Today, i had the opportunity to be pleasantly surprised. I started off swinging some wide open areas with my V3i, hoping the moles had brought some older items to the surface. I did get a large gold earring that wasn't gold, but rang up right....oh well.

After an hour, i headed in for some bushwhacking with the IDX Pro and Deepscan 6.5" coil. This is similar to beating around sagebrush and tall grass in our ghost towns. Only problem here is that we throw in blackberries just for fun! It's not easy and i imagine most wouldn't waste their time.

10 mins into the brush, in an area that looked as though it was flat enough to have been used once upon a time in days gone by, i got a jumpy high signal that got my attention. As i worked the signal i could tell there were several. Some gave high pings and low/iron signals 90 degrees out. 4 inches away, right against a 1/4" diameter tree, was a low signal blending in with the jumpy signal. I worked that for a moment, and it came in solidly between nickel and zinc penny on the IDX scale. Great - another pull tab.

I kicked the surface leaves away, pinpointed a target, stuffed my screwdriver in next to it about an inch deep and popped it up. Out popped a bright, round, reeded coin. What the heck? No! No mistaking it when GOLD surfaces....but I immediately was cussing the person who threw that foreign, brass plated coin out there. I've found a dozen or so of those, and do they ever get the heart going. Had to be.

I picked it up, and immediately knew it was heavy, and then i saw an Eagle on the back. Uh....Not foreign. Rolled it over and staring at me was the embossed image of an Indian and headdress. I just sat there, silently stunned. I knew what i had, but it didn't immediately register as $5 or $10. After a couple minutes of simply taking the moment in, I snapped a picture in the hole.....and promptly sent it to Oregon Gregg so that he could enjoy the moment also:-) I made sure the hole was empty. That 6 inch hole had a full 5 nails in it w/ the 1910s Half Eagle. So glad it was on the perimeter, but you can see the rust stain on the face of the coin.

Now, for those that remember, Gregg sold me that IDX pro a few months ago. He told me it would be a good machine to use in the brush, where the coil can move slowly and very little. The machine excels at slow motion detection. It's now pulled a fantastic 12 1/2c token, a couple barbers and my top wish list item....a US minted gold coin. Gregg mentioned buying it back, but I'm afraid he can no longer afford it.....just got really expensive:-)

Now, the real kicker. My wife is wonderful. Let's me do quite a lot of detecting. I don't talk to her much about it because she doesn't have interest, but today while eating breakfast, i told her I was going to find a gold coin today. She chuckled. We even talked about their size and value. Mind you, even if its in the back of my mind, i rarely ever say this out loud. Epiphany?

I think tomorrow I'll find a Seated Half:-)

Anyhow, over 12 thousand coins later and probably a couple hundred thousand plugs....it happened. I was focused in a place with history and potential, but I've never found many good, old items.

Going to be hard to top this for me. Don't think I'm going out tomorrow - just going to soak it in!

Zincoln