Cash bonanza at the school playground

Last year I obtained permission to metal detect on my small town's school property - but NOT the playing fields.  I did explore one small playground, but did not find much.  Today (Memorial Day) was one of the rare warm sunny days we have had this year so I went back to explore the much larger playground on the other side of the building.  I spent about 2 hours just in the playground. 

What a difference!  I found $6.14 in coins, including 16 quarters and a dollar coin!  I have never found that many coins in one place before, and I'm sure there's more to be found.  The whole area is covered in wood chips to a depth of over 8" in most places, and many of the coins were down deep.

Below the surface the chips got wetter, and the deeper I dug the more moldy the chips.  Many coins were near the surface and fresh, but others were so far down that I had to use my trowel to break up the compressed chips.

There were a couple of interesting finds like this token for "Gatti's GREAT FOOD - GREAT FUN" with "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - LIBERTY" on the back.  

And this "Oliver Vending Game Token" that says: "NO CASH VALUE" on the back:

And a pretty pendant that I'm sure some child missed for a day or so:

I cleaned all the coins up in my rock tumbler with white vinegar and a teaspoon of salt.  Pennies and tokens in one batch for 2 hours and the dimes/nickels/quarters for 4 hours.  Some were really stained from the wood chips, but not badly corroded as they would have been in dirt.  They all came out quite clean.