1861 Gold!

By Paul Farrow

My job requires me to travel on business overnight one or two weeks a month. Arkansas is one of the states I cover. On Wednesday, October 18, 2000, I passed thru a smaller town that had a big old vacant house on the edge of a college campus that was being totally remodeled. Also, they had dug a five foot wide path about 150 feet long for a new sidewalk by the street. This house sits on the corner of what used to be the main drag thru town and the sidewalk construction was on the little side street coming off the main road. After I finished my business for the day I drove back to the site and parked. I looked it over and almost drove off without hunting it. It was after five and not much daylight left, I was tired, etc.. Anyway, I told myself, "if you don't look...you won't find", and with that I got out and started hunting. I went straight for the sidewalk construction area first because I had found some silver dimes at another sidewalk construction site back in the spring and I also figured I wouldn't need permission to hunt it. I covered about 25 or 30 feet with almost no signals and then I got a real strong signal on my White's XLT. The signal had a  VDI number of 76(dime) and registered as being at a depth of 1 1/2 inches. The ground was very hard since the top soil had already been removed. I dug down 1 1/2 inches and no coin. I dug down 3 inches and no coin. I dug down 4 1/2 inches and ran the coil over the dirt I had just removed and still no coin.

 Then I looked down into the hole and there thru the dirt I could make out a big yellow round disk! While I didn't know for sure what it was, I already had a doo-doo eatin' grin on my face as I snatched that baby out of the hole. I first looked at the edge of the coin and saw that it had a reeded edge. Then I gently dusted one side and saw Miss Liberty's beautiful face and I dusted, maybe rubbed, a little harder and saw the date...1861. Then I knew that I had indeed found my first gold coin in great shape. But I still didn't know what denomination it was. I flipped the coin over and gently dusted some more and saw the words, "Twenty D.". Incredible! It was the largest denomination the U.S. had minted for general circulation and I had found it!! I stood there in a daze hardly believing my good fortune and as I put the coin away I could see my entire arms shaking big time!  I don't have to tell you that I was on cloud nine for a long time after that. I hunted a little while longer but didn't find anything else worth while so I left. I went back to the motel and washed it off and sat there and stared at it the rest of the evening. I didn't even turn on the TV. Shoot, what could be better than sitting there looking at your first gold coin? In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I sat and stared at it all of the next evening too! You might think I'm crazy but I  bet you do the same thing when its your turn! I have often wondered what event took place that caused someone to lose such a valuable coin. There's just no way of knowing but I am glad I was able to rescue it before it was covered with concrete and hidden for another century. The coin has an approximate value of $600 but it is priceless to me. It was an incredible moment for me that I will never forget. I hope every treasure hunter gets the chance to find something equally as exciting, there's just no feeling like it! Now get out there and hunt!!!! 

Paul Farrow (Paul in SoMo)