Slow weekend ends with a bang!!

[Ill Digger]

We took a trip this past weekend to visit family in central Illinois for the long weekend. I usually have plenty of time to kill while we're there so I usually bring the detector or two ;) along and find a place to hunt while I'm there. So Friday while on the way down we stopped in a little town and hit the park there. I found one wheat and some clad. We spent a little over an hour there. Saturday I got up early and hit a couple of local parks with only 1 wheat and some more clad to show for about 7 hours of hunting. But I did find something else kinda cool! 8)

I found a geocashe!! That was pretty cool. All we had along for a camera was a cell phone. But here's some pictures of it !!
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx310/IllDigger/0219111542-1.jpg

It's tucked in there pretty good.
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx310/IllDigger/0219111541a-1.jpg

Leaving my mark......Ill Digger was here 2/19/2011
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx310/IllDigger/0219111537.jpg
I wasn't real sure of the rules and routine associated with a geocashe . I wasn't sure if I could take something or not. :dontknow: So I just left something. lol

Sunday I hit a town common that I pulled a wheat and a IH out of on my last visit. I found two more wheaties and silver number 4 for the year , a'58 d Rosie! thumbsup01 After about 4 hours there I had a enough of the trash removal :rolleyes: lol so I left and found two empty lots with houses that had been bulldozed to the ground, in a old neighborhood :yes: So I hunted the parkway (grass strip between the street and sidewalk) and found some clad. Then a man walked up and asked if I was finding anything. He told me the county now owned the two lots were the houses sat!! :shocked04: So I started to hunt the grassy areas under the big maple tree in what would've been the front yard. The first target was a wheat !! Good start ! There was plenty of debris from the house demolition but the finds started popping out of the ground!! I found another wheat! A little while later a nice sterling silver pin, with a snake wrapped around a torch on it, came to light. It has Preservation + Restoration + Training on it. I'm not sure what it's from. Maybe an EMT or a doctor or something? :dontknow: It was getting late and I was heading back to my truck and was thinking Come on. There's got to be a silver quarter here some where Thats when the DFX started showing 85, 86,87 @ 6 inches deep!! <: Out popped a 1948d Washington quarter !! Sweet!! I stood up and said &quot:daydream:beatdown:. I happy!! I'm outta here! lol Little did I know what was in store for me. I stared back towards my truck smiling after finding the quarter thats when the DFX started hitting 86,88,85 again !! I'm thinking don't tell me !! Could it be a half dollar? I pulled what I thought was a kids sheriff's badge out of the hole. :rolleyes: I shoved it in my bag and jumped in the truck and headed for home. After getting home and cleaning it up a bit I soon found out it certainly is NOT a kids badge!! I wasn't sure what it was so I did a quick Google search. It turns out I found a G.A.R. or Grand Army of the Republic medal !! :shocked04: :shocked04:stretcher: It turns out these medals were made from melted down confederate cannons !!! I am still in shock !! You just never know what you'll dig next!! I'm missing the top pin piece of it . It would've been a pin as a eagle above crossed cannons! :rolleyes: :bangahead01:

This is the front of the GAR medal.
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx310/IllDigger/IMG_0477.jpg

Here's the reverse.
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx310/IllDigger/IMG_0478.jpg

The sterling pin.
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx310/IllDigger/IMG_0480.jpg

Rear of the pin.
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx310/IllDigger/IMG_0479.jpg

The keepers from the weekend!! :)
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx310/IllDigger/IMG_0476.jpg

I almost forgot! I found a TootsieToy too !! 8)
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx310/IllDigger/IMG_0481.jpg

After a slow start to the weekend it turned out to be a very memorable hunt!! Again location, location, location.
Thanks for looking & HH :grin:

[marinedad]

holy cow tim, those are some amazing finds, i wonder what the symbols on the back of the badge stand for?

[jkress]

Awesome!! :happydance01:
I was hoping you were able to get some nice detecting time in on your trip and pull a few goodies. You did!! <:
Nice score on the beautiful silver and relics. It sure is nice seeing a big ol silver quarter coming out of the ground.
Love the badge and car too. :smitten:
Congrats Tim... great pics.

[Ill Digger]

holy cow tim, those are some amazing finds, i wonder what the symbols on the back of the badge stand for?
Thanks Mark! I was wondering too. So i went looking.
All I really could find is this link.
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~duncanrw/tombandfrat.html
It mentions the GAR also. I'm not for sure but they gotta be pretty close :dontknow: lol



I was hoping you were able to get some nice detecting time in on your trip and pull a few goodies. You did!! <:

Thanks Joe ! It was lookin' pretty dismal there for a few days lol But it had a happy ending thumbsup01
Thanks for lookin' guys! :grin:

[wingmaster]

Nice finds congrats on the silver.

[Salty Dog]

Awsome recovery on the GAR :clapping: :clapping:

[Carver]

Great finds for sure!!!! Those GAR badges are sweet finds :happydance01: :happydance01: :happydance01: :happydance01:

[giant056]

You made some great finds on that trip, congrats on the silver and very nice old G.A.R. medallion thumbsup01

[exsquid]

One Woohoo of a hunt...WTG on some incredible finds...
:clapping: :clapping: :clapping:

[tanacat]

:omg: :omg: :omg:

Holy moly Tim!! That badge is an incredible find!! Have you googled it yet? Congrats on a nice hunt/vacation (and 5th silver for the year)! :clapping:

What exactly was in that geocache? I've been wanting to try it out...

Love the tootsie toy car!

[RobW]

Those are some great finds!
I Love that GAR badge! :loveit:

[CyberSage]

Nice hunt, and great coins Tim! That medal is very cool. Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing your hunts.

Jack

[tanacat]

I'm sure you already looked it up- but here's one anyway. Nice find :yes:

:beerbuddy:

http://www.rubylane.com/ni/iteml/502406-MISC307?zoom=1

[russellt]

bing bang boom.. spectacular hunt . those GAR medals are virtually nonexistant way down here in the sunny south

[zrickkid]

WTG Tim. Maybe next time when you have the e-tac back you can find some other stuff.

[Carver]

Hey Tim,,,, I forgot to mention,,,I did find one of those Geo caches while detecting a park site,,,,it was in a knot hole,,,I checked it out but did not write anything in it,,,,pretty cool thumbsup01 thumbsup01

[odave]

Congrats on the Gar Medal and Silver !! Great Post and Pic's thumbsup01 thumbsup01

[milco]

Awesome finds, that GAR medal is a beauty!

[dave in iowa]

great finds , that badge is awesome.

[Cheap Thrills]

Ya' did good !! thumbsup01 thumbsup01 8)

[Ill Digger]

Thanks for all the comments guys and gals! :grin: thumbsup01



Those GAR badges are sweet finds :happydance01: :happydance01: :happydance01: :happydance01:
Have you found one too ?

[coinnut]

:clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:

That is one monster of a hunt lol First congrats on a rare GAR badge. Your is in awsome shape and a great way to start this year off. Unbelievable find :happydance01: I can't find much on the other pin, but it is real sweet too. As for the geocache, there are maps available on line to give you GPS numbers to find them. It's kinda fun, the wife and I did it for a short time. The idea is you find it and leave some info on where you are from and then take 1 item and place a new item in there so the kitty always stays full. I've found a couple of them while detecting too, but didn't take anything either. lol Even the car you found is cool. I bet next years car contest is gonna be a whopper. Congrats on a great hunt!! Kinda hard to top that one lol

[Fire Fighter 43]

>:WTG Tim, we had no snow for a few days but before I had time to get out BAM!! 10 more inches. I hate winter.

[Schrecky]

I metal detect and Geocache. Geocaches are everywhere, you pass by them everyday. Funny to think that people are locating them, signing the logs, and re-hiding them right under your nose.

[DaleGM]

out standing finds!!!! <: <:

[Ill Digger]

I've found a couple of them while detecting too, but didn't take anything either. lol
Thanks G
The reason I was kinda bummed about not knowing the routine is because there was a pretty cool rolled penny in there. I donated a pull tab lol

>:WTG Tim, we had no snow for a few days but before I had time to get out BAM!! 10 more inches. I hate winter.
Better days are coming my friend! thumbsup01


I metal detect and Geocache. Geocaches are everywhere, you pass by them everyday. Funny to think that people are locating them, signing the logs, and re-hiding them right under your nose.
Man you aren't kidding!! I just found a map of cashes in the whole country and just in my town there's about 34 or 35 !!! I never knew!! Thats great !! I'm going to take the boys out and try and locate some of these !! Thats cool! 8)

[del]

:omg: i can't believe i missed this post :bangshead02: :bangshead02:




:shocked04: :shocked04: that G.A.R. medal is a great find Tim and to just think about the man that survived the war between the states to come home and the stories he could tell his kids and grandkids about it. well its a pretty amazing find and in spectacular shape , no doubt it was well cared for and revered until the day it was lost .truely a center piece for the display , huge congrats my friend .

[JTGOLD]

AWSOME finds, wtg.