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Was on a football field today using the 15" in park 1 and hit a jumpy signal. I decided to dig it because it was loud and chaotic sounding... probably like was said about it by the parents of the teen who owned it originally. When I got it home, I checked to see if there was a tape in it. The tape cover popped off and emptied a full load of wet sand onto the floor...still being obnoxious. This is the first one of these that I have ever dug. Bucket list: cassette player...check.

My detecting buddy found this a couple of weeks ago and we can't make heads or tails as what it is. I was thinking colonial being that the shield looks a lot like the shield on a New Jersey copper. The other half is obviously missing but I'm guessing it is a mirror image. Crossed guns with a shield. If anyone has come across something similar, We would like to know what it is. Hope you all can give me some direction.

Gotta get my RV ready for a trip to the beach, this month going to Emerald Isle for my annual "Wife's Birthday" trip. It was hot and humid this morning, the deer flies are nearing the end of their parasitic lifespan, so they were ravenous. Despite lots of bug spray they hit me over and over. The trick is to let 'em land and bite, they are reluctant to let go so you can kill them. Left quite a few in the dirt today. Unlike ticks, mosquitoes and chiggers, they don't leave an itchy welt. Went back to the hill for about 4 hours, it's not that big an area but I wanted to get one more dig in before spending the rest of the week doing chores. The hill is about 60 feet above the river, what is behind me is about the same size. There was a house here by old records. The evidence is brick and lots - lots - of nails and junk. Dug quite a bit of trash, some of it masking the good stuff. Didn't find much but it was surprising, due to the fact that I have been over this area a lot of times with the standard Equinox coil. Only dug 4 keepers. Silver plated spoon, 1930 wheat, 1936 dog tag and the biggest surprise, a gold plated mid 1800s to 1900s button (I think). Even the shank was plated, the back says "EXTRA RICH" and the company name. I should mention that it was a 12 in a pile of iron nails, the Coiltek 10x5 "sniffed" it out. I haven't found a button in a while so this made my day. It's the best gold plated button I have found. Next up: Beach Road Trip! 😀

Perfect day for a trip out back to the hill over the river about 200 yards behind my house. It's unusual to have a day in July that the temperature doesn't get over 80 in Virginia, but today was just that. Strong north breeze. The river was full of boaters and jet skis, so that was out. I swear the Coiltek 10x5 is awesome, I've been over this area before. Lots of junk today, some really big metal I didn't photograph, but this was what remained, the ratio of junk to finds was kinda high. None of this was masking anything however. Nice old hatchet head, is there a market for these? So far I've dug 3 axe heads and this one from this hill. Of course the obligatory mason jar lids. Finds were kinda cool, worth a post anyway: First thing I dug was the pendant, it's cast metal of some kind but not precious, The more I cleaned it the more black it got. It was a 22. .32 ACP live round again, the second I've dug here. Maybe I'll find the pistol 😀 Brass buckle of some kind, stamped, late 1800s to mid 1900s. Maybe a purse decoration/clasp or something. Brass cap, not sure what for, and a small adjustment wheel I found with some watch parts. Think I found some of the watch a while back. One piece said "made in USA". The most interesting to me was the thimble, it says "Coolidge And Dawes". It was a political campaign thimble given out in 1924. It was a 20/21 so I think it's copper with plating. It was right near the edge of the cliff. This is what it looked like new. The are a lot of nails and iron bits at this site, as well as it being a dump, there was a house here long ago. The 10x5 seems to really be able to sniff out the small stuff. Its ability to "sort" in high trash is an asset.

Finally got around to investigating this odd piece of iron I dug a couple days ago. At first I thought it was a leaf spring, then "Lensed" it, and some sword crossguards came up. Couldn't find an iron one, and this one has a slight curve in its length as well as its width. This morning I took a wire brush to it, and lettering appeared: It reads "iron age". Looked that up, and found this: In the early 1900s there was a company that made farm and garden tools called Iron Age. This must be a part of one of these tools/machines. Usually I don't investigate iron I dig, but I'm glad I did this time. 😀

Today I went to the place in a local park where I have recovered many old iron relics. There is likely still a literal ton of iron under the turf. We have had a good amount of rain in FL, so digging down 10-12 inches is not as horrible as it had been about a month back. Because the area is about 100 ft away from the tracks, I believe the area had been used as a railroad scrap pile because of the heavy-duty iron pieces that have come out of the ground. I have included two such pieces in the pics and would be interested to know if anyone knows what they are. The nickel came out from about 10" so caked with sand that it looked like a button. As usual: Equinox, 15" coil, Park 1, recovery 5, all metal.

Mowed the top of The hill over the river I call Mason Jar Hill because of all the Mason jars I have dug there. I beat the heck out of this area with my 11" standard Equinox coil. Today I went back to see if the 10x5 would make a fool of me. It sure did 😀 1932 female dog tag, lucky watch fob from GRIT Family Newspaper in the 1930s, thimble made of aluminum, B&O railroad button, I think a grommet ring, .32 ACP live round, harmonica reed fragment, belt buckle lock. The ring was a solid 13 and pretty much right on top of the ground. It was gold colored when I picked it up, and cleaning it just made it more and more gold. It's probably not pure (10k) as a bit of tarnish came off when I tried silver polish, but it just got even brighter. The inside is highly polished and smooth and the outside appears to have a casting seam surrounding it. I thought it might be a pipe cutoff but it is smooth and waxy feeling. No purity marks, the story of my life so far. 😵 It is small, according to my wife about a size 5. Here's a pic of how the GRIT good luck charm was used: Here is a pic of the reverse: Like I wrote in another post, I may not take this coil off. 😀

Got permission to hunt a new campground, they tell me no one has ever asked. 😈 Talked to the Assistant GM and he got permission from the boss. Carte Blanche again!! 🥳 This place is huge, a lake, lots of playgrounds, volleyball, you name it. Over 1,000 campsites. I feel honored. Spent 10 minutes around the lake and volleyball court, got coins. Relics came from a huge farm that they are about to convert to new campsites. I was there about 2 hours. The small silver-ish jewelry fragment may be gold, I have to clean it up a bit more to see if it has a mark. It was a 5/6, and was about 8" deep. It has brown shiny jewels on it. The small ornate fragment looks to be copper, it was a 21 and says "KLD" on the back. What looks like an odd salt shaker top rounds out the relics. Other than that I found a lot of bullets and shotgun shell ends from the 1800s. Aluminum trash is non-existent in the farm. The lake is EMI city. Oldest coin is a 1970 penny. Going in the lake tomorrow.

Went out for a couple of hours this morning. I find that the 2nd day after a big rain (we got 8"+ in two days) is better than the day after. It was a nice day, pretty cool and the deer flies are finally on the decline. I loaded up with Cutter and headed out to the steamboat landing, I have been mowing small portions of it for access to the river and to hunt the dirt as well. Can't do the whole thing, it's quite a few acres. I cleared this ~30x40' space that I think was where a small building was, there is brick and lots of iron. It's a challenge to find anything so I went for deep iffy signals that were for the most part repeatable. I wasn't disappointed, great conduction today. Got the usual junk: Lamp parts, what might be gun parts, and shotgun shell ends. A couple nails. The round disc appears to be the back of a wristwatch, there are no markings. Dug a couple of wheats, a 1918 and one with no discernible date. The latter was 8" down under a root. Some chrome plated object, probably recent. The buckles were the most interesting things, first is a suspender buckle similar to one Chase found here, with a patent date: Second is what I think is from the 1700s, not sure whether it is for a shoe or knee: Unfortunately the rounded plate is twisted, I don't dare try to fix it. Last is another of the clip type buckles, this makes #3 and is the most spectacular of them all. I have the other half. This one is the most ornate: Got new headphones I'm going to try out there tomorrow.

If your a relic hunter you will find lots of these...this is one my wife found a few years ago...it is gold and silver with the women's initials engraved on it. I have yet to find one even close...the ones I find are usually flat lol strick

Thought I'd be wrapping up the RV park today, we decided to stay one more day. Been digging lots of stuff here, it's either been hit or there just isn't any silver. With all the techniques I've tried you'd think I'd find one silver coin. Still could be me... 🤔 But I have found silver (reales, US coins) so It's hard to believe it. The take today was just fun: 70s memorials, a 1916 wheat, an 1892 IHP. Box key lock plate, live .40 S&W hollowpoint, .380 FMJ. The snap is there to keep the bullets from rolling into my favorite find today: This 1920s brass advertising medallion for an obscure soda brand. Looks like it had a loop on top for keys or something. Info here: http://www.tazewell-orange.com/wascott.html Fun thing to find. Didn't see one in any collection so I may offer it up. Later I saw some people playing volleyball in a sand court. 😈 Hit that this evening, only got halfway through before the sun went down and my pinpointer died. Well there's one more day. There were some "gold" signals but I would be obligated to turn that stuff into the office I think. The gold would have sunk deeper than the modern coins IMHO, and it would be in the hard pan under the sand unless lost recently. I did get the '78 quarter there. Going to tell the maintenance guy to hit it when he gets his metal detector. 😀 He's hooked! It was a great day.

I got better... 😀 Went to the farmhouse yesterday and today. I feel like I'm at a beach, and it's ironic that it's Memorial Day weekend and I'm finding lots of memorials. 🇺🇸 The campground is full of Veterans, flags everywhere honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy the freedom we have. Yesterday I dug the oldest coin so far, a wheat from the 40s, along with .46 in other newer coins: Trash was minimal. Got a big brass spline bushing, and a few bits of molten aluminum and other junk, a couple of sinkers. The best finds of the day: Copper or brass duck medallions and a copper electric lineman's loop nut. A Power company guy called it out as I dug it. The ducks may have been either prizes or on dog collars. Or something... 🤔 The ground here is easy to dig except for roots, but it's sandy loam that feels like talc. Very fine dust. Today's finds were off the charts for me: An old Lesney Matchbox Mercedes Trailer toy ca. 1967-69, a small octagonal compact, an aluminum token of some kind so encrusted it's unreadable, and 61 cents in modern coins. I tried all suggestions and found @rod-pa's to be the most productive. Using my usual program with all metal off and going really slow allowed me to retrieve the dime in a hole full of nails. I only turned all metal on to verify that iron was present, but something better was also. I want to thank everyone yet again for all their guidance. Those thunderstorms ended the day.

Only got about an hour and a half in at the farmhouse here in NC today. I found that the house is still on Google maps, so I had an actual photo to use with GPS and was able to identify exactly where the house was, and where I was in relation to it. Apparently it was taken down within the last 10 years. First and second hits were coins, a real Zincoln and a 1974 penny. The Zincoln was about 6" deep. The older one was about the same. There has to be some silver here! I took @rod-pa's suggestion and switched all metal off, looking for only deep high tones (15 up, my choice) that were repeatable, skipping the surface stuff (2-4") that I'm sure was can slaw. I think that since I don't have a lot of time I need to get busy and stick with the "good" stuff. There isn't a tremendous amount of iron here but it is significantly more than I thought. Dealing with iron cancelled out is easier, but kinda scary. I just never trusted it before. Got at least one real relic, a really nice brass rein guide complete with the attaching nut. It was a 30/31. Some copper tubing, some old gears (30-32 ID), bullet, and a shotgun shell. Only one piece of iron got me. I found some wire but dropped it off in a trash can. The Howard Jones tune played in my head so hence the title.

Ok, so technically in the past I had already found evidence of travellers camping out in the surrounds, close to where the inn might have been. In my part of the world where English colonisation only occurred in the late 1830's, it is very rare to find pre-Victoran era coins - with exception of a couple of local inn sites. So far we have seen KG3, William IV and a lone Reale from the site, of which most were lost by travellers heading across the border to the rich Victorian Goldfields. I had recently been given a more approximate location of the actual inn location, so a day was spent pushing through metre high prickles chasing the telltale iron signature of previous habitation. There were plenty of clues lying scattered in the soil, ceramics, lead, the odd brass fitting and a lone fob watch winder, though no coins at that stage. Low and behold after fruitless hours of searching I got my first decent signal within a few metres of my car (always the way), and by the thickness of the coin I knew it was going to be old - an 1806 KG3 penny. So despite being very happy at finding that coin, looks like I still have a fair bit more ground work to do. Even more daunting is the sheer size of the site considering my previous Georgian coins and a keg tap were found over 300 metres from the latest coin.

Back from a few days away at a campground, almost got them to let me detect the lake beach and an old farm, but someone made a snap judgement and said "we don't want you digging". 😵 Oh well. Got a few hours in on the river, the tides weren't low at all so I stayed closer to shore. Couldn't get to the area where I found the Brown Bess buttplate, and really didn't find much of interest. I tried a lot of the suggestions I got such as digging negative numbers, one-way positives, and faint signals but pretty much got what I expected from this place: Iron, copper nails and screws, and junk. Went the other way up river and got fishing gear, and old boat copper plate. 😀 It's a beautiful place, I park my cart and walk 10 feet to the water. At high tide there's no beach, most low tides have about 3 feet. Once it was about 6 -10'. During the week I don't have to worry about boaters even in the summer, most of the boaters have weekend cottages. Today I saw a kayaker and one boat, but I wasn't in the river, I was on the landing. Dug a ton of junk but came away with two interesting relics before the deerflies got too troublesome. Nice 1800s silver thimble, a 17/18. It is inscribed "Forget Me Not", a common gift for a woman in the Victorian era. Too bad it's a bit mangled. Got a 15/16, thought oh great, another pull tab, and dug this, it made my day: 1930s Cracker Jack Tootsietoy "Zephyr". 90 years and it still has its paint. You just never know what's out there.

Today the better half and I hit the camp. She used the Equinox with 6” coil because the 11” is too heavy for her. I had the DEUS with 11” coil. The DEUS takes some concentration but it does pull some stuff out. Tiny to large it sees it. I don’t mind the false at times on flat iron. Anyways here are some pics of my finds today. The little button is a sailing ship. The pistol probably has a tale or two. The buckle was in a bed of iron and gave a sharp blip on the DEUS.

I find lots of keys at the beach. I have jars and cups filled with them but I've never found one of these. I don't think they are that unique. Perhaps it was just an old style gate key but could it have been a really old padlock key? I can't find any markings on it. All of the other coins were clad with no wheaties. The closest was a 59 lincoln. The ring is unmarked and light. I wonder what the guys and gals waiting on their 6000s are finding? haha

maybe the last chance at the old farm . found a buckle, and a part of a pocket watch, and modern cladd. The site is so trashy its hard to tell the diffrence between a iron can and a good target ,

Haven't posted anything in a while, messed my back up so my detecting is limited. Figured I would hit the beach and use my scoop so I don't have to bend over. Used the Multi Kruzer because I was just hitting the damp and dry sand. Picked up bit of clad, some trash and got a faint signal no numbers until I took a scoop then numbers came up, another half scoop down I got this Grant presidential coin. Date on it is 1877 but don't know when it was minted. Not bad shape for being at the beach.

This morning was as windy as yesterday, 30 mph with gusts to 45. It was supposed to settle down and stay kinda cool, so I decided to jump in the waders and hit the river. Never saw so much beach before! The tide was way out. I knew low tide was after 12 further down the river so going a couple hours earlier would do. Even the old V8 engine block was out of the water today. In 5 hours I did pretty good. Got some trash but nothing too trifling, a couple of pull tabs and a beer can or two, some fishing tackle, shotgun shells and some odd bits of lead. Bronze bead or roller of some sort, it is not hollow. Nice fancy rivet with a sun pattern, even the shank is patterned. Thin brass device holder of some sort, looks like it had an insert, either stone or cloisonne. Not sure what the copper circular object is but it is thick, heavy and appears to have snapped off something. 1918 Buffalo nickel, undated Buffalo, wheat and IHP with no dates. I had to break them out of their encrustation. The Buffalos were 9/10, the pennies both 14. And the find of the day, I was surprised: Solid brass Brown Bess musket buttplate with engraving. At first I thought it was for an Enfield but it's too big. Dates from mid 1700s to mid 1800s. Either this place was hit hard for silver or I need a PI detector. 😀 Nickels and pennies are everywhere, there's gotta be some silver coins here.

We headed out Saturday morning to the camp. Wife has given up on the Vanquish because all she digs is square nails. So we swapped detectors later in the day. She then found an ax head and a big chisel. I scored the dime and other stuff with the Equinox before the switch. We bought a curio cabinet to house our growing collection of history so I will include a photo of it. Hope everyone is doing well out there.

Decided to make a day of detecting today. It was a pretty nice day so I first went back to the hill behind my house, but didn't search there. Instead I went down a ravine in the woods to a spot where there might have been some colonial activity. It was supposed to become a boat launch when my area was developed but it never happened, the road to it is almost impenetrable now. Hacked around for a bit but found so few iron signals I decided to move to the landing. The beavers were getting mad anyway, I could hear them slapping their tails against the ground. I was hoping to get a good low tide to hunt the beach but it never happened. Wind was wrong and the tide didn't go out much, so I went to Plan C which was to just randomly hack around the landing. It's starting to grow a low cover of poison ivy, so I hunted for the most part where it was sparse or not there. Didn't do too bad! Got a huge tack buckle, a small D buckle, old faucet handle, a 1990 quarter that I dug out of the gravel in the road, a 1900 IHP, a military service button (WW1) backmarked "The Art Metal Works Newark NJ", my first ever complete 17-18th century shoe buckle (extremely fragile), and the puzzle piece of the day - the other half of a belt buckle I found there a while back. If you've been reading my previous hunts, I cleaned up that tiny anvil I dug in Savannah: Kinda disappointed it doesn't have any maker marks on it, was hoping for "ACME" or something. 😀 A while back I dug a sheath out of the river, it was so packed with black river gunk I had wait a while for it to dry to get whatever was in it out. Turned out to be this knife, sad that it's completely gone, it would be worth about $250. It's a 70s Schrade Old Timer 25OT Hunter.

Went to a new spot today..

Hitting old grounds but this time using my Tejon and picking out the deeper stuff with the 10x12. Was able to pick out this old naval button 1800's. It was a 2 piece but back was missing. Still has some gold plating left. Not sure what the age is pre or post civ war. 2nd weekend the Tejon keeps winning the day in these picked clean places. Really got my settings down and having fun.

i used the pitch mode on the DEUS and kept the silencer @ -1 and it came thru for me , Got a good hit on many non ferrous targets today and some right next to iron . i was using the full tones but saw videos on the pitch mode i had to try that and it has proven to work very well the VDI on this target was 49 and 50 right where a 22 casing comes in or some foils . glad i dug it