Well I guess I should have known.  The Roman Coins deal on eBay wasn't worth it in my opinion.  Here is exactly what I received (of any value) for my $22 (minus the silver dime, which is worth more than all of the Roman coins).



Notice how TEENIE TINY the coins are!  I've included a dime in the picture for scale reference.  The other 5 coins were all corroded beyond recognition.  No, they weren't dirty... they were completely defaced due to corrosion.  I suppose these coins are slightly interesting because they are most likely around 2000 years old.  But if age is all that matters, then wouldn't you be happy picking up any rock on the ground that is most likely a few million years old?

Only after receiving the coins do you realize why this guy (and so many others) are selling 2000 year-old coins by the bagfull.  Is the seller honest?  Technically, yes.  But the auction CLEARLY implies something different than what it actually spells out.  The biggest omission here is the size of the coins.  I would never have bid if I knew the coins were going to be micro-sized and wafer-thin.

But this is just my opinion.  You might think that these are the coolest coins you've ever seen.  If so, then go ahead and bid away.  I can't deny the fact that I was looking forward to receiving them.  But I also can't deny the feeling of disappointment when I opened the package and saw these little guys.

Today I realized that some old foundations that I saw in the woods over a year ago are actually on public land.  Right after work I went over there and hiked to the foundations.  Holy moly... what a complex!  I wish I had my camera with me.  There are TONS of rock walls going in many directions and a few very distinguishable buildings (or rooms) here and there.

I had to traverse some tough Jurassic-like terrain to get there and I had no clue where to start once I arrived.  I need tips on how to search an area like this... but I'll put that in another thread.

So after wandering around randomly for about an hour I finally hit something.  It was a repeatable low tone... so nickel, gold, or trash.  I dug it and found my first Liberty V nickel!  Horrible condition though.   :(  Virtually unreadable, but I'm pretty sure the date is 1909.

About 50 feet away I got another hit that was mixed tones but repeatable, so I dug.  There was a heavily rotten tree trunk almost directly under the signal.  I mean, this tree was turning to dust.  I stuck my digging tool in and started to scrap away tree and dirt.  After a while I used my probe to pinpoint... yep something there.  So I stuck my fingers in and felt around... what's this?  My first Large Cent!  But, once again, absolutely horrid condition.   :cry:  I can definitely see "One Cent" on the reverse, but the obverse is completely corroded away.

I'm pretty sure the Large Cent is this one... with the same date too!


So I have mixed feelings about this place.  It's so large and so absolutely packed with forest debris and upwards of a foot or more of leaves and branches... but the lure of something silver underneath it all... hmmmm

I'll have to go back.  I'll bring my camera, extra batteries, and my 4" coil to get around all of the debris.

Woohoo!  Before the sun went down I decided to head out to do a little metal detecting.  Hmmm.. where the go?  Where to go?  That's always the question.  I decided to go to Woodland Park in Darien because I haven't detected there before.  There's not a lot of features to the park so I wasn't expecting much.  No lake, no real river to speak of... just a bunch of hiking paths.  Well shortly after arriving I found a little clearing in the middle of the preserve and figured this looked like a good spot.

Sure enough the first thing I dug up was a Mercury Dime (in poor shape) from 1918.  Shortly thereafter in a different area of the clearing I found a beautiful 1941 Mercury Dime and a bunch of wheat pennies all in a bunch.  I guess this area was a hangout for teens in the 40s or 50s or something.

Here are some pics of the actual coins:



On a path in the woods I got a deep signal that kept registering as a coin.  I've found that when I get the high beep repeatedly from my Land Star it is almost never wrong.  It's gotta be a coin.  I dug down at least 6 inches into rocky, hard clayish soil and came up empty.  I wish I had brought along my probe!  There's something good down there!

What do you think of 11 Roman coins for $22?  Was I scammed?
Aw what the heck, I'll give it a shot, roll the dice and see what I get.  I'll let you know.

Oh... went back to the same spot where I found the Indian Head penny yesterday.  Didn't find anything too great today.  No good coins, but I did find an interesting vintage lighter.  I think it must be silver because it came out of the ground looking fairly nice.  It might be possible to clean it up and make it work again.  It has the name "PRESTO" on the bottom.  It could possible be from the 1950s based on the writing on the bottom.  Kind of neat.

Also, this time I brought some frickin' bug repellent with me.  What a difference.  No bites of any kind.  Take that, bugs!