Contest idea ("LordM's Epic Treasure Hunting Game") - see what you think

For DD-002, the second coin found, I was with my detecting mentor Jim Dalton. There is a juvenile detention center between Swannanoa and Black Mountain, NC. At the time, it was called the Juvenile Evaluation Center. I believe it was and/or still is a minimum-security facility for juvenile offenders, as the name suggests. Doesn't sound like a particularly promising or welcoming metal detecting site, does it? But Jim had worked at the place, and had pretty much exclusive permission to detect there. The site had been a Veteran's Administration hospital around the WW2 era and thereafter, before its modern use as a juvenile detention facility. It had large grounds and acres upon acres of lawns where we could hunt, well away from the buildings, so we wouldn't interfere with the juveniles or their overseers.

Jim showed me boxes of goodies he had found. Lots of great silver coins, and a surprising amount of really nice gold rings and other jewelry. Naturally, being a coin-hungry novice detectorist, I began to salivate. I really wanted to find a Mercury dime, for starters. A Mercury dime I found in my grandmother's silverware drawer in 1976 was what had launched me into collecting coins. Jim practically guaranteed I would find a Mercury dime if I kept at it on this site. (Spoiler- I never did, though I did find a piece of silver, and did eventually dig my first Merc within a year.)

Off we went on one lovely fall day, around Thanksgiving of 1992. Jim was popping Wheat cents right and left. Maybe he found a silver ring, too. I don't remember. What I do remember was finding DD-002, my next "keeper" coin, and it was a beauty!



Hi-ho, SILVER!!! This became my first dug silver coin in the record (though I had dug two with my childhood machines, back before I kept records).

It was a very nice high-grade piece, too. Photographing it just a little while ago, I noticed it had bands of "cartwheel" luster. So it was fairly new when lost. And in that soil up there, the buried silver can come out very nice.

It was not a Mercury dime. But probably worth as much or more than a Mercury dime would have been. A nice piece of silver. Rather "modern" for a silver coin, and struck late in the silver coinage era (which ended in 1964, as most of you know), but that's OK... I was happy. Thrilled, even.

So, for our next part of the practice round, using the hints I just posted here:

What type and denomination of US silver coin was DD-002? (10 points)

What was the date on this coin? (10 points)

It was a Philadelphia-mint coin, so there was no mintmark to guess as well.

 

Ah, yes. The site had been the old Moore General Hospital prior to its use as a juvenile facility. That explains the large number of 1940s-'60s silver coins Jim found there. He also found earlier coins like V-nickels and Barber dimes, but those would've been in circulation in the '40s. I found this old WW2-era linen postcard in my web searches.


Source link

 

@H8_modern has nailed the type correctly!

DD-002 was a silver Washington quarter! (10 points!)

Now, for another 10 points, what was the date on it? It was not 1962, though H8_modern's guess is less than a decade off.

 

@Coinlover67 's guess of 1959 is closer than @H8_modern's guess of 1962 was.

It is a later-date silver Washington quarter, as we have established.

@Coinlover67 is close- even closer- but still not there yet.

Let somebody else have a try and if they don't get it, you two who have already guessed can give it another shot.

 

@Stork is even closer than either of the previous two guessers, but still not quite there yet. VERY close, though.

 

Closer still... red hot, even... but still not there yet!

If nobody gets it with the next guess, you may try again.

I think that's how we'll do these. You'l get a guess and if you miss the answer, you sit out while one more person guesses, then if they don't get it, you may go again.

 

@Mad Stax has guessed correctly and earned 10 points!

DD-002:

1956 WASHINGTON QUARTER
A high grade example with cartwheel luster.
Date Found: Fall, 1992
Site: Juvenile Evaluation Center (old VA hospital site), Swannanoa, NC.
Approx. depth: 2-3".
Detector: Garrett GTA-500.

• First Silver Coin Found!
• First Silver Washington!

 

So there we have it. This is essentially a look at how this contest will play out. It should take months if not a year or more, because I have hundreds of dug coins to image.

Present point rankings (these will count if we launch the contest for real)

• @H8_modern :10 points - for guessing type of DD-002
• @Mad Stax: 10 points - for guessing date of DD-002
• @Mikey Zee: 20 points - for guessing country and type of DD-001

These points can add up in each round, and at at the end of each round (of 20 coin finds) we can have a redemption and the points can then be traded for coin prizes or rolled over and accumulated until the next redemption period.

I do reserve the right to tinker with the point system, but if anything, that's to make it more generous rather than stingier. While I do not wish to bankrupt myself providing prizes for this contest in addition to all the work it will take, I do want it to be fun, and if the prizes seem too piddlesome, we'll have to fix that.

So now... what next? We've done our "beta testing" or "practice round".

I think what I'll do is solicit @GDJMSP 's input- some of my past contest or game attempts have had flaws or just were not allowed on this site.

If I get the mods' nod and it looks feasible, and the poll votes for it being potentially "AWESOME" outweigh the less enthusiastic responses, we can proceed, and I will open the contest on the Contests Forum where it belongs.

In the meantime, I'll watch the polls and shoot some more dug coin pictures.

Thanks for those who've expressed an interest so far.

 

It's fine as far as I'm concerned

 

Well, there's the desired and much-anticipated mod's nod.

OK, then. I'll shoot some more dug coin pix after the camera battery charges, then watch the poll overnight or for maybe a day or two, and get ready. If the poll votes show enthusiasm for the idea, we'll launch the contest soon.

I'd eventually need to be shooting pictures of these coins anyway, for my own satisfaction, if nothing else. Might as well make a fun game out of it, so the work is less dreary. I'm still at the stage where I do not yet enjoy coin photography for its own sake- it is still more chore than fun for me. But if this makes it fun and gives me some much-needed camera practice, great.

I still welcome comments and suggestions for the contest.

 

Thanks, y'all.

@Mad Stax- now that we're friends, maybe you can answer a burning question I've had since I first "met" you...

What the HECK is that thing on your face?!?

LOL