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Howdy folks! I could use some help, I was out detecting last night on a portion of my wooded property that I had not been to yet and found this little buckle about 8" down with the Equinox 800. I was using Field 1 with mostly stock settings, minus a few volume tweaks, and it came in at a constant VDI of 20. It's only about an inch long and a half inch in width. It's interesting because it has some "fancy" around the border and is kinda unique in it's shape. I've been trying to find some possible timeline info on it and keep striking out. Once decent site I found on buckles may indicate that it's from the 1660's-1720's, but that can't be right (or if it's right, that would be pretty cool!) - http://mdgear.com/buckle-guide/ if you've seen one of these before, or have some ideas, please post and thanks in advance! -Bill

Any idea what this may be? It was found at a 130 year old school yard that they are soon going to tear down, though it doesn't necessarily mean its school related. My first thought was it might be part of a horn? However looking at it further, I don't know if it had the tolerances to be part of an instrument. The top part swivels in the center, while doing so it lowers the tear drop shaped flap into the tube part, while raising the other two. (One appears to be missing) It seems like it could be used to count or meter out some objects?

A couple of weekends ago My 800 delivered two bucket list finds. I have always's wanted to find an old Gun and this one was in heavy Iron about 10 feet off the side of an old cellar hole. After some Research I have found this Cannon barreled pocket pistol ( boot pistol or lady's pistol) is from Belgium and dates from 1853 -1877 .The seated I have been looking for for many years. Finally I can say I have my seated Dime. When I found the dime it was a sweat high tone 25. Oh I love that sound! I hope the picture upload works! My small coil arrives in the mail tomorrow..now I can get down to some real heavy Iron taming ? HH Sillllvar

Shown here with some other high conductors from tonight's outing. I found this with the Equinox at a site that is no stranger to a FBS or two. I'm not sure what the thing in the back is, any ideas? It says "50 feet" on it, I'm thinking it could be from a fishing reel. The black copper band, I don't know what it is, but it has characteristics of native jewelry fashioned from colonial metals that I have found around here in the past. With this site, if you can't ID it you keep it, nothing goes in the garbage unless I'm sure what it is. Last but not least is the Sterling WWII Red Cross pin. "Womens War Work C.R.C.S." (Canadian Red Cross Society) There was a war hospital just across the water from this location, so I have a hunch this may have something to do with that lol. It's kind of a cool find because up until tonight the only evidence left of the hospital existing that I'm aware of is in the form of black and white images, now I have a cool relic that I can hold in my hand.

Out this morning with the Equinox 800 in a park which was previously a 19th century farm/homestead. I noticed recently indications they are going to let the grass grow without mowing in a spot where I previously have found old farm parts (but no old valuables). I've found modern coins in the vacinity but those have all been dropped since the park was established in 1969. Unfortunately the lot where the house stood is now in a subdivision with newer homes built in its place. But the driveway leading from the main road to the farm lot near the house is actually on (municipal) park property and I hunted along it last winter without success. I was operating in Park 1, ground balanced, noise adjusted, recovery speed = 6, Fe bias = 2, custom 5 tone, gain = 20. I got a loud hit with ID=21 (solid and steady from two directions). At first I thought it was a recently dropped Zincoln but it wasn't double blipping and that was inconsistent with the signal strength. I checked in pinpoint mode and not only was the VCO indicating strong (large/close?) target and the profile (size) was indicating something larger than a coin. At that point I would have bet 3-to-1 it was an aluminum soft drink or beer can. Three inches down I was amazed at what I pulled out. My first concern (always) was "is it real?" There were no Civil War battles fought in Indiana although the Confederate Morgan and his Raiders did wreak some havoc on our side of the Ohio River, including going into the state of Ohio as well. Still, his path is over 50 miles from where I was hunting. I guess it's possible there were skirmishes with native Americans in the first half of the 1800's. Also, many soldiers (and some regiments) came from Indiana so there may have been an encampment in this field. All highly speculative right now until I can get to a library and do more research. My first thought was "belt buckle" but after doing some research online I found out it is a "cartridge box plate". You can tell that from the four rusty attachment points on the reverse side -- two loops of steel originally mounted on, soldered with lead. BTW, the dimensions are approximately 3 1/2 in X 2 1/4 in (90 mm X 58 mm) which matches pretty closely dimensions I was able to find online. Note the weight (a bit over a quarter pound) and the gray surface on the back of the plate -- the remaining lead which is characteristic of a cartridge box plate. I think it's real!

Daggers Up. This cool recover is an Idaho find by Parley George. "Thought I would share my latest weird find. Stuck in ground perfectly vertical with hilt up (thank gracious). Equinox 800 picked up at a TID #21 one direction & #17 other direction. I dug down to approx 7 ½" & found the hilt. Carefully dug another 5" then pulled out of ground. A dagger, pointed end of blade is thicker than hand guard end". Anyone have info on it?

This morning i took my Mum out with me for a drive and thought take the Nox with me . I drove 30 miles West and parked at a town with a sandy beach and river . The tide was going out and the sand goes out for around 500 meters or more alongside the river . I started on the dry and worked down , as i was going i picked up the usual 14 to 18 TID which always turned out to be crown caps and Aluminium . When i got to the groin that is next to the river entrance it turned to black sand and from there was black sand with around 3 or 4 inches of normal sand on top . I picked up a high tone with occasional low tones , there was lots of Iron in the area too but i will dig all targets on sand and when i eventually found the target it turned out to be this ring below . It looks like its a Silver band with a Gold top part with an Amber stone set in it , there are no Hallmarks or none i can make out but i'm sure its Silver and Gold and possibly 18k , i did a scuff test on the Gold part to see if it was plated but i didn't see any Silver below . I am thinking the band itself might have been Gold plated at one point and the ring sold as full Gold ?. The stone is scuffed and looks old . Its now 3 Gold i have had with the Nox and 16 Silvers if i count the Silver on this. After that find i worked the sand for 2 hours but only found 3 coins for £1.06p . We left the beach and we went to my local Dealer which is Detecnicks and i looked at a Macro Multi Kruzer , i have been wondering about it for a while and as i sold my Explorer 11 a short time ago and had £341 for it i could buy the Macro if i wanted with the extra cash coming from somewhere else . But it was that somewhere else that i was wondering about . As coin hunting is getting harder and the cashless society is getting worse i decided to sell my X.Terra 705 . It has had enough money off the beach to cover the small loss i would take from selling after buying it new . So that is what i have done . Now i have another new machine to learn , my mate Martin says it works well in the salt wet , we'll see. But i want it for land too . After staying at Detecnicks and chatting for around 3 hours we left for home. More than anything the Macro is another lighter waterproof machine . I now only have the ET for the noisy tops of my local beaches . But that should be enough . Also i will be buying a few sets of wired XP backphones for the Nox , i want to see if the WIFI still affects the Nox using them . I think its the Wireless Module not the machine .

It rang up as a solid 35 on the nox and I thought I might have found an old copper coin. Instead it looks like I found the brass from an old round. Any ID' ers?

I had another full session out detecting on Sunday 17th June I used the Equinox I had a decent session with some nice finds but the best was an eyes only it is a Neolithic Flint Arrowhead I also had a hammered silver cut half penny a spindle whorl a bit of Saxon chip carving, a flour bag seal and a poor woman's brooch which when I first saw it I thought it was gold. The Neolithic British Isles refers to the period of British history that spanned from circa 4000 BC to circa 2,500 BC, I also had a lead Spindle Whorl these were used for hand spinning wool and can date as far back as Roman times, I also had a Edward II Hammered Silver Cut Half Penny Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327)

Ice is starting to go out on the lakes here so I went down to the local swimming hole with the ID Edge & 6" coil for a go. At first I had trouble with iron falsing on the large rusty spikes from the old Ice House that stood on this spot before the lake level was raised by a power dam. With the Edge a proper GB is necessary and it took a few tries to find a spot to balance where it would settle down on the nails. Picked up 8 quarters a few dimes and nickels some corroded pennies and a kids Mood ring. After moving out a bit where the current was sweeping over a shallow bar I got a high coin hit and dug this. A Brunswick Balke Collender Co. Pool Table Check Token, Good for 5 Cents, French & Hastings. It's aluminum and has quite a bit of wear and some corrosion. These are quite popular and some command high prices. Did a search and could not find any attributed to "French & Hastings" so it appears to be an unlisted type. Like I said not the greatest condition and I'm terrible at posting pics. The Token is the same size as a quarter Tom

“A Perth family has found the world's oldest known message in a bottle, almost 132 years after it was thrown into the sea, Australian experts say. Tonya Illman picked up the bottle while going for a walk around sand dunes on a remote beach in West Australia. Her husband Kym Illman told the BBC they found some paper in the bottle but had "no idea" what it was until they took it home and dried it in the oven. Experts have confirmed it is an authentic message from a German ship. The note in the bottle, which was dated 12 June 1886, was jettisoned from the German ship Paula, as part of an experiment into ocean and shipping routes by the German Naval Observatory. Previously, the Guinness world record for the oldest message in a bottle was 108 years, between it being sent and found.” Full story http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43299283

Well relic season in the Mid-Atlantic is winding down as temperatures start increasing and fields are planted. Hitting a favorite farm I periodically get invited to today and the Equinox came through big time. This is a small farm with soybeans and corn crops. This farm is located on a hill and based on finds to date holds Colonial, Civil War, and 20th century silver. It is basically an amusement park for relic detectorists, but its heyday is starting to wind down. I have come to this place three times previously and always come away with some great keepers. This is the last visit until fall because spring planting has begun. I was coming to this field for the first time with the Equinox. There was apparently a tractor explosion at some point which scattered molten aluminum over a large area of the field, so naturally, I decided to hit that area. The soil is mild and other than the aluminum, trash is light and iron is not too thick, so I decided to run Park 2 without modification (other than running All Metal) since I was looking for everything from brass to silver and like 50 tones. I also had Field 2 saved in the User Profile Slot which had been my "Go To" relic program in the more highly mineralized fields of central Virginia. After I had the aluminum and hot rock signatures dialed in I started looking for sneaky signals hiding in the aluminum slag. It was a difficult slog, with large globs of melted aluminum sounding off like silver (but softer, more about that later). I kept moving through the aluminum field anyway until I got clear and then started getting some interesting targets. A well worn early 19th century/late 18th century copper (nice and a first for me), a CW knapsack J-Hook, a 3 ring minie ball, a nondescript piece of brass . Things were looking good with three or four keepers in about 5 to 10 minutes. This was also interesting because on this side of the field, only early 20th century finds (mainly silver coins) were typical finds and not much 19th century or CW stuff had been found in the area. Now I was in a cluster and had a good feeling right up until I got a screaming 22-23 signal. This could have been an aluminum can but it sounded more solid and the numbers were not bouncing wildly, like I have observed with most crushed cans. I pulled and flipped the plug and saw a large circular object mostly buried amongst the clods. Things happened pretty fast. I flipped the object and low and behold the Eagle Had Landed! My first CW plate, an Eagle Breast Plate. Happy Dance Time! Nothing much happened after that flurry and moved to another distant part of the farm that had been known to give up 19th century silver and IHPs as well as CW stuff like minie balls and brass. At this point the hunt was just gravy and I was happy with what I got, but I knew that I also had a great chance at my first piece of early 19th century silver so I kept at it. I had been hitting high tones with the aluminum globs, crushed cans, screw tops and even with iron wraparound and falsing. But I am really becoming familiar with the Equinox tonal quality. Non-coin high tone audio sounds hollow and soft and/or distorted. I have hit clad but no silver with the Equinox yet. Even clad jumps out at you. I kept swinging. Grabbed another solid 16-17 signal out of the iron muck, which was my second dropped minie ball, yay! Then it happened. It sounded like a pure golf shot on the sweet spot of the club, ping! I knew what it was. It just jumps at you. Sure enough, scored my third "first" of the day, a well worn 1853 Seated Quarter. Mission Accomplished! That should hold me over until the fall. Thanks for reading. I think the Equinox will stick around a least till then, too.

Surprise.

My Byzantine Cross. Hope I spelled it right.

Used in the Crimean War and US Civil War. Ran through a hole in the lapel and connected with a brass chain.

Went on a short hunt this morning...my experience is I usually find my best stuff at a new spot on the first one or two visits. I've known these people that own this property for 20 years. Their clients of mine. Still i've been reluctant to ask if I can detect around their house which dates back to the late 1800's. This week I decided I better have a go at it soon as they are in their 80's and retiring to Texas in a few years. Targets were few and I was not in the mood for a long hunt because I'm putting in a new fence back at my house and needed to get back so I could dig holes without my metal detector. They lease another property that is loaded with stuff (Calling Merton) that I plan to hit before the ground hardens. The watch is Gold plated. I love the ship with the flag on the bow. Does anyone know what that clip is? at first I thought it was a suspender clip but It kinda looks like a hair clip? Trash not included in photos

Saved a few for my Grandson.

I love confederate buttons.

Recent find here, any info would be awesome

While testing detectors. Regards

Key, shield with 2 attachments, a possible whistle and a flat button. Regards

Got to go hunting with a local Historical Society manager and dug this belt buckle at over a foot deep at an old home site dated to 1850. Don't think it's quite that old but thought I'd share. Got to use the Fisher Pro-Arc for the first time. The area is nothing but a cloud of nails to hunt around, but the machine performed quite well.

I bet it had some gold in it at some point. I'm not to sure how often these get found. But I thought it was interesting. It has a nice scallop pattern around it. Its heavy I know that, I probably should have searched for the pestle, maybe next trip.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. Heres a few photos of some of my new friends. Nothing compared to those Aussie nuggets but some gold at least. All park finds and a few relics. I only was able to get out nugget hunting once this year but hope to get out more in 2017. The 7000 is getting rusty.....Thanks for a great resource Steve! strick