tnt-hunter
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2018
- Messages
- 1,915
- Reaction score
- 10,404
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Mountain Maryland
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
- 9
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher CZ-21, Minelab Equinix 800, ,Garret AT Pro,
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Went to a state park to do some water detecting. In Maryland you can only detect the beaches and swimming areas and you can’t do them until after Labor Day. I was away the week after Labor Day and missed the rush of detectorist who show up to clean out the parks. I was hoping that the other folks left me something.
I went to a park that usually produces some goodies and spent 6 hours with the ATPro doing the whole swimming area and a quick check of the beach and it looks like this park might have been missed by the other folks. I found 35 coins with a face value of $2.90, 4 rings, some earrings, an earring back, a bead, fishing sinkers, small bits of aluminum and brass (including a small piece of brass chain), a black stainless steel chain with an antique brass key on it, some tabs and of course aluminum foil.
3 of the rings are silver and the 4th one is a cheapie kiddie ring. The silver ring on the right has tiny diamonds in it. 4 of the 16 diamonds are missing. I have found a number of silver pieces with diamonds in them and the diamonds are always small. That makes 4 diamond rings since I started my new year May 1. A good start to this year, do you think it will keep going? Probably not. One of the rings says I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK and another one says FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE. The only earring back I found is silver as well so 4 silvers for this day.
One of the earrings looks like gold. I checked it over and found 14k FI on it. I think this might mean 14k gold fill, but I’m not sure. I tested the stone and it is a red topaz or a spinel. I’m pretty sure it is a topaz. I’m not sure why they would put a gem stone in a piece of gold fill jewelry. I have found 14k and 18k jewelry with czs instead of real gems. So maybe the earring is 14k and not gold fill. Anybody know anything that might help?
I went to another state park that’s not used a whole lot and has a very small beach and a small swimming area which gets pretty deep in the middle so I can’t detect that part, it’s way over my head. I detect the entire beach and as much of the swimming area I can reach without going underwater. I spent 5.5 hours and found a total of 12 coins with a face value of $.54, a Mercury dime, one ring, 3 pendants, an earring, a piece of a cheapie ring that broke, some fishing gear, 2 selfie stick retainers, 58 sinkers, and some bits of foil.
The Mercury dime was a nice surprise it was over on the edge of the beach. We are not allowed to detect anywhere except the beach and the swimming area. I believe this section had grass on it in the past. The grass was growing on sand and I think when they groomed the beach they removed some of the grass making the beach a little larger, making it possible for me to find this little lady. Unfortunately when I scooped her up I must’ve pushed her face through the sand a little bit because she’s kind of scratched up but still a 1944 mercury dime is worth digging and was a nice surprise. Unfortunately that was the only silver that I found that day and there was no gold. This particular beach and swim area usually produces more fishing sinkers than most of the rest of the swimming areas that I detect but the count was way above what I normally find. Some of the sinkers area really tiny. Still king of the small stuff?
It was time to go back to the Boy Scout camp to see if I could have any luck there. I’ve detected most of the camp at least once and have at least cleared the best of things out of the way. Of course they’re still using camp so they’re still losing things and still leaving me more tent pegs so there’s always something to find. Right now I’m trying to clean up areas and get them as thoroughly done as possible.
I spent 6.5 hours with the CZ21 hoping to finish the site I have been working on. I am going way out beyond the normal tent area to see what spots might have been used long ago. That has proved to be a good idea. All together I found 141 coins with a face value of $12.01, 39 camp tent pegs, some good personal tent pegs for my scout troop to use, a piece of brass chain (possibly from a patrol supply box), a Canadian quarter, a Cub Scout neckerchief slide, an R, a dead pocket knife, a cheapie charm bracelet with 2 silver plated charms, 6 rope tensioners, 19 fishing sinkers, some can tabs and lots of melted aluminum foil from the campfires.
19 fishing sinkers is again way above the norm. Sometimes only 1 or 2 and the best times usually 10 or 11. The nickel count was above normal as well. 27 quarters, 32 dimes and 31 nickels is not the normal coin distribution for a camp outing.
I went back to the Civil War bullet school hoping for a little luck and I had some. In 5 hours of swing in the CZ 21 I managed to find 46 coins with a face value of three dollars and $3.26, a couple of Civil War bullets, a finial, a button, the end of a buss fuse, two ace bandage fasteners, a cheapie jewelry clasp, a few bits of can slaw, some wire and only six can tabs.
The Civil War bullets are a 58 caliber mini ball and a Williams type III cleaner bullet. The finial is a different style than I’ve seen in the past. I had to do a little searching to find one like it but I’m 99% sure it is Civil War. When I first dug it out I wasn’t sure it was brass because it’s black but on closer inspection it looks like it’s been in the fire so that’s why it’s so black. This is the first finial I have found. This school site has produced a number of CW firsts for me.
The button is a Civil War cuff button unfortunately the back is in great shape and the front is just 1 small piece. When I pulled it out of the hole all I had was the back. I looked at it and I could tell from the inside that it had been a whole button until just then. When I fish around in the hole I did find a piece of the front but the rest of it must’ve disintegrated. The soil must’ve been pretty hard on it and just the pressure of me digging in the ground and pushing the button caused the front to collapse. I am not going to clean the front anymore because I’m afraid I will destroy what little bit there is left of the button but when you look closely you can see the shield and the eagle so it looks like it’s a general service cuff button. There is no backmark. No way to get an exact age, but it looks like the style used during the civil war and that matches the other things I’m finding.
We walked at the mall again. I found 2 dimes in the Walmart coinstar machine, a quarter in a coin return. As we were walking our loops I noticed 2 quarters on the floor outside of the photo booth. I pulled aside the courts and there was another one on the floor of the booth.
So more civil war bullets and artifacts, silver, including one with ice, lots of clad and a real pile of sinkers. Most of them are small, but there sure are a lot of them (83 in all for this week). Does that make me king of the sinkers? The ring count for this year is looking really good so far. Thanks for looking, stay safe, good luck and may your coil lead you to good things.
I went to a park that usually produces some goodies and spent 6 hours with the ATPro doing the whole swimming area and a quick check of the beach and it looks like this park might have been missed by the other folks. I found 35 coins with a face value of $2.90, 4 rings, some earrings, an earring back, a bead, fishing sinkers, small bits of aluminum and brass (including a small piece of brass chain), a black stainless steel chain with an antique brass key on it, some tabs and of course aluminum foil.
3 of the rings are silver and the 4th one is a cheapie kiddie ring. The silver ring on the right has tiny diamonds in it. 4 of the 16 diamonds are missing. I have found a number of silver pieces with diamonds in them and the diamonds are always small. That makes 4 diamond rings since I started my new year May 1. A good start to this year, do you think it will keep going? Probably not. One of the rings says I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK and another one says FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE. The only earring back I found is silver as well so 4 silvers for this day.
One of the earrings looks like gold. I checked it over and found 14k FI on it. I think this might mean 14k gold fill, but I’m not sure. I tested the stone and it is a red topaz or a spinel. I’m pretty sure it is a topaz. I’m not sure why they would put a gem stone in a piece of gold fill jewelry. I have found 14k and 18k jewelry with czs instead of real gems. So maybe the earring is 14k and not gold fill. Anybody know anything that might help?
I went to another state park that’s not used a whole lot and has a very small beach and a small swimming area which gets pretty deep in the middle so I can’t detect that part, it’s way over my head. I detect the entire beach and as much of the swimming area I can reach without going underwater. I spent 5.5 hours and found a total of 12 coins with a face value of $.54, a Mercury dime, one ring, 3 pendants, an earring, a piece of a cheapie ring that broke, some fishing gear, 2 selfie stick retainers, 58 sinkers, and some bits of foil.
The Mercury dime was a nice surprise it was over on the edge of the beach. We are not allowed to detect anywhere except the beach and the swimming area. I believe this section had grass on it in the past. The grass was growing on sand and I think when they groomed the beach they removed some of the grass making the beach a little larger, making it possible for me to find this little lady. Unfortunately when I scooped her up I must’ve pushed her face through the sand a little bit because she’s kind of scratched up but still a 1944 mercury dime is worth digging and was a nice surprise. Unfortunately that was the only silver that I found that day and there was no gold. This particular beach and swim area usually produces more fishing sinkers than most of the rest of the swimming areas that I detect but the count was way above what I normally find. Some of the sinkers area really tiny. Still king of the small stuff?
It was time to go back to the Boy Scout camp to see if I could have any luck there. I’ve detected most of the camp at least once and have at least cleared the best of things out of the way. Of course they’re still using camp so they’re still losing things and still leaving me more tent pegs so there’s always something to find. Right now I’m trying to clean up areas and get them as thoroughly done as possible.
I spent 6.5 hours with the CZ21 hoping to finish the site I have been working on. I am going way out beyond the normal tent area to see what spots might have been used long ago. That has proved to be a good idea. All together I found 141 coins with a face value of $12.01, 39 camp tent pegs, some good personal tent pegs for my scout troop to use, a piece of brass chain (possibly from a patrol supply box), a Canadian quarter, a Cub Scout neckerchief slide, an R, a dead pocket knife, a cheapie charm bracelet with 2 silver plated charms, 6 rope tensioners, 19 fishing sinkers, some can tabs and lots of melted aluminum foil from the campfires.
19 fishing sinkers is again way above the norm. Sometimes only 1 or 2 and the best times usually 10 or 11. The nickel count was above normal as well. 27 quarters, 32 dimes and 31 nickels is not the normal coin distribution for a camp outing.
I went back to the Civil War bullet school hoping for a little luck and I had some. In 5 hours of swing in the CZ 21 I managed to find 46 coins with a face value of three dollars and $3.26, a couple of Civil War bullets, a finial, a button, the end of a buss fuse, two ace bandage fasteners, a cheapie jewelry clasp, a few bits of can slaw, some wire and only six can tabs.
The Civil War bullets are a 58 caliber mini ball and a Williams type III cleaner bullet. The finial is a different style than I’ve seen in the past. I had to do a little searching to find one like it but I’m 99% sure it is Civil War. When I first dug it out I wasn’t sure it was brass because it’s black but on closer inspection it looks like it’s been in the fire so that’s why it’s so black. This is the first finial I have found. This school site has produced a number of CW firsts for me.
The button is a Civil War cuff button unfortunately the back is in great shape and the front is just 1 small piece. When I pulled it out of the hole all I had was the back. I looked at it and I could tell from the inside that it had been a whole button until just then. When I fish around in the hole I did find a piece of the front but the rest of it must’ve disintegrated. The soil must’ve been pretty hard on it and just the pressure of me digging in the ground and pushing the button caused the front to collapse. I am not going to clean the front anymore because I’m afraid I will destroy what little bit there is left of the button but when you look closely you can see the shield and the eagle so it looks like it’s a general service cuff button. There is no backmark. No way to get an exact age, but it looks like the style used during the civil war and that matches the other things I’m finding.
We walked at the mall again. I found 2 dimes in the Walmart coinstar machine, a quarter in a coin return. As we were walking our loops I noticed 2 quarters on the floor outside of the photo booth. I pulled aside the courts and there was another one on the floor of the booth.
So more civil war bullets and artifacts, silver, including one with ice, lots of clad and a real pile of sinkers. Most of them are small, but there sure are a lot of them (83 in all for this week). Does that make me king of the sinkers? The ring count for this year is looking really good so far. Thanks for looking, stay safe, good luck and may your coil lead you to good things.
Attachments
Upvote
22
