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January 17, 2004
This afternoon Suzanne and I were detecting around an old house site in Henderson. We had been detecting probably about 30 minutes and all I had found was one new penny and some trash metal. This site had a good deal of old iron trash but other than the one new penny not much in the way of newer coins or trash. It felt right to me with my limited experience, but at least I was not digging a lot of new trash and aluminum pull tabs. I was just taking my time and digging any solid signals that didn't jump all over the scale on the metal detector. I hit a solid signal that did not show to be a coin but down below a penny on the scale. I crossed the target and it stayed at the same indication on the meter and pin pointed at around 3 inches and the signal fell off sharply on all four sides so I decided to dig it. Sure enough, about 3 inches down I pulled out what appears to be a small toy cap pistol. |
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In this next picture you can see how well the Cap Pistol cleaned up using a homemade Electrolysis System.
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There really wasn't much to detect in this yard other than old iron nails and every now and then a shredded piece of aluminum can
that had been through a lawn mower. Suzanne had gone back to the truck for a break and I had told her I was gonna detect back towards
the truck from where I was and then we would go to one of the local schools and see if we could pick up some pocket change before dark.
I had gone about halfway back to the truck when I got a hit between penny and dime as I recall. It was a solid signal and pin pointed
around 3 inches down like the cap pistol had. I figured I would end up with a new penny or dime and call it quits.
When I lifted the plug of sod I had cut out of the hole the target was in the plug and I began to break off the bottom half of the plug
and it fell back into the hole. I passed the top of the plug over the detector and it showed no target so I knew the target was in the
dirt that had fallen back into the hole. As I reached into the hole to get a hand full of dirt I noticed a white looking round object
with bold writing on it. "Great" I thought to myself, "some kind of kids token".
When I lifted the token up to read what was printed on it, it read "One Dime". I flipped the token over and saw "United States of America"
printed on that side and it began to sink in that this was not a token. I had found my first Silver coin!
Suzanne had waked back over from the truck when she saw me bend down the dig up the target and she had just walked up as I was kneeling
there admiring the dime. We were both amazed at how clean the coin was after being in the ground for all these years. The picture below
is of the dime just as it was found. No cleaning of any kind. Actually the sandy soil fell away from the coin and there was nothing to
have to clean up at all. What a great looking coin for my first silver find. Needless to say, we did some more detecting in the same
area before we left for the local school yard. I suspect I'll be back to that old house place again one of these day's soon.
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January 10, 2004
This afternoon my daughter Kaitlin and I went over to Bruce's house and let her and Bruce try their hand at metal detecting. They did pretty well for this being their first time. All in all they found two dimes, one nickel, six pennies and a small bucket full of junk iron.
This afternoon my daughter Kaitlin and I went over to Bruce's house and let her and Bruce try their hand at metal detecting. They did pretty well for this being their first time. All in all they found two dimes, one nickel, six pennies and a small bucket full of junk iron.
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What we found on January 4, 2004
As you can see we are still at it. Started off this morning cloudy with the temperature in the low 70's. We got a late start around 2:30 p.m. today and hunted until it was too dark to see what we were doing. By the time we finally gave up at dark the temperature had dropped down into the low 50's with a stiff North breeze. The temperature and wind were not so bad as long as we were finding something to dig up.
As you can see we are still at it. Started off this morning cloudy with the temperature in the low 70's. We got a late start around 2:30 p.m. today and hunted until it was too dark to see what we were doing. By the time we finally gave up at dark the temperature had dropped down into the low 50's with a stiff North breeze. The temperature and wind were not so bad as long as we were finding something to dig up.
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I found this button on December 26 at one of the old local schools. The back of the button has the text "The Art Metal Works, Newark N.J.
All I have been able to find on "The Art Metal Works" is that it was a company in Newark N.J. that was in operation from around 1900 to 1930.
The company made all sorts of metal items. Sometime in the 1930's the company's name was changed to Ronson Art Metal Works when they begain
making and selling lighters.
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How it all started
Back in November of 2003 Suzanne talked me into buying a metal detector. Actually we went in halves on one since neither of us knew anything about metal detectors, much less how to use one, but she had some places in mind she wanted to search for long lost treasure.
So we went up to Gilmer to East Texas Metal Detectors and talked to Keith Wills, to get some ideas what kind of detector we wanted or needed. As it ended up we bought a Garrett 750 and proceeded to dig up Suzanne's front yard when we got back to town. To tell the truth she would not let me dig up her front yard even though we did find some targets there.
I still plan to dig them up some day when she is at work but don't tell her I said so.
Anyway I wanted to show off some of our finds so the pictures below are of some of the coins and other stuff we have found so far. No silver coins yet but we are still looking!
Back in November of 2003 Suzanne talked me into buying a metal detector. Actually we went in halves on one since neither of us knew anything about metal detectors, much less how to use one, but she had some places in mind she wanted to search for long lost treasure.
So we went up to Gilmer to East Texas Metal Detectors and talked to Keith Wills, to get some ideas what kind of detector we wanted or needed. As it ended up we bought a Garrett 750 and proceeded to dig up Suzanne's front yard when we got back to town. To tell the truth she would not let me dig up her front yard even though we did find some targets there.
I still plan to dig them up some day when she is at work but don't tell her I said so.
Anyway I wanted to show off some of our finds so the pictures below are of some of the coins and other stuff we have found so far. No silver coins yet but we are still looking!
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This first set of coins were found in several different places on different days. The two wheat pennies were found around
one of the old East Texas Churches. Some of others were found at roadside rest stops and around swimming areas.
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All of the coins in this picture I found in one local school yard on two different afternoons. Suzanne found just about as
many as I did. After the first couple of times we took the detector out it occured to me that the two of us sharing one
detector was not going to work out so well. I found a nearly new, second hand Garrett 750 on E-bay at a reasonable price
so now we both have a detector to hunt with.
Check back soon for more exciting finds!
These two pictures are of all the coins we found since buying our detectors through the end of the year 2003. We have started over now and are keeping up with what we find in 2004. |
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March 26, 2004
Well she finally did it! Suzanne found her first silver coin this afternoon. A 1942 Mercury Dime. And to top that off she also found 3 wheat pennies right beside it in the same hole she dug the dime out of. Suzanne has been smoking me on the wheat pennies the past few times we have been out detecting. She seems to have a knack for finding those little buggers. All I find are memorial pennies... |
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March 22, 2004
Today, Suzanne and I went with some other club members over to Mansfield, Louisiana to hunt for Civil War relics. We both found one Civil War bullet and I also found a modern .22 bullet. It's amazing to me how big the bullets were back during the war. I can't imagine being hit by one of those monsters! |
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