My First Big Silver Coin!

I had my best success in six years of metal detecting this morning when I found a 1945 Walking Liberty half dollar on a hillside trail in Port Washington, the town next to where I live in SE Wisconsin.

I've been hunting the public stairways going up the steep hills in town. It is amazing how many coins people drop on or near stairways. In three hunts last week I found around 80 coins. All but three were modern. The others where Wheaties dating 1944, 1945 and 1927.

This morning I hit another of the stairways. On a dirt path by the stairs I first dug up a 1953 Roosevelt only an inch or two down. I checked the spot again and got another signal. When I took off some dirt I beheld the glorious sight of a large silver rim, again, only an inch or two down, and I pulled out the 1945 Walking Liberty.

There is a downside to this story, however. When I got back to my car I took out the Walking Liberty to wash it off. When I did that I must have dropped my Ziploc bag with the Roosevelt and the other modern coins I found, because it was no where to be found when I got home. Rats! This was only my second silver spill.

At least the big baby is safely in my grasp.

The photos show the stairway I was hunting, the Walking Liberty after I popped it out of the ground and the spot on the trail, right by the stairs, where I found the two silver coins.