Tell about your best find!

[MDnoob]

Again just for fun- Most valuable, most interesting- whatever.

Also will help to get us noob TH'ers pumped up to go out hunting!

 

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[Fred]

Sounds like "Gold Fever" to me. Fred

 

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[skillet]

Best Find

3/4 ct Diamond solitaire ring in a 14 k white-gold Tiffany setting...

Color and clarity of the stone was above avg. and it appraised @ $4,805 and sold for $2500... bought bunkbeds for the kids and put up a privacy fence.

Found it in the sandbox next to the swings @ 3" deep. Read a dead '3' on the meter of my GTA 1000... now I dig EVERY target that reads a "3"!

 

[bulltab]

any silver coin to me is a great find.

 

[Spirit]

So far my best find was my moms class ring when searching my grandma's yard. Unfortunatly anything I seem to find there is quicky claimed by mom or my uncle

 

[dodgers11]

I bought my XLT in early late January of this year. After hours of trying to figure out where to start MD'ing I remembered that I was living about 50 yards from an old homesite that had burned in the 40's. Duh!! After about 20 minutes of searching I found my first target as a TH'r. It was a 1910 wheat penny, but it was in pretty bad shape. I'm still tickled pink to say the least!

 

[EvilN8]

mine..

Found this at an 1802 home site... still don't know anything about it..

Know something? Drop me an email. -n8

 

[MDnoob]

...another neat post that should never die!!!

 

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

I have many relics that I consider my best finds but I won't list any of them because I'm already in trouble with the Archeaologists(every site pre-1910 is an archeaological site according to them). So I'll stick with the half carat gold mens ring appraised at $3320, found at Bird's Hill park when they drained the lake. I was pretty happy but I still have historical finds that I like better. lots of nice finds everyone, keep replying!
DAVE.

 

[coinshooter]

The Archaeologists are just pissed they didn't get there first!
As long as you document where you find it, I doubt it would really matter.
After all, an archaeologist is just a treasure hunter with a degree. Does that make treasure hunting any more legit?

 

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

It's more legit when the federal government is involved. Canada and the U.S. should adopt the U.K.'s Treasure trove act. Then there would be no problems.

 

[Fred]

The govt. should mind thier own stinking business and stay out of lawabiding peoples lives.
I remember the creating of Birds Hill Park,Dave, nice find. Just for the heck of it you should try to find some of the old beaches along the Red River from the 40's and 50's,like Shady Grove in the south part of St. Vital. Fred

 

[Lowbatts]

Found an 1840 large cent and a an 1844 BOM Half-penny token along with casting lead, what appears to be a powder falsk cap, rusted scissors, square nails not burnt nor bent and several clay pipe stems in a very small spot all at once.

Pretty sure it was an early trading spot on the trail between my town and points south and east as it was near an early river crossing as well.

Now to my knowledge no one in the archaeological field or any member of government was looking for them, so they have no claim to them or to any work they are not a part of or supporting.

My Uncle saw some Archies with shovels in one of his fields, they believed they had located an early Indian site and their pedigree gave them a right to work the area. He went after them on his tractor with his shotgun.

They haven't been back, but he will let scouting troops hunt the washouts in the fields for stone points and other minerals. I found my first excellent arrowhead there, an early archaic dovetail. Now that's American as apple pie boys and girls.

 

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

Shotgun. don't give me any ideas! I know here in Manitoba, you could be 100 percent aborigional, on your ancestors land and if you pick up an arrowhead, it's against subsection blah, blah and it belongs to the crown(government). They also have full authority to rip up your yard, not replace the damage, and steal artifacts from your property! They should pack up their toothbrushes and trowels and buy a metaldetector!

 

[Lowbatts]

Yeah, don't even let me get on my political soapbox, I have no patience for tyranny, here or abroad. To those Americans who support letting items rot in the ground unless some pedigree'd mut is doing the recovery, move to France. My government has NO inherent rights, while the people of this country do, without regard to governmental say-so.

To you Canadians who bear that yoke of oppression, anytime you want to change things tell us and we'll bring our detectors and guns and make a weekend of it!

We do have a streak of the aboriginal in us all having come from some stone age society or another. So we have a right to the tools of our ancestors. Is that a collective or individual right? You decide if you are an individual or part of a collective.

My favorite find? Liberty! Please note the change in currency in the US over the last 60+ years from having depictions of ideals (Liberty in a variety of forms) to idols such as Rosie, Ike, Saca and who knows but I would suggest if it keeps on this path the next coins should have a bust of Rodney Dangerfield because they will get no respect.

Sorry about the run-on now keep me off my soapbox!

 

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

Well said. I'm sure this applies to more than just metal detecting!
I often look at the difference between human laws and God"s laws.
Keep them good finds comin' in! Dave(Can.)

 

[MDnoob]

Hmmm...well there is a fine line between Archaeology and treasure hunting; the former being for the benefit of historical research and cultural enlightenment. The latter being for personal gain.

Don't get mad....keep reading....

Stuff that Archaeologists find, if it is important enough, will end up in a museum for all to see and learn from. Treasure hunters finds end up in their pockets.

However, in North America, there are very few metal goods that you will locate with a metal detector which are historically signifigant. A gold dollar that some joker lost in 1880 isn't worth jack squat to an archaeologist, but sure as heck is worth alot to a treasure hunter.

For example: The old iron mines and the many ruined buildings around it behind my house are from the 1880's and are one of many such ruins int he area- I don't know if they are protected, but I bet they are. Are they ever going to be officially excavated? Not in the next 500 years. Are they historically signifigant? I suppose so, but only in a token way. Digging coins there should be no problem--- Now if one was to go to Tuscany and start metal detecting among the 2000+ year old tombs, I can see some people getting pretty upset about that.

Leave the coinshooting to the metal detectorists; leave the ancient indian burial grounds, war graves, etc. to the archaeologists.

 

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

True, some knowledge has been contributed, unfortunately where I live the main museum has floor upon floor of amazing artifacts we'll never see. They haven't changed their displays in 35 years. What do the people get out of this? In England, the main contributers of historical evidence are metal detectorists. As for personal gain, I have collections of historical artifacts cataloged and put away for when I open my private museum. I want the people to see them and learn about their history. I sell the jewelry and coins to finance my efforts. Alot of us want to contribute our share to the public, it adds to the pleasure of our hobby. H.H. Dave

 

[Lowbatts]

Hey MD, not mad, like I said, on the soapbox. Of course none of us are advocating despoiling graves or protected battlesites. If I was to find an Indian burial site, why would I want to call archies in? So they can despoil it? In the name of what? Much more likely to call in some local tribe council to do their thing to protect it from the archies.

Tuscany? I couldn't get an export license if I could get permission to hunt there. I do know some archies who have hunted in the Med and bring back nice Roman coins and other such to add to their collections. Of course they are on legitimate excavations because of their position and can get permits. I learned some of my cleaning techniques from them!

Cultural enlightment happens to those of us who patake in the business of research, because we do not get degree'd does not mean we do not have a right to seek out and recover those things left behind by others. One thing about drawing lines, distinctions and borders between hobbyists and "professionals" is that they get thicker and heavier, like barbwire.

 

[Lowbatts]

Wow, all non-coin items turned over to the local historical society? Voluntarily, of course, that's how it always starts. Then we get a few "bad apples" who keep things from "them" such as a horseshoe or a rare bottle. I don't mean to sound offensive but I've heard the hand-wringing on too many other issues.

While I admit I have a box of things destined for the local historical society and several of these things have decent monetary value this should never be a factor in "keeping the police off your back." The police around here are all very heplful to detectorists. They see me at construction sites and often volunteer information on other sites.

Yes, got a chip on my shoulder, the local forest preserves are off limits because some self-described naturalists can't tell the difference between a groundhog hole, the work of a North American mole colony, the digging by red and gray squirrels, bottle diggers, and metal detectorists. The worst part of it is, some self-described metal detectorists willingly go along with such prohibitions due to their own similar ignorance and their hand-wringing guilt, though they may have never seen any MD'er do any wrong. It's the timidity of the go-along-to-get-along crowd that threatens the hobby most. You must be aggressive in your defense as well as pro-active in your pursuit of the hobby.

"Whatever is my right as a man, is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee, as well as to possess." Go get 'em Thomas Paine! Rights Of Man

The cat's in the hospital and the wife's car is broke down, so she's got my car at her workplace with all my gear in it! I'm stuck at home today, else I'd get off this soapbox and back in the hunt regarding the topic at hand, greatest finds![/i]

 

[Dsorgnzd]

Best find(s): (1) Heavy 14k gold class ring, found at Va. Beach. I returned it (lost by a rising senior at Green Run HS). Three days later I found my own college ring which had been missing for 3 years - sunk down into the carpet behind a piece of furniture. A co-worker said I found my ring because I returned the ring to its owner. In any case, there were two happy people as a result.

(2) Large cent (too worn to read the date) found on the bank of the Dismal Swamp Canal.

(3) Silver half dollar, found next to the picnic shelter at our church.

(4) Arrowhead, found in the hole while digging a silver dime at Arrowhead Elementary School in Va. Beach.