Casual conversations had led to detecting topics, and I mentioned some of the items that I have found when searching boulevards and yards in Winona, Minnesota. Naturally when I found out that Jackie and Vince, her husband, live in Winona and that they own a corner lot near the center of town, I asked her if I might detect there. With permission granted by Jackie, I arranged to search the yard the next morning. Before leaving for the evening, she asked me if she would have to worry about holes being dug in her yard. My response is always the same: "You won't even know that I was there."

I take pride in what I do to make a recovery. Pinpointing carefully, using a drop cloth, removing all trash -- these are the keys to keeping the property neat and tidy. However, this yard took me by surprise. Although my own lawn had not needed to be mowed for several weeks during the cool fall season, this one had the look of being freshly cut. It was short and neatly trimmed even on this day in November.

At first I was terrified to open the sod up. Jackie's words of caution from the previous evening repeated themselves in my thougths. "My husband takes great care of the yard. He wouldn't want to see holes all over the place." Accordingly, I passed up several signals that were of the "not sure" variety. These are the signals that are broken, choppy, or clicky. Those with readings that ranged from the 30s to the 80s over the same target on my White's XLT were passed over to avoid unnecessary digging.

After skipping a few such targets, though, I realized that if I wanted to find some keepers, I would have to dive in. Once the next target was pinpointed, I dropped to both knees and cut a 6" simicircle in the sod. I've found that cutting only a half circle will allow some of the roots to remain intact, helping to prevent the grass from dying out. With the flap of the plug folded over to expose the soil beneath, a quick scan indicated that the target was still in the ground. Carefully removing some dirt with my hand, I placed it on the drop cloth. Passing the coil over the cloth, I got a loud, clear signal. Taking a small amount of dirt in my right hand (no rings or watches), I passed it over the coil and heard nothing but the treshold hum. Putting this soil back into the hole, I grabbed another handful, and the loud signal from my hand turned out to be a 1904 Indian Head cent.

Even if I had found nothing else in the entire yard, this one coin made the 15 mile trip worth the effort. Rechecking the spot and hearing nothing but "air", I filled the remaining soil from the cloth back into the hole, flipped the sod back into the opening, and patted it down with the palm of my hand. A light brushing with the back of my hand made the grass blend in with the surroinding sod, leaving no trace of an excavation. Satisfied that I couldn't see a sign of the hole, I resumed my search pattern.

I had gone only a few feet farther when I got another hit. It was clear and unmistakeably a coin. Pinpointing and checking the readings of the LCD revealed a penny just below the surface. Targets that shallow are easily removed by using a brass probe. Carefully push the probe into the ground until you feel something hard and then pry it to the surface. Caution must be used in this process, however. I've found Indian Head cents virtually on top of the soil, so go slow and easy. If you just open the sod with a small slit with the probe, you can usually extract the target with your fingers. Then, after the item is out of the opening, just press the surrounding sod back toward the opening.

The next signal was deeper and turned out to be a 1917 Winona Dog Tax tag. These are always a welcome addition to the days finds and are worth a few dollars to those who wish to sell them. As I approached the street, I started finding bits of broken glass from a car window. Of course, broken glass is always a hazard, so I carefully picked it up and placed it in my trash pouch. Digging a few more targets from about 4-1/2" down, I found another Winona Dog Tax tag and an Upper Mississippi Wildlife Refuge Trap tag, both dated 1941.

The find of the day came a little later in the morning, and after a couple of hours of detecting. Coins had been surfacing regularly, but the best came near the last section of the yard. I worked my way along the sidewalk and heard a signal that was confusing at first. The readings started out at a solid "quarter" registering at 87 on the display; but as I moved the coil an inch or two away, the reading dropped down to 35 and extended about 4" in length. I decided to pinpoint on the 87 and cut a plug, even though the depth readout indicated only a couple of inches.

I pulled back the flap, and at the bottom of the cone-shaped plug was a silver coin. Then more coins fell into my hand! In this one hole there were seven coins, stacked in this order: 1941 Wheat cent, 1940-D Wheat cent, 1942-D silver Washington quarter, and four Mercury dimes-- 1917-D, 1917-D again, 1940-D, and 1936. This was only the second time in seven years that this had happened to me. I have found multiple coins in the same hole, but not multiple silver coins. Not only that, but both recoveries occurred in the same year.

When I showed the better items to Jackie, she couldn't believe that so much had been found in her yard. The totals were not to shabby for about three hours of detecting... 52 coins, and six of them silver, including a 1954 quarter found later in the boulevard, the 1904 Indian Head cent, and seven Wheat cents. Jackie appreciated that I showed her what I had found, and when I referred to the passed-up signals, she said that I was welcome back anytime to try to recover any items still on the property. She also assured me that neither she nor her husband had noticed any holes or other evidence of digging. She told me that there had been an automobile accident on her corner just recently and she thanked me for picking up the broken glass. I, in turn, thanked her for letting me search their beautifully kept yard. I offered to share in the treasures that I had found but she declined, saying that it was interesting to just hear and see the story unfold.