<p><strong>My name is Don Surles; I am retired, live in Smyrna, DE</strong> and found myself looking for some form of physical activity other than walking or bike riding.</p> <p>I bought my first metal detector in October 2014. It is Minelab Explorer SE PRO. My justification...it would get me out of my Lazy Boy! The Se Pro did just that. I found a new circle of MD’ing friends and was amazed at the things people lose.</p> <p>My first significant coin find was in the lower corner of a duck/deer hunter’s parking lot in the tidal marshes east of Smyrna along the Delaware Bay. I found 278 coins in a space approximately 10 feet by 10 feet - none of them were "collectible"; my belief is that heavy rains moved coins lost in the parking lot to the grasses at the lower corner. And I learned some of the problems of having more than one object under the coil of the Se Pro! Thus the eTrac and 5x8 coil.</p> <p>Within six months of the SE Pro purchase I bought the second detector...a Minelab eTrac. Accessories include extra coils (18”X15” and 8”X6” SEF) and a Garrett Propointer.</p> <p>One Saturday afternoon in late November 2015, I stopped by a local elementary school with the intent of getting in a couple of hours walking and detecting over the large playground. I prepared for the hunt at the tailgate of my truck...and turned the detector on just to make sure everything checked out before making my way to the playground. I was surprised to hear a good solid hit just inside the 6 foot grassy strip between the concrete street curb and the playground fence. So, I pinpointed the object and dug...approximately 8” down I found a large round copper coin. It was pretty well toasted...so I continued with my hunt.</p> <p>When I returned home I did some more “detecting”. I washed the coin, measured it with a digital caliper and weighed it with a digital scale. I could see enough detail on the front side of the coin to determine which direction the “lady’ was facing. Further research in the Official Redbook of USA Coins helped me determine the coin is probably a 1786, 1787 or 1788 post colonial copper.</p> <p>I have also found three other large copper cents from the very early 1800’s; one is an 1803, another is 1817 and the other has no date. I also have found what I believe to be a King George half pence based on measurements of size and weight.</p> </p>Those old coins along with some beautiful silver coins are real treasures from our past.</p> <p>For info...Smyrna is an OLD town. The earliest settlers came around 1716 and by the revolutionary war period it was a thriving town.</p> <p>Metal detecting has indeed gotten me out of my Lazy Boy...at the end of two years of owning a metal detector...730 days...I had found over 7500 USA coins and approximately 100 foreign coins plus some other interesting exhumia.</p> <p>Don Surles</p>