What's your "Best" Heartbreaker find?

   Here's one I dug this year and was so pumped to first see the edge and know I had a nice early officer button, but then I moved more dirt aside and seen the hole.    On a year that wasn't good to me for buttons the three decent ones I did get were holed, bent, and very rotted.   This early Marine button I would have been very happy with, but I'll still take it.

   I no doubt have a few more to add if this thread catches on.  How about best heartbreaker or also "nitro moment."  (nitro is something that raised your heart rate but wasn't quite what you had hoped for)

   .... is it Spring yet? 

I've got two major heartbreakers. A chain back 1793 which became almost unreadable when I washed it in a puddle of water (that one wasn't my fault); and the last heartbreaker, the British Wellington's coat of arms  swagger tip which my careless shovel nearly broke in half cutting through roots  (that one was my fault). Boo hoo.       then there was the time I showed a pewter spoon find to a guy and he tested its strength by snapping it in half............oh yeah, there's more.........then there was my first year of detecting when I cleaned my Georges with fine steel wool......my short miserable experience with electolysis....then there was the decade when I used an ink eraser to bring up hard to get dates....the there was the decade of olive oil only.....now hopefully this decade I've finally got it right.

 

This was mine incomplete Celtic Brooch(Dragonesque)....1st c.

SS

I've got two major heartbreakers. A chain back 1793 which became almost unreadable when I washed it in a puddle of water (that one wasn't my fault); and the last heartbreaker, the British Wellington's coat of arms  swagger tip which my careless shovel nearly broke in half cutting through roots  (that one was my fault). Boo hoo.       then there was the time I showed a pewter spoon find to a guy and he tested its strength by snapping it in half............oh yeah, there's more.........then there was my first year of detecting when I cleaned my Georges with fine steel wool......my short miserable experience with electolysis....then there was the decade when I used an ink eraser to bring up hard to get dates....the there was the decade of olive oil only.....now hopefully this decade I've finally got it right.

   It's people like you that have made people like me so smart! 

I've got two major heartbreakers. A chain back 1793 which became almost unreadable when I washed it in a puddle of water (that one wasn't my fault); and the last heartbreaker, the British Wellington's coat of arms  swagger tip which my careless shovel nearly broke in half cutting through roots  (that one was my fault). Boo hoo.      then there was the time I showed a pewter spoon find to a guy and he tested its strength by snapping it in half............oh yeah, there's more.........then there was my first year of detecting when I cleaned my Georges with fine steel wool......my short miserable experience with electolysis....then there was the decade when I used an ink eraser to bring up hard to get dates....the there was the decade of olive oil only.....now hopefully this decade I've finally got it right.

   It's people like you that have made people like me so smart!  

Ha! I guess I asked for that by spillin' my guts! It was the dark ages back then man. Guys like me paved the way for guys like you;D

This is mine.   I found it in Hilton Head in from of the Westin.   Thought it was a 1 carat diamond ring.   Turned out to be Cubic Zirconia.

 I've got several but I guess the worse 2 are the Texas buckle I have as my avatar. When I dug it it was completely balled up. There are only about 20 known. Then a stamped brass VA buckle that I found 2 pieces of

1909 Penny. None of the initials that make it the valuable one.

This is my best find and my biggest heartbreak!  Stupid plows!

i had a 1794 halve dime ..........it was hold and bent . bad ............sold it 8 years ago for 80.bucks . wish i held on to it

These two! Both lost to housework within a fortnight of each other

This is my best find and my biggest heartbreak!  Stupid plows!

   Looks like a shovel wack to me. 

   
   But at least you have lots of detail, the other dug one I have had in my hand has 2 or 3 holes in the center and very little design showing.

My Heartbreaker! Not very old and would Not have been Extremely valuable even whole. But I love to find home town memorabilia!! MaineRelic

I'll see if I can dig er out and snap a photo but, it was this very large and heavy gold PLATED car dealership token.  I have no Idea how it got into the woods I was detecting but, when that thing folded over the plug I liked to have a mild heart attack.  I thought it was a gold coin.  I mean it had the gold tone look to it  and everything

Heres some of my handy work,

Pro-

I passed up on a signal due to my partners new machine making mine go crazy, and he walked right behind me and it turned aout to be a 1921 AU Merc.  I would post a pic of it but I dont own it.  That no good #%#%#%

Mine is the 1940 "prototype" Supermen of America  ring, with the Superman logo having fallen off before I found it. There was heavy construction moving the dirt, and so there was no hope of finding the missing logo.

One fellow found TWO of the "Supermen of America-member" rings in the same park, and I think those were the 21st and 22nd examples of those rings known. The type I found is more rare; with only about 10 examples known. Mine said "Supermen of America-Action Comics".

I have seen reference sources that call this ring the single rarest radio premuim produced. I was heartbroken until I started laughing myself to the point of passing out in the dark and snow. It is hard to find prices for these since so few are known and they rarely hit the market. Non-dug examples of this ring sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

  Maybe go with a rare coin next time, the front tends to stay on.     I've had quite a few heartbreakers too but that one right there is a real kick in the nads.  Curious what tipped you off to what it was?  It would have gone straight to my junk bucket without any real thought.

My best heartbreak is this coin:
1800something Morgan dollar, or shall I say half-dollar?  Your call.

My best heartbreak is this coin:
1800something Morgan dollar, or shall I say half-dollar?  Your call.

I bet that was someone elses Heartbreak too... Looks like jewelry pieces that fit together... Someone got dumped.

THE KEY indian penny.....1877, found in Petersburg, VA City Park.......very early one morning.   It was so dark I was just putting
my finds in my pocket, so didn't know I had found it until I got home early Sunday morning and was washing the coins off.
Yelled, got real excited.   But, didn't know how to clean it.  (This was 1983.)   So, I let it dry, and then lightly brushed it off with
a soft toothbrush.   No problem.   Coin graded an XF.......strong full LIBERTY.   And I put it in a coin holder and let it sit.
Went back about 3 years later, to look at the coins I had found when in the States on that assignment.   There were all the non-
key ones, as good as they had ever been.   And there was the 1877.....eaten up by the tiny microscopic pieces of dirt that I hadn't
cleaned off the coin.   I now have the coin, or what is left of it.   I'm going to keep it......or, should I say, the pile of rust plus
whatever might be left of the coin.......and from now on, if I ever do find a KEY coin, I will send it in immediately to one of the
grading/cleaning services.    Oh, how many buckets of tears I have cried........

Esta plata española (Real) y más de 20 Reale que un tesoro ....... todos los plateados eran falsas>: (.... este incidente casi me hizo dejar de detectar: '(unos días antes de encontrar mi anillo de oro, primero, por supuesto, que resultó ser de bronce.: banghead:

Found this near a playground that almost looks like it was a dumping ground earlier in the 20th century.  Saw the glint of gold, but it was caked with dirt.  Washed it off expecting to see tarnished areas where the plating had worn off... but it was all gold! Kept washing and saw more and more gold!  Had I really found a solid gold pocket watch??

Had it tested at a Pawn shop where the outside tested 10k, but she said it looked gold filled... and after inspecting more closely, it's definitely gold filled. 

Nothing like the rest of these cool finds but  heartbreakes non the less.

Found this a few years ago while hunting an old trade site. I wasn't heartbroke until this winter with all the snow I was going through my junk buckets, found it and realized what it was. The center of a Heraldic, Draped bust dime.

Plehbah.  At the time I wasn't much of a coin collector and thought it was foreign. I looked in all my books and couldn't find a match until now. It is really a tiny  little thing.

Here's one; the VID and tone was good, and I saw the edge and part of the eagle sticking out of the plug and thought it was what eludes us all. Still a good find though.

Esta plata española (Real) y más de 20 Reale que un tesoro ....... todos los plateados eran falsas>: (.... este incidente casi me hizo dejar de detectar: '(unos días antes de encontrar mi anillo de oro, primero, por supuesto, que resultó ser de bronce.: banghead:

Translation: "This silver coin (Real) and more than 20 Reales was a treasure......all were silver plated. This almost made me stop metal detecting:(a few days before finding my gold ring, first, of course, it turned out to be bronze)"

HH
-GC

Found this a few years ago while hunting an old trade site. I wasn't heartbroke until this winter with all the snow I was going through my junk buckets, found it and realized what it was. The center of a Heraldic, Draped bust dime.

 I'd check that again. It seems to be a Barber Quarter that someone cut down to dime size...ouch! Notice the heraldic design does not have the eagles knees bending up towards the wings. The Barber does, and they did not make barber dimes with the eagle on them. Must be a quarter.

Found this a few years ago while hunting an old trade site. I wasn't heartbroke until this winter with all the snow I was going through my junk buckets, found it and realized what it was. The center of a Heraldic, Draped bust dime.

 I'd check that again. It seems to be a Barber Quarter that someone cut down to dime size...ouch! Notice the heraldic design does not have the eagles knees bending up towards the wings. The Barber does, and they did not make barber dimes with the eagle on them. Must be a quarter.

  The banner also connects at the eagle's neck & mouth at a different point. Good call, and not a heartbreaker anymore. 

Very good call diggin. I have the coinworld book and the pics are fuzzy. It's so small I never thought to check the quarters. I'm glad it's not a heartbreaker anymore.

Wow it's not even dime size. It's half-dime size 

right here is my heartbreaker....
I knew I had the real deal, but
you know how that is !!!