We were greeted by the family dog. No one was home, but I had been told to " just go ahead" when I received permission to detect on the property. We stayed for four or five hours but found only a few coins. There were a lot of junk targets that were easily recognized by our White's XLT's. Short blips and broken signals were abundant, so after digging a lot of those pieces of trash, we started passing them up. All the time the dog that I nicknamed "Buddy" made constant trips between the two of us, carrying a stick in its mouth. Every time Terry would dig a target, Buddy would run over to him. The same held true for me.

There wasn't much to be found in the yard. Terry located a clad quarter, a few Memorial cents, and a copper ring to keep him interested in his area. I, on the other hand, had not found a single coin along the outer edges of the lawn, so I worked my way to the other side of the house. Buddy was making the usual trips, and I had dug some Memorial cents when I finally got a good signal near an enclosed flowerbed. The XLT registered the depth was at 4-1/2". Carefully cutting and removing a plug, I saw silver. It was a 1916 Barber dime in excellent condition. "This is the way to start a vacation!" I thought. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything else of interest the rest of the day.

The next day Terry and I went detecting at two neighboring homes in Winona, Minnesota. Terry decided to detect in Stan Losinski's yard, while I detected in Jana Kirch's yard. Like those of most city dwellings, the yards were small but big enough to offer a couple of hours of cautious detecting. There weren't many good signals, but after going only about 15' in my pattern, I received a solid "dollar" reading from a depth of 4-1/2". The ID readout could mean one of two things: a large, rusty tin can or silver - big silver! I reached for my dropcloth to realize that it was still in the Blazer. I stopped to see Stan and Terry on the way. Terry was recovering another Memorial cent. I asked how things were going and mentioned the signal I had gotten.

When I got back, the target was again pinpointed with the same results. I dug a small semicircular plug, reached in with two fingers, and pulled out a silver Washington quarter. Knowing the signal was too high for just a quarter, I ran the coil over the spot again. Something was still there! Up came two more silver coins, and now I was holding my first-ever Walking Liberty half and two silver Washington quarters...all from the same hole. Stunned, I headed over to the other two witnesses in the yard. I couldn't help grinning from ear to ear. Terry knew I had uncovered something good and asked, "What did you find?" I opened my hand to show Stan first, and then Terry. "All in one hole! Sometimes you get lucky!" was about all I could utter.

After placing the coins inside the Blazer, I went back with Terry to look at the exact area of the recovery. A quick swipe of the coil revealed yet another coin! Probing with my fingers, I found another large coin in the dirt, and a second Walking Liberty Half came to light. Although one of the half dollars is worn smooth with no date, the other coins are in fairly good shape: a 1939 Half, and 1943-D and 1954 quarters, still showing evidence of where they had been stacked-- one Walker on top of the other, with the quarters stacked on top of them. Not much could top that find, but we stayed on for two more hours, finding only a couple of Wheat and Memorial cents. Terry got a solid penny reading to recover an ornate brass buckle bearing two snakes and clusters of grapes with leaves.

At the next site later that afternoon we met with Dave Czapiewski, who owns a two-story brick home in the country. Dave said we could search the yard but didn't think we would find much. "The house is a hundred years old," he told us, "but the past owners didn't have much, and I don't have much either." Dispite these discourageing words, Terry started near the old porch, while I went to the center of the yard. I made a few passes in a 3' wide search pattern and recovered a few Memorials and a couple of Wheat cents. One signal was in the +80s with a DC Phase reading in the +70s. I have found that the DC Phase helps in determining whether or not to dig a target. When pinpointing, the XLT will display numbers on the screen. If those numbers are in the positive scale, definitely check out the target.

When a negative number shows up, then use your discretion. I will dig targets from -60 and higher, to the positive end of the scale. You must remember that there is dirt between the target and the coil. The deeper the target, the lower the negative response on the LCD. Use your own memory to determine whether you have a pulltab or something else you may not wish to uncover. I have found Indian Head cents in the negative range, so be aware that you may pass up some interesting targets by using this method.

The signal was just right for silver, and after plugging the target, it was still in the ground. I loosened more of the soil in the hole and spread it out on my dropcloth. Suddenly, a flash of silver revealed a 1940 Mercury dime. This was indeed my best day yet for finding silver.

Terry and I detected for two more days at another site owned by Clifford Blattner. The home is over 100 years old, and the limestone foundation proved its age. I had hopes of more sliver for my efforts, but the only coins in the yard were Memorial cents, Jefferson nickels, and clad Roosevelt dimes. The real rewards in this yard were toys! Terry had already found a toy pistol in another yard, and he also found a smaller version of the same pistol in this yard.

My recoveries from Cliff's yard on the first day included a Hot Wheels "Red Baron" and a Tootsie Toy dragster. On the second day, I found an area that must have been the favorite play area for children now gone from the homesite. This was the final day of our detecting vacation, and I went into "fast and furious" mode to cover the remaining unsearched area of the lawn. I picked up some more clad coinage, along with six toy car and trucks that day-- one Hot Wheels, two Matchboxes, and three Tootsie Toys.

We were both disappointed by not finding older coins. They should have been there and perhaps they still are. The ground was terribly dry because of a lack of rain for over a week. Even the Memorial cents were deep, about 6" down, and the ground was like rock. Still, we managed to make some excellent finds, and that's not a bad way to spend a vacation!

Just a P.S. to the article: If you noticed in the photo of the toy cars pictured above, there is a metal plate with a "heart" shape in the center of it. This plate was found about 6 inches deep and is a Civil War relic. These plates were issued for the soldiers boot heel and each corps had their own design. I've heard the value is about $50 to $75!!!

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