Why I Dig Treasure Hunting

Saturday, in between trips to The Home Depot, I found an hour to head over to a local park with my metal detector. I won't say which park it was, but let's just say it was a place I went frequently when I was much younger. Along certain embankments that got a lot of foot traffic, I was getting tones for coins every few feet. I dug 20 coins in less than an hour, as well as a key and a small copper ring. Toward the end of the hour, I got a tone on a coin in about 4 inches of soil on an embankment, and I dug it. It was a Seated Liberty Half Dime, dated 1853.

I don't care who you are, it's cool to dig something that old out of the ground and wonder how long it's been there. This coin is sitting right next to my laptop, and as soon as the scanner starts cooperating here at the office, I'll post a scan.

These coins are pretty common, from what I gather, but it's still pretty cool to find something somebody lost over 150 years ago. To me, the excitement of wondering what I'll dig out of the ground next is enough to keep me digging.