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Final Hunt 2007?

cwilk

New member
I went out yesterday and today with the intention that yesterday would be my final hunt of the season. The batteries were about to die in the 2500 and it's getting too cold. I can deal with the air temps but digging around in wet cold mud isn't doing it for me like it did in the spring when I was green (greener.)

Yesterday was 1.5 hours, 65 coins and exactly 10 bucks. I was at a middle school and had all pennies notched out. Now I needed $8.70 to hit $600.00 bucks in clad so I was pleased.

The reason I went out today is the batteries were still OK. I figured I had about an hour to hunt and went back to the same school for 1.5 hours. Today it was 89 coins for $12.70 and yes I started digging pennies. This school is loaded and obviously hasn't been hunted recently. I have been doing a small area around some picnic tables and have a huge amount of property to look forward to in the spring.

Now for the good part of the story. There was an article in the local paper about a guy with a detector and many people have asked if it was me. A lot of people. I was asked once buy a reporter and declined, by the way. He has hunted one of my favorite spots all fall as I moved on to new spots. The article listed some of his better finds and there was only one thing wished I had found (an old coin.) To my surprise the guy had never found a nickel which means he was leaving any gold for me. So all my friends have been posting this article all over at work, on my truck, on my front door, just to bust my balls. Anyway, when I left the middle school, still with battery power, I decided to hit his favorite spot which for some reason he published. It is where he found the old coin and I decided to go see what he missed. In half an hour I found a few new coins, tons of pull tabs and junk, and the 22k gold ring! You might have heard my whoop! I make it out to be 1896 from the hallmark. English. It's really out of round and ladies about size 5.5. 4.19 grams. While researching the mark I came across an article called why to never scrap a 22k - 24k jewelry. After finding it I turned off the detector and headed home. A good way to end 2007, I think. Here are some photos. The other ring is junk and came from the middle school with some of the other junk. Sorry Rosco.

Finally. I still have batteries in the Ace 250 with at least 10 hours of life left in them so I reserve the right to continue my hunting with that rig. I'm only a few (roughly 200) coins from 6000 coins for the year. There is always another milestone!

Chris
 
Great finds! When someone tells me that their property has been hunted doesn't bother me. I know just the kind of hunters that have been before me when I start digging nickels and tabs. Good job again! So what's keeping you from buying new batteries? :shrug:
 
I have tons of batteries. It's just too cold and damp and muddy. I'll get out with the Ace 250 a few times, I'm sure. It's actually supposed to be warm on Thanksgiving so who knows? I thought it was a good time for a break especially since my last find was so great!

Chris
 
That is a real nice OLD ring. Your right, that W is for 1896. The sideways anchor is for gold assayed in Birmingham, England. Quite a historic find.
 
I know what you mean about your hands freezing off in the wet damp soil! Gloves just don't feel right to me. Although I forced to use them some days.
 
The competitive nature in most of us is what makes your story great. And even though you might not say it out loud, I understand the feeling of going behind the "famous detector guy in the newspaper" and beating the pants off of him. I was with a detecting buddy recently, he had hit one of our favorite sites for about a year before I got access to it, and of course it was "pretty much hunted out" by him. We were in a particular area that he'd gone over "lots of times", and I dug up three silver coins right under his nose by working a grid pattern while he continued to stagger around in no set pattern with his machine. He found nothing that day. He knows his machine well, he has indeed been over that area numerous times, and he has indeed pulled up a share of the old coins. But his lack of any search pattern system was his undoing that day. We're friends, we congratulate each other on our finds, but we've been at the same place at the same time only once before so I never got to really observe his detecting technique. I'm glad I got the chance, I'll detect behind him more often.

On another occasion I spotted an acquaintance from work going over a current fairgrounds area, I was on my way back from having hunted a school. I stopped and we chatted for a minute, then I asked if he would mind if I broke out my machine and hunted an area a few hundred yards from where he was searching. He didn't mind, so off I went. An hour later I was into a hotspot of clad and thought I'd share it with him, so I approached him and asked how he was doing. He said "not too bad" and held up two corroded zinc pennies. I was dumb-founded, since this guy and I were using the exact same machine and he had purchased his several months before I'd gotten mine. All my finds that hour had been easy finds with high discrimination (lots of trash at the fairgrounds, and I was working for quantity instead of quality trying to reach a goal I had set) and easily retrievable. In the hour I'd been there I pocketed over 40 coins. Turns out he had the sensitivity set to max and the discrimination on jewelry mode, he wasn't using pinpointing at ALL, so he was digging 6-8" diameter holes for gum wrappers and trash. In this case I suggested he watch the video then simply toss some coins on the ground at home to learn the sounds of the machine and the pinpointing feature. I also gave him a few other tips and offered to answer any other questions he might come up with. I haven't heard from him, I don't know if he gave up but I hope not.

The point is that when you see someone swinging a detector over an area it doesn't mean a thing other than the fact that they thought it was a good spot to look. In the first case above the guy was very proficient and very experienced with his machine, but his technique was very poor for the situation at hand. In the second case the guy hadn't bothered to learn to use his machine, not even watching the video or reading the tips that came with it. But the results were exactly the same.
For me it simply means that I wouldn't hesitate to go right behind two people in this area who I KNOW have detectors, one being pretty much a beginner and one a veteran searcher. You can't assume that just because someone is swinging a metal detector there's no reason for you to try that spot.

You knew that if the guy wasn't pulling up nickels he probably wasn't pulling up gold, and those street smarts allowed you to end up with that gorgeous honking ring! Now THAT is how you use a metal detector, using more than just your eyes and ears!!! Great finds!

Steve
 
Thanks for a thoughtful response, Steve, and some great stories!

Chris
 
I tried some light work gloves with surgical (food handling?) gloves over and just didn't like it either.

I'm sure there is someone on this forum with the solution. There always is.

Chris
 
[quote cwilk]I tried some light work gloves with surgical (food handling?) gloves over and just didn't like it either.

I'm sure there is someone on this forum with the solution. There always is.

Chris[/quote]Here are the gloves I wear. Black Stallion Elk skin driving gloves. I got used to them in the winter and have been wearing them ever since. When I started I always had little cuts on my fingers. I think they were from rocks. I also had my hands dry out real bad and I was always worried about glass. Not any more.
[attachment 73393 gloves.jpg]
 
"While researching the mark I came across an article called why to never scrap a 22k - 24k jewelry."
could you post a link to that article, please i would be interested in reading it.

thanks & hh steve
 
It took me over 100 searches to finally find a link with Birmingham date letters. In that time I read a lot of articles. There were two that said not to scrap antique high carat gold wedding bands. This is the only one that I found again easily. My ring is also marked SH or HS. I'll find that other article and post a link:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Gold-Wedding-Band-Marks-and-Hallmarks&id=378679

The other article was better. It dealt with older European items. I thought it appropriate to mention references to not scrapping 22k gold rings as I just scrapped all my gold found in 2007. Had I found this ring a month ago, I probably would have scrapped it. I know there are countries like India and Thailand where folks prefer very high carat gold jewelry even today and neither article made mention of this Far East high carat gold.

Chris

I have been wearing this ring on my pinkie and accidentally dropped it on my desk. It rang like a bell. It still amazes me how old this thing is. I wonder how long it's been in the ground? When it was made my great grandmother was 4 years old.
 
You need to get a charger and some rechargeables. My rechargeables last many hours longer than alkalines before they need recharging and they last 3-4 years before needing replaced. For a long time I wouldn't use them now I wouldn't use anything else.

Bill
 
Can't wait. I am building a really nice library with a thick three ring binder filled with great reading to get me through the winter months. I owe you a big one! I also enjoyed you recent post about Frank Fish.

Chris
 
n/t
 
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