's soil...as evidences by red/loam/clay in the first 8" followed by rich black soil. Many targets are simply going to be out of range in many areas. Oh well, 60 acres less 50 acres worth of ground still leaves 10 acres of promising territory. Just need time.

The area is a mixture of Victorian age buildings and fields. I chose a row of widely spaced and quite massive chestnut trees and worked my way forward in a very random pattern just to get a feel for what I was going to be dealing with. Lot's of iron. To be expected. I was only there for an hour and was retrieving shallow pennies of recent mintage...no deep signals (iron masking definitely)....few more 60's pennies at 3 or 4 inches....1960 nickel at 4". Lot's of trash. I was only digging solid repeatable high tones considering I only had a short time there. I was working the base of one of the trees and got a very loud (shallow) high tone pinpointing quarter size at 2". Probably a quarter right? Yep...2" down 1916 Canadian 25 Cent coin. Wait a minute...another signal just about took my head off....2" down...quarter size. A 1920 Canadian 25 Cent coin....in incredibly good condition...I'm no expert but would rate it EF-40. Still has mint luster and all I did to it was rinse it clean in fresh water and wiped it dry with a soft micro fiber cloth. I had just worked the base of three of these trees and this was the only one that gave up any goodies. It was easy to tell the areas of ground which hadn't been buried under fill and/or sod and I staggered around a patch of ground and got a nice repeatable high tone....but different....crisp/sharp/abrupt...not hollow at the ends....know what I mean? Not deep...point pointed coin size at around 4"....nothing at the 4" mark...6"....deeper....8"....deeper.....10"....Garret Pro Pointer could pick it up....not far now....13" and I scored a napkin ring holder stamped STERLING 1865 with a hallmark that looks kind like (( W Safe bet it dates 1865. Bent up but I love it!

I'm just not going to have the time to work this site like I'd like to...at least not consecutively. My next and perhaps last opportunity to hunt this site this year is a week away and it's going to be a dawn to dusk outing which is a 14hr day at this time of year. I'll have a friend with me to help cover more ground in a search for the hot spots. I have hopes of finding pre 1800's coins/artifacts. This particular piece of land was home to aristocratic/wealthy British Loyalists and their families in the 1700's and not many of 'em were walking around with large cents in their pockets. The potential for some significant finds does exist.

Here's my three keepers for my one hour tour.


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Small coin spill..... probably around the Fall of 1920.....or Spring of 1921. The napkin ring is significant.

I'm willing to bet that you will 'find a way' to find more time to hunt this priceless site.

Nice finds, very nice!