Cal_Cobra

Congrats, that IS a bobby dazzler! You just found 5.86 grams more gold then they've found on Oak Island in the past ten years 🏆

He'll get a 1099 on the entire amount, up to him to do the accounting on his 1040 when the IRS come calling. Still a tidy profit if he plays his cards right, and the buyer doesn't flake out.

One thing the school of hard knocks has thought me, is not to take someones "kill-joy" antics too seriously 🧐

You're exactly correct. Had I no idea that the Manticore was coming, and they announced the Equinox 900, I'd be perfectly happy to upgrade from the Equinox 800 to the 900. I'm still considering selling my tried and true EQX800 and buying both the EQX900 and Manticore. I already have all the coils available for the Equinox line which will work on the EQX900, and it would make a great backup machine to the Manticore.

Yes and the seller will also have the "privilege" of paying Uncle Sam taxes on his sale. For 2022 tax season eBay will 1099 any sale over $600, and for the 2023 tax season eBay will 1099 cumulative sales over $600.

I'm going to upgrade to the iPhone 14 over the holidays, but I currently have the iPhone 8+ and had downloaded Google offline maps in case we'd lost cell service. It was helpful, but the old satellite view didn't prepare us for what the previous days flash floods had left behind. The old dirt road we were trying to take to get back to our vehicle had been washed out, was literally a 15' wide river and the other side of the road was a 15' tall 90 degree angled ascend, so we were unable to get across that and had to cross country around to find a new route out. Tom and I definitely need to get better acquainted with using GPS/mapping tools on our phones. What is the "satellite text feature" ?

Thanks! Yeah the ebikes are like 60lbs. They're basically electric dirt bikes, but yes they are heavy, and that's not an advantage. They do make carbon fiber ebikes that are half the weight, but at 3-4x the cost (and these were already expensive in my book). 19lbs sounds a lot better! I'm sure 5-10 years from now ebikes will be far better - lighter, stronger, better battery range and less expensive, at least I hope so. These aren't bad, but they have their pros and cons.

Thanks Chuck! I love finding rings too. Funny you should ask what makes it a trade ring 🙂 Years ago Tom and I hunted a site and I found a similar ring, and when I showed it to Tom he quickly dismissed it as a "Cracker Jack toy" 🤬 I disagreed, as looking at it close it had that crude, pre-industrial revolution construction look about it. One day I was on a fur trade forum and low and behold people were posting rings that looked identical, so I posted mine. They confirmed it was a 1700's to early 1800's trade item. I've since found several more at various sites. The one I posted is from an early trading post/stage stop site, so no doubt it's a trade ring. Unfortunately I don't think it'll clean up any better without compromising the metal. Some areas had alkali soils, which isn't kind to a lot of metals 😞 Lace up boots above the ankles....ouch! That's what I was wearing when I crashed, maybe that kept my ankle from getting jacked up worse?

Thanks! I told Tom that we've had so many crazy adventures we should write a book some day haha

Thanks! Definitely won't be ebiking through the desert like a horse with no name in the dark again 😏

Really nice buttons George! I dug this British Officers Royal Navy cuff from 1812, out west no less:

Nice job! Wow that is a lot of buttons, maybe a G.W. button is out there eh 🤔 That trigger looking thing looks more like an early car or tractor part to me.

Thanks for looking. I know the EQX800 better than the Legend, and because this was a recon trip with time being at a premium, I decided to use what I knew best. Honestly iron and depth weren't an issue here, heck a Bounty Hunter would do the job here, it didn't require the power of the Legend.

Thanks! Leg's still jacked up, but it won't keep me down haha

Okay that was funny 👏

Ironically Tom dug the seated half dime right next to where I'd parked my bike 🤔 We find a lot of those rivets. I think at least some of them are from horse tack as I've dug a few with leather straps still attached.

The other side of the religious medallion has a design around the edge, but the rest is plain. The image is definitely worn down, looks like it was worn for a long time before the loop at the top finally gave way. I like the flint knapped bottle base too, just not something you run across.

Thanks for looking. This is only the second almost complete clay pipe I've found out here. I've found a few stems and fragments here and there, I'm sure they're out there, but probably underground with the relics.

Not sure I'd say they were simply a "trickle". Some were somewhat wide, but the deal breaker was us trying to make it to an old dirt road on the satellite map that could get us close enough to our vehicle, and once we finally got to the road, it was completely washed out, with a good 15 foot wide creek of unknown depth, and the opposite side was an easy ten feet high with a 90 degree angle to ascend. Even without the ebikes, that simply wasn't going to happen, so we ended up wondering through the night, blindly searching for an easy way back to the vehicle, which just didn't exist. So while yes the water shed caused the bulk of our challenges, biking in the dark was what really killed us (well almost me), you simply couldn't see animal holes, quick sand, low bushes, etc. Moral of the story, never cross-country ebike in the middle of the desert in the dark 😡

Last week TomCA and I made a trek to recon some new (to us) stage stop type sites that we'd been researching this year. As some of the sites were miles away from any roads, we decided to get fat tire ebikes to save us from hiking miles and miles into and out of these sites. The first site we went to was in the middle of BFE, and we rode our ebikes. Little did I realize, that days before our arrival that the area had been subject to flash floods. This would factor into our traveling to and from the site, ending up causing mayhem. On the way to the first site wasn't too bad. It was a nice sunny day, but we did encounter little creeks that had filled up due to the rains, and it wasn't so much that the water in the creeks was un navigable as much as the flour sand ended up being a sticky, slippery, muddy mess making forging these creeks challenging. Had there been no rains prior to our arrival, they'd been easy to traverse, but not so much after flash flooding events. As the sun started heading down, I kept nudging TomCA to get a move on as I had zero desire to cross country through unfamiliar desert terrain in the dark, but that's exactly what ended up happening. We ended up going cross country to head back to the vehicle a different way then we'd came in, and although it looked easy enough on satellite maps, that would end up being an epic mistake. The sun set quickly on our way out and we were now going cross country in the desert in the dark, in a totally unfamiliar area, on ebikes. About a mile or two into our trek back to the car, I hit quick sand that sucked my bike in, ejected me and as I landed my feet planted into the quick sand and I fell backwards with my feet stuck to the quick sand like they were attached to fly paper. I was sure I'd broken my leg/ankle. I still think it may have a small fracture. So here we are in the middle of BFE in the dark, my foot's FUBAR and we still have miles to go to get back to the vehicle. Let's just say the journey back to the vehicle was hell for me (oh and did I mention it was my birthday...sigh). Hours later, and another bike crash to add to injury, we finally made it back to the vehicle. I ended up having to sit out the next couple days of detecting and let TomCA at it while I sat on the sidelines. So without further ado here's what I was able to manage on the trip. This is a site we barely recon'd and are itching to get back to. Nothing prolific per se, but a nice variety of finds including a J-hook (military?), eagle button, an old pocket knife (upper right), black powder gun primer, flat button, earlier eagle button, an old religious medallion (similar to what we find at Spanish colonial contact period sites). and a curious piece of glass! A native attempted to flint knap the base of a glass bottle! I've read about this, and seen examples in museums, but this is the first time I've found a piece. Someone had undoubtedly beat us to this site, but they didn't get it all! Scored a couple of eagle buttons (one's pretty crudded up), a flat button, lots of rim-fire shells and bullet drops, and some trade items including a trade ring, and European glass trade beads (eyeball finds). I know these old clay pipes aren't a big deal, especially if you're on the east coast where they're probably everywhere, but we rarely find these out west and this one was just sitting on top of the sand where it likely fell almost two hundred years ago! All the pieces actually fit together, it was probably stepped on by an animal (lots of wild mustangs and other critters around this area). Nothing to really write home about on this trip. TomCA did get a seated dime at a site that I had to sit on the sidelines with my foot injury, and he did get a seated half dime from the same site I got the clay pipe and trade items above, hopefully he'll share his finds as well. Maybe the next trip there will be with the Manticore, although truth be told, at these sites iron and depth are not obstacles. GL&HH, Cal

You'd be surprised. Years ago I found a GIANT skeleton key at Golden Gate Park. No idea what it went to originally, but it's one of my favorite keys I've dug and in beautiful condition with a nice green patina.

Tom and NIghtRay used to talk about it. Tom claims he dug a test pit there and found oldies.

LOVE the buttons in the first picture. I'd say we could never find those out west, but I did find a beautiful 1812-1820 U.S. Militia button, so I suppose it's possible. I'd say I'd trade you a Phoenix button for one, but you probably have already dug ten Phoenix buttons out there 🙂

Nice hunt, like the key!

Wino park is infamous.