What was the find that got you hooked?

[CoinHunterAZ]

I had always had an interest in metal detecting. In the early 1980's a buddy took me gold prospecting with him in the Bradshaw Mtns. in central AZ. He let me borrow his metal detector and I found a 1919 Wheat cent. I know, paltry find...but I was pretty excited about it. Later that same year my girlfriend got me a cheap Bounty Hunter metal detector for Christmas. I started finding silver coins around town with it. The rest is history as I upgraded to better detectors and started doing more research. My first "good" detector was a Tesoro Sidewinder. To this day some of my best finds were found with it. I love being outdoors, and metal detecting is the perfect hobby for getting outdoors and having fun.

 

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[Toecutter]

When I was 8 (1988) Mom got me a metal detector probly the cheepest one Radio Shack sold, later that year at the beach I found a bottle opener/ knife with a pearl type handle, cant say I was hooked but thinking about that knife was what got me to buy a machine last year, second time out wth that a I found a nice green IHP and have bin hooked since...

 

[tmanfromtexas]

I bought a used Garrett back in 2004 and hunted around Galveston County when i wasnt working. Never really found anything. That detector quit working about 2 months after I got it. I was then off to the L.A. area working and was reading this forum. I decided to buy a Ace 250 to play around with in the parks in Long Beach. One Sunday morning I was hitting the park near where I had my RV set up. I went around a tree and got a quarter signal. As I put the detector down to dig, I got another one. I dug down 3 inches and out came quarter after quarter after quarter. I cleaned that hole out and dug the second target, quarter after quarter. After it was all said and done, I had found 160 clad quarters in 3 holes. Not sure who put them there but I know they were disappointed when they went back to get them. That was what hooked me. TMAN...

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Well, I've always been interested in history and treasures...but it wasn't untill late in life - twelve years ago, I volunteered on a Passport In Time (USFS) Project, I used a borrowed Tesoro Cibola detector, and came up with a 1" cut nail - I was hooked, and even bought my own Cibola, and started detecting several times per week - this year-long Obsession/"Hobby"...!

 

[Megalodon]

Cool story, and similar to mine. Seeing treasure magazines on the stand in a convenience store, I bought several different issues. I was so mesmerized, I ordered the Garrett Deepseeker ADS III from Kellyco in 1983. (Thus my username).

Took it out a couple times to a local ball field - found a few coins, but not many to remember. Then another day out, as I was setting the machine up for a hunt, an old dude came up to me and said "Boy you'll never find anything here, this place has been searched a thousand times". Thanks for the encouragement! He walked away, I started sweeping and only went 10' more or less and got a signal. That signal was a gold ring, and I was hooked!

I went from a Garrett Groundhog to my Deepseeker ADS in 1984. By then, it was called a Master Hunter 7. Loved that ring tone - what Charles Garrett called the sound of treasure. The first coin I found with that machine turned out to be a 1833 half-dime in about EF. I was so excited by that find that I continued to hunt and didn't notice how the fog and mist gradually turned into a steady rain - that is, until the machine started to get erratic and I saw the meter needle floating in water. I returned it to Garrett and they fixed it under warranty - even though I admitted that it was all my fault. As you know, those machines were heavy, especially with the 12" coils, so I added a Tesoro Golden Sabre Plus later, and would switch to it when getting sore on a long hunt. First coin with the Tesoro was a Q.E. sixpence dated 1561. Then one of James 1.

But I was hooked before my first detector - by beach hunting with eyes only. My father would take me fishing for smelt at Onset Pier in Wareham, MA in the early 1960s. When I got bored, I'd explore the beach. I always found rings and other jewelry sitting on the surface and wondered what else could lie beneath.

Treasures are still out there, but sadly, the smelt runs are long gone and they are not coming back.

 

[Megalodon]

So sorry for your loss and pain, creskol. Time does not heal all wounds.

 

[Clad2Silver]

Back in 1983 I bought my first detector, an entry level Garrett. At first I was only finding junk and not sure about the hobby. Then one day I dug a shallow Jefferson nickel and the rest is history !

 

[washingtonian]

I went from a Garrett Groundhog to my Deepseeker ADS in 1984. By then, it was called a Master Hunter 7. Loved that ring tone - what Charles Garrett called the sound of treasure. The first coin I found with that machine turned out to be a 1833 half-dime in about EF. I was so excited by that find that I continued to hunt and didn't notice how the fog and mist gradually turned into a steady rain - that is, until the machine started to get erratic and I saw the meter needle floating in water. I returned it to Garrett and they fixed it under warranty - even though I admitted that it was all my fault. As you know, those machines were heavy, especially with the 12" coils, so I added a Tesoro Golden Sabre Plus later, and would switch to it when getting sore on a long hunt. First coin with the Tesoro was a Q.E. sixpence dated 1561. Then one of James 1.

But I was hooked before my first detector - by beach hunting with eyes only. My father would take me fishing for smelt at Onset Pier in Wareham, MA in the early 1960s. When I got bored, I'd explore the beach. I always found rings and other jewelry sitting on the surface and wondered what else could lie beneath.

Treasures are still out there, but sadly, the smelt runs are long gone and they are not coming back.

I’d love to find either of those coins, dang! That is awesome.

 

[RustyGold]

She was a beautiful treasure creskol so sorry for your loss.

 

[RustyGold]

What got me hooked was I had lost my wedding band setting up a pool for the kids and realized my wedding ring had slipped off my finger. I was devastated so I thought maybe I could find it if I had a metal detector.
I bought an AT Pro and was able to find my lost ring of several years in about an hour of searching.
I was hooked and only lost that band 2 more times but found it once more by eyeball and then the last time with the Equinox.
I was drawn to metal Detecting because I would see the old guys searching the beach while I was out surfing. I thought to myself at that time, I’m going to metal detect when I’m too old to surf, lol!
Boy! Old came quick and I should of been detecting a whole lot sooner.
One other thing, when I was 8 years old I had a dream that I was walking along in a dirt field and saw a string poking up out of the ground. I decided to pull on it and out of the dirt popped a silver quarter tied to it. I kept pulling on that string and coin after coin kept popping up and out of the dirt. I think I was hooked on finding coins from that time on.

 

[JoeVal]

I stumbled on this hobby in July 2018 when some detecting videos showed up on my YouTube feed, which led to me researching detectors and buying a Bounty Hunter Land Ranger Pro off Amazon. Found a lot of clad following local festivals, but the clincher was finding this coin over 1,800 miles as the crow flies from its home. 1955 silver Guatemalan 25 Centavo detected at 8” in a local park.

 

[Shooting Star]

Meteorites.

 

[washingtonian]

I stumbled on this hobby in July 2018 when some detecting videos showed up on my YouTube feed, which led to me researching detectors and buying a Bounty Hunter Land Ranger Pro off Amazon. Found a lot of clad following local festivals, but the clincher was finding this coin over 1,800 miles as the crow flies from its home. 1955 silver Guatemalan 25 Centavo detected at 8” in a local park.

View attachment 1687276

Dang, that is a neat find!!

 

[washingtonian]

Meteorites.

I'm looking forward to finding my first with a detector. Awesome!!

 

[oldkoot]

Wow! What kind of cache? Depression era silver? Too cool!

It was a wood box that had all kinds of old coins in it and when my detector went off over it the TIDs were jumping all over the place and it was giving an overload sound I thought it was a large piece of scrap metal,the best coins in it were 12-2.5 dollar 1800s gold pieces,the house my wife and I owned and which I detected the crawl space was built in 1889 and is actually what made me decide to purchase a metal detector that is the one find that will always stick in my mind the most it and the first silver coin I dug the 1941 merc.

 

[oldkoot]

The find that got me hooked was the love of my life, Karen, who was killed by a drunk driver on this very day 49 years ago. She was the best hunting partner I have ever had, and not a day goes by that she doesn't cross my mind at least once. I have never gotten over her departure from this earth. We built our first detector in an electronics class we were taking.

That is a heart breaking story and I am sorry for your loss creskol

 

[GopherDaGold]

I had already been detecting off and on for years and my best find until recently was a WWI US Boys Working Reserve bronze uniform insignia. Nice, but not enough to get me hooked.
It was boredom and a very close available field that got me swinging again after a long hiatus.
The addiction began a millisecond after I saw this:

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

I had already been detecting off and on for years and my best find until recently was a WWI US Boys Working Reserve bronze uniform insignia. Nice, but not enough to get me hooked.
It was boredom and a very close available field that got me swinging again after a long hiatus.
The addiction began a millisecond after I saw this:

View attachment 1687443

Sweet Silver Seated...!

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Merc dime in a churchyard. That was 30 years ago, and I still enjoy pulling those winged liberty coins out of the ground !

Funny how we seem to remember that first good find, so vividly...!
My first coin, was a clad cent i - dug in my own yard.
See attached photo - you will note that I dug out a PLUG of sod,
in order to get to the coin - but, I didn't realize I just killed that
piece of my lawn...! Live and learn...! =\
I've changed my ways since then...!