Jimmy's MD Blog

UK Boys Dig Up Silver Ring

2011-11-14T07:31:00.002-07:00

"An amazing archaeological find was unearthed in Sleaford by a pair of teenagers – one of whom had never used a metal detector before.

Philip Ingram-Jannetta, 15, and 17-year-old Lee Partridge had only been hunting for treasure for five minutes when they unearthed the large ornate 16th century silver gilt finger ring buried three inches under the surface.

The ring, which bears the initials I.S. on a hexagonal bezel, was probably used as the official seal of a wealthy local landowner and designed to fit over the gloved finger of the wearer, perhaps while riding."

Read more HERE.

Image credit: Lincolnshire Echo

Bronze Age Gold Popped in UK

2011-11-13T10:49:00.003-07:00

"A Gainsborough metal detecting enthusiast unearthed a rare piece of Bronze Age gold while searching a field near the town, an inquest in Lincoln was told last week.

The 4,000 year old strip of decorated gold is the first of its type to have been found in Lincolnshire and experts have described it as an important find.

John Bennett of Claremont Street, Gainsborough, found the item in July this year while checking out a ploughed field in the Corringham area."

Norwich UK Finds

2011-11-12T07:58:00.002-07:00

"A medieval silver brooch and a Bronze Age collection of axe heads were among the items declared treasure at an inquest held in Norwich.

In total, the tales of six groups of valuable artefacts from ages past and how they were found were told at yesterday’s inquest.

Among the hoard was a collection of 14 socketed axes, which were disturbed by machine from their site of rest on land near Aylsham, the owner of which is Lord Walpole.

The axes all date to the Ewart Park metalwork phase reaching back further than 800BC, and were discovered in March by Robert and James Alston who were using a metal detector at the time."

FL Man Denied Pursuit of Treasure

2011-11-10T11:02:00.002-07:00

"A would-be treasure hunter searching for pirate gold can't dig at a Palm Beach County park, county officials decided Thursday.

Concerns about disturbing a historic site — and the possibility of metal detector-wielding copycats flocking to county parks wanting to dig — prompted the county to quash plans for the dig at DuBois Park in Jupiter.

Just last week, the county was working on a proceeds-sharing deal with a local man who proposed a small dig to find out what was setting off his metal detectors at the park.

The size and location of the unknown buried object, as well as the history of the area, convinced him it was a chest of riches, possibly buried hundreds of years ago by shipwreck survivors or even pirates passing the Palm Beach County coast."

Gold Ring in UK Saved from the Dirt

2011-11-05T02:40:00.002-06:00

"A metal detection enthusiast scouring the soil around Thurcroft unearthed a 14th century gold ring studded with a ruby and an emerald, an inquest heard.

Metal finishing plant worker Paul McEvoy, 44, found the medieval finger ring just six inches beneath the surface.

He had been using his metal detector to search a stubble field in Thurcroft"

Read more HERE.

Indiana Authorities Use ACE 250

2011-09-22T16:21:00.000-06:00

"Porter County police on Thursday continuedsearching for evidence in the case of a Portage woman'sslaying.

Amanda Bach was found dead Saturday in Union Township, a dayafter her car was discovered parked next to a store in Wheeler. Shehad been shot once in the neck.

Dustin McCowan, 18, of Union Township, was arrested and formallycharged with murder.

But police on Thursday were continuing to search for evidence --especially for the weapon used in the crime."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: John Hendricks \ The Times

UK Stone Priory Unearthed in Surrey

2011-09-22T10:04:00.000-06:00

"A medieval seal thought to have once belonged to Stone Priory in north Staffordshire has been discovered in a field in Surrey.

The bronze object, which bears the image of the Virgin and Child, was found in Cobham by a metal detector enthusiast.

Finds Liaison Officer for Surrey County Council, David Williams, said it was a "complete mystery" how the seal had ended up there.

It is thought to date from between the 13th and 14th Centuries."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: BBC

Kansas Meteor Field

2011-09-19T11:02:00.000-06:00

"He may be looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, but at least Don Stimpson has an extra large metal detector.

As owner of the Kansas Meteorite Museum, he's searching a six-mile stretch of Kiowa County known for 'Brenham Meteorites,' named for the little town of Brenham once located here, the site of a huge meteor explosion.

'The idea is this all came in at one time, maybe 20,000 years ago, and it probably started glowing over Colorado, the western border of Colorado, and burned thru the atmosphere, broke up. It would've been a massive event,' Stimpson explained."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: First Coast News

CA Town Anniversary Time Capsule

2011-09-14T03:31:00.000-06:00

"It took two hours and a metal detector, but city officials finally found a time capsule buried 50 years ago as part of the city's centennial celebrations.

Under Mayor Robert Romano's direction, city Public Works crews used a backhoe to dig into the ground at Landis Park on Tuesday afternoon and unearth the concrete vault containing the time capsule.

It should be interesting what they put in it, said Romano, who was 9 years old when it was buried."
Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Craig Mathews

From Hobby Store to Big Time Metals

2011-09-12T01:52:00.000-06:00

"Since 2001, Treasure Island Coins and Precious Metals has grown from a small coin shop with four employees to a business employing 25 people and helping broker multimillion-dollar deals in precious metals.

Chris Olson, 33, is part-owner and CEO of the business that was started by his father, Greg, in downtown Fargo in 1976.

Olson’s father and several other family members still work there."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Dave Olson \ The Forum

Are We "Suspicious"? Really?

2011-09-09T05:38:00.000-06:00

Just a quick blurb in response to a recent entry in the Police Logs from Hopkins, MN where "a woman told police that a suspicious man was in her yard with a metal detector. The man, who was looking for old coins, said he was embarrassed and had been told the property was vacant. He left when asked."

Just as any well-mannered hobbyist would have done, he left when asked... but seriously, how suspicious is a person swinging a metal detector? It's just absurd and really just sounds like another busy body taking it to the extreme.

Watch out world, us hobbyists are out to get you!!!

Your thoughts?

Medievil Silver Seal is Treasure

2011-09-08T10:25:00.000-06:00

"A 13th Century solid silver seal found on farmland in Cornwall has been declared treasure trove at an inquest.

The Latin-inscribed seal - once used to make a mark in hot wax - was discovered by metal detector enthusiast John Fereday in a field near Newquay.

Cornwall Coroner Emma Carlyon declared the seal to be treasure at a special inquest hearing in Truro."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: BBC

Indie Film Star a Treasure Hunter

2011-09-06T21:34:00.000-06:00

"...

How did you guys do with the hurricane?
We actually did pretty well! My house is fine, we actually have a shore house, so we got pretty lucky. But all our power was out, so we stayed with my Aunt Kathy for a few days. I just got back to the house today and I cannot wait to go out on the beach with my metal detector! I am telling you, I am a professional treasure hunter and I am going to find the jewels!"

Read more HERE.

AU Gold Huntin'

2011-09-06T01:18:00.000-06:00

"Gold prices have risen more than 25 per cent since the beginning of the year as concern over global growth has turned investors to the safe haven of the metal, which they believe will hold its value amid market volatility.

Adelaide's Dennis Cooper has been a gold prospector for 25 years and has just returned from an 8000km round-trip to Western Australia's Port Hedland, where he found three troy ounces of gold worth $5373."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Kelly Barnes \ The Australian

NY Storm Swingers

2011-09-04T14:45:00.000-06:00

"Ana Ramirez, 35, of Coney Island swung her metal detector over the sand just off the Coney Island Boardwalk in the shadow of the Wonder Wheel ride.

'People say that storms sweep a lot of sand away, so it’s a good time to look for things on the beach,' Ms. Ramirez said as she walked on the beach a few days after Tropical Storm Irene lashed the city.

She recently bought a second-hand detector from a friend for $40 to search for valuables for some extra income, to augment her usual practice of gathering and redeeming cans and bottles to help provide for her five young children."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Robert Stolarik / New York Times

UK Kids Dig Up Some History

2011-09-04T02:56:00.000-06:00

"Children hunting for a missing horseshoe made an impressive discovery in their back paddock.

Sally and Andy White were amazed when the youngsters unearthed a brick well just 20cm below the surface. Christopher, James and Lucy made the discovery when they were using a metal detector with their friend Tara.

Andy, who lives in Primrose Lane in Arlesey and is also a town councillor, said: 'They were asked to go out into our paddock and find, with a metal detector, a horseshoe for the farrier to refit.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Bigglewade Chronicle

Grenade Found in Private Yard

2011-09-01T19:13:00.000-06:00

"A day of landscaping turned into a frightening situation for a man in Thornton when he dug up a live grenade in his backyard.

Thornton Police had to set up a perimeter around Travis Moore's home on Carrol Court on Wednesday night. The Adams County Bomb Squad responded to the scene and removed the explosive.

Moore says he and his neighbors have no idea who put the grenade in his backyard or why. He and his wife have only lived in the home for about three weeks."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: 9 News, Denver

Sport Optics Dealer BARSKA to Get Into MD

2011-09-01T09:54:00.000-06:00

Sure to flop, it turns out the sports optics manufacturer BARSKA is diving into the metal detector hobby by offering up three models of what are seemingly just bottom of the barrel cookie cutter models with a fancy outside. They haven't developed their own technology, just are repackaging existing tech.

Would be interesting to see or hear from anyone out there who actually gives one a spin. They look like cheap radio shack machines, so I'd guess that the performance is right there as well.

Know anything about these? Please comment!

Ring Returned from San Antonio Lake

2011-09-01T02:38:00.000-06:00

"Gerald Hewitt, a 1955 Harlandale High School graduate, has enjoyed his favorite hobby of metal detecting for many years.

In July, Hewitt took a drive to Jacobs Creek Park in Canyon Lake to hunt for rings.

'I had just got in the water and that was the first signal I got,' said Hewitt, who found a 2011 class ring from McCollum High School."

Read more HERE.

WIRED Magazine Sits with Treasure Hunters

2011-08-31T07:34:00.000-06:00

Great multipage spread from Wired Magazine.

"They are specters from our collective childhood, observed from behind half-finished sandcastles. They move purposefully along the beach, captivating young onlookers with the promise of magical treasure.

They are the metal-detector guys. The archetypal loners. Sealed off from the world by giant headphones, happy to reward young tagalongs with a bottle cap.

'It’s my Zen,' says Alex Kelley, President of the Bay Area Searchers. For many, like Kelley, the hunt itself is a meditative experience, a way to escape from the daily grind."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Wired Magazine

FL Pirates Out After Irene

2011-08-31T01:16:00.000-06:00

"Hurricane Irene brought a treasure trove of waves for surfers last week, but Flagler Beach resident Eric Nierstedt was looking for a different kind of treasure.

He was combing the beach, with a shovel slung over his left shoulder and a metal detector in his right hand. Neither the rain nor the waves dissuaded him.

'I haven't found anything, yet,' he said just before 10 a.m. 'The tide is still pretty high, though.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Julie Murphy \ The Daytona News Journal

Lake Close to Home Drained

2011-08-26T02:06:00.000-06:00

"Phil LaRocco has waited 35 years for Berkeley Lake to be drained. Like all treasure hunters, he knows great stuff lurks at the bottom of lakes, especially this one.

'I was here with my father in 1976 when the lake was low,' he said, moving his metal detector over the dry lake bed. 'He found 67 gold and silver rings in two weeks.'

Berkeley Lake is being drained as part of a $3.25 million bond project that includes a berm to screen Interstate 70 on the north, with trees and native grasses fringing a walking trail."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Andy Cross / The Denver Post.

Canada Man Turns Hobby into Recovery Business

2011-08-24T05:32:00.000-06:00

"Andrea Bielecki was slamming some last-minute flowers into her front garden this summer when she slipped her wedding band and 1.5-carat diamond engagement ring into her bra so she wouldn’t lose them.

Company was coming, she had an eye on her toddler and it was only for a minute.

Then her daughter ran into the neighbour’s yard and Bielecki had to chase her, her mom arrived with groceries to be unloaded, Bielecki swept up some leaves in the backyard and suddenly it was bedtime.

Her wedding ring tumbled out of her clothes. Her engagement ring did not."

Read more HERE.

Check out Mark Ellis at Ellis Metal Detecting Service.

Image Credit: Keith Beaty \ Toronto Star

Jar of Gold Coins Found in UK

2011-08-23T11:48:00.000-06:00

"Digging deeper after unearthing a jam jar lid led a metal detecting enthusiast to discover 20 gold coins dating from the reigns of Charles I to Queen Victoria.

An inquest in Lynn yesterday heard the coins were believed to be stolen property and an appeal was made for information about who owned them, possibly more than a century ago.

Norfolk coroner William Armstrong said the coins were found by Mark Nicholson on March 14 while he was metal-detecting with permission on land near Walsoken owned by Mr Richard Stocks."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Lynn News

Eastern Shore Treasure Seekers

2011-08-23T09:57:00.000-06:00

"While many lost items are of significant value, they're usually priceless to their owners. That's why a band of metal detector enthusiasts are breaking out their gear in preparation for the hunt.

'You'll never know the feeling of finding something that means something to somebody ... unless you've done it,' said Salisbury resident Bill Draper. 'It's really a unique feeling -- a feeling $1,000 doesn't buy.'

Draper is the co-founder of Shore Seekers Artifact & Recovery Club, an organization formed in 1988 for the purpose of enjoying the hobby of metal detecting with fellow enthusiasts who specialize in reuniting people with their lost items."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Chuck Snyder \ Delaware Wave

Looking to Return Wedding Band in WA

2011-08-17T11:40:00.000-06:00

A member of the same detecting club in Washington as one of our followers and fellow blogging peer "cjc" of the Beep-Beep blog was recently in the local news in their area trying to return a wedding band he has discovered.

"Rick Razor is a member of The Cascade Treasure Club and has been a metal detector enthusiast for more than a decade.

In that time he has found a lot of valuable stuff, but of all the treasures he's discovered it is a gold wedding band he found in Idylwood Park in Redmond in 2007 that haunts him because he's been unable to return it to the owner.

It is engraved with a wedding date and Rick hopes that will make it easy to identify."

Read more HERE.

Full Time Meteor Hunting in UK

2011-08-16T02:52:00.000-06:00

"Gazing up at the night sky, Rob Elliott is on constant alert for fireballs or streaks of light suddenly breaking up the darkness above him. As the UK's only full-time meteorite hunter, Elliott knows these falls from outer space can contain the most magnificent and exciting rock fragments created billions of years before the Earth was formed.

With specimens capable of fetching thousands of pounds depending on their rarity value – those from Mars and the Moon being the most prized – every meteorite shower is literally "treasure from Heaven".

A meteorite is a piece of a meteoroid or asteroid which has survived its journey through the Earth's atmosphere, falling to the ground without being destroyed. They are also known as fireballs or shooting stars."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: The Scotsman

Chinese Families MD For Scrap

2011-08-13T21:51:00.000-06:00

"The Shang family, from Zhumadian of Central China's Henan province, recycles steel bars at a demolition site in Jinan, the capital of East China's Shandong province, Aug 8, 2011.

As many urban Chinese children are enjoying cool air conditioners, 8-year-old Shang Guangwei and his 11-year-old sister are spending their summer vacation at construction sites, recycling waste iron and steel with their migrant parents.

Each day, their mother would use a metal detector to find metal and their father would then try to dig out what was seen as treasure to the family"

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: China Daily

Saving Blair Mountain History

2011-08-13T20:21:00.000-06:00

"On a warm day in West Virginia, Kenny King is on his hands and knees, digging in the dirt. He's near the peak of Blair Mountain, searching for buried artifacts from a little-known battle that took place 90 years ago this month.

'It is a unique part of American history,' King says, waving his metal detector over a hole in the ground. 'No where else can you find an actual battlefield that is as big and extensive as maybe a World War I battlefield.'

King, both prospector and amateur archeologist, is known locally as an expert on the infamous Battle of Blair Mountain, which unfolded over 10 days in 1921."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: CNN

MO City Overturns MD Ordinance

2011-08-11T14:55:00.000-06:00

A victory for hobbyists everywhere as a Missouri city official actually contemplated the "real" repurcussions of the hobby and realized it's trivial to try and govern a harmless hobby.

"Carthage Mayor Mike Harris said 'exaggerated and erroneous information' led the council to give preliminary approval to an ordinance controlling metal detecting in city parks.

At Harris’ request, the Carthage City Council tabled indefinitely final consideration of the ordinance that would have required anyone wanting to use a metal detector in a city park to sign a request sheet and turn any artifact that was older than 100 years over to the city.

The vote to table was unanimous."

Read more HERE.

Moutain Treasure Club Uncovers the Past

2011-08-09T02:00:00.000-06:00

"Rich with enthusiasm, Tom Warne has found not only a fervent group of people with which to share his hobby, but a bounty of treasure, as well.

On a sultry July morning, Warne is joined by four fellow prospectors on the back patio of his Loveland home to talk about the Rocky Mountain Prospectors and Treasurer's Hunter Group, of which they all are members. Some are lively, while others are more stoic, yet all are passionate about the booty they have found over the years.

Both Paul Lange and Rick Mattingly are Loveland residents, while Paul Mayhak and Dick French live in Fort Collins. They are part of the 150-member local organization that has been in existence since 1986."

Read more HERE.

Check out more from the Rocky Mountain Prospectors and Treasure Hunters Group HERE.

Image Credit: Reporter-Herald

UK Beach Coughs Up WWI Medal

2011-08-05T10:17:00.000-06:00

"A metal detector enthusiast is appealing for the family of a First World War serviceman to come forward after unearthing his medal on a beach.

Tom Neesam found a solid silver medal on Seaton Carew beach while out using his metal detector.

It belonged to Robert Henry Pollard, who was born in Hartlepool in 1886 and went on to receive three other war medals."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Peterlee Mail

Bama Coast Gold Hunters

2011-08-05T07:57:00.000-06:00

"Treasure hunter is the last thought that springs to mind when you see the middle-aged Mobile couple standing neck deep in the Gulf of Mexico wearing big yellow headphones.

But it’s the only description that fits.

While some people dream of diamonds and rubies, Mike Taylor and Darlene McAfee find them.

They ply the waters off the Alabama coast looking for gold, silver and other treasures lost in the sea. It’s not pirate booty they find, but loot lost by unlucky tourists."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Ben Raines \ Press-Register

Seneca - Early 19th Century Central park

2011-07-27T04:25:00.004-06:00

"For more than a decade, anthropologists and historians pieced together the history of a short-lived African-American community that was snuffed out in the 1850s by the creation of Central Park. They combed vital records and tax documents, scanned parkland using radar and studied soil borings.

But because the vestiges of the community were buried beneath the park, the leaders of the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History — a consortium of three professors from City College, Columbia University and New York University — were kept from doing the one thing that would open a window onto the daily existence of the some 260 residents: digging.

That all changed eight weeks ago, after they won permission from the city to excavate in an area of the park near 85th Street and Central Park West."

Read more HERE.
And HERE.

Image Credit: Fred R. Conrad / The New York Times

Beneath Your Feet: Russia

2011-07-18T15:39:00.003-06:00

"Most people dream of discovering treasure, forgetting about the daily grind and spending the rest of their lives on a tropical island. Even if you never find a trunk of pirate gold, treasure hunting can actually be a stable source of income.

Russia is one of the best places for uncovering hidden treasure. As a result of the country’s many wars, revolutions and economic crises, the number of caches stashed away for a rainy day under floorboards or in tins in the attic is truly mind-boggling. Vladimir Poryvayev, a long-time treasure hunter, says that in the late 1990s, he found a sack full of diamonds. He says he had been looking for it on behalf of some people who had heard stories of treasures from their grandparents."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: ITAR-TASS

Store Owner Preaches Ethical Hunting

2011-07-18T06:26:00.001-06:00

"The way Tim Garton sees it, historical artifacts -- and the stories behind them -- remain forever lost if they stay buried in the ground.

But the owner of Metal Detector Sales of Southwest Missouri cringes at the thought of treasure hunters randomly digging up artifacts, leaving holes behind, with no concern for ethically extracting or documenting what they find.

'I'm trying to get people educated on how to do it right,' said Garton, cofounder and treasurer of the 417 Relic Hunters metal detecting club in Springfield."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Bob Linder / News-Leader

MO Research: Rules to Hunt

2011-07-17T23:32:00.000-06:00

A nice little read for Missouri hunters looking on places to hunt.

"So you just got a brand new metal detector and can't wait to go dig up buried treasure.

Slow down a bit.

Rules about where and how you can use the device vary greatly.

Metal detector hobbyists also emphasize the need to always get permission before any dig.

Metal detectors are not allowed in national parks -- including Wilson's Creek National Battlefield -- and hefty fines and even jail time await people who remove artifacts from federal lands."

Read more HERE.

The Ship Warwick

2011-07-16T10:07:00.001-06:00

"'The loss of the good ship Warwick was not the only disaster that this cruel storm brought with it. It also meant the total ruin of the winter’s crop of corn, to such a great extent that all the inhabitants were very worried about a shortage of food. They had good reason to be anxious, for even though the islands were prolific enough in every respect, and had two harvests every year, yet careless wastage had become the custom with most of the people’ C.F.E. Hollis Hallett, Butler’s History of the Bermudas, 2007

On October 20, 1619, the third governor arrived in Bermuda at the behest of the Somers Island Company, the corporation that owned the 12,000 acres of the island.

The gentleman was Captain Nathaniel Butler, who succeeded in his position the first governor, Richard Moore (1612-15) and the second, one Daniel Tucker (1616-18)."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: The Royal Gazette

T'Hunters Give Away Some Secrets

2011-07-14T15:56:00.000-06:00

"Searching for treasure isn't only for movie characters. Real-life adventure hunters have unearthed treasures worth thousands of dollars in their own backyards.

Take Tim Saylor and George Wyant, who have their own metal detecting-themed company called Anaconda Treasure. By day, Saylor writes software for an insurance company and his friend Wyant is a copper miner. But on weekends, the Montana men have taken metal detecting to a whole new level.

'We're not exactly normal,' Wyant said. 'We don't think fun and comedy and treasure detecting have to be mutually exclusive.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Montana Bullet Finders

2011-07-13T23:52:00.000-06:00

"Blue Mountain probably wasn't named for all the blue grenade rounds in its grasslands, but it could have been.

Blue was the color indicating a practice load for military training exercises that took place for 50 years on the mountainside south of Missoula. This week, guys in bright yellow vests are prowling the recreation area looking for those old munitions and perhaps more dangerous explosives.

"This is one of the suspect areas we're definitely going to investigate," said Weston Solutions project supervisor Rick Logsdon, who leads the dozen-man unexploded ordnance team."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Michael Gallacher / Missoulian

MD Finds Proves ET Existance?

2011-07-12T15:44:00.001-06:00

"A teacher at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell may have discovered the first scientific evidence of manufactured debris made on another planet. Furthermore, this debris was found near the location where pieces from an alleged flying saucer were discovered outside of Roswell in 1947.

Frank Kimbler teaches high school level Earth Sciences and college level Geology at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell. He says he has always had an interest in UFOs, and actually had his own unusual sighting in his twenties. So when he...

...

His next step was to get out there with a metal detector to see what he could find. He began making trips to the site in May 2010. Using a metal detector that could find a piece the size of a BB, three inches below the surface, he would be able to find small pieces,..."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Frank Kimbler

10K Park Gold

2011-07-11T17:39:00.005-06:00

Last night before bed, I got a call from Digger Magoo determined that we were going to head back up to Cheesman Park in Denver to give it another go at finding that lost wedding set. I picked him up from his place around 10a this morning and off we went. He said he had spoken with her again and might have narrowed the search a little more than what we were dealing with before.

The tempperature was already rising and with no looming storms currently off in the distance we put the coils to the soil.

The first hour was by far the most exciting. Concentrating much of our efforts within a 2000 square foot area closest to where she parked along curb next to the grass, we really felt this wold be the day to score the gold. Well, we weren't wrong in that thought... it just so happened it wasn't the correct item we were looking for.

I got a jumpy low 20s to mid 30s VDI on my XLT, and knowing what we were looking for, I was digging almost anything that was from about +10 - +50. And knowing that the item would be shallow, anything I could dig less than 3" (especially just using a screwdriver) felt like it could be it. Well this one, at roughly 2.5" just so happened to be a hefty, 10K men's class of '73 ring from Evergreen High School in Evergreen, CO. It has some initials in it, we'll see what I can do in terms of returning it. But leaving for work in the Gulf of Mexico for the next five weeks will most likely limit that venture for a later time.

But I tell you what, as evidence on the picture provided by my good friend Troy, I sure was grinning when this came out of the ground. And truth be told, it's my first gold ring, and first class ring I've ever found. Just never can seem to get the coil over all them lost goodies out there.

We swung around for the next two hours and both of us we're able to round up a few bucks in clad. Troy did happen to come across a sterling silver cased nail file. The file part was rusted to hell, but the silver sure looked nice. I did find another key, and even a sweet little pocket spill of 7 RTD tokens. I know they aren't old, but digging tokens is just plain fun, I don't care who you are.

So though we didn't find what we came for, we sure left with our pouches full of keepers. And that gold ring will be in teh back of my mind for future hunts to come. The clad totaled to $2.21 over 33 coins. And if you're curious, that ring, in the air, comes in at a solid +42/+43 on the XLT.

Happy huntin' folks, and may the next dig be a good one.

WWII UXO on UK Beach

2011-07-11T13:39:00.000-06:00

"A novice metal dectoristist had the shock of his life when he dug up an unexploded WW2 bomb instead of treasure.

Colvyn Gillmon, 46, discovered the mortar bomb whilst out searching for hidden gold or metal artefacts near to Dorchester Cemetery on Saturday afternoon.

It was only the second time the Dorchester man had used his metal detector."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Steve Greaves

Minnesota Man Enjoying His Finds

2011-07-09T11:56:00.000-06:00

"Sartell resident Cy Schaefer, 77, is a modern-day treasure hunter. Wihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifth his metal detector in hand, he can be found around St. Cloud five to six nights per week searching for coins and long-lost artifacts.

Retired more than 20 years from the St. Cloud reformatory, where he was a shop supervisor, Schaefer is a widower with eight grown children. He uses his hobby “just to get out and do an activity.”

'It’s all the anticipation ... to hit on something good,' Schaefer said."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Jenny Berg

Marlyand Union POW Camp

2011-07-08T19:09:00.004-06:00

"Volunteer archaeologists are descending on leafy Lafayette Square in West Baltimore this weekend in an effort to uncover relics from Camp Hoffman, a Union army encampment that stood there during the Civil War.

Just hours into the project Friday, while dodging rain showers and swarms of June bugs, the diggers had already turned up fragments of mid-19th-century tableware and decorative wrought iron, nails, birdshot and even a piece of an old pocket watch.

'We popped down on stuff right away, which I didn't expect. And it's definitely 19th-century stuff,' said Charlie Hall, terrestrial archaeologist with the Maryland Historical Trust."

Read more HERE.

Cheesman Ring Hunt

2011-07-06T17:04:00.006-06:00

It has seemed like forever since I've been able to get out and hunt. This morning around 10a I got a call from my hunting buddy Troy regarding him heading out towards downtown Denver in search of a lost wedding set he had been in contact with a woman about. I agreed to tag along and by 1130a we were on the case.

We met up at Cheesman Park and my first thought was, wow... this is a lot of real estate to cover. Turns out it is about 80 acres worth of old trees and nicely groomed grass that had been a park since 1907, and was previously a cemetery that opened in 1858 (they even have modern-day ghost bus tours through the park).

The hunt started by hitting the area along the southern side of The Acropolis and fountains. As initially all we had to work on was that the rings where lost roughly in front of the structure on the southern side. We hit the area pretty intensely for a couple hours, and besides a couple dollar or more pocket spills I came across, there wasn't much to be said for the area.

Troy got on the horn and contacted the lady to get help narrow down the search. Sadly, the area was still a good 2-3 acres of land to cover, and after an hour or so of no luck, a thunderstorm rolled in and rained us out. Throughout the entire hunt we saw at least four other hobbyists scouring the area, likely searching for the same rings as a Craigslist ad was posted on the subject.

It was a great few hours of swinging the coil, really happy to have gotten out, especially since I don't so often anymore. I did manage $3.49 over 38 coins though, so the day wasn't lost. A '57 Wheatie, small pile of keys, pulltabs, broken sunglasses, and other miscellaneous metal scrap rounded out the afternoon.

One last thing to add. Today was the first time I've actually used my new Garrett ProPointer on a hunt. I've been a true blue Vibra-Probe 570 guys since I started the hobby. I REALLY enjoyed the Garrett, but did have one negative to throw out there. Apparently this is a known issue, but it's something that on my Vibra-Probe it wasn't an issue. I'm very used to jamming the VP 570 into a hole and being pretty rough with it, even slightly bending it in tight spaces to get the direction of a target. With the Garrett, you can't do this. Well, you can, but it causes the thing to false. I added a little video illustrating the point.

Pismo Beach Peddling

2011-07-05T19:36:00.001-06:00

"As tens of thousands of people left local beaches after fireworks shows Monday night, a whole new crowd headed the opposite direction.

Metal-detector enthusiasts moved in, ready to find what was left behind.

As the fireworks ended in Pismo Beach, treasure-hunter Gil Rivera was armed and ready.

The 76-year-old LAPD retiree landed with a team around midnight and sifted the sands until three in the morning."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: KSBY

Afghan IED Mentoring

2011-07-04T03:48:00.000-06:00

"The explosive hazard reduction course at Joint Sustainment Academy Southwest, here, allows coalition forces instructors teach members of the Afghan National Security Forces the fundamentals of identifying and countering improvised explosive devices.

The course prepares members of the Afghan National Army, uniformed police and border police to operate in a partnership role with coalition forces when IEDs are encountered, the basics of insurgent IED tactics and how to handle and eliminate unexploded ordnance and munitions."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Petty Officer 1st Class Gino Flores

NC Man Finds What Folks Lose

2011-07-01T09:11:00.001-06:00

"Using a metal detector, Ray Cox finds coins, cell phones, keys and rings on the beaches of New Hanover County. He also finds a lot of less obvious things, from cooking equipment to brass knuckles.

Last year, the Wilmington resident became a beach discovery himself.

In May 2010, a physics professor in Canada found a message in a bottle Cox threw into the sea in 1961. The message said: 'IF FOUND PLEASE WRITE TO: Jesse Ray Cox, 106 Lake Shore Dr. Wilmington, North Carolina. May 21, 1961 2044.' (The 2044 refers to 8:44 p.m. in military time.)

During a visit to Nova Scotia in September, seeing the message again was an emotional experience for Cox, a normally unemotional person."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Jeff Janowksi / StarNews

Finding Old Loot in PA

2011-06-25T23:51:00.001-06:00

"Red Craft and Harry Niemeyer don’t have to dig deep to find out what makes them happy, but they will.

It’s money — not making it, finding it.

The retirees spend countless hours searching for silver and gold coins, copper pennies or a valued piece of jewelry someone lost yesterday, decades or centuries ago. Mostly, they find bottle cups, pull tabs from cans, copper clad pennies, junk."

Read mroe HERE.

Image Credits: Lucy Shaly / Beaver County Times

"Claiming" Australia

2011-06-25T14:56:00.002-06:00

"Gold prospectors, Marco Nero explains, have always been 'a secretive, tight-lipped lot', wary of whom they speak to, careful of what they say, guarded about where they go. But these days they're ultra-protective.

For with world prices sky-rocketing - from $US600 an ounce to almost $1600 in five years - the stakes are high. The rush is on. And the talk is not just of getting rich quick, but of skulduggery, claim-jumping, even suburban 'bushwhacking'.

That may sound like paranoia; like something out of a Wild West movie, or the Herald's coverage of the rip-roaring, 1851 NSW gold rush. Mr Nero, though, insists such possibilities must be taken seriously."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Peter Rae / Sydney Morning Herald

Wisconsin Hobbyists Get Together

2011-06-25T13:47:00.000-06:00

"With headphones covering their ears, Tom Welch of Lake Wissota and Ken Briggs of Chippewa Falls would listen until a persistent beep would sound. Honing in on an area, they would look at the screen and see a drawing of a coin.

Then they would drop to their knees, spread out a cloth and take out a knife. The ground they would dig up would be carefully scooped into the cloth while they searched for the coin. When they found it, they would carefully replace the soil and start the process again.

On Thursday afternoon, Welch and Briggs were among six people belonging to three metal detecting clubs carefully combing through the grounds of the Cook-Rutledge Mansion, 505 W. Grand Ave., looking for bits of buried history."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Rod Stetzer / The Herald

Ohio Hunting Buddies

2011-06-25T09:47:00.002-06:00

"On any given day, one might find neighbors Ron Swisher and Jim Kenney roaming through Marietta or another local community with metal detectors in their hands and ear phones on their heads, bound and determined to find a treasure buried deep in the soil.

'I got started in this about the late 60s, early 70s when metal detectors first came out,' said Swisher, 57, of Marietta. 'I started out coin collecting - it's less expensive to find them than it is to buy them.'

Swisher and his neighbor, Jim Kenney, 67, hunt for treasure for a few hours just about every day, so long as the weather cooperates."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Michael Dickenson

Stylized Silver Button

2011-06-23T13:38:00.002-06:00

"A rare button which was found near Storrington has been formally declared treasure by the county coroner.

The 16th century silver button was discovered in a field by metal detector user Anthony Gill in February this year.

In a treasure trove inquest held in Chichester on Tuesday, coroner Penelope Schofield heard the intricate button featured a number of circles of metal which were attached to a main loop which was attached to clothing."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: West Sussex County Times

Lost Purple Heart - Ralph Perry

2011-06-23T03:25:00.000-06:00

"Irma Garcia of Kennewick is on a mission to find the veteran who lost the Purple Heart medal she found last weekend.

All she has to go on is the name engraved on the medal's back -- Ralph E. Perry.

Garcia said she found the medal Sunday in the park adjacent to Horse Heaven Hills Middle School in Kennewick."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Bob Brawdy / Herald

Rallygoers Recover Ring

2011-06-22T06:41:00.000-06:00

"A holidaymaking family have hailed two men at a Huttoft metal detecting rally after they came to their rescue when an engagement ring went missing on a local beach.

Sarah Lawrence, who hails from Cambridgeshire, was left distraught after she lost her treasured ring when her family were playing a game of volleyball on the beach in Sandilands on Saturday.

Sarah’s husband Chris, said: 'She obviously began to panic as anyone with an engagement or wedding ring would understand.'"

Read more HERE.

St. Ursula Badge is Treasure

2011-06-20T21:28:00.002-06:00

"A scrap of twisted silver found a few weeks ago by a metal detector in Lancashire will take its place among masterpieces of medieval art at the British Museum, in an exhibition opening this week of the bejewelled shrines made to hold the relics of saints and martyrs.

The badge made of silver found by Paul King, a retired logistics expert, is a humble object to earn a place in an exhibition called Treasures of Heaven, but it is unique. It will sit among gold and silver reliquaries studded with gems the size of thumbnails – or the sockets from which they were wrenched by thieves – once owned by emperors, popes and princes."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: The Guardian

Beach Hobbyists and Their 'Treasure'

2011-06-17T09:04:00.002-06:00

"Most people heading to the seashore bring along sunscreen, colorful towels and a big umbrella. For others, the ultimate beach accessory is a metal detector.

You've probably seen them during your trips to any coast -- sweeping the gadget back and forth along the water, ears covered by big headphones, eyes scanning the sand -- and wondered what exactly they're looking for.

Meet the detectorists, as the community of hobbyists is known."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Tim Higginbotham via CNN.com

Hey Tim, if you view the site, leave a message!

Upstate New York Town BANS Hobby in Parks

2011-06-15T14:55:00.004-06:00

A very brief article from the Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York shows where an unskilled, or just lazy hobbyist has now ruined it for everyone else in the area. Shame!

"Holes found in Village Green Park caused collective concern and a new local law at the Town Council meeting June 6.

"We found someone was up there with a metal detector and was digging around," Councilman Thomas E. Stewart said. "It just wasn't right."

Local Law No. 2 includes restrictions other than digging the park grounds, taking artifacts and using a metal detector.

Included in the 11 activities prohibited in the park are operating or parking an all-terrain vehicle, horseback riding in areas not designated as driveways and using glass containers."

Rediscovering a UK Cemetery

2011-06-15T09:49:00.000-06:00

An interesting story that involves a largely taboo and unethical practive in the US. However, under the correct authority, a lot of good can come from it.

"...

As the project nears completion, council's Health and Regulation Committee chair Andrew Antoniolli said the volunteers had made many interesting discoveries along the way.

Some of the finds include forgotten graves at the Ipswich General Cemetery, the second oldest cemetery in Queensland, with evidence of burials from the 1840s.

'Grave locations previously unknown to Council have now been found as volunteers using metal detectors located a number of metal grave pegs buried just below the surface,' Cr Antoniolli said."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Sarah Harvey / The Queensland Times

Last Battle of The Indian Territory

2011-06-12T14:32:00.001-06:00

"The Battle of Turkey Springs was the final battle between Cheyenne Indians and the U.S. Cavalry in Oklahoma Territory, when a group of northern Cheyenne led by Chief Dull Knife, left their reservation. It is believed to be the last battle between Cheyenne Indians and the Army fought in Indian Territory.

The foes battled for two days on Sept. 13 and 14, 1878, as the Cheyenne fled north attempting to return to their home. The site has been marked with a monument that will be blessed June 24 by a group of Cheyenne-Arapaho, at the site of a monument to the engagement southeast of Freedom, in Woods County.

Bud Martin, owner of the property where the site is located, put the marker up about two years ago. Martin had never heard of the battle, but saw a newspaper from 1904 with the story of the battle and the location. The story mentioned several points of interest where the Indians traveled through, one of which was the property of S.D. Ferbraches, which Martin now owns."

Read more HERE.

King Arthur... Found!

2011-06-10T09:02:00.005-06:00

This article is a Spoof/Satire, don't take it too serisouly... it's a fun read though.

"Deeply patriotic, anti foreigner, anti-immigration, anti Welsh, German detesting, pigeon loving, unemployed London taxi driver, Alfred Boulder, achieved his lifetime ambition yesterday when he finally tracked down King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

They were all alive and well. Sleeping in a deep hole near Blackburn, Lancashire.

Unmarried 53 year year old Boulder from Plaistow, has been meticulously criss-crossing Britain for over 30 years. Using a metal detector to discover the elusive resting place of Arthur and his Knights."

Read more HERE.

"Mog" FFXIII-2 Character Can MD

2011-06-09T17:14:00.000-06:00

Any gaming fans such as myself into the MD hobby? Well if youre a follower of the Final Fantasy series which has been around since the days of the original Nintendo in one form or another... here's a neat tidbit.

In the new FFXIII-2, "...make the game more appealing to old-time fans there’s now a moogle named Mog who follows Serah and Noel around. He functions as a hidden treasure detector,..."
:)

Uncovering the 55th Mass.

2011-06-09T11:44:00.001-06:00

I had seen this video quite some time ago as a member of FMDF was involved with this find. It's an incredible story and I emplore you to take a look.

"Robert Bohrn had his 15 minutes of fame in the 1990s when CNN, “Good Morning America,” and PBS’s “The Collectors” reported on his Charleston, SC restaurant Moultrie Tavern, decorated with Bohm’s trove of Civil War artifacts and featuring Civil War period fare like game pie. But ironically, Bohrn’s stand-out achievement is as unknown as the black Civil War soldiers he and his friend Eric Croen raised from the Folly Beach earth in 1989.

“I became a Civil War relic hunter when I was 10. I bought my first metal detector when I was fourteen,” says the Charleston, SC native.

“If I had 10 lifetimes I would never find anything better then the 19 soldiers of the 55th Massachusetts,” Bohrn says."

Read more and see the video HERE.

Ticonderoga to Ban Hobby?

2011-06-06T08:47:00.003-06:00

"It's been 12 years since Ticonderoga tried to restrict use of personal metal detectors.

Now, concerned that treasure-hunters may flock to the community rich in 18th-century history, town officials are going to try again.

The town has scheduled a public hearing for 6 p.m. Thursday in the Ticonderoga Community Building on a proposed local law to ban the use of metal detectors on public property in the town."

JUNE 20th UPDATE: It was voted NOT to ban the use of metal detectors. They may still be used for surface finds, and NO digging is allowed.

Read more HERE.
Another article HERE.

Image Credits: Town of Ticonderoga

Cherished Memories Returned

2011-06-02T15:20:00.001-06:00

"It took John Polcyn 15 years, but a recent trip to Maumee Bay State Park to search the area with his metal detector yielded his most cherished find ever.

When he dug a few inches into the dirt and found a memory card from a camera, it seemed like a relatively routine thing. He planned to use the card in his own camera when he went on vacation.

Then he plugged it into his computer, looked more closely, and realized he had something far more precious -- at least to one local family."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: The Toledo Blade

There's Dynamite in the Desert

2011-06-01T19:49:00.000-06:00

"A 26-year-old treasure hunter thought he hit the motherlode when he found a 30- to 40-year-old briefcase in the East Valley desert Wednesday and took it home.

'He takes it home and opens it up and finds papers in there and dynamite,' said Chris Hegstrom, a Maricopa County Sheriff's spokesman. 'It appears to have been from the late 70s and 80s.'"

Read more HERE.

Ring Found in Joplin Carnage

2011-05-31T23:14:00.000-06:00

"A group of James River Assembly volunteers couldn't help but notice an 84-year-old Joplin man patiently searching the wreckage of his home with a metal detector Monday.

The volunteers, working nearby to rescue family photos, wedding pictures and valuable papers from an adjacent damaged home, walked over to see if they could help."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Mark Schiefelbein

MD Group Teams Up with Archaelogists

2011-05-31T10:01:00.001-06:00

"Students from all over the country are gathering on the grounds of the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson historic site in Winnabow for an archaeological dig.

Peace College Archaeological Field School is conducting a project aimed at mapping Civil War barracks and learning more about life for the troops who battled their way through Southeastern North Carolina in the 1860s."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: WECT

Canadian Meteorite Hunt

2011-05-24T03:12:00.002-06:00

"...

'It probably had a bigger entry velocity and higher beginning. This would also mean a somewhat smaller (than earlier expected) meteorite size on the ground.'

Still, meteorite hunters could head north from Wynndel and search east of Duck Lake. If there is snow, Nowell said, look for a hole in the snow. Otherwise, take a metal detector.

'Your metal detector would beep as it goes over it and a magnet would pick it up. It probably has a lot of nickel and iron in it,' said Nowell."

Read more HERE.

Oklahoman Lives to Discover

2011-05-22T02:53:00.003-06:00

"When Justin Finley was 9 years old, he asked his mother if he could make a swimming hole in the backyard.

Finley never finished the pool, but he found a hobby buried in the dirt and clay of the family’s Sulphur home. He found a bottle buried in the yard.

It was old and had a skull and crossbones on it.

He later sold the bottle for a tidy profit.

'I was pretty much hooked from there,' Finley said.

These days, the 22-year-old lives in Del City. In his spare time, he grabs his metal detector and heads to any place he thinks might yield some treasure. But treasure hunting isn’t without its difficulties."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Bryan Terry / The Oklahoman

Hobbyist Honored for His Effort

2011-05-20T18:23:00.001-06:00

"Bill Baecker set out last Saturday seeking a treasure he would never profit from, but of greater value than anything he had ever searched for.

Metal detector in hand and attuned to a high setting, Baecker walked the lonely, rainy corner of U.S. 42 and Utica Road in Lebanon, the site of tragedy a few days earlier. Shortly after 3 p.m., his detector alerted him to the prize he sought.

Baecker discovered the lost wedding ring of Sgt. Brian Dulle, the sheriff’s deputy killed in a high-speed chase last week, and had it returned to his widow, Abbie Dulle, on the day of Dulle’s funeral. He and two others were honored Friday by the Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Greg Lynch / Dayton Daily News

Mudlarking? UK Offshoot of the MD Hobby

2011-05-20T15:43:00.001-06:00

I found this article about what is seemingly an offshot of our metal detecting hobby, and even really an extension as many folks who enjoy this hobby in the UK utilize MD's in their adventures.

"...

'Mudlark' is an old term, dating back at least to Victorian river scavengers, and their modern-day counterparts took the name for themselves with a certain inverse pride. Ask a mudlark why he’s up to his knees in muck and detritus and you’ll probably hear about something he dug up in the garden when he was a little boy, or a childhood friend with a metal detector who pulled some brilliant thing out of the earth. (This is England, after all, a country my husband, the Irish poet Paul Muldoon, once said was 'coming down with history.')

..."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Emma Hardy / NY Times

Class Ring Returned After 40 Years

2011-05-20T13:39:00.001-06:00

"For nearly 40 years, Cathy White believed her beloved 1971 class ring from T.L. Handy High School in Bay City was lost forever — somewhere in the sands at the Bay City State Recreation Area.

White, 57, of Midland was brought to tears Wednesday upon learning the ring had been found and would soon be returned.

'This is a dream come true for me. I still can’t believe it,' White said while slipping the ring on her finger for the first time since she was 17 years old. 'It’s one thing to misplace something and still have hope that you’ll find it, but it was totally different to lose my ring, and know that I would never get it back.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Lauryn Schroeder | Bay City Times

1794 Liberty Cap Large Cent for Auction

2011-05-20T13:29:00.001-06:00

"Buried treasure really does exist.

A rare 18th-century copper coin that was found with a metal detector will be auctioned at noon today in Bethel Township.

Auctioneer Russell Wolfe Jr. said his client, a Myerstown-area man, was unsure when he found the coin, but he knew that he found it while metal detecting.

'He's been collecting close to 40 years,' Wolfe said.

Wolfe discovered the 1794 large cent with a starred reverse in a collection that was consigned for sale."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: coinfacts.com

Uncovering Civil War Family History

2011-05-17T23:39:00.003-06:00

"Walter D. Hodgson of Mercer County, Ill., joined the 124th Illinois Infantry at the age of 15 and went off to fight to preserve the Union during the Civil War.

About 100 years later, two of his great-grandsons, Don Finch of Bettendorf and his brother, Harry, packed up their metal detectors and set off to retrace their ancestor's steps through American history.

Don Finch estimates he has visited 80 percent of the Civil War battlefields.

'I got following everybody else's great-grandfather, too,' he said with a laugh."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Larry Fisher / QUAD-CITY TIMES

40 Years Finding What's Under Foot

2011-05-17T16:33:00.001-06:00

"Dale Chapman has found that his metal-detecting hobby gets him out in the fresh air, gives him a little exercise and offers a return on his investment.

After four decades of metal-hunting, he is on his third detector, one that has more ways to indicate what lies beneath his feet. He can set the gadget to indicate coins, jewelry or relics.

'Silver dollars are always nice to get,' Chapman said."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Sam Yu / Frederick News Post

Irish Hobbyist Finds Medical Dicharge Badge

2011-05-14T04:52:00.004-06:00

"A long lost First World War medal has been returned to its family home in Oving after being found on a remote beach in Ireland.

It was picked up by keen treasure hunter Stephen Hunter, 28, who trawled through stacks of historical documents to finally trace it back to Edward Lewis Brunswick from the Aylesbury area, who died in 1975.

He was then able to find Edward’s son Roy, who is the oldest living ancestor of the war hero and was delighted to have the medal returned."

Read more HERE.

WWII US Dog Tags Returned from France

2011-05-12T16:24:00.003-06:00

I came across this great story of some hobbyists in France who came across and were able to return the dog tag of a US WWII veteran. And believe it or not, I have connection. The vet was part of the US Army 94th Infantry. That unit, after WWII was redesignated a few times and eventully became the 94th RRC, which I served under while part of the 439th QM CO (PS) out of New Haven, CT.

"American World War II artifacts continue popping up in European fields and villages, but connecting them to the U.S. soldier who lost or left them there rarely happens. Unless, of course, the veteran's old family address is embossed on the artifact.

That's the case for Herb Schueler, 88, of Columbia, Illinois. He is a retired home builder who served in the U.S. Army 94th Infantry Division during World War II. He can't remember losing one of his two dog tags in the fall of 1944. But he did, and two French treasure hunters turned it up with a metal detector in the small village of Heric in northwest France about 15 miles from the town of Nantes."

Read more HERE.

Rutgers Class Ring Found in a Lake

2011-05-12T15:09:00.003-06:00

"With her trusty metal detector, Sue Beck has been digging up little Gloucester County treasures for a quarter century.

She's plucked her fair share of nails and soda can tabs out of the dirt around the Elk Township lake where she lives.

But among the bits of trash, she's found decades-old odds and ends that have some value, especially when it comes to the sentimental worth.

'I'm like the pied piper,' said Beck, a 34-year Elk resident. 'Kids and adults follow me around on the main beach. ... I've found so many old things.'

When she finds something good, the metal-detecting hobbyist always tries to return it to its owner even decades after it went missing on the beach or the bottom of Lake Gilman."

Read more HERE.
Original Story posted on Rutgers Media Relations site on May 9th, 2011.

Image Credits: Rutgers Media Relations

Religious Medieval Gold

2011-05-12T11:23:00.003-06:00

"A medieval ring unearthed by a Pendle treasure-hunter in Kirkby Lonsdale has been described as the ‘find of a lifetime’.

Archaeology enthusiast Craig Scott was on a rare trip out with his metal detector when he found a silver 14th century ring in just six inches of soil in a field.

Engraved with the letters ‘IESUS’, two clasped hands and a five point star, experts say the ring is an extremely rare find."

Read more HERE.

NOTE: Image not of actual ring, but one of similar style and inscription.

MD Dune Buggy

2011-05-10T07:02:00.004-06:00

I got this in my email today. It was an article about fun summer beach gadgets and whatnot. I saw the mention of the R/C Metal Detecting Dune Buggy and was pretty excited. However, apparently the thing was in the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog two summers ago and is no longer available.

Kinda irked my email would send me this awesome link to something I can't buy anymore... because I assure you, I would have.

Catalog listing for the dune buggy HERE.

Ohio Class Ring Found

2011-05-09T13:47:00.007-06:00

A nice article by Margaret Hartmann on Jezebel.com about a class ring returned by a fellow hobbyist.

"After three decades, most high school rings wind up ratting around the bottom of a jewelry drawer, but Karen Price Liebisch says she's excited that her class of 1975 ring has been returned 36 years after she lost it at Northwest High School in Ohio.

Liebisch recently received a letter school saying the ring she misplaced a few weeks before graduation had turned up. Earl Corson found it 20 years ago while using a metal director at Brookville Lake in Indiana, but only turned it in recently.

Liebisch said it only fits her pinkie now, but she plans to have it resized so she can wear it. 'It's nice to find a piece of your past like this,' she said. 'It had a lot of good memories attached to it and I am really happy to have it back.'"

NOTE: Image shown is not of actual ring found.
Image Credits: Gtranquillity / Shutterstock

MD + Smartphone = Minefinder

2011-05-05T23:57:00.001-06:00

"While mine-clearing protocols have improved substantially since World War II, the technology used to locate buried landmines has changed little: De-miners use metal detectors to find and identify mines. On a battlefield strewn with metal debris, differentiating lethal mines from benign cans, wires, and casings is enormously time consuming.

Now, computer scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have designed an elegant system that ties in smartphones to assist humanitarian de-miners by augmenting the information supplied by their metal detectors. Their system, known as pattern enhancement tool for assisting land mine sensing (PETALS), and which will be presented at this week’s Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, takes de-mining advances in a new direction."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Justin Ide / Harvard Staff Photographer

Students Learn Evidence Recovery

2011-05-05T19:42:00.003-06:00

"When the "call" came into the West Manheim Township Police Department early Thursday morning, students in the Police Mentoring Program were ready.

The high school students, who are part of the program coordinated by the West Manheim Township, Penn Township and Southwestern Regional police departments, formed three investigative "units" outside the West Manheim Township Municipal Building to get to work.

The lead came from a 911 caller who saw a white SUV parked near the crime scene and the driver..."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Shane Dunlap / Daily Record

Canadian Hobbyist and His Treasures

2011-05-04T10:01:00.001-06:00

"Broken pottery.

That's the secret to hunting 150-year-old historic artifacts, according to Steve Miles, a retired plumbing teacher who has dug up a lot of London and area history over the past 15 years.

'When you're looking for history, you look for pottery shards,' Miles said. 'The more you see, the better your (spot) is. They last forever. They look just as good as they day they were broken or dropped. It's one of the only things they threw out and is still there.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Chris Montanini / The Londoner

PA Police Search fo Evidence

2011-05-03T21:54:00.001-06:00

Looks like a Tesoro to me :)

"Investigators from the Scranton Police Department - hoping to find new evidence - on Monday scoured the area off Saginaw Street where the body of a murdered drug dealer was found in December.

Police Chief Dan Duffy said Detectives Michael Schultz, James Pappas and Joseph Castellano, one of the department's crime scene investigators, sought to corroborate or disprove information gleaned from interviews conducted during the course of the homicide investigation."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Michael J. Mullen / The Scranton Time Journal

WWII Dogtags Uncovered and Returned

2011-04-30T04:31:00.002-06:00

"Evan Yeoman of Lewiston was cruising Demolay Park overlooking the Snake River with his new metal detector when it pinged, telling him there was a penny about 10 inches down.

It was the depth that was intriguing, Yeoman said. 'That's how I judge how long a thing's been setting there — how deep it is.'

He remembers thinking as he stuck his knife into the ground that..."

Read more HERE.

Photo Credits: AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Lewiston Tribune

Hit Up a Few Lakewood Parks

2011-04-28T21:16:00.012-06:00

Started off the morning quite abruptly with an early wake up and getting the smoker ready for the two pounds brisket I had marinating all night. Come to find out, not enough coals, so had to make a quick run to the store to grab some more with just an hour left before Troy was meeting me at the house.

With the meat smoking, we grabbed some joe and headed out to our first haunt of the day, Morse Park off of 20th in Lakewood, CO. The hunt started off quite promising, I was up over a dollar within the first 30 feet of my starting point landing two, two stacked penny hits as well as a $0.45 spill consisting of one nickel and four dimes.

The park was plenty busy with a few dozen people playing tennis, part of some club I'd assume.My last dig of the park was a neat little FILA Pisces pendant and ended up with $1.68 across 44 coins.

Stop number two was O'Kane park off of 1st St. in Lakewood. This park is really big. It had two huge sports field that you'd think would be ripe for the picking. Sadly, the pickins' were slim here, but I did manage 3 recently dropped RTD tokens along with $0.89 over 14 coins.

The last stop was a small out of the way park in Lakewood off of Garrison called Holbrook Park. This park had a lot of odd-shaped area to cover. We started on the far end of the park near some old looking trees, but we really fell short on the finds here. My first decent signal ended up being this Armitron All Sport watch, probably a couple years old since it doesn't match any of the newer models.

Troy was having some issues with falsing and possibly some EMI, and after I had dug $1.02 over 6 coins, one dig being a double-quarter spill, we packed it up for the day and headed home.

Finished the day with some awesome brisket, baked beans, mashed potatoes, and the 2011 NFL Draft. I'll leave you with a pic of the days haul, including Troy's take.

The following is a cool find Troy had of what appeard to be a little stamped piece of aluminum with Arabic script on it. I could only read the numbers, which read 1213, and converted come out to about 1798/9. A member of FMDF came back to say that the writing appears to say "Minted in Misr (which is Egypt) 1213 (this is the AH year)" and that it's a "It's a copy of an Ottoman empire coin. Most of my Ottoman coins are bronzes, I think that the Misr mint would have been easier for the copier to make than the Constantinople mint"

94 yr old XLT User

2011-04-27T11:10:00.001-06:00

Great pic and cool article from The Blue Mountain Eagle of John Day, OR...

"Stan Beck, of John Day, shows off about $460 worth of coins he's unearthed over the past few years with the help of his metal detector. According to his neighbor, Karen Chadwick, Beck, who turns 94 in May, gleaned the 'treasure' at such places as the Grant Union High School field, Seventh Street Complex and the fairgrounds, after ball games and other events."

Evidence Recovery, FAIL!

2011-04-26T19:12:00.000-06:00

I posted this on FMDF and got some great responses.

This image comes from a article in an online Bermuda news source and depicts what appears to be a Policewoman searching for evidence after a recent gang incident.

You should notice quite a few thigns wrong with her technique, and even the setup of her machine:

1) Coil is on backwards
2) Coil cord is just hanging loose, who doesnt wrap those things?

What else can you see that just doesn't seem right? See the full image by clicking on it.

Filey Beach UK Grenade

2011-04-25T16:26:00.001-06:00

"A WORLD War II hand grenade has been removed from a North Yorkshire beach, allowing holidaymakers to resume their Bank Holiday activities.

The south side of Filey beach was cordoned off and evacuated after the unexploded weapon from was found near Royal Parade at about 11am.

It was unearthed by a member of the public using a metal detector."

Read more HERE.

CT Lake Digging

2011-04-23T18:19:00.000-06:00

"Tim Kelly and Steve Varga stalk along the beach abutting Fairfield’s Lake Mohegan accompanied by a string of beeps and buzzes. Suddenly, the sounds at Kelly’s feet intensify, and the two painters hit the ground and begin scooping up spadefuls of sand. They dig about eight inches when they hit the cause of their metal detector’s alarm — a small rock.

'You have to have patience,' Varga says. 'A lot of people that buy this equipment end up putting them in the closet because they didn’t find that gold ring they thought they were going to find on the beach.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Greg Canuel

Cali Treasure Seeker

2011-04-22T19:06:00.001-06:00

"Ten thousand times every year, Dwight Reed drops to his knees when the hum in his headphones hits a certain pitch, carves up a divot of earth with a hand spade and coaxes something metal out of the soil.

It might be a diamond ring, but usually it's a penny or a bottle cap.

Either way, Reed is perfectly content: Metal detecting, for this long-time Vista resident, is retirement."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Tom Pfingsten / North County Times

William Clark Canoe Camp

2011-04-16T13:58:00.003-06:00

"River crossings and lousy weather didn’t dampen the spirits of an intrepid corps of Montana State University Billings students searching for traces of William Clark along the Yellowstone River.

The students in history professor Tom Rust’s Historical Archaeology in the Americas class have been hunting for the camp where Clark and his band of explorers stopped for five nights in July 1806 to make canoes from lofty cottonwood trees along the banks.

On a recent wet, chilly day, seven students and Rust crossed a short stretch of the Yellowstone to a privately owned island in search of Clark’s canoe camp."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: David Grubbs / Billings Gazette

AU Gold Region Still Producing

2011-04-15T11:43:00.001-06:00

"As the wet season ends gold prospectors will return to Charters Towers. A hundred and forty years after gold was first found in the region you can still strike it lucky thanks to modern technology.

Anyone with a metal detector can still find gold around Charters Towers.

But it may take a while.

That's according to Tom Lawn who has been prospecting in the region for more than 50 years. "

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Nathalie Fernbach

Decades Old Class Ring Returned

2011-04-14T17:34:00.000-06:00

Check out the above video from FOX43... a nice feel good story about a fellow hobbyist finding and returning a class ring from a park.

"A York County man makes quite the find with his metal detector. Larry Daigle was scanning around a tree at an Emigsville park when he struck gold, literally.

'I came out with a big pile of mud, but it was in a clump, a circle, so I knew whatever it was it was round, I said there is a good chance it is a ring,' said Daigle.

It was a ring, a class ring. It was buried about 10 inches in the dirt, under a tree root. Daigle took his finding and cleaned it up. He quickly realized it belonged to a 1993 Northeastern High School graduate. After a little digging at the school, Daigle tracked down the owner, Jerome Weigel."

Read more HERE.

More UK Treasure Tension

2011-04-14T15:20:00.002-06:00

"When friends Michael Darke and Keith Lewis unearthed a hoard of Iron Age gold coins, it should have been one of the greatest moments of their lives.

But the pair are no longer on speaking terms following a dispute over how the £300,000 spoils of the so-called Dallinghoo Gold should be shared.

The 840 pieces, which date back to the first century BC, are one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of their kind for 150 years."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Albanpix

Kansas Trip - Diggin' It With Friends

2011-04-12T21:46:00.021-06:00

Day 1: The Drive (04/08/2011)

Picked up Brea's G'ma and was on the road by about 830a. About three hours later we had made our first stop in Goodland, KS to drop G'ma off and ate a delicious Fried Chicken Buffet at Hank's Cafe.

After lunch we were back on the road and made it to the Cedar Court Motel there in Clay Center, KS just before 5p. After unloading the truck we walked out over by the pool for a brief meet and greet with the handful of folks who had shown up already (Harold, Dave, Rhonda, Vlad, Carol, Bob, Jason). Dave and Harold answered my call on FMDF for a few of the remaining slots I had open ion my 50 State Quarter book... it's now finished, thanks guys.

Most of the group headed over to El Puerto, the Mexican restaurant. Me and Brea where still full from the trip, but did take a ride over to grab some alcohol for the next two nights. Around 9 we finally migrated to El Puerto, and though the food wasn't bad, we were totally disappointed that there were NO MARGARITAS!!!???

Day 2: The Hunt (04/09/2011)

Started the day off by meeting everyone up at Huntress Park by 8a. We spent the next four hours or so scouring the park (which had obviously been hit before).

The day was spent digging pull tab after pull tab for me, resulting in $1.58 in clad over 36 coins and not much else in the way of goodies.

But a few folks were able to grab an Indian Head penny or two and even a Mercury dime while two other hunters landed a gold plated ring and a delicate necklace.

Around noon it was time to head on over to Utility Park where we had our lunch planned. On the way over, Brea and I stopped by the Clay Center town square and took a few pics of their old courthouse and a neat pic of the marker for a time capsule.

Over at the park everyone gathered up as the food was cooked and set out. It was a great little feast full of burgers, dogs, ziti, 7 layer dip, potato salad and loads of cake. After the eating, it was time to dish out the goods. Raffle tickets were sold for a chance to win a Minelab Explorer SE Pro donated by New England Detectors with all the ticket proceeds benefiting Brian Duvall's Clad 4 Kids Charity.

There were a few other prizes handed out (all of which were generously donated by New England Detectors) for categories such as "Oldest Coin", "Best Jewelry", "Silver Coin", "Weirdest Object". I ended up bringing home prizes for "Most Pull-Tabs" with a winning total of 31 for the morning, and also for "Farthest Drive" which we trumped the 2nd place people by almost 150 miles... as Denver was a good 455 mile drive. One of the prizes, an 1864 2 Cent donated by Harold was the 3rd of it's kind now in my collection.

After all of that was said and done, most of the group followed Dave up a farm field he had gotten permission to hunt (Pictures HERE). In the meantime, since Brea and I had a dinner appointment with my cousins John and Susan later on in Salina, we opted out and visited the small, dilapidated Clay Center Zoo. The animals all looked miserable and the larger ones, like the bear and wolves just did not have the space to do much more than pace back and forth.

That evening after dinner at Logan's in Salina with my cousin John, whom I hadn't seen since around October 2003 when we were both in Scania CSC in Iraq, and then my cousin Susan of which this was our first time meeting each other... ever... but anyhow, right, so on the way back, around 8p and just turning on to Route 24, I was pulled over by a Sheriff. HE said I was doing a 51 in a 35 and a construction zone. He didn't give me a ticket, but I swore the only posted speed was 65 MPH. Sure enough, the next morning on the way out... there was no 35 MPH zone posted on my side... so WTF!?

Day 3: Back to The Farm (04/10/2011)

We said a few goodbyes and left the Cedar Court Motel around 11a. Having seen a wind-farm that stretched for miles, we decided to see how far it really went... turned out to be 15 miles along the interstate... that's a lot of real estate.

Our first stop on the way back to the farm in Goodland was one of The 8 Wonders of Kansas... the St. Fidelis Church, better known as "The Cathedral of The Plains" in Victoria, KS (a fun fact about Victoria.. the first Black Angus steer in the US were raised here).

Wanting to add to our pressed penny collection, our last stop before the farm was at the Oasis Travel Center in Colby, KS where we picked up our lovely "Kansas Oil" pressed penny.

Day 4: The Hunt Continues (04/11/2011)

Started the morning with some delicious homemade biscuits and gravy just before we were out the door and headed out to "The Smoky Gardens", otherwise known as Soldier's Memorial Park. This park has been here and been in use since at least when Brea's G'ma was a child, so we thought it might be a good place to metal detect. We didn't leave with too much, and with all the trash it just ended up a big disappointment. Even the water that was once here was dried up, but the bed was so littered with trashed, finding anything good would have been a yearlong chore.

We drove back to the farm and I got to thinking, I'm gonna boost my pre-amp gain on my XLT up to 4 and see what happens. So I started hunting around the old farm house (which used to be a one room schoolhouse way back in the day) and started consistently pulling clad around the 6" mark. Sadly, I was getting any deeper. I ended the day with a multitude of finds, and the oldest coin being a '52 wheat.

Day 5: On The Road Again (04/12/2011)

We were to leave and head back to Denver by noon, and we were right on time... but not before we stopped by Main St. in town and picked up an antique 1919 C19 Edison Disc Phonograph. Why? Well because we could I guess, and it was free.

Our only stop on the way home was in Genoa, CO to check out "The Wonder Tower". This place is just wierd. The guy who runs the place is an eccentric old fellow and he has SO MUCH STUFF. It's definitely worth checking out and paying the $1 to climb the tower for the view.

So that was the Kansas trip. Hope you enjoyed the read and pictures.

Elementary My Dear Hobbyist

2011-04-06T17:05:00.001-06:00

I found this photo from the Journal Times and laughed a bit at the attire this fellow hobbyist is wearing while he scours for treasure. It's never crossed my mind to wear a pea-coat, slacks and dress shoes out to a hunt.

"George Edgar puffs on a pipe as he searches for treasures with his metal detector in the 2600 block of Washington Ave., near Grange and Wright avenues, Wednesday April 6, 2011. Edgar uses a trowel to dig into the ground after getting a signal. He replaces any turf he digs up. In this instance, all he found was a rusty nail. However, Edgar, who lives in Kenosha, once found a coin from the 1870s in the same area which is why he likes to search in the park. He says that the most interesting artifact he ever found was a Civil War soldier's identity disc."

Image Credits: Mark Hertzberg / Journal Times