Caching In

By JeffT

I wish I could tell you that I found this cache intentionally through hard work and research but the truth is I came across it kinda by mistake. Yes I researched the area and expected to recover some nice finds but I didn’t set out to look for a cache. It all started one fall day back in 1994. It was my second year detecting and I was using a Whites 5900 pro. I decided to hunt an area that I had searched quite a few times before. Previous finds from that area had included 18^th century buckles, a plain rosette and a few early Indian head pennies.

This particular day was sunny and crisp and I felt good about the fact that I was able to get out and enjoy it. As usual I parked the car a ways from my hunting spot and headed through the woods to an area that contained the remains of an old stone cellar hole. I had detected close to this cellar hole before but had never really found much. As I usually did on my outings here I proceeded to detect the woods surrounding the dwelling. Time slipped by and although I was enjoying the time in the woods I was getting a little tired and I had no keepers in my pouch.

 I decided to call it quits and I started past the foundation and down a steep hill. I still had my headphones on as I quickly rushed down the hill with my coil sliding along the ground in front of me. Suddenly and unexpectedly a signal rang through my headphones. I stopped in mid stride and ran the coil back over the area. Beep, beep, beep, I heard again with a strong repeatable sound that had me kneeling down and digging a plug in the dark fertile soil. To my delight out popped a large cent! After stopping to admire my find for a minute or two I started to sweep the coil once again over the surrounding ground. Much to my surprise I heard another solid signal and then another, and another! As I continued to dig I was reward with another old copper each time. At this point I stopped to think, how did these get here? Had I stumbled upon a coach stop? Was the old foundation once a tavern? With no answers but my head full of questions I decided that with dark fast approaching I would call it a day and come back in the morning.

Next Morning I was up bright and early. I grabbed my detector (and my brother) and headed back to the area where I spent most of the next few hours digging signal after signal as a pile of dark disks began to accumulate on the ground next to me. The trail of coins that started at the bottom of the hill had eventually led me back up the hill to a stone wall where I dug down about a foot to reveal piles of copper coins! There was no sign of a container and my thoughts were it had rotted away long ago. After all the coins were removed I studied the area and concluded that the occupant of the house that once stood on the stone foundation had probably hidden his life savings underneath that stone wall and met his death before he could recover it. There it sat year after year, decade after decade until a nearby tree root grew under the wall and dislodged the coins thus explaining the sprinkling of coppers down the hillside.

All together there were  approximately 700 copper coins in that cache dating from 1776 to 1820. Half cents, Large cents, and state issued coins like Massachusetts pennies and Connecticut coppers. Only one piece of silver came from the bunch, a Spanish Real. The highlight of the cache was a 1793 chain cent. Most of the coins were corroded, as you would expect coppers to be that come out of the ground but a few that were stacked on each other cleaned up nicely. I have tried to research the cache but haven’t had much luck to this day. Whomever it belonged to had buried what amounted to a small fortune for those days.

I still think about it a lot and some day I hope to solve the mystery but for now I can close my eyes and relive that day over and over again. I probably will never have such a high point in my detecting career again but I am satisfied to have found a cache of coins that are part of this country’s early numismatic history----JT Note: This cache was found on private property and permission was granted to hunt.