In the hobby of metal detecting we always say that  “You never know what you’re going to find when detecting.”  That proved to be true recently when I detected an old school yard where I found an Italian 200 Lire Coin that was definitely a surprise. At first I thought it was a gold coin when it was still dirty because I didn’t recognize the face. Either way a neat find for around here.

After my hunt at the old school I decided to swing by an old house that I’ve been trying to get permission to detect for a long time. I’ve been by there at least 5 times, and finally someone was home. The property owner told me that he’d rather I didn’t detect the yard which is understandable because most people don’t know how we dig a plug. Anyway, I asked if I could detect his side lot and he said to go for it.  It was a small corner lot, so I started in one corner and worked my way across the yard.

Along the broken old sidewalk I found the wheat penny which gave me hopes of finding a silver coin eventually.  It didn’t take long to realize that the old house that once sat there had been bulldozed because there was metal junk everywhere.

I noticed one corner of the yard looked like it was relatively untouched along a fence line, so I decided to slow down in that area.  I was running my Minelab CTX3030 and got a nice quarter tone/ readout.  I was hoping for a silver quarter but was happy to see something round in the hole. It turned out to be this Will Rogers Memorial token.

According to wikipedia

William Penn Adair “Will” Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was a stage and motion picture actor, vaudeville performer, American cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator.

Known as “Oklahoma’s Favorite Son”,^[1] Rogers was born to a prominent Cherokee Nation family in Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma).

When I die, my epitaph, or whatever you call those signs on gravestones, is going to read: “I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I dident [sic] like.” I am so proud of that, I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved.^[6]

Finds like these are what makes the hobby of metal detecting exciting for me. Learning the historical background, finding coins that I didn’t know existed and being out in nature enjoying my hobby, Nothin better!