11/29- Good Weather Leads to 50th Silver Coin

After the first week of November, I thought this year's season was over for VT Mining. After finding my oldest coin, the weather turned to winter and the snow started to fall. I figured I would not complete with my goal of getting to 50 silver coins. The nice thing about living in Utah is that the weather turns every 15 minutes. The last 3 weeks have been very nice and has allowed me to focus in on a spot I have wanted to search for a long time.

I usually follow the same route to work everyday and everyday I have passed this old blue house from the late 1800's. At time I have seen people metal detecting the location. I did some research and found that the house and the house next door are owned by a non-profit organization. I contacted the Executive Director and he gave me permission to hunt. Sharing this knowledge with my buddy Ben, we started to work the area.

At first glance I noticed the area had been searched before judging by the job the previous person had done. They did a poor job of  filling their digs. Not matter where you go, it is important to make sure you are careful and leave the area just has you found it. One of the great joys of metal detecting is following where someone else has been and just cleaning up all the good stuff they left behind. The sad part is when it happen to you. Ben is good at that haha. Here are some of the good finds from the last couple weeks.

This was a first for me! 1980 Chaparral High School class ring. It has some gold in it so that was a real find for me. I have done some research and have discovered the high school is in Las Vegas. Inside the ring is the initials KRB. I have located the potential person and I am trying to get in touch with him as we speak. Hopefully a good story comes out of it.

This toy truck was wrapped around a root of a tree. It was a pretty cool find.

 You can see that there are old and new items found all the time. The key was probably from the 1800's and the toy truck was probably from the 80's. One of the simple joys of metal detecting.

Now we get to the good stuff! I have found a total of 7 silver coins, 25 wheat pennies, and 2 tax tokens. The 1906 Barber Dime is my 50th SILVER COIN!!! I finally made it. Ben has done equally as well. He has found 3 coins from the 1800's including a 1896 V nickel. I am super jealous of that. I can tell the place has been hunted before so it's good to find all these old items.

 Here is my Christmas tree of coins. Happy Holidays!!!

 

I went back last night and was able to find my 5th barber. It was in an area that both Ben and I have been over a couple of time proving there is always more to find.

 This has to be one of the coolest finds from the location. It is a 1910 Boys Scout token that a shoe company made to promote their product. They made them from 1910-1914. The craziest thing is what is on the back.

 At first glance I thought the Boy Scouts were Nazi. I did some research and although the swastika has a negative feel to it now, it is also a universal symbol for good luck as expressed here. The Nazi swastika is also tilted. Between the swastika you can see a Wish Bone, Horse Shoe, 4 Leaf Clover, and some other symbol. All are associated with good luck. This has to be one of my favorite finds from this location.

10/25- Gun, Missouri, and Hoard of Rings

It has been far too long since I update this bad boy. I have been traveling for work and play. I have been to 11 states in the month of October and enjoyed a lot of good times with friends and family. During my travels, I have spent some time looking for the good stuff. The last couple weeks have paid out with some very interesting finds. Here are some of the best!

When I pulled this up, I couldn't believe it. It appears to be either a .22 Cal or .25 Cal. It's amazing what is lost in the yard.

 Last weekend, I spent some time in Missouri with my Grandma Meme for her 80th birthday. She lives in this 100 year old house on a farm in southwest Missouri. I decided to take my metal detector with me to see what I could find.

 View from the farm.

 Total finds from Meme's house. I only found one wheat penny from 1952 and a toy car that probably belonged to my cousin.

 I was driving home one day and saw this empty lot. I did some research and got permission from the owner. Judging by the houses and the area, I knew it was an old lot. It turned out that there was a house from 1904 was torn down a little while ago. The lawn and tree strips were still good though

 I dug this picture up from Provo records. It gives an idea of what the house looked like before it was torn down.

 The first day I was there and only tried the tree strips. I found 8 wheat pennies, 2 tax token, and my 2nd buffalo nickel!!! I thought the lawn would be even better but it wasn't. Ben, Keith, and I went back last night and I didn't find anything old. Ben found just a few coins but he managed to score a buffalo from 1926, tax token, and one wheat penny from 1942. Instead of finding older items, I had a one any only type of experience. I found this 8k gold ring with a pretty purple stone. After that, I found a hoard of costume jewelry.

 All of this was in one hole. At first I thought I hit the mother load but none of it is real gold.

 Total finds from the one hole is 8 rings, 9 earrings, 1 pendant, and 1 bracelet with hearts. I doubt I will ever beat a jewelry hoard like this again.

 Total coin finds from the house. No silver :(

7/23- Record Day for Silver Rings

This past week was a pretty slow week. My typical hunts to Deer Creek didn't yield as much in silver but I did find a couple of wheat pennies. On Saturday, I was at Rock Canyon Park at a birthday party when I was noticing a bunch of people going down a slippy slide. I thought that would be a good place to go. Sunday after church, I went back there and man did I hit it big. I found 8 total rings, of which 7 are silver rings, one silver dime and plenty of coins. That's the most rings I have even found on one trip and the most silver rings as well.

All the items from this week. Over $20 in change, 3 wheat pennies, 1 silver dime, 9silver rings, 1 cell phone, and plenty of other cool items.

 Found these two rings at Deer Creek on Saturday. One on the right is a Zions National Park ring.

 Mystery Coin that I found on Saturday at Deer Creek. It says 2 cents on the back and is from 1951. I cant make anything out on the other side.

 Two more silver rings from Deer Creek. That place keeps producing for me.

 The record breaking day!!! Total weight is 1.4 ounces of silver. The ring in the 2nd row on the right is a James Avery ring that retails at $70 online.

Deer Creek Pays Out

I have made three trips up to Deer Creek reservoir and it keeps paying out with silver and other cool items. So far out of the three trips, I have found 5 silver items and close to $15 in change.


First trip out yields a pair of silver rings and a few sinkers and hooks

 My first cell phone!!!

 Second trip out with a little over $9 in coins and two silver items. The silver bracelet is a Navajo Tahe bracelet. It was pretty heavy as well

 I was at Deer Creek last night for a company event and stayed after to find another silver ring and some change.

 These things start weighing your pack down if you get too many of them

7/2- Silver Streak Continues

This weekend was filled with more silver. It started Friday with another beautiful silver dime and a silver ring that says DAD. On Saturday, I spent the day back at Hillcrest Park trying to finish that spot. I was finding a lot but no silver, I was just about to call it a day when I was about 20 feet from the truck and I found a nice silver ring. The streak continues with 4 straight trips of finding silver.

 My silver items from this weekend. I have a sweet video thanks to my buddy Ben on uncovering this silver dime. Thanks Ben for the help!

 This is an interesting token found and Hillcrest Park. On the back it just has the number 5

 Saturday at Hillcrest pays out again. I found $1.58 in one hole.

 Other items form Hillcrest. The little aluminum piece was cut into two and I found each piece 20 feet from each other. I also found my 4th Lord of the Rings ring.

 Total amount for the week.

6/25/12- A Silver Kind of Weekend

This weekend was one of the best weekends I have had in the last few weeks. On Thursday, I spent some time hunting at Kiwana's Park for a lost silver wedding band. Apparently a guy lost it playing kick ball. I was out there with Ben and his dad we were unable to find it. I did so happen to find a foreign coin from either Korea or Japan.

On Friday, I had some time to kill so I headed over to the park across from the Temple in American Fork. It's been known to produce some older items. I was thrilled to find my first mercury dime. To those who don't know, the goddess Mercury was on the dime before President Roosevelt. Mine was from 1941 and was about 8" down. When I saw it for the first time, I was so pumped. I have been searching for one of these for over 2 years.

The silver mercury dime started a weekend full of good stuff. Saturday I was hunting with Ben and his dad again at Orem City Park and found one silver ring there and another toy ring. On Sunday, I went back to one of my favorite parks and found 3 silver rings. Two of the silver rings were found two feet from each other. It was the first time I have ever found back to back silver rings. Here is the picture of the weekend finds.

6/1/12- Memorial Day Pays Out Huge Finds

The long weekend gave me some good opportunity to hit a spot I always wanted to hit. My buddy and mentor, Ben sent me a picture of a Indian Head penny that he found in the field next to the Provo Tabernacle. I decided to go down there and see what would happen with my big coil. The grass was very try and hard to dig in but there were coins all over the place. I found over 350 coins there over the weekend. I also made sure to clean off all targets from the surface. After doing that, Ben and I went back and started looking for the deep stuff. We started finding wheat penny after wheat penny and then Ben let out a "YES" when he found another Indian Head Penny. In total I found 15 Wheat pennies from 1909 which is the first year they made them, to 1955. I learned a valuable lesson that no matter how good you think you cleaned off an area, there is always more to find. I was very excited to witness Ben finding his first Indian Head penny, first Buffalo nickel, first Barber dime, first V nickel, first Seated dime, and first Shield nickel. If you want to see something that is very rare in the metal detecting world, check out Ben's blog at http://blog.benhere.com.

First trip to Provo Tabernacle yields 253 coins

 Some of the other finds from the first trip

 I hate trash!!!

 These are my 15 wheat pennies from the Provo Tabernacle. The oldest is a 1909 and the most recent is 1955.

 First pocket knife! The button pin could be the coolest button I have ever found

 I believe this coin is from Israel. Crazy all the coins I find from other countries right here in Provo.