My first old coin and the one that hooked me on the Hobby :)
by Steve Finley
(Chillicothe Ohio)
1844 Braided Hair Large Cent
I have always been fascinated about history and the hobby of metal detecting. I am a veteran and had been looking for sometime to help me deal with ptsd and read an article from another veteran who said metal detecting did wonders for him so I figured it couldn't hurt. I bought me a garret at pro for my birthday in late feb 2013 and soon after I started hitting the parks and anywhere I could hunt. I live in Chillicothe Ohio and we have a park that dates back to mid top early 1800s . I mentioned to an old timer about metal detecting and how I was going to the park to do some hunting with my 8 year old step-daughter. He said he doubted I find anything because that place has been detected to death. I told him I didn't care much if I found anything old but I had hopes I would. Well seeming like the odds were against me at this park my step-daughter and I headed out to try our luck. I started out in the more common areas of the park and found some newer coins and that really got me excited. I realized also that metal detecting let me be myself again and was helping me deal with ptsd. Anyways I hinted for about 2 hours and decided I had enough for the day and it was getting a little crowed also because it was our first nice day in Chillicothe this year. We loaded my detector in the car and was just about to leave when my step-daughter said "you should try over here" at first I was like I don't think so but being she was enjoying hunting as much as I was we parked the car and got back out hunting again. I was about 20 minutes into hunting and I got my first solid sound and told her omg I think this is something different hailey and she4 got excited as well as I did also. Anyways I dug my plug and about 6 inches down I could see what I thought was a token or something. I reached down and pulled it out and lone behold it was my first old coin a 1844 large cent. I was so excited and Haileys was like what is it what is it. I showed her and she was like oh...Lol then I told her the date and she got happy also. I was so happy that I wanted to show everybody who was there and I did..Lol anyways I decided that I wanted to go home and show my wife and we left. I soaked the coin in hat soapy water and used the a soft toothbrush and this is the coin I found. I have to say metal detecting has giving me a new meaning in my life and I actually have fun even if I don't find anything at all. It has done wonders with my PTSD also and for that im very thankful for :)
