BMc

I made many trips through the area seeking elusive Blacktail deer above Lake Mendocino. Beautiful country.

I'm guessing it would have to have been a package deal. I knew he was joking? and pretty sure he realized I was as well. The wife seemed to get a kick out of seeing her husband put on the spot though. I got the idea that this was just a funny routine type of interaction between them.

Thanks Doc! Great Find for sure!

Has anyone ever seen a 1909 S VDB Lincoln Head Cent? Held one in your hand? Found one in your pocket change? Finding one like that used to be on my bucket list (in the 6th grade) One day it actually happened! Walking home from school with two of my numismatists friends, I casually reached into my pants pocket to check my small accumulation of change for the day, to see if I had acquired any collectible coins. In those days, it was still possible to find an occasional valuable penny or two in circulation. Lo and behold, there it was! A 1909 "S" Victor D. Brenner Lincoln Head Penny! I was shocked and elated, and showed it to my friends who were suitably impressed and envious (for about half a second), until reality set in with the realization of one minor detail. We all knew where it came from and we knew it wasn't mine! I took another step, then turned around and started walking back to the candy store we had just left, to return the coin to kindly Mr. Jameson who had mistakenly given it to me in change. We knew he would be heart broken for the loss of his most valuable coin and we felt at least partially to blame for the costly mistake he had made. After all, Mr. Jameson was the only person in our small town who owned a metal detector and we pestered him almost daily to see, not only this special coin, but any other coins that he had found while detecting or had received in change at the store. Because of our persistent nagging, he had placed the 1909 penny where he could easily reach it in his coin tray and show it to us. But it just so happened that he had placed it along with some other collectible Lincoln pennies in the tray adjacent to the regular pennies he routinely gave back in change. When we arrived back at the store, several students were standing around whispering to each other. Someone said, "You won't believe what happened. Mr. Jameson lost his 1909 penny!" I went up to the counter and stood silently in front of the tearful Mr. Jameson waiting for him to notice me. He continued to frantically sift through the pennies in the cash register drawer searching for his prized possession. To get his attention, I noisily lifted the lid on a candy jar sitting on the counter and took out a single piece of candy. I held the candy in my hand and laid the missing penny on the counter. Finally, Mr. Jameson paused and looked down at me standing there; looked at the candy, then picked up the penny. The surprised look on his face and the gratitude in his eyes was easily worth as much to me as the penny was to him. He rewarded me with free candy the rest of the school year, which I shared with my friends. Mr. Jameson continued to generously share his passion for detecting and coin collecting with us by letting us see and handle all of his rare pennies which included a 1914 D Lincoln cent and several others. However, he did wisely remove them far away from the other pennies in his change drawer and he never lost another coin as far as I know. I have occasionally thought about the incident over the years and the irony of once having bought a 1 cent piece of candy with a 1 cent piece that would now be worth a few hundred dollars, still makes me smile whenever I think about it.

Thanks Jeff, but I am sure you are much more qualified for that position than I am.

GOLD, GUNS, and DETECTORS - THE REST OF THE STORY . . . I wanted to bump this post to include a funny part of the story which was not in the original post. After I had dug the nugget out of the tailing pile, and placed it in a Bandana in my pocket. I walked up an intersecting canyon on the way back to my vehicle, carrying my detector, digging tools and, an S&W snubby Mod 642 hammerless/stainless .38 Special revolver, tucked into my hip pocket. A short distance later, I encountered a young man in his mid 20's up to his elbows digging into the side of a creek bank with a long handled garden shovel. His 5 gal bucket was full of dirt he said he planned to take home and pan out. The man's attractive wife was sitting in the driver's seat of a pickup truck looking out the window at him, while his two kids, a boy and girl about 9 and 10 years of age stood in the bed of the truck watching the family dog run around in circles, barking and chasing its tail. The wife greeted me cordially and I said hello, then stood watching the man remove the last shovelful of dirt from the hole in the bank. She offered me a Pepsi from their cooler which I gratefully accepted and thanked her for. I turned back to chat with her husband who was staring at my detector and asked if I had found anything. I pulled out the Bandana and dropped the nugget into his hand for him to look at. He said, "Wow" and glanced down at the exposed grips of the .38 revolver in my hip pocket then said, "You would probably shoot me in the back if I took off running with your nugget, huh?" I smiled politely at him and replied sincerely, " No sir, not necessarily, but I just might take off with your wife, your truck, your 2 kids and your dog!" His wife was grinning down at us now, waiting to see what her husband's reaction would be. The man considered it for a long moment then handed the nugget back to me, which I returned to my pocket. Suddenly, he slammed his shovel to the ground, and shouted up at his wife, " Dammit! This is bulls$it! I told you I needed a metal detector!" She shouted right back at him,"You had your choice between a detector and a 30.06 and you chose the 30.06!! He griped back at her for a bit, then calmed down and offered to buy the nugget from me. He said "I know that's over an ounce and I will pay you $400.00 cash for it" (Gold was $350.00 per oz then) By that time, I was laughing so hard I just told the man, "Sir, it's not even close to an Oz. I do appreciate the offer, but I really don't want to sell it. Thank you anyway!" I thanked the lady again for the Pepsi, said goodbye to the kids, petted the dog, and left the man mumbling to himself about how he was sure it was over an ounce, and grumbling at his wife because she wouldn't let him have a detector.

Thank you! It varies based on location. The wind can cover and uncover anything that gets buried.

Thanks, but I don't consider it to be generous at all. The incredibly stark natural beauty of the deserts of the West and Southwest are vast and indeed fascinating. There are endless opportunities for exploration and discovery. I camped, explored and detected for a month and didn't see anyone else detecting. A few ATV riders only. I definitely plan to return and try to concentrate harder on finding gold. The scenery makes it difficult sometimes though. Lol!

Thanks Tom! Some of the photos of building remains are from Planet Mining District, La Paz Co. AZ. Some of the photos are of mine shafts etc on the North side of the Crossman Peak area, East of Lake Havasu City, AZ.

Above and Beyond the Call of Duty! Great Job!

When I first started out hunting silver coins, I routinely ended up finding "clads" and maybe an old Wheatie or two. When I stopped hunting coins and concentrated on nugget shooting, I started finding silver coins. That's not all bad I guess, but it can be distracting. The historical allure of old silver coins can have a tendency to divert attention away from gold. Especially if no nuggets have been found, and suddenly you find silver coins. In that case, I invariable seem to find myself gravitating toward old deteriorating buildings and evidence of habitation, and straying away from the more likely areas I should be seeking in order to find gold. And therein lies the problem. Fortunately, one that I have been increasingly learning to live with.

This is what can happen when your brain gets overloaded with data and details of various Gold detector types, struggling with a comparison of their features, and trying to decide which one to buy. In the early 1990s, While prospecting and camping in the Bradshaw Mountains of Central Arizona, I awoke early one morning, looked out of my camper window to the surreal snowy landscape and in the twilight of sleep, the following vignette flowed onto the page . . . This is a True Story about a Gallant Blue Knight, the Beautiful Gold Princess and the Wicked Iron King. Once Upon a Time in a Land called the Iron Kingdom, The Beautiful Gold Princess was being held prisoner by the Wicked Iron King; an Evil Sorcerer who was jealous of the Princess's lustrous beauty. He kept her hidden in a rusty quartz dungeon deep beneath his mighty Bradshaw Castle. All the Knights of the Realm sought to find and Claim the Beautiful Gold Princess but their Prospects were in Vein. The White Knight, The Green Knight, and even the Fabled Black Knight were left powerless and unbalanced in the treacherous mineralized underworld of the Iron Kingdom. One day, from a land down under, a Dauntless Blue Knight came to the Bradshaw Castle, swinging a wand with, seemingly, magical powers. The Gallant Blue Knight was determined to free the Beautiful Gold Princess from the bonds of her rusty restraints.The Wicked Iron King used his evil black sand sorcery to mask the Princess's beautiful golden voice, but the power of the Blue Knight's magic penetrated deep into the matrix of the Castle, and canceled the din and static of the Iron King's Magnetic Minions. The soft clear voice of the Beautiful Gold Princess then guided the Blue Knight to her rescue, and happily forever after, her shining beauty was admired by all throughout the land. Who said Fairy tales don't come true? Minelab. The next best thing to Magic!!

I've been told that you can also detect through a sheet of plywood but I haven't personally tried it.

Thanks! And speaking of tossed: Back in the 90's, I responded to a friends request to help a lady who had lost a large gold - diamond ring in the backyard of her residence. The grass was knee high and the lady's fiance/ soon to be husband, didn't want to cut the grass for fear of damaging/destroying the ring. Turns out that the lady had a fight with her fiance and had thrown the ring out of a window of the house! I didn't charge him anything for finding the ring and he happily gave me the sheet of plexiglass that he bought for me to flatten the grass with! Ain't Love Grand!

I am now. Back when I found these items, I was using a Multi Kruzer, a GB-Pro and a Shadow X 5.

No pain/worries. Don't know if you can see the barely visible 925 inside the ring. The button is all metal, maybe plated brass?

The "cloisonne" button does have an enamel plated look to it. Other than that, I have no idea other than it looked old and quaint. I'll dig out those items and see if I can get a better pic.

A well dressed business lady walked into J.W.'s Prospector's Supplies in Prescott Valley one afternoon carrying a metal detector, and laid in on the counter. She seemed to be on the verge of tears. Kevin Hoagland the store manager, said, "How did it go" "Not well", she said. The lady had rented the detector the day before and left a sizable deposit for it, but said she couldn't get it to work. She had rented it to search for a diamond studded gold earring in the shape of a horseshoe that she had lost when she was bucked off her horse near the stables close to her home in Chino Valley. It was her favorite set of earrings, worth a few hundred dollars, and it had been a gift from a special person on a special occasion, so it was the sentimental value that bothered her most about the loss. She was genuinely distressed and sad about losing the item, and seemed to blame herself because she couldn't stay on her horse when he started to buck! Kevin said he was sorry that she was unable to get the detector to work, and she quickly acknowledged that it wasn't the machine's fault, and that she understood she was inexperienced in operating a metal detector. Kevin told her not to worry about the rental fee, he wasn't going to charge her anything, and he expressed sympathy for her loss, and for her difficulty with the detector. Kevin and I looked at each other and being on the same wavelength, shared a knowing smile as I piped up and offered to help the lady search for her lost earring the following day if she would like the help. She was elated at the offer and an appointment was made to meet the following morning at the horse stables. Upon arrival, I was more than a little concerned about what I saw. The trail that she had been riding on when bucked off, was being shared by off road ATV vehicles that had massively churned up the sandy terrain. At that moment, I wouldn't have given a plug nickel for my chances of finding an earring as small as a dime in the torn up sand heap, as evidenced by the deep ATV tire tracks that I was looking at. I asked her to show me the area where she thought she had been bucked off and after walking several yards and looking around a bit, she said, "I think around here somewhere". I asked to see the remaining ear ring so I could place it on the ground and hear what it sounded like in my ear phones. I took the ear ring from her, leaned down and started to place it on the ground but decided against it. Instead, I said, "Hold out your hand" I dropped the two earrings in her hand which surprised her, as much as I had been surprised when I saw her lost earring right in front of us on top of the ground in plain sight! She was overjoyed at getting her earring back and offered to pay me for the service, which of course, I declined. As it so happened, she was a professional masseuse, and she offered me a "treatment" which I also graciously declined. She then asked if I had anything against hugs?? Heck, call me an opportunist if you want to, but after all the difficulty and disappointment she'd been through? I just didn't have the heart to turn her down . . .

Here you go, Skip!

Not sure what you're calling the good stuff, (half dollar?) but you will find it when you put a coil over it! Don't worry, It will come in due time. Karma will see to it as long as you don't stop taking care of your Grandma and Grandpa!

Four, if you count the Indian Head/Buffalo Nickel. Old home site remains: Pottery pieces and older shards. Broken glass and crockery, buttons, .22 bullet casing, and misc. artifacts. Indian head dates: 1890, 1900, and 1901. The Buffalo Nickel was a 1915, and the Jefferson was a 1970's date. A child's ring, marked .925 inside.

To me that was no heartbreaker V.L! I hunted for a year before I found silver. In fact, I had given up on silver and started hunting gold. I didn't find gold but I did find silver! It's a rush (and a milestone) either way!

The 1880s,a time of Economic growth: During the 1870s and 1880s, the U.S. economy rose at the fastest rate in its history, with real wages, wealth, GDP, and capital formation all increasing rapidly. For example, between 1865 and 1898, the output of wheat increased by 256%, corn by 222%, coal by 800% and miles of railway track by 567%. During the Great Depression, millions of people were out of work across the United States. Unable to find another job locally, many unemployed people hit the road, traveling from place to place, hoping to find some work. A few of these people had cars, but most hitchhiked or “rode the rails”. The 1930s economy, not nearly as good as 1880s. Many men were too proud to stand in soup lines and would rather work for what they could get. Often, Just enough to survive

I took a photo but can't open the file due to "JPG not supported" I'll see about changing extension. The quarter looks normal. A little tarnished again.

Here's Here's the other coins I found at the site. I suspect more finds will turn up, If I can keep going back. The Chris Columbus 1/2 dollar coin was a surprise. The resident had been a Mexican citizen so I kind of expected to find Mexican coins. Being silver was a bonus.