JetShack

A question came up on FMDF asking something I hadn't really thought about.  A new member wrote "I'm realizing that I need to come up with a system for how to segregate & store my finds until future action.  I'm guessing that with more valuable coins, most people would store them in sleeves made especially for the purpose. However….  What about less valuable coins that you're saving up for a trip to Coinstar or perhaps future restoration & display? Is it OK to just throw them in a jar and let them sit, or will this cause more corrosion?  What about storing different metals together (copper, silver, zinc, etc); will this cause problems?"

There are a bunch of questions there.  My initial response was to say to put anything valuable into a 2×2 and put them in a folder, something along the lines of this…

(image courtesy of The Purple Penny)

and to put the coins that are headed back to circulation into a jar.  This is basically just reinforcing what the original poster suggested.  But then I an idea occoured to me.  Goes4ever completed a mercury dime set from dug coins.  He even found the 1916D.  Why then couldn't I start putting together dug sets?  I already have a couple of folders to use for the cents similar to these…

(image courtesy of archive.org)

I just need to pick up a couple for the other common clad denominations and I should be good to go.  The added side beneift is that I suspect this will make me WANT to dig all those cents I'm finding instead of getting pissed off at them.

Today I was able to get out for a couple of hours.  Using Google Maps I had found a lot that looked to be REALLY promising.  It was kind of tucked away in a neighborhood.  It was by a school.  I had driven by it several times and ALWAYS saw kids playing on it.  I made it my first stop today.

I was very disappointed. The lot was FULL of trash.  After clearing out all of the trash signals and going over it a second time I found a grand sum total of 3 cents.

After getting in my truck and looking at the time AND thinking about where I was at I realized I could fit in a quick hunt at another lot if it was nearby.  Unfortunately there was only one lot that I could think of off the top of my head.  It was the lot I stumbled across a few weeks ago  that I suspected hadn't been hunted. I found $3.32 that day.  I also feel reasonably confident that I cleaned it out. 

So today I wasn't overly hopeful about how much I'd find.   I figured enough time hadn't gone by to refill it.

Was I ever wrong…

$4.73, 2 rings, a religious symbol, and a lapel pin

I was able to hit a couple of totlots this weekend. Both of them were in more well to do areas. I was a little disappointed in the haul from both spots.

The first spot is a large YMCA totlot that gets some serious use. I didn't go over it with a fine tooth comb, but I hit what should have been the hot spots and found a grand sum total of 3 cents. On the way back to the truck I stumbled across my first foreign coin, a 1969 2 Deutche Mark. It rang up as a pulltab.

I then hit a totlot at a nearby elementary school. It was actually a collection of 4 totlots. Once again I didn't go over it with a fine tooth comb, but I there just weren't that many signals of any sort. I pulled a quarter, a couple of dimes, and 5 cents out of these totlots.

I think I'm noticing a trend. The higher the socioeconomic level of the surrounding neighborhood the fewer things I find to dig in the totlots. I don't have a big enough statitical sample to say this for sure, but it sure does seem like it. I can think of a couple of reasons why this might be the case.

I'll need to update my Metal Detecting Map on Google Maps.  Right now most of the lots I have tagged are in South OKC / Moore.  I think if I move my hunting just a little further North I'll be entering a poorer area of town and if my hypothesis is correct my totals will increase.

Another crazy thing happened to me this weekend. I was helping my brother in law's girlfriend move into a new apartment in downtown OKC today. It didn't take too terribly long to get her settled in, so after we were done I thought I'd see if there was anything waiting to be discovered in a park I noticed on the way to her apartment.

Here's the park in question

View Larger Map

I started out on the totlot an after just a few minutes realized someone had probably recently cleared it. Absolutely no signals. Not to be discouraged and since its an older part of town I thought I'd see what sort of signals I ran across in the park itself. After going a short distance I started to notice filled in holes from another digger. I was suprised when I ran my detector over one of these filled holes that it let out a "coin" sound. So I had a look.

After turning up the other md'ers plug I found an aluminum screw lid off of a cheap wine bottle in the hole. I thought to myself "huh… that's weird". When I found the next spot that the other md'er had dug I ram my detector over the plug, and once again it let out a "coin" ding. Once again I found another aluminum screw lid. So… Instead of looking for the good spots to detect, I started to look for this other guys plugs. After 30 minutes or so I had found 8 of his holes and every one of them had an aluminum lid in it.

I don't think it was a coincidence.  All these lids looked like they hadn't been in the ground long.  I think this other guy was trying to plant trash signals to foil other detectors playing in his area.

I've been amazed at the amount of clad that some people find when they hunt.  On the few hunts I've been on I've felt like I had to really work the lots over to pull what I've found out of them.   That all changed today.  I went a little further away from my houst than I have been going and what a difference it made.  In less than an hour I was able to nearly double my clad count from my last 5 hunts.  I think I've found a relatively untouched TotLot. 

Even more exciting I was only able to hunt about half of one of the three TotLots at this location.  AND…  There are SEVERAL other little local parks right near this one that I'm hoping offer up the same results.

Total for the day was $3.32, a costume ring, a keychain, a religous symbol, and a cufflink or button of some sort.  After looking at my "Finds" spreadsheet, I just noticed that I'm at 105 coins found for the year. 

Exciting day today.  Jennifer and Brady are out of town and I finished up my chore list early.  It was a beautiful day out so I loaded up the detector and the dog and headed out.  I didn't have a real destination in mind so I just kind of wandered around the neighborhoods near my house.  One of the things I've noticed about myself lately is that when I'm driving around now I'm constantly noticing places and thinking "I should hunt that". 

It didn't take me long to find my first hunting spot.  A totlot about a mile from my house that I hadn't ever noticed before.  This lot had SO many signals.  I ended up finding 74 cents (14 cents, 2 nickels, 5 dimes).

This totlot wasn't in the best area of town.  I started searching early enough that most of the neighborhood probably wasn't out of bed but after a while I noticed more activity so even though there were still lots of signals still to check, I packed my the things up, got the dog, and headed to the truck.

i was happy enough with my haul for the day but decided I didn't have to be quite done.  So on my way home I didn't drive back the exact same way. 

Sure enough, I noticed another totlot on the drive home so I pulled in to the parking lot, grabbed my stuff and started searching.  One of the things I noticed about this lot is that half of it had a layer of new mulch.  I decided to leave the new mulch layer alone as it looked to be about 6" thick.  This lot didn't have as many signals as the first lot but it was still a great little hunt.  I didn't spend more than 30 minutes searching but was able to find $1.42 and a game token.  This was my first token to ever find.   I also found my first dollar coin.   2 firsts in one hunt!  I was excited!

I'd post pics but Jennifer took the cameraith her.