Lost & Found Category | Page 179 of 492 | The Ring Finders

87 Year old Dr. M. Called me a week ago, and said he had buried a bag of Silver Coins in his yard 50 years ago, and now wanted to find them. He said he knew the area, but can’t pinpoint it, and also he remembered “Putting a bunch of old nails all over the bag” when he buried it so it could later be found, lol (as if the Silver wouldn’t be enough) but thinking ahead!

I arranged to meet a few days later, and knew the area he lived in was a very rural hilly area, however, I did not anticipate the terrain where he buried it!
He and his wife, buried these Silver Coins in 1972, when the economy was sketchy, and since his wife has now passed, he was the sole person to remember it was buried there.  Unbeknownst to me, some interesting details he left out about the coins, but I had enought to go on, so arrived at 3PM.

Not exactly a normal yard, lol.  It was down a steep hillside, where he remembered burying it near an Avocado Tree Stump. He had his gardener clear out as much Ivy and overgrowth in the area he remembered it, though a ton of stumps and bushes still remained. I took my Equinox 800, 15″ Coil, Park 1 Mode and started searching. Found usual beer cans, wire, old broken toys, sprinker fittings but nothing screaming out like a bag of Silver.  2 Hours in 92 degree heat climbing in bushes up and down this hillside, and nothing. Dr. M. went up to the house as he was overheated sitting watching me and need water and a rest. I was drenched, worn out, and defeated.

As usual with RingFind customers, I never take their word as to where something is, especially after 50 years!   I rested a bit, drank some water and climbed further up the hill where he said it wouldn’t have been.  Some signals, but then an erratic signal with lots of Iron tone, but also mid 20’s – 30’s VDI, and using PinPoint Mode, I could tell it was about 10″ wide or so and indicated at more than the depth scale deep.  Hmm, so worth digging anyway.

Digging down about 2′, dripping sweat, I kept finding blobs of rusted Iron, nails and some screws. I thought no way this could be chance that there are so many nails in one area. Pinpointer showing larger target, keep digging.   Now I am expecting in my mind a Ziplock clear bag or something, and I had already found an old leather sandal about a foot deep, but I hit another Black Vinyl Strap, kind of like a purse!  I carefullu dug, and sure enough, a purse type material appeared. I tried to pry it side to side to loosen it, but no budge, and I tore the top a little. Drenched, tired as  heck, I plunged my fingers into the hole in it and BINGO! Pulled out 4 Silver Dimes in mint condition!  I almost colapsed from fatigue and joy that I had found it!   50 Years had buried more soil down the hill and originally it was 1 Foot deep, now 2.5′ Deep!

I went up and told Dr. M. and he was overjoyed! Could not believe I found it, let alone where!   I drank more water, then went back down to dig more, and his 97 Year old friend rolled me down a 5Gallon Bucket. I thought I won’t really need it, I will just dig out this purse. Wrong…
Turns out, what he then remembered when he saw it, that it was a Bowling Bag, and he had purchased cloth bank bags full of Silver Dimes and Silver Quarters, mostly early 60’s, mostly Rosies, and some Merc’s, and Quarters from same eras.  I could not get this thing to budge, as I was digging, not knowing how much was there, so I was laying on my stomach, reaching 2-1/2′ down into this bag pulling out handfulls of shiny Silver coins for an hour! The coins were in pristine condition, and the original bank bags were deteriorated, but still pieces showed SanFrancisco Bank on them.

In the end, I wrestled this half full 5 Gallon bucket up to his garage and we weighed it. Over 53 Pounds of Silver!  Accounting for some dirt, say 50 Lbs. We did the math on Silver Melt, and well, you get the idea…

After 3 uncessfull Ring Find calls over the past few months that were real long-shots, I am overjoyed to have found this for him!  I almost lost hope!