Frodov
Bronze Member
From a No Hitter to a GOLDEN HOME RUN!
Hello again sports fans and welcome to tonight’s ball game! The evening is cooling off nicely but earlier today it was almost a scorcher out on the field beneath the noonday sun. Most folks would find shadier or cooler places to be and things to do on a day like today, but this dedicated (demented?) detector/athlete persevered and toiled on in the heat and humidity looking to make a score for the home team. At first it wasn’t looking too good for our hero (me).. completely went off and left the ball, the glove and the bat at home. How’s a guy supposed to play or even practice ball without the equipment, and it just doesn’t make sense that the sports field was not even a ball diamond, but rather a soccer field. One field of MANY. Oh yeah! Our hero wasn’t there to play ball, but to do some metal detecting. Go figure!
Yeah, it was the first time this guy was able to get out and detect any for a while now, we’ve had a lot of rain around these parts, fortunately no severe winds or tornadoes in my part of the country though. And I didn’t suffer from high water and flooding like so many of my neighbors in the surrounding counties and towns. No, I just had to stay indoors, bide my time.. oh and work. But today was a different story! Today I had time, it wasn’t raining, and the venue of choice to search wasn’t likely to be terribly waterlogged. (Got to think ahead sometimes and plan for contingencies..like soggy ground). The Venue today was a local park (to me anyway) with lots of soccer fields. It being a school day and in the middle of the day at that, there would be no worries of crowds or anything. I did have to dodge the lawn care maintenance guys as they were mowing the fields. Mowing.. something I had to do later today.. after detecting a bit!
As I said earlier, the day started off not being very promising. I was detecting to be sure! But I wasn’t finding much. Oh sure, I was finding can slaw and pull tabs and other various pieces of scrap metal, even some rather large pieces..
I found a few buttons, and a zipper pull.. and not surprisingly... one lone cleat “stud”.
Oh I found a few coins here and there but they were “few” and far between. One coin dug up from just under the grass roots was a Wheaty though, a 1951 . Then not very far away I got another penny signal on my trusty Prizm IV and unearthed this stretched “milled” penny. Someone’s good luck charm perhaps?
Yeah.. it was looking like it was going to be one of those days.. a “No Hitter” so to speak. At least I didn’t get skunked. I *DID* find coins.. a few. I found some more trash and stuff , even a pair of glasses that someone had dropped , they were just laying in the tall grass, not underground, but I found them with the detector, you couldn’t see them in the grass. I did unearth the lip gloss tube a few steps further along though. *sigh*
At this point I had about fifteen coins in my finds bag , a little over a dollar maybe, it was hot, sticky with humidity from all the recent rain, and I was beginning to hear my stomach telling me that it was pretty close to lunch time. I was halfway across the first field making lanes one detector sweep wide from one end of the field to the other. About midfield I got a stuttering confused signal from my detector. My indicator was jumping around from fifty cent piece down to Nickel/pull tab but hovering a lot around the quarter range. In past experience this usually ends up being a rather compacted soda or beer can at the bottom of a four to five inch hole. But, I stopped, stooped, pinpointed and probed. Whatever it was, it was just under the surface, beneath the grass. I carefully cut a plug and lifted it out to find a nice big piece of Boy Scout Paraphernalia, in the form of a rather rough looking neckerchief slide. Hey! I thought it was pretty cool! But then, I used to be a scout many many moons ago. You can see it both in the rough as it was found, and after I gently cleaned it up a bit with water and a toothbrush..
Well I might not have been finding a lot of coins, or at least not as many as I’ve become used to finding at soccer fields like the two that I was hunting this morning, but I was having fun, and at least finding stuff to talk about. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.. certainly wasn’t a “No Hitter” anymore. So I kept plugging along.. still thinking more and more about lunch. I was considering packing it in and running down the road to one of the fast food establishments when I got another quirky signal on my detector. This one wasn’t quite as jumpy as the one with the neckerchief slide, but it was bouncing around a little mostly in the quarter range. Again, I stopped, I stooped, I pinpointed and I probed. Again, the target was just under the grass, barely in the dirt. I used my knife/probe to find the edges of the target coin, cut a slit in the grass roots and popped it right out. *BLINK* ... *BLINK*BLINK*BLINK* !!!? That’s not a coin! My mouth was suddenly dry as cotton, my heart skipped a couple of beats then began to race, time took a break and even the birds and the breeze fell silent. Or so it appeared to me anyway. I had just popped out a rather wide and HEAVY ring from beneath the grass roots. It looked like a GOLD ring! I had to remind myself not to jump to conclusions though, I’ve found a few rings in the past that turned out to be costume jewelry or even bubblegum machine bling not even worth the coins whoever put into the machines to get them out of their plastic bubbles in the first place. This ring seemed pretty heavy for one of those posers though, but it had some white substance on the surface. Gold doesn’t “oxidize” or tarnish “white”. “ Yeah.. hold your horses and take a closer look.” I told myself. I brushed the dirt off the inside of the band first with my gloved fingers, then taking the gloves off and used my digging rag. I had to work mightily to work up a dab of spit to further wipe away some grime and grit but there it was! A hallmark! Pretty as you please in a very well defined little stamped square on the inside of the band was 18K !!!! It *IS* GOLD! Yeah.. my “No Hitter” just turned into a HOMERUN!! I forgot all about lunch at that point. I was giddy! Not to mention feeling a little sheepish after having done the happy dance while I texted a picture and the words “It’s GOLD” to my darling wife who was at work.
Well I couldn’t just pack up and leave now! I had too much adrenaline in me to call it a day yet. I decided that I would at least finish this second soccer field before heading off to home and my lawn chores that awaited me still. I was walking on air while I detected though. Oddly enough, I began finding quite a few more coins too. Karma? Persistence? Lucky Streak? I don’t know, but when another penny/nickel quirky signal popped up and I popped out a second ring I thought I was going to have to break into song or something! COULD IT BE POSSIBLY HAPPENING? TWO GOLD RINGS IN ONE DAY!? Hmm.. perhaps not. Though this second ring was kind of cute, it definitely looks like a child’s ring and a LOT like one of the bubble gum machine rings I spoke of earlier. It is engraved or stamped on the inside of the band however, but with the word or letters “ I N D I A “, and the little red stone looks to be paste. Oh well.. one near heart attack is enough for one day.
When I got home and cleaned the rings up a bit, the white substance on the gold ring must be paint or something as it comes off with the scratch of a fingernail. And this little ring is heavy. Check out the scale readings.. both grams and ounces..
I’m still giddy! My wife was duly impressed, especially after she saw the weight of the ring. Of course the clad count turned out to be pretty good too. More than paid for my gas to the park and back. Another deposit into the vacation fund.. have to rebuild it after recently going on our trip to the beach.
Yeah.. a HOMERUN day for sure. I don’t remember much about mowing the yard or trimming with the weed eater or tending to the garden. I’ve been on cloud nine since this afternoon. A very good day indeed! I hope you all get out and get a chance to do some treasure hunting for yourselves too. As always..
~HAPPY HUNTING~
Frodov
Hello again sports fans and welcome to tonight’s ball game! The evening is cooling off nicely but earlier today it was almost a scorcher out on the field beneath the noonday sun. Most folks would find shadier or cooler places to be and things to do on a day like today, but this dedicated (demented?) detector/athlete persevered and toiled on in the heat and humidity looking to make a score for the home team. At first it wasn’t looking too good for our hero (me).. completely went off and left the ball, the glove and the bat at home. How’s a guy supposed to play or even practice ball without the equipment, and it just doesn’t make sense that the sports field was not even a ball diamond, but rather a soccer field. One field of MANY. Oh yeah! Our hero wasn’t there to play ball, but to do some metal detecting. Go figure!
Yeah, it was the first time this guy was able to get out and detect any for a while now, we’ve had a lot of rain around these parts, fortunately no severe winds or tornadoes in my part of the country though. And I didn’t suffer from high water and flooding like so many of my neighbors in the surrounding counties and towns. No, I just had to stay indoors, bide my time.. oh and work. But today was a different story! Today I had time, it wasn’t raining, and the venue of choice to search wasn’t likely to be terribly waterlogged. (Got to think ahead sometimes and plan for contingencies..like soggy ground). The Venue today was a local park (to me anyway) with lots of soccer fields. It being a school day and in the middle of the day at that, there would be no worries of crowds or anything. I did have to dodge the lawn care maintenance guys as they were mowing the fields. Mowing.. something I had to do later today.. after detecting a bit!
As I said earlier, the day started off not being very promising. I was detecting to be sure! But I wasn’t finding much. Oh sure, I was finding can slaw and pull tabs and other various pieces of scrap metal, even some rather large pieces..
I found a few buttons, and a zipper pull.. and not surprisingly... one lone cleat “stud”.
Oh I found a few coins here and there but they were “few” and far between. One coin dug up from just under the grass roots was a Wheaty though, a 1951 . Then not very far away I got another penny signal on my trusty Prizm IV and unearthed this stretched “milled” penny. Someone’s good luck charm perhaps?
Yeah.. it was looking like it was going to be one of those days.. a “No Hitter” so to speak. At least I didn’t get skunked. I *DID* find coins.. a few. I found some more trash and stuff , even a pair of glasses that someone had dropped , they were just laying in the tall grass, not underground, but I found them with the detector, you couldn’t see them in the grass. I did unearth the lip gloss tube a few steps further along though. *sigh*
At this point I had about fifteen coins in my finds bag , a little over a dollar maybe, it was hot, sticky with humidity from all the recent rain, and I was beginning to hear my stomach telling me that it was pretty close to lunch time. I was halfway across the first field making lanes one detector sweep wide from one end of the field to the other. About midfield I got a stuttering confused signal from my detector. My indicator was jumping around from fifty cent piece down to Nickel/pull tab but hovering a lot around the quarter range. In past experience this usually ends up being a rather compacted soda or beer can at the bottom of a four to five inch hole. But, I stopped, stooped, pinpointed and probed. Whatever it was, it was just under the surface, beneath the grass. I carefully cut a plug and lifted it out to find a nice big piece of Boy Scout Paraphernalia, in the form of a rather rough looking neckerchief slide. Hey! I thought it was pretty cool! But then, I used to be a scout many many moons ago. You can see it both in the rough as it was found, and after I gently cleaned it up a bit with water and a toothbrush..
Well I might not have been finding a lot of coins, or at least not as many as I’ve become used to finding at soccer fields like the two that I was hunting this morning, but I was having fun, and at least finding stuff to talk about. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.. certainly wasn’t a “No Hitter” anymore. So I kept plugging along.. still thinking more and more about lunch. I was considering packing it in and running down the road to one of the fast food establishments when I got another quirky signal on my detector. This one wasn’t quite as jumpy as the one with the neckerchief slide, but it was bouncing around a little mostly in the quarter range. Again, I stopped, I stooped, I pinpointed and I probed. Again, the target was just under the grass, barely in the dirt. I used my knife/probe to find the edges of the target coin, cut a slit in the grass roots and popped it right out. *BLINK* ... *BLINK*BLINK*BLINK* !!!? That’s not a coin! My mouth was suddenly dry as cotton, my heart skipped a couple of beats then began to race, time took a break and even the birds and the breeze fell silent. Or so it appeared to me anyway. I had just popped out a rather wide and HEAVY ring from beneath the grass roots. It looked like a GOLD ring! I had to remind myself not to jump to conclusions though, I’ve found a few rings in the past that turned out to be costume jewelry or even bubblegum machine bling not even worth the coins whoever put into the machines to get them out of their plastic bubbles in the first place. This ring seemed pretty heavy for one of those posers though, but it had some white substance on the surface. Gold doesn’t “oxidize” or tarnish “white”. “ Yeah.. hold your horses and take a closer look.” I told myself. I brushed the dirt off the inside of the band first with my gloved fingers, then taking the gloves off and used my digging rag. I had to work mightily to work up a dab of spit to further wipe away some grime and grit but there it was! A hallmark! Pretty as you please in a very well defined little stamped square on the inside of the band was 18K !!!! It *IS* GOLD! Yeah.. my “No Hitter” just turned into a HOMERUN!! I forgot all about lunch at that point. I was giddy! Not to mention feeling a little sheepish after having done the happy dance while I texted a picture and the words “It’s GOLD” to my darling wife who was at work.
Well I couldn’t just pack up and leave now! I had too much adrenaline in me to call it a day yet. I decided that I would at least finish this second soccer field before heading off to home and my lawn chores that awaited me still. I was walking on air while I detected though. Oddly enough, I began finding quite a few more coins too. Karma? Persistence? Lucky Streak? I don’t know, but when another penny/nickel quirky signal popped up and I popped out a second ring I thought I was going to have to break into song or something! COULD IT BE POSSIBLY HAPPENING? TWO GOLD RINGS IN ONE DAY!? Hmm.. perhaps not. Though this second ring was kind of cute, it definitely looks like a child’s ring and a LOT like one of the bubble gum machine rings I spoke of earlier. It is engraved or stamped on the inside of the band however, but with the word or letters “ I N D I A “, and the little red stone looks to be paste. Oh well.. one near heart attack is enough for one day.
When I got home and cleaned the rings up a bit, the white substance on the gold ring must be paint or something as it comes off with the scratch of a fingernail. And this little ring is heavy. Check out the scale readings.. both grams and ounces..
I’m still giddy! My wife was duly impressed, especially after she saw the weight of the ring. Of course the clad count turned out to be pretty good too. More than paid for my gas to the park and back. Another deposit into the vacation fund.. have to rebuild it after recently going on our trip to the beach.
Yeah.. a HOMERUN day for sure. I don’t remember much about mowing the yard or trimming with the weed eater or tending to the garden. I’ve been on cloud nine since this afternoon. A very good day indeed! I hope you all get out and get a chance to do some treasure hunting for yourselves too. As always..
~HAPPY HUNTING~
Frodov
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