Recovering Coins At the "Hunted Out" Site (Story 10)
Unearthing A Rare Siberian Coin
Fortunately, the sun was hanging low, the heat subsided, and I got my "second wind." Knowing that the site had been cleared of the most of junk targets, I adjusted my Explorer's program a little: increased Gain up to 8, increased Sensitivity up to the maximum level, and reduced the Discrimination pattern just to 'Small Nails'. These changes would provide more operational depth range.
Now I was determined to find at least one Siberian coin from the 18th century. Surprisingly, my goal was achieved in a few minutes of searching: a desirable coin, 1776 1 Kopek minted during the rule of Catherine II (Catherine The Great) (1762-1796), came up from the great depth!
The Siberian coins are highly valued by Siberian treasure hunters and coin collectors for two reasons: 1) hight monetary value; in Fine and XF condition, such a coin can be easily sold for $100 at the coin auction, 2) the Siberian coinage of Catherine the Great was inaugurated because of a coin shortage, and meant to be in circulation only within Siberian borders.
Coin Obverse
Coin Reverse
I checked the hole and scanned the area next to the hole but did not get any more signals. I continued to scan the area around the hole in a circular pattern moving away from it but to no avail. This coin was a "stray" one and did not present a "hot" spot.