A half tale

My hunting buddy, Chris, and I have been off and on hunting a demo'ed housing area since the early part of this winter. We are both pretty avid old coin hunters and we knew it was some pretty old ground, perhaps, even period,

The site over all, however, has been pretty frugal in yielding silver coins and older items in general. We've had to work for anything good sifting through iron, hot rocks and modern day trash, using large and small coils and a variety of detectors. The spot is really one of those teasers. A silver dime or quarter here and there, the occasional silver jewelry piece, an I H cent for each of us, 1 gold item, a couple of 3 ringers and a couple of Eagle buttons, in conjunction with pretty strong numbers of clad and cents.

Yesterday, was no exception. About an hour before ending our hunt, I had a prior commitment, we had amassed 4 wheat cents, a Eagle button, 1 3 ringer and some clad. At that point Chris went off in one direction and I another. I should also mention, the day was Chris's birthday.

Upon our meeting back at my vehicle in time for me to get home in time for my commitment, I could tell Chris was in kind of a huff. He went on to explain he had recovered a Walker half dollar and discovered ten or so minutes later that it wasn't in his pouch that rests on his left rear hip. Upon dropping it in his pouch the half must have hit the edge of the pouch and dropped off either where he dug it or somewhere along his meandering searching path. Needless to say he was upset as that would have been only his third Walker found in many years of hunting. Upon discovering he had lost it, he had spent twenty or so minutes trying to retrace his search path, and all to no avail.

We have a pre-arranged meeting spot where we meet at usually around 6:45a and load his gear into my SUV, which can accommodate our gear better then his mid size truck and go together to the spot we have chosen to hunt on that outing. On the way back to his truck he called his wife and found he had some time to go back to the spot and further look for the Walker.

About mid afternoon I checked my emails to see if he had found the Walker and to my surprise his email with pictures not only revealed he had re-found the Walker, but in so doing he had also recovered a 1904 Barber half. With the pictures was a brief blurb, I'll let you know what else I found.

As it turned out Chris had also un-earthed a toasted, nasty looking ring, but upon closer inspection it appeared a small gold coin was mounted in the ring. If it turns out to be real, his birthday will further be compounded with a 1988 1/10 oz Panda Bear gold coin. Not to shabby of a birthday hunt. HH jim tn

Cool story and a fitting ending for a nice birthday present! Finding a Walker is great but to then find a 1904 Barber Half...that's super! Then to top it off with a gold coin ring? It don't get much better than that! Good job guys!

BTW...Happy Birthday Chris!

Charles



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2019 04:03PM by Charles (Sabre)(Tx).

What a nice birthday anniversary!. Get to go hunt and find really cool stuff.

Thanks for sharing the other half of the story.

HH
mike

The thrill of the hunt is what its all about...turned out super in this situation....
PS: I think we all have lost good finds but a little extra in getting this one back...

"Good story and a nice alternative to other threads.

Yes, it does happen. Probably a lot more than we know? I've often lost things that didn't quite make a safe landing into the finds pouch! And the thing that irks the most when getting back to the truck is one didn't;t have the chance 'to really inspect it' close up as we'd have liked!

As regards mislaying equipment, I'm down at least 4 probes, and two 'Black Ada' spades! Grrrr...just bought a new one before Xmas and it's still wrapped in the plastic...gotta get out more hah hah hah..."

Great story. Old coins don't go in my pouch. They go in my front pocket all nice and cozy.

That's really a neat story Jim & thanks for sharing it.---------Del

Nice story.
Rather a double half tale.

Thanks for sharing.

jim tn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My hunting buddy, Chris, and I have been off and o
> n hunting a demo'ed housing area since the early p
> art of this winter. We are both pretty avid old co
> in hunters and we knew it was some pretty old grou
> nd, perhaps, even period,
>
> The site over all, however, has been pretty frugal
> in yielding silver coins and older items in genera
> l. We've had to work for anything good sifting thr
> ough iron, hot rocks and modern day trash, using l
> arge and small coils and a variety of detectors. T
> he spot is really one of those teasers. A silver d
> ime or quarter here and there, the occasional silv
> er jewelry piece, an I H cent for each of us, 1 go
> ld item, a couple of 3 ringers and a couple of Eag
> le buttons, in conjunction with pretty strong numb
> ers of clad and cents.
>
> Yesterday, was no exception. About an hour before
> ending our hunt, I had a prior commitment, we had
> amassed 4 wheat cents, a Eagle button, 1 3 ringer
> and some clad. At that point Chris went off in one
> direction and I another. I should also mention, th
> e day was Chris's birthday.
>
> Upon our meeting back at my vehicle in time for me
> to get home in time for my commitment, I could tel
> l Chris was in kind of a huff. He went on to expla
> in he had recovered a Walker half dollar and disco
> vered ten or so minutes later that it wasn't in hi
> s pouch that rests on his left rear hip. Upon drop
> ping it in his pouch the half must have hit the ed
> ge of the pouch and dropped off either where he du
> g it or somewhere along his meandering searching p
> ath. Needless to say he was upset as that would ha
> ve been only his third Walker found in many years
> of hunting. Upon discovering he had lost it, he ha
> d spent twenty or so minutes trying to retrace his
> search path, and all to no avail.
>
> We have a pre-arranged meeting spot where we meet
> at usually around 6:45a and load his gear into my
> SUV, which can accommodate our gear better then hi
> s mid size truck and go together to the spot we ha
> ve chosen to hunt on that outing. On the way back
> to his truck he called his wife and found he had s
> ome time to go back to the spot and further look f
> or the Walker.
>
> About mid afternoon I checked my emails to see if
> he had found the Walker and to my surprise his ema
> il with pictures not only revealed he had re-found
> the Walker, but in so doing he had also recovered
> a 1904 Barber half. With the pictures was a brief
> blurb, I'll let you know what else I found.
>
> As it turned out Chris had also un-earthed a toast
> ed, nasty looking ring, but upon closer inspection
> it appeared a small gold coin was mounted in the r
> ing. If it turns out to be real, his birthday will
> further be compounded with a 1988 1/10 oz Panda Be
> ar gold coin. Not to shabby of a birthday hunt. H
> H jim tn

nice to "catch a break" once in a while! man deserved it! especially on his special day!

(h.h.!)
j.t.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2019 05:52AM by jmaryt.

Great story---I was right there with you guys!!