Metal Detecting 09/12/21 - Flying Eagle

nrlucas

I don't have a metal detector, though I'd love to have one. But I was recently trying to eradicate a very large amount of ivy that the previous owners of our house had let grow out of control. I found lots of cool stuff as I was digging...old toys, jewelry, etc. But I found one thing that made my heart skip a couple of beats. A (relatively) big, very shiny gold coin. I got so excited for a second. But when I pulled it out of the ground, it was a gold token redeemable for one free flying lesson at a Piper Authorized Flite Center.

SlashRacer

Went out metal detecting with a friend yesterday and it was my turn to find the oldest coin.

I live in SW Michigan and the area I live it started being settled in 1833. The area we detected had a house there in 1864, but it was gone by 1873. The house is long gone and it has been vacant ever since and the land is now owned by the state.

I have plot map books for my area for 1864, 1873, 1895 and 1913. What I like to do is find homesteads that are in the 1864 book and not in the 1873 book.

After finding the location on the 1864 map, I try to find the exact location on a modern map. Then we head out(boots on the ground) and hope we have the correct location. Usually we are pretty close.

With my metal detector I can tell when I am near the location because I start picking up lots of iron(nails). We call this ground zero and know we are very close to where the house was. Then we start searching the area for items(coins, jewelry and GOLD). Haven’t found any gold coins yet, but we have found a few rings. Usually the rings from that era are copper.

This is an 1858 Flying Eagle. The U.S. Mint made the flying eagle from 1856-1858. It is the first “small cent”. All previous cents are what they call a “large cent”. Small cents are the size of a current penny and a large cent is the size of a quarter.

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Bschurr

Genius strategy @SlashRacer and a fantastic story. I’m rooting for ya (all pun intended) to find lots of valuable stuff including gold coins!

SlashRacer

Went out metal detecting with a friend yesterday and it was my turn to find the oldest coin.

I live in SW Michigan and the area I live it started being settled in 1833. The area we detected had a house there in 1864, but it was gone by 1873. The house is long gone and it has been vacant ever since and the land is now owned by the state.

I have plot map books for my area for 1864, 1873, 1895 and 1913. What I like to do is find homesteads that are in the 1864 book and not in the 1873 book.

After finding the location on the 1864 map, I try to find the exact location on a modern map. Then we head out(boots on the ground) and hope we have the correct location. Usually we are pretty close.

With my metal detector I can tell when I am near the location because I start picking up lots of iron(nails). We call this ground zero and know we are very close to where the house was. Then we start searching the area for items(coins, jewelry and GOLD). Haven’t found any gold coins yet, but we have found a few rings. Usually the rings from that era are copper.

This is an 1858 Flying Eagle. The U.S. Mint made the flying eagle from 1856-1858. It is the first “small cent”. All previous cents are what they call a “large cent”. Small cents are the size of a current penny and a large cent is the size of a quarter.

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