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Hi All while detecting fro gold came across this old diggers pick and one decorative item sure not ruby just some kind of plastic. Goldfields of Creswick.

You may have noticed when digging around old cabins or campsites that Hills Brothers coffee cans are pretty common. It turns out they can be used to get a rough idea of when the site was in use by noting slight differences in the designs of the cans over time. It was so useful in Alaska that BLM put together a booklet showing can designs from 1900 - 1963 that they could use as an aid in dating Alaska cabin sites. You can download it for free at https://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/ak/aktest/ofr.Par.57416.File.dat/CoffeeCanFieldBook_web.pdf

Hi All Few interesting items from Golden Triangle area while chasing gold: Thimble: few ladies blouse buttons or Chinese shirt buttons: Safety Pin: Enjoy GoldEN

Hi all. I got this button a few months ago at a PMAV club outing at Maryborough in central Victoria. Buttons don`t do a great deal for me but I was pretty impressed when I discovered it was a Civil War era button that came over here from the United states. On the back it says Treble Stand and under that Extra Rich. It was really deep but someone had already dug half way down to it and then walked away. Once I recovered it I filled in their hole. The third photo is what it used to look like. cheers Dave

My wife and I were hunting a early 1900's coal camp in southern Colorado this last year and I found this item. At first I didn't know what it was so I did a little research and found out it was a nameplate for a billiards table. Can you image how that billiards table got there and the stories it would tell. This was a first for me. What are some of your unusual finds?

"NEW LONDON, Conn. — Keith Wille was metal detecting in the woods of Connecticut a few years ago when he found a triangle of brass about 21/2-inches long with a small hole in the middle. He thought little of the find at first, and threw it in his scrap pile. Wille, 29, is a manager at a survival training company, but spends most of his spare time metal detecting. In September, Wille drove from his home to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center with several boxes of objects — the highlights of his recent collecting. The museum — a vast, glassy structure that looks like an airport terminal, complete with a 185-foot-tall traffic- control-style tower — is a testament to the years when the Foxwoods Resort Casino made the Pequots the wealthiest tribe in the nation. Although those fortunes have declined, the Pequots are still financing projects by the archaeologist Kevin McBride, who works full time on what Lori Potter, a spokeswoman for the Mashantucket Pequot Nation, called “history that’s written by the conquered and not by the conqueror.” Inside the museum, Wille unpacked his boxes, displaying items discovered around the Pequots’ homeland: George Washington inaugural buttons, musket and cannon balls, a gold ring, commemorative spoons, a 100-year-old military insignia and the triangle of brass. McBride, the museum’s director of research, and David Naumec, its senior historian, inspected the lot, but were most curious about the crude brass triangle. They knew it was a kettle point, an arrowhead fashioned from a piece of a brass trade kettle (which resembles a pail) — an archaeological signature of the 17th century." Rest of the story with photos

This book has gotten very good reviews. [www.amazon.com]

My buddy Merton was down for a few days and we went hunting. From past experience he tends to get a little grouchy at the parks and beaches so I played it safe and we went relic hunting. We both did well scoring barber dimes and various other trinkets. We had fun when the weather cooperated using our XP Deuces in fast mode. Looking forward to our next hunt..... so I can kick your ass again buddy! Also included in the photos is a nice vintage sterling silver cross that I found at a park a week or so ago. HH strick

So I had a good day detecting yesterday and on top of the gold I found I found this little square. Stared at it for a sec then thru it in my pouch to look at it later. Knowing it was not magnetic it kept bugging me. I got home and looked closely in the light noticed it was stamped with a lion and 2 circles. I scratched a little on the back and it started to look yellow. Any idea what it is? How to clean it? Any info would be appreciated.

Anyone know much about musket balls, found these a while back on some private land I had a chance to check, the large one has a very heavy lead oxide layer and the lead feels heavier than I expected for its size?

Managed to get out last weekend with Merton. We went to my super secret pounded out by every body and their brother for the last 30 years relic spot. Tried every trick we knew. Large coils, small coils, notching up and notching down, gain full blast, gain on auto. manual ground balance and auto ground balance. Heck Merton even brought out his PI machine for a while (a very short while) Highlights were a real nice 1920's Canadian half dime in excellent condition (not in picture as Merton forgets where he puts things) a toasted seated dime, a very good condition religious pendant marked Oct 7 1901 and a 1899 V nickel. The only down side to the whole experience was when Merton told me he now wants to buy a ctx.... I tried telling him that I'm the only guy allowed out there with a ctx...I don't think he cares strick

It's been two weeks and only 5 grams in the poke.....for me it borders one leg in the town of Skunkville....hope the other leg don't land in it. I am going to try and split half a day working old tailing piles and the other few hours searching for a new patch. Today was much the same....lead, some iron, and shotgun heads and primer. The shotgun heads sure sound off loud it's at a point I recognize what it is before I dig the target. This time it ended being a nice Horstmann Sons & Drucker 1845 to 1849 Eagle A coat button. from the research I did this evening I understand its very scarce. I have not yet found one on line for sale or a picture of one. Just never know what you dig out !

We went back to the Calvary out post where I found the eagle buttons last weekend. This time I was armed with my X-Terra 70. I sold my FoRs CoRe to my buddy because I ordered a FoRs Relic from Chris at AZO...which should be here at the end of the month. So, my buddy, brother, and I armed with two CoRes and an X-Terra gave it a go. No eagle buttons this time but I scored a beautiful silver broach some .56 Spencer cases (one un-fired), Ox shoes, and an old iron wrench. Everybody scored Spencer cases and bullets plus another un-fired Spencer Long. Beautiful weather, great friends, metal detectors, and a great site...Awesome! Silver broach with stones in great shape. .22 Long Rifle compared to it's big rim fire brother-.56 spencer. HH Dean

I wish they were gold double eagle coins but I'll take em anyway. These are my first Civil War Federal Eagle buttons. Rare finds in Central Arizona. The one with the "C" in the shield is a Calvary officer's button. This site has been producing other Civil War era relics as well. No old coins...YET. HH. Dean Don't know why the pics are so large?

Hunted an old home site/mine this morning with the Fores CoRe. I've hunted this place a couple of times before and I'm getting it figured out. This was my best hunt here yet. The CoRe is great for picking the good stuff from the bad. Today was the day for old, large caliber (52 cal), rim-fire cases both rifle and pistol (41 cal). One not fired! The Webelos neckerchief slide is really cool. The shotgun head stamp says Peters/Victor. Never found one like this before. The large disc is from a silver slag pour I found there last time. They did some small time smelting as I have found some copper slag as well as this silver pour. It was dirty and had stuff stuck in it so I melted it, cleaned it up some, and poured it in to a round mold. This is the second silver pour I have found. I'm really liking the CoRe for this kind of work (play) . Good luck! Dean

I've been hitting a couple old relic spots lately. One of the better finds I wanted to share with you all. I had never heard of the "California Midwinter International Exposition" till I found this Medallion a couple weeks ago. Turns out it was the Worlds fair in 1894. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Midwinter_International_Exposition_of_1894 The area I was hunting was an old town on the delta......the traces of which have been erased by mother nature and man long ago. The tokens and watch fob were found in a couple other spots that time has been more kindly too. Finally since this a prospectors website....I wanted to show off the beautiful Gold Pendant that I had Steve "aka El Dorado" make for Lisa. It was from a nugget I found up in the high country this past Summer. Thanks for looking. strick

Pardon my posting a cross-link, but Keith Southern started a thread over at Dankowski's forum that is too special to pass up. Following the drywashers and prospectors and miners, we are walking in the footsteps of the pioneers and even the original inhabitants of our continent. Keith is a great example of a detector ehthusiast who has developed and educated himself to be a real historian. Have a look of you like. I think that this is an impressive example of where the detector users of the future will go. http://www.dankowskidetectors.com/discussions/read.php?2,97948

I went out to a field near me that has yielded lots of gold over the years but not much recently. There is still gold there, but it is few and far between. I had my 7000 and Whites GMT. I was in an area that was just packed with trash so I pulled out the whites to try to pick through it and find some non-ferrous targets. I guess there was just too much iron in the soil because lead bullets and even my gold sample glued to a poker chip showed 50-75% on the iron scale. I had found a stirrup in this area two years ago, and since I really couldn't distinguish ferrous from non-ferrous targets I figured I would look for some relics. I soon found a screaming target louder than the rest. I pulled it out and it was a small piece of cast iron that I could barely make out the numbers 1776. I knew their was no way it could actually be from 1776 though. I kept digging in the area and then found the other half to the first piece and it looked like the handle to a derringer. This was pretty exciting so I kept digging the area and found 4 more pieces, the hammer, two halves of a barrel and another piece that I could not tell what it was. I could tell that it was not a real gun, just a toy, since the barrel was in two halves. When I got home I did a web search and found examples of the toy in just a few minutes! It ended up being a cap pistol made in 1876 for the centennial. The other side of the handle has 1876 on it but it is too rusted to make out. Here is a short description of the cap gun and pics of some in good shape, with my find at the bottom. The picturs are of the S1.1.1 but I measured mine and since it is about 5.25" long it looks like it is the S1.1.2. Since I don't look for relics, I usually don't find them. Even though it was not gold and it is rusted and broken this is one of my coolest finds and it was pretty neat to find out exactly what it was. Stevens "1776 - 1876" Centennial Cast Iron Cap Gun made in 1876 S1.1.1 with a three star rating for rarity as described in the book Cast Iron Toy Guns and Capshooters by Samuel H. Logan and Charles W. Best. The Stevens "1776 - 1876" is a single shot single action capshooter. There are two that are almost exactly the same and they are identified as S1.1.1 and S1.1.2 in the book Cast Iron Toy Guns and Capshooters by Samuel H. Logan and Charles W. Best. The only difference between the two is the size. This one is the smaller of the two by 1/2 of an inch. It is 4.75 inches in length.

Apart from several kilo's of scrap metal some interesting items have come to the surface while digging targets in the Australian goldfields The coin is an 1846 sixpence and was found in Victoria The object is, I think, the top of a walking cane. It is brass and is weighted with lead in the domed end. I found this with an SD2200 down about 2 1/2 ft with a 18 inch elliptical mono coil These are lumps of natural copper that I dug up in northern South Australia in a very small long forgotten goldfield The same location produced some nice clear quartz The same location also produced some nice lava samples including this section of lava tube What interesting things have you found? Cheers Peter

Look Guys I found this site by accident and I am not sure if they are serious or taking the P, So can one of you translate this huge amount of confusion tell me what you think,lol. there are many stories there, one after the other referring to UK Detecting and US Detecting, is this for real or not ?? John. http://thedailydetectorist.com/

What a great find. I am always amazed as to how the ancients worked gold like they did///// http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/37420

Pic showing four out of a total of 10 gold bracelets or armbands or the like which a detecting pair found in one field in Denmark. Total weight of gold is 3.5 kg or 7.7 pounds - 113 ounces troy. 3,500 one gram nuggets - ouch! These object are from the Bronze Age - 1500 - 500 BC Only catch. By law in Denmark this is National Heritage Treasure. The finders and the landowner will recieve a payment based on the value of the metal.

So today I was out detecting at the beach here in Auckland NZ. I found some old coins a 9ct ring and and importantly a WWII dog tag. I posted about my finds on a local forum (paydirt) and a member of that forum suggested I also post the find here. The reason for posting about the dog tag here is that someone on here may be able to track down relatives of the solider that lost this tag and reuniting them. If anyone could be of help that would be cool. I have attached a few photos and a link to an obituary for the solider that provides some info. Thanks in advance for any help!!

Can honestly say I haven't found one of these before LOL. I was out getting a little more time on the F75 LTD2 looking for an old 1800's fairgrounds. Wasn't getting targets in this area until I came across this. I swung across the end of it when I found it. I thought it was another horse shoe. It was completely intact and about 7' long until my dumbass started digging it up. Thought it was just a piece of sheetmetal, pried up on it and snapped about 10" off one end. I know it's not worth anything but I think it's a cool find. I have tons of axe heads etc., now I have a saw LOL. The wife just loves these old rusted treasures I haul home....REALLY :-) Kenny

Over the years of prospecting. Weather it be dredging, highbanking, detecting. I've came across to strange finds in my pursuit of the elusive gold. I've found a fish hook in the desert. A gold bridge with a few teeth in it while dredging. A hot wheels car. Miles from any road.