schoolofhardNox

Congrats on a stunning find. I would have automatically assumed junk ring 😄 But the real thing shines so nice, it has to be real. There is no better hunt than when you realize enough sand is gone for you to dig target after target. Even then, nice rings don't usually show up. Your good for a while at home 😇

How very sad Doc. Prayers for you and your family.

In New England, one could only dream of finding one of those coins.  Early US silver coins are extremely hard to find. Some people are lucky enough to find Draped Bust silver. The next level up from that would be to find Pine, Oak or Willow tree coinage. But to find any of the New England III, VI, XII coinage, is extremely rare. It may not look like much, but it is rare enough to commend a high price. There aren't enough of them to satisfy world collectors. If I found one, I would not believe I did 😄

What does the back side look like? It may be part of a wax seal. It does look old, but no one can tell unless they are familiar with your culture, especially ancient culture.

Welcome aboard from western MA.

Come on Bob.... milk that site dry of all targets. 😄 You know we are all chanting - go in deeper!!!! That's where the gold is. Again a nice amount of older coins. When you V's outnumber your Buffalos, you are on to something.

1 hour ago, Jim in ma said:

Raise the flag SOHN has found gold

Having that ring changing from silver to gold is a really good feeling.

But knowing it is gold when you find it sure makes the ride home shorter.

Do me a favor, Keep that flag up for a bit, I may be a while before it goes up again. 😏. I was content having pulled the silver from there. Never thought of gold. Only my second gold ring from there.

2 minutes ago, rvpopeye said:

PI or VLF , you still Hoover a beach . 

I always am tired after looking at one of your finds posts SOHNox .

On this one you even pulled off the old change silver to gold trick !🤯

I am not worthy. 🖖

Your tired of looking and I'm tired from digging.😯 Cleaning for a living, I'm pretty acquainted with the "Hoover" effect. 😅 I'm sure when I found the ring I was thinking - good it's silver. Throw it in the jar and keep going. Keep going,there has to be gold here somewhere. 🤔

That's the kind of beach hunting I like 😍. Looks like you hit the early wheat days, with plenty of Barber and V's still in circulation. I wonder what's still in the water. Prime gold ring area if you cared to get wet. Great hunt!!

Beach hunt # 5 is two days after the last hunt and back to the beach I was just at. This time I brought the GPX to get some depth over the Manticore. I just had a hunch that this was the best spot on this beach, and I should (hopefully) get some silver. I worked my way from the car to that spot, digging some small aluminum targets in the process. Finally, I reached that saturated muck section. It was target rich like I hoped, and my anticipation was rising after finding a couple of the early (1962/63) pull tabs. All the rest were the 1970’s, early 80’s tabs. The modern tabs were found elsewhere. Soon the coins started to show up and many were severely degraded. But so far no silver. Finally, a small silver earring, followed by a couple of silver dimes and tons of nickels. I remember bitchin’  - wondering how many nickels do I have to dig before I get a gold ring??….. Apparently a lot of them. 🙄 After a while I got a blaring signal and down about an inch or two, I got a black colored ring. Nice, another piece of silver (or so I thought). A silver dime or two and more clad and I was done for the day. I was happy to get all of that and prove to myself that I was right to think the pulse machine should find a lot more here than the other day. Walking back to the car, I heard the unforgettable sound of the shaft snapping in two on my machine. It snapped right where the holes for adjusting the length of the machine are.  A weak point for sure - thin carbon fiber. 🤬 Oh well.  As usual, when I got home I rinsed off my good finds container and looked over the dimes for dates and other items I kept in that container. I also cleaned up that dark black ring and noticed a hint of gold under that black film. That black muck sand really colors some of the items black. It just took a slight rubbing to expose the true nature of the ring. 10K gold on that fairly old looking signet ring. I got gold and didn’t even know it. 😅 Apologies to all you true gold hunters on my ignorance. When you only see gold in your dreams, you tend to not recognize it 🫣 A way better day than I had hoped for.

OOOHHH, is that plum gold?? Nice! There are still some nice targets even though they are far and few between. I bet you worked hard for that one. Are the other ones Tungsten or Titanium? Don't say Stainless 😬

On 10/20/2024 at 8:04 AM, F350Platinum said:

Nice hunt School, 

That is a Louis Vuitton bracelet ya got there if it has "LV" at the bottom of the V, or a knockoff. 🤗 You might have done better than you thought!

Your conditions must be wildly different than mine, I do have a spot where the bottom goes from a light layer of sand to black muck, but if a coin is there, even part of one, it at least comes close to its usual ID. 🤔 Could be the machine too. I've considered buying a Manticore but honestly I'm often put farther away. 😬

Well, what do you know....It has the LV on the bottom and also says Louis Vuitton on the small flat section on the top of the V (not on the face of the V, but looking down on the top of the V). I did way better than the person that bought it 😄 I payed nothing for it, but someone was willing to pay a ridiculous amount for a gold plated over copper "V" on a bit of leather. 😝 Thanks for the info on it.

On 10/20/2024 at 8:06 AM, rvpopeye said:

Well , you won't be alone , I'll be checking them too !  Takes less time than digging one of the  pull tabs that we dig hoping for gold . Well worth the effort  IMO . 🥸 

Let me know how it goes.  😉 But if you find gold then neither of us will ever rest again.

On 10/20/2024 at 11:57 AM, Jim in ma said:

What a staggering amount of targets!!

Just think of that newbe with their new detector, goes to that beach and doesn't find anything and blames the detector. 

Keep on DIGGING.

Thanks Jim. I wish the newbie would go there before me and save me the trouble. 🙂 I wish I liver closer to the coast. I dread the drive home.

Beach hunt # 4 is back at the beach I found multiple silvers. The tides were really low, and I was hoping the Manticore could pull some more of those deep silver dimes. Well, a week went by since my last hunt and it may have been sanded in a bit too much. That made it hard to find how far down on the slope to hunt and find that coin line. No luck there, so I decided to roam around and see what I could find. After a long time, just finding clad seemed like a good idea. This beach is small but old, so I need to find the deep targets if I want silver. Along the way I noticed the Manticore grunting a lot in the iron range, so I decided to dig one of the loud low tones. It was a bottle cap, and I was happy it didn’t false into the nonferrous range. But after traveling around to a promising area I hit a couple of iffy targets which turned out to be coins at about 6”. I was a bit surprised they did not come in stronger. I then decided to dig some low grunts and found almost all of them to be either aluminum or coins that were very undersized from beach wear. For some reason the Manticore did not like this section. It was a damp and stagnant section that was loaded with decaying seaweed and just below the surface sand it turns to black muck.  I did not get any silver coins, and finally my time ran out. I had one dime I was hoping was silver, very different from the other ones, but it was a more recent clad. ☹️ It wasn’t the day I had envisioned, but still nice to get out. When I got home and started to sort my finds I did notice a small star that was part of an earring that had that silver color. Can I be so desperate that I have to count such a small piece of silver to continue my streak? 🙄 I guess I am that desperate. 😂 So, turning a deaf ear to the crowd, I counted it. But in the back of my head, I could not forget how bad the coins sounded so I knew I would be back there, - this time using the GPX. Spoiler alert - that post is coming soon.

30 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

Thanks man! 

I hope to find a second, or the other half of the 1607 hammered sixpence I already found. 🤔 I've been looking for the other half, but am glad I got the half with the date.

I'm pretty convinced that these relics were left behind by a very early expedition, and I'm collecting them all in a case that I will do something with in the future. 🤐 For sure I am both thrilled and honored to have found them.

I saw that after I posted  🫣 But I was too lazy to change it 😏  😅 Well then, you will just have to get gold hammered. There has to be something very early going on there that hopefully is referenced in some old history book or papers.  Someone probably stayed there a short time and moved on. I hope you can figure it out.

Some interesting early stuff coming out of that field. There may even be a hammered silver hiding somewhere in that field for you. Them lead ball are giving me nightmares lately 😄 I find so many now at my hunts that I fear them 😶😱

On 10/13/2024 at 8:32 AM, F350Platinum said:

Tough one School, but impressive as usual. 👍 Interesting you got the flat button! Is the left chain silver?

Thanks. Beaches are stingy lately.... at least the one I pick 😄 No such luck on the chain.... junk just like the cross.

On 10/13/2024 at 7:47 PM, rvpopeye said:

As usual , an amazing amount of holes dug SOHN  🤯 . Should have earned you a gold ring but the silver isn't so bad. You should also get a medal for clearing so much junk off the beaches you hunt. 🖖 

So cool the line tangle grabbed you some jewelry !Will have to remember to check those .

 

 

Yeah, I never check the tangled fishing line, but I spotted the cross. You know how it goes.... now I will waste my life checking every single tangled mess in the hopes of finding a gold chain. It will never happen 😓

On 10/13/2024 at 10:48 PM, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

I agree, so many targets! So many digs! And some so small!

You should follow after me and get the deep gold. 😋 I'll clear all the junk for ya. 😅

Beach hunt # 3 is over. I was torn between going back to the beach where I found the last-minute silver coins or going to my favorite beach and look for deep silver. Since the tides were questionable, I decided to go for the deep stuff. I switched from the 12 ½” Detech DD coil to the Colitek 14” anti-interference coil for the GPX. Since there was a decent amount of EMI, I was hoping that the Coiltek would allow me a better and deeper hunt than the Detech running in cancel mode. I was wrong.😕 I find that the Detech is a much harder hitting coil, even in cancel mode that running the Coiltek normally. I struggled to find anything deeper than when I previously hunted with the Detech. Plus, the unusually high amount of different coil impressions in the sand from other detectorists did not help my cause. 😅 I could not find one single silver coin and was just clad hunting when I stumbled onto a broken ring which had lost whatever it had mounted to it.  It’s not pretty by any means but it did keep my silver streak alive…barely. 🙄 A decent amount of clad considering the competition, a Russian iron core coin cemented to a rock, some bling and an out of place colonial flat button, which I unintentionally put in the copper cent lineup. I also found a clump of fishing line, which I usually take and throw out so it does not tangle any sea life. This time I spotted a small cross in the mix and when I got home I noticed it had a chain with it. Not silver, but it did make me take note that I should look them over before tossing them out. Next time it may just be a silver chain. So, not the best hunt but I always enjoy getting out to the shore. Next beach hunt will be at the beach that gave me silver. We’ll see if the Manticore can do its magic there again.

i got the same email. I thought about it and decided I do not want to spend any more $$$ on the AQ. I have one of Joe's short run batteries and that works well for me. What I really wanted was a redesigned, rock solid, final version of the AQ. I guess I must have missed that e mail 🤔.  If you don't have one of Joe's batteries and you do a lot of water hunting, I guess that is a blessing, but for me I am more interested in other areas now and not for another battery for the AQ.

On 9/28/2024 at 8:35 PM, Chase Goldman said:

Great stuff, Nox.  I am no stranger to those plastic hit flags and bagging and tagging archeological target finds.  I have volunteered at Montpelier (James Madison's estate) in Orange, Virginia.  They have done a complete restoration and the Head archeologist embraces using volunteer detectorists for site surveys and employs a full time detectorist on staff.   One of the reasons is that much of the detailed property records and President Madison's personal papers were burned by his heirs.  So the archeologists rely heavily on detectorist led site surveys to determine where they are going to do a more traditional archeological dig.  They love the nails because of how much the nails can tell you about the specific timeline associated with the area where the nail was found.  I have dug a lot of "mundane" ferrous targets that the staff has gotten excited about.  But regardless, all the archeologists still come running and get as excited as the detectorists when someone digs a large cent, ring, coat button, or silver coin.  

That must have been an exciting project doing Montpelier.  At any moment you could turn up something special that can add greatly to the story they are trying to tell. I hear you about the "nails" thing. 😂 When we first started, they wanted us to dig everything, especially nails, since they can tell you a lot. We quietly explained that we would need 9 lives in order to dig it all. One listen to our machine gun sounding detector and they quickly updated their want list.

Giving them a starting point on where to dig greatly increases their odds for success.  We did the same thing at a virgin 17th century native hamlet. We found metallic targets, but also while digging found some shell from their middens. That gave them the location of structures where field school students could dig their test pits. It was a huge success with a lot of non metallic items found. I've been doing these hunts since 2009 and I'm a bit uneasy, as I now get excited to find the mundane stuff like they do 😂

You're certainly in the gold club!  Great job finding it. I hope you get the rest of the chain, but that will be tough. You did the right thing by giving it to him. It belongs there to be passed down to the next in line. I bet he never tells you NO, you can't hunt here anymore 😅

Just an update to the King Philip War project I am working on. It's been a crazy couple of months chasing after the retreat of the English back to Deerfield, MA. I haven't posted a lot about it, since most of what we are looking for are lead round ball. Seen one you've seen them all 😄 Unfortunately, this project will be ending in a couple of weeks. As usual it comes with a lot of twist and turns, never doing what we envisioned happened. Every time we feel we have determined the parameters of the retreat, we find the boundaries expanding in the most unusual way. This picture is just a small part of almost 100 round ball that were found when a fellow detectorist located just one 69 caliber round ball beyond our established boundaries. It would have been a 150 yard shot from the battle zone, beyond what we figured they would do. It's a fast paced, horse driven retreat, but somehow a small diversion developed leading us to this location.  Who says metal detecting is boring? 😅

Yikes, why did they have to bury that ring to tease ya? 😯 It's always sad to see those burials. Someone lost some one special that must have loved the beach. I often wonder if the people burying it realize that people can find it, or does the thought never cross their mind. But what's more concerning to me is that you put a zinc penny with your trash??? 😲😲😬......😂Rightfully so. Looks like you had some fun during those trips and got some silver as well as a lot of clad.

On 9/21/2024 at 8:57 PM, F350Platinum said:

Yikes, I could have written this. 🙄

To me water hunting is like I would imagine walking on a planet with a dense atmosphere is, with liquid lead for water. 😵 All slow motion and resistance.

Having to think of everything you need or should leave behind, remembering to tether everything right so stuff doesn't get in the way, making sure you don't have anything on you that can't get wet... On and on. 😅

Every time I do it I have to appreciate the people that do it all the time, my hat is off to them. Tough stuff.

However, the returns have been pretty darn impressive, so there's that. 🤣

I guess like anything it takes a lot of repetition and perseverance before it becomes second nature. I'm impressed you tried it especially where you are, my local river can be like a lake if I pick the right time and conditions to be there. I can't imagine battling waves and having to watch my back all day. 😬

Great hunt! Glad you were successful. 👍

It looks so easy when I watch other people do it 😂. It would take a very specific, unhit location for me to do this anytime soon. I just can't justify the time vs the little I could get from it. I can do much better being on shore. Luckily this beach is rather calm. My favorite beach would be a no go, no matter what day you go there. Those that do water hunting deserve all the gold and silver they get. 🙂

On 9/22/2024 at 8:35 AM, GB_Amateur said:

I think I read '1903' on the Barber Quarter.  Any estimate on the age of the ship spike?

Always good when USA summer season ends, so we get your periodic reports and photos.  It's still too dry here for conscientious public property detecting but that won't last forever....

I think it is a 1903 quarter. Corroded right where you would see if the last digit is an 8 or a 3, but I'm leaning towards a 3.

On 9/24/2024 at 3:28 AM, Sinclair said:

As I always say: Anyone who finds somethin whilst water hunting deserves it 😄

Hard on yourself and your material

Yeah, water hunting is rough on you. Good luck to those who successfully and regularly do it.

On 9/24/2024 at 9:22 PM, Jim in ma said:

LOOKS like you picked up where you left off last year🎖️ 

Keep that Silver Streak Going

It so much easier to lust silver over gold 😄 I can be rewarded with silver most times. I would go home empty handed most times if I hunted for gold. But I never turn gold down when it decides to visit me 🥰

Beach hunt #2 is done. I bought one of those floating water sifters and decided to do some water hunts at a beach that is a bit calmer, wave wise. I spent around 5 hours in the water, traveling around parts of the beach I knew were an older section. I used the Manticore for all of my hunt. It took me a while to get used to being tethered to a sifter while trying to blindly pinpoint and scoop up my targets. I must have been a sight to see from the shore. 🙄 But after sort of getting a system, I found that water hunting will be delegated to only rare occasions. In other words, I suck at it. 😂 I must admit I expected more quality targets in the areas I was doing, but only managed a lot of aluminum trash and a couple of really thin Memorials. I found most of my clad at the beginning of the hunt for about 4 hours, waiting for low tide to get there. Only in the last 2 hours after getting out of the water did I get all the silver and a couple of partial coins. I found the silver dimes in 4 consecutive holes as the tide was rising fast. I ran out of space and time, as the night lights had turned on at the nearby building. A 10-hour hunt and only luck saved me at the end of the day. It’s always a good feeling to be able to just get out and hunt for a while.

Free sunglasses. 👍 At least yours aren't in mangled pieces like mine usually are 😄. Is that earring on the fishing weight silver? Looks like a decent piece of jewelry. I don't mind digging sinkers, since at least the lead is left behind. Possibility for gold maybe too. Nice going on picking up the small chains, they are hard to find.

Even the Equinox has mineralization issues. My Manticore is the same way but a bit better. Unfortunately, mineralization is usually different for different locations, so it's easy to understand why some people have no issues, while others lose a great deal of depth. I usually just dig any grunt that pinpoints small when I get into the black sand. If that doesn't work, unfortunately a PI is the only answer.