Wow, I really need to post more often!
I have been looking for gold as I mentioned before but I have found none. I spent four days in St. Louis MO but I didn’t get to take my detector. It was very hard walking around Forest Park and not having Maurice with me. I did see a guy detecting with an AT Pro but since it was our family vacation I didn’t run to talk to him to see what he was finding.
Alas, to top it all off, my friend luckydog1 er, I mean, lawdog1, was killing it finding a NICE Morgan silver dollar, a NICE Franklin half and an assortment of Mercs, Rosies and other awesome coins.
So when I came back home, I was determined to go out hunting.
Yesterday, I decided to visit a nearby town that has produced very nicely for other hunters. The town, albeit small, has a large and very old park. For this hunt I put away the Compadre and dusted off Maurice. I spent three hours there and found only one coin worth talking about:
Yep, that’s my first ever Shield Nickel. It is worn smooth but you can see enough detail. With a magnifying glass the 67 part of the date can be made out faintly. The Shield nickel was designed in 1866. The original design had rays emanating from the center and going between the stars surrounding the number 5. This design was changed in 1867 because of difficulties with the striking of the pattern. Starting in 1867, the 5 was surrounded by stars but no rays were on it. So the rays were only on coins made in 1866 and part of 1867.
This was a coin long on my list and now I can scratch it off. This makes up for all my failed hunts this year!
Finding this coin made me decide to start hunting on my lunch hour again.
Thank you for looking!
The Dirt Is Good To Me 
Very well done and congrats 🙂
That is one COOL coin! Congrats! I am a lucky dog.
Awesome Find! I bet that did light a new fire under you.
Law Dog- Nice finds as well.
Mine doesn’t have the rays! This obviously means your Shield is older than mine!