In the fall of 2012, I decided to hunt the yard of a house built in 1880 here in the town I live in. It was getting well into fall and winter was just around the corner here in Iowa. I bundled up, as I knew I would be fighting colder temperatures and the bone chilling Iowa late fall breeze. I had my eye on this particular house for some time, as I knew it’s age and I had a good feeling about what I might find with my E-TRAC in the yard. I received permission by the homeowner to hunt the yard and I picked a day to start. I knew my time was limited before winter set in so I started on the yard as soon as I could. That first day I was able to locate several wheat pennies, a silver 1950’s rosie dime, and towards the end of my first hunt there I located a silver 1902 barber dime about 6 inches deep in the strip of grass located between the front sidewalk and the street. Shortly after this hunt, the Iowa winter arrived, but I knew I had to go back to this yard once winter was over in case I may have missed anything.
In the spring/summer of 2013, I was able to hunt the same yard three more times. I was surprised to only find some fairly shallow clad coins and a silver ring that I returned to the homeowner. On November 1, 2013, I decided to try the yard one more time, as it seems I have my best luck during the cooler fall months. During the hunt, I hit a signal that was fairly weak and quick. I thought to myself this could be a deep coin on its side so I decided to dig the possible target. After digging a hole approximately 8-9 inches in the ground I could see the edge of what appeared to be a silver dime. Upon further examination I about fell over while discovering what I had located was my oldest and very first seated coin-an 1853-seated dime with arrows in great condition!! After finding this I knew I must continue in the yard at a slow pace to make sure I cover it all. As night began to close in on me, I hit one last signal again in the strip of grass located between the front sidewalk and the street. It was again a fairly faint and quick signal. I immediately thought back to the seated dime and told myself I’m digging this signal as well. After digging a hole approximately 6-7 inches in the ground I could see the edge of what appeared to be another silver dime. I lifted the coin up and it felt lighter and appeared a little smaller than a dime. I knew this was a coin I have never seen before. After examining the coin, I realized what I had found was now my second oldest coin I have ever found-an 1858 Canadian 5 cent piece which had been “holed”!. So not only did I find my oldest coin so far in this yard, I also found my second oldest coin so far in the same yard after going over the same spots five different times! I’m looking forward to many more great hunts in the future with the E-TRAC!
Tony - Iowa, USA
