Though we tried our luck at a few places during my trip to visit the 'rents in Colorado, my first and best strikes were at a place called Officer's Gulch, which is conveniently located about 10 minutes from my parents house. During the late-1800's, there was a small railroad labor camp stationed near the river there, the stone foundations of which still remain today. Though initial searches in and near the stone foundations were fruitless (save for iron square nails), a small plateau above the foundations began to yield some wonderful treasures.
My first finds included some shoe leather (the metal tacks used back then set off the detector), followed soon after by the discovery of this ornate buckle. I initially assumed it was a shoe buckle given its proximity to the shoe leather, but given it's size and decoration, others believe it was for a satchel.
I hadn't detected in at least 3 months, so finding something like this at a historic location like the Officer's gulch had me pretty damn excited. Little did I know what was coming around the corner. A few feet away from where I had pulled the buckle, I discovered my first MYPYP find. For those who aren't familiar with the acronym (which is everyone except me since I just made it up), MYPYP stands for Makes You Pee Your Pants. So what was the MYPYP you ask?
An 1868 Shield Nickel.
This beautiful coin (minted nearly 150 years ago), is the first type of Nickel ever minted by the United States, having first been minted in 1866. Prior to the Shield Nickel, 5 cent piece were called Half-Dimes. I estimated the condition of this coin to be between Very Good and Fine, which means its book value is around $25.00. Even MYPYP doesn't do justice to how excited I was to find this coin - easily my oldest find ever.
Only 10 minutes later and a few feet away from where I discovered the Shield Nickel, I found my next MYPYP.
A 1854 Seated Liberty Dime.
This silver dime type was minted beginning in 1837, replacing the Liberty Cap dime type, and being replaced itself by the Barber Dime in 1892. This coin, which I estimated to be between About Good and Good condition is worth a book value of around $8.00. Yet again, my record oldest coin found was beaten. I had now found a coin which was minted OVER 150 years ago. Notable events during that year include:
- establishment of the Nebraska and Kansas as U.S. Territories
- the Republican political party is first formed from former members of the Whig political party with a primary purpose to prevent the spread of slavery into western territories.
- the first street cleaner is utilized in Philadephia
After a bit more searching with no further finds, we called it a day and headed back home
Two days later while my parents headed to Denver for a doctors appointment, I headed back out to Officer's Gulch for some more detecting, and while not to the level of the prior hunt, discovered some more neat keepers.
Pictured above is a fountain pen head, with the lettering:
..amos & co
colorado
No. 2
I can't figured out what letters (if any) are before the 'a' in 'amos'. Anyone who can discover the true company name and history before me gets bonus points!
Along with the fountain head are two more buckles and four shells from what I can only assume is a revolver. There is no lettering on the shells, but I did find a live round nearby these shells with a similar size shell and grooved bullet (didn't keep it for safety reasons and neglected to photograph it). Also note that the firing mechanism was rectangular and struck the shell at the edge, unlike today's center-strike rounded pins.
After a few days of fishing, prospecting, and relaxing, we found ourselves back at Officer's Gulch on the morning before I left for Seattle (yesterday) and discovered two more MYPYPs. Finding coins like this was now old hat to me though, so I almost threw them away....
... NOT.
1856 Seated Liberty Dime
This one is quite beat up and I estimate its grade to be About Good, which gives it a book value of around $10.00.
1867 Shield Nickel
Even more beat up and damaged than the dime, this coin probably grades at best About Good and has a book value of around $12.00.
