IdahoPeg

Pretty cool find!

Madtuna.....EVERYTHING in your land is out to kill you, from what I hear lol. Our bears just run away, at least so far!😄 Upper 80s to low 90s, maybe mid 90s a couple days. I always wear long pants and sleeves when detecting...protect from sun, bugs, and the brush. Except manzanita, NOTHING protects you from them lol!

Packed up the toy hauler and headed out to meet up with some friends and hit a few hydraulic pits in the Sierra Nevadas. MikeB was, as usual, happy to share his knowledge and give some good advice; only had one skunk day during the trip. I had forgotten how rugged and steep the terrain is out there compared to Idaho! After 5 days of lugging the 7000 up and down rocky, slippery, manzanita covered steep ravines, Chet and I decided to work as a team on a hillside where nuggets were found. We dug and detected: he used the 7000, then I used Gold Monster to quickly identify and locate the nuggets...we pulled a quarter ounce out of a 6 x 6’ area that day! Can you believe this guy is over 80 years old? He can work that pick like a man half his age! This great hobby certainly keeps us in shape! One day I was down deep in a narrow ravine when I heard a distant shout....then Chet came on the radio saying he just saw the biggest bear he’s ever seen, up close and personal, and that it was heading down the ravine. Crap! You mean the ravine I’m in that’s only about 5’ wide here at the bottom?!?! Luckily, I then could hear it crashing through the brush running up the hill to my left. Wish I could’ve seen him though. No big lunker nuggets on this trip, but a few chunkies were found: And here’s my total for the 7 or so days detecting....I’m happy with it! On the last day, I sat overlooking The Motherlode country....thanking her for a good time, good friends, and for sharing a bit of her riches with me!😊

Wow, amazing! Congrats to Ron. I can only dream of finding a specimen like that!

What an in incredible specimen....it’s got it all!

How amazing! I think I have a new “Bucket List” trip to plan! (Or at least dream about, lol!)

That’s just a bit south of me here on the Treasure Coast. Captain Jonah is a great treasure hunter and a heck of a nice guy! Ran into him about a month ago and he shared some tips. He and his crew were out all night of the big nor’easter when they scored...I stupidly waited till daylight! Snooze ya lose lol.

Awesome story! Congrats to your little brother!

I was out there too...a bit too soon after high tide, almost got pulled out to sea lol! Congrats on the lead with imprint, that’s cool. I only found one old nail and a bunch of change. I’m thinking I should’ve gone out with a headlamp the night before, with all the competition now!

Wow, you did great! Congrats!

What a cool adventure with some excellent gold and an exciting coin find! Thanks for sharing...loved the pictures, especially the one with the shovel for scale lol!

What an awesome new patch to find! Gives us all some hope while we endure the many skunked days/weeks looking for new areas!

Nice job! Hopefully you’ll get a nice ring there too!

Wow! What an incredibly awesome find! And a great few days of detecting too! Congratulations!

Actually they were all black with the hard coating inside, couldn’t see any markings...but several hours of rubbing on wet aluminum foil safely took it off and showed the awesomeness! I felt like the kid in Karate Kid...”wax on, wax off”....HOURS of rubbing them on foil lol! Surprised I’m not sore! 😄

Apparently they dredge sand from Canaveral Shoals to barges 5 miles off the Cape, then truck it to different areas. I would assume it’s been surveyed etc to make sure no wrecks there lol. In some prior years they used crappy inland sand but people complained. This year’s project along my particular treasure hunting beach sites will make it especially bad for detecting...they are super building up the dunes along with the beach as I type this. It’ll take a huge storm to open it up...I’m so happy and grateful I found my little Spanish treasures before they dumped on them!

It was basically a one day event at one of the several beaches I checked that day...nice big cut! But the morons are AGAIN renourishing the whole area now, so we’ll need a huge Nor’easter to come by to open things up again. What a waste of money.

What awesome hunt! You guys know what you’re doing, that’s for sure! Congratulations!

Hey Guys! Remember this thing that I found on Florida’s Treasure Coast a couple weeks ago and posted about? I was so disappointed there were no visible markings to link it to the1715 Spanish Fleet that sunk during a hurricane. Well, I decided to carefully try to separate the silver sandwich with a paring knife, and was successful with minimal damage. The inside surfaces were dark and thick with corrosion but I kept working on them(rubbing on wet aluminum foil did the best...very time consuming. I don’t have an electrolysis setup yet). So glad I did it! I’ve definitely found my 1st Pieces of Eight finally (1/2 Reales likely)! Minted in Mexico between 1700-1715 during Philip V’s reign in Spain, if my research is correct. They may be little, but I’m tickled pink with them! 🙂

Well guys, update on that silvery sandwich. I volunteer sometimes at The McLarty Treasure Museum and one of the professional treasure hunters came in today. I showed him my find, and he feels it is definitely two 1/2, or possibly 1 reales, stuck together. When I showed him this pic of the fiber pattern that had been on one of the sides before I cleaned it, he scolded me bigtime! I learned a valuable lesson...don’t go overboard with the cleaning. Apparently these small coins were in fabric sacks, and I erased the history there. But at least I think I finally found some Spanish silver....now I need one that still has its markings!

On the Treasure Coast we can detect essentially from the base of the dunes to the water/low tide line. Can not disturb the dunes and can’t go in the water here...everything in the water belongs to the professional salvagers with the leases. However, I’ve seen people at low tide in the trough...nobody bothers them. If you find something there though, say it was on the beach lol! Re your buddy’s catch & release fun....here’s one I watched a couple weeks ago...pretty cool!

Soaking it in aluminum foil with baking soda and hot water helped start to get the oxidation off. Plus tried coating it in spit(rec by a YouTube video I found), wrap in foil, and squeezing it tightly for a minute or two, rinse and repeat....surprisingly that worked pretty good! Could hear fizzing and smell sulfur. Then gentle brushing w baking soda. We find a lot of “space junk” here from the rocket launches at Cape Canaveral, and it looks kind of like that, but I’ve never found them oxidized like this.

The beaches here have been so socked in, but we finally had a one day event recently where there was some erosion and nice cuts. When that happens, we all drive frantically along the coast looking for the best spots to hunt...lots of competition. I got lucky and found a nice area with a big cut and only one other detectorist. Since this part of Florida is not touristy, you don’t find a buhzillion rings like Gerry does(see his recent post). This is what we dig up.... I did manage to find a nice tungsten ring with a gold band though, but I was more excited about the old nail...maybe from one of the shipwrecks? Also got a nice old tack... Along with this stuff....was REALLY hoping the item on the bottom of pic was a small Spanish reale.... But when I carefully cleaned it up, no sign of the cross etc...bummer. It’s actually 2 thin layers... So not sure what it is....rings in at 19/20 on my 600, same as some of the small reales found before by others here. I’ll have our Local Legend Terry Shannon look at it. And yes, HE found a nice half reale with visible cross etc that day! Hopefully, some day it’ll be my turn!

Love the stylish modeling of your finds amongst the other gifts from the sea!

You’ve all seen my pics of the tiny gold I get from the Boise Basin area up by my cabin....imagine my surprise when I unearthed this! For sure thought it was going to be a bullet lol!