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I was sent some photos overnight of some incredible finds with the GPX and an X-coil that forum member Elijah found. I thought I'd put the photos up for people to see as they're pretty incredible, I really love the old coin, imagine the history that goes with an old coin like that, I can't even imagine how old it must be It must have been a very wealthy person that lost it. I would love to detect in locations that have ancient coins like this. It looks like they just take a big nugget and stamp an image on it. It looks like a bird of some sort? And check out it's weight!!!! That coins heavy! I wonder what you could buy with it when it was used as currency. He also found this, I'm not sure what it could be, any ideas? It's likely to be very ancient too.

Who has seen it? I'm sure someone on the forum has. This is an article about the Armstrong Nugget which is 80.33 ozt. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-armstrong-nugget

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=282170

Does anyone have information on these silver boulders that were found in Arizona? They were on display at the Tucson Show this past February.

"INDIAN RIVER SHORES, Fla. – They don't call it the Treasure Coast for nothing. Jonah Martinez, 43, a treasure hunter from Port St. Lucie, was scanning the sand with his metal detector at Turtle Trail Beach Access on Feb. 21 when his device picked up a signal. Buried beneath him was more than three centuries of history: Martinez pulled 22 Spanish silver coins from the surf, each dating back to a shipwreck 305 years ago, he said." https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/28/spanish-coins-1715-shipwreck-unearthed-florida-beach/4902578002/

I found this nice tesoro compadre at the local goodwill today for less than $20. I couldn't resist buying it. Took it home and put in a new battery and it works great. it must be an older one because it has a metal coil screw.

Anyone else got an Instagram for your finds Mine is QTeeKids

It had been a year since I had a chance to hunt with my friend Strick. We finally were able to get together for 4 days of relic/coin/ring detecting. On day 1 we went to an old standby location (ghost town) we had visited many times in the past. Strick found 2 silver coins, an 1876 and 1877 Seated Liberty dimes in the space of 1 hour. I found a few buttons. Day 2 we took his boat up the Delta to a party beach where I hunted in the water for the first time ever. I had a blast using my CTX 3030 just wading up to my waist. I found 2 silver rings which beat the costume jewelry Strick got so I was the king that day. On day 3 of my visit with him, we were off to a private property in the low Sierra foothills of California to meet up with Strick's friend, the ranch owner, and detect an early gold camp. We have been hunting this area for a few years when our schedules will allow. The last time I was here with Strick he had found a Quarter Eagle and some seated coins while I had only found buttons. On this day things were not looking so great for me as I had only found one nice button and the usual assortment of period trash while Strick had scored a nice cast buckle wreath. We had just taken a break and had compared finds with the ranch owner, discussing the "whatizits" we had found. It was getting later in the day so we went back to detecting. I had earlier got into an area with quite a bit of scattered iron which developed into a nail bed which was obviously the remains of an old structure. So I returned to the heaviest area of nails which was about 250' away from the location of Strick's gold coin, and was carefully searching through the machine gun iron signals when I hear a definite signal but scratchy signal on my Deus. It was jumping around depending on which direction I swung but was repeatable. Just another bullet or cartridge I think as I pop the plug. Then I see about a quarter of a gold coin sticking out of the plug as it crumbles. I didn't stop to savor the moment or reflect on my find like you hear so many times. I started screaming like a 14 year old Valley Girl, " I found a gold coin" and waving my arms at my friends who were a short distance away. The coin was an 1849 Half Eagle. It has been my fondest detecting desire to find a gold coin and now I had realized it. On the journey back to Stricks I looked up the value of the coin as people always ask. I didn't much care as I did not plan to sell it but that is usually the first question from family and friends. I had not cleaned it well or looked at it too closely but I knew it had some wear so I figured a ball park figure of $500? It wasn't until we returned to Strick's place that he was looking at it through a low power microscope and he says" Her headband doesn't say liberty it says Moffat". I had never in a million years ever dreamed I may find a Territorial coin but I knew in an instant that I had just scored the find of my life. On Day 4 we went to a location of an old military base. Strick has taken buckets of military paraphernalia from there and he scored again. I found 2 pieces but they were severely corroded. I would say this has been the best detecting trip I have ever been on due to finding the Territorial Half Eagle. All the thanks go to my buddy, Strick and the ranch owner for getting me on that location. I will ask Strick to post his pics of his finds.

Several months ago friends and I went to look for some lost Civil War valuables. Since we all had signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement I am unable to say where it was at except that the state is Tennessee. We were using a new type of metal detector that I put together and had a friend from John Deere software division do some programming for the unit. This system uses 3 separate frequencies for 3 separate coils and builds a 3D image of the metal in the ground. The images show a depth of over 5 feet and we expect to find the item close to that depth. Since we are looking for something rather large this works very well to keep us from digging the smaller items. We use a standard metal detector for finds closer to the surface as well, and yes we have found more than we expected. We arrived on a rainy day and set up camp for the next 10 days and settled in. The rain ended about midnight and we knew that the ground would be wet. We had early breakfast and proceeded to gain the land owners permission to hunt on their land. That took some negotiation to get everyone’s permission but we had written permission in hand. We then unloaded the 4 wheelers and equipment and set forth to locate what we were after. After digging up almost 2,100 pounds of trash and a couple of small relics we called it a night. The next several days proved to be just as bad as our first day on the hunt, finding only small stuff and very few relics, but we still had a pile of trash left to dig. On the 7th day we had a very good target that looked like we had found what we were after. We were able to dig it up and pull it from a 6 foot hole and we knew we had found something important. We had uncovered a chest that belonged to a 2nd Lieutenant of the Union Army. Inside were several of his items including a Remington Model 1861 Army Revolver of a 22 caliber. Also there were numerous other items including 8 $1.00 gold pieces. He had some silver tableware, razor, and many other items. The chest had shown wear from being in the ground and the inside material had all but rotted. Surprising as it was the chest was In good condition as someone had put bees wax on it and it was wrapped in a trap of some type. The heavy iron straps that held the chest together was all intact and just slightly rusted. One of the locks was mostly gone, but the second one was in much better shape. Most of the chest has been cleaned and redone and looks almost new, and the other items have also been cleaned properly. Some of what we had found will be placed in a museum near the location of which it was found, while the gun and the coins have been shared between the people who went. Everyone had an equal share in this hunt and 2 of the people were brothers who wanted the pistol. I was given 4 of the gold pieces and now I have them hanging on my wall. We are planning another trip back because we know that the treasure we are looking for is there. Since we have the area narrowed down we should find it within a few days. The land owners have given us the permission again and we have plenty of equipment this time to make it go much faster. Below is a picture of my coins as I am still waiting on pictures of the chest and other items.

After seeing all the giant gold found by the manufacturer of the X-coils in Russia recently I've been wondering which other people have found big nuggets. We all know the likes of Reg Wilson and JR Beatty have found some mighty impressive boulders over the years and I'd like them to put their biggest in this thread too! there has to be some others who have stumbled across a biggin' I will kick it off by showing my biggest nugget, 1.208 grams found with my Equinox 800 Sure, it's not massive by any stretch of the imagination, for New Zealand however it's a pretty damn decent size rock. I'm sure everyone has a photo of their biggest nugget sitting there somewhere easy to access, after all you should be proud of it 🙂 Anyway, it's not the size that counts, it's how you found it. So if everyone can post a photo of their biggest that'd be great, no matter how small that biggest is.... It could turn into a pretty cool thread if everyone participates. Thanks 🙂

I found this strange looking rock near a river in East Tennessee and I was wondering if anyone could help me identify it.

Very cool ring that was found 2016: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7691793/Amateur-metal-detectorist-finds-gold-Medieval-ring-tipped-fetch-50-000-auction.html

I stumbled across this video on Youtube, I'm not sure if it's real, it seems unrealistic, far too much gold and huge bits.... The killer is the 90 gram.

The SS Central America had lots of coins and lots of treasure to say the least. We has a presentation (with coins and gold nuggets) at a PCSC meeting in Downey, California last year. The author said this book was coming. I don't see much of a preview online but it may be a reference book that will show up in your local library! https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/new-reference-details-gold-silver-recovered-in-2014-from-ss-central-america

https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/archaeology/ultrarare-diamond-with-another-diamond-inside-found-in-siberia/news-story/fc36004d80fd986200447dffab326b4f Miners have unearthed an ultra-rare diamond with a second diamond inside it. The inner gem is loose inside the first diamond, moving around freely — and could be the first example of such a diamond ever found in the world. This rare gem is believed to have formed around 800 million years ago. It was dug up by Russian diamond miners Alrosa at the Nyurba mine in Siberia. Scientists then used X-rays and other scanning techniques to confirm the presence of a second diamond inside the first. A diamond within a diamond has wowed the world.Source:Supplied “Based on the results of the study, the scientists made a hypothesis about how the crystal was formed,” Alrosa said. “According to them, there was an internal diamond at first, and the external one was formed during the subsequent stages of growth.” The gem has been dubbed the Matryoshka diamond after the Russian nesting dolls of the same name. The outer stone weighs 0.62 carats, while the inner gem weighs 0.02 carats. “As far as we know, there has been no such diamond in the history of global diamond mining,” said Oleg Kovalchuk, of Alrosa. “This is really a unique creation of nature, especially since nature abhors a vacuum. An X-ray view of the diamond inside another diamond.Source:Supplied “Usually, in a case like this, the minerals would be replaced by others without forming a cavity.” He added: “The most interesting thing for us was to find out how the air space between the inner and outer diamonds was formed,” said Oleg Kovalchuk, of Alrosa. The diamond will now be sent to the Gemological Institute of America for further analysis. Researchers haven’t estimated its worth yet — it will be difficult due to the gem’s rarity, they say. However, they do have one theory as to how it formed. “A layer of porous polycrystalline diamond substance was formed inside the diamond because of ultra-fast growth,” Alrosa scientists explain. “And more aggressive mantle processes subsequently dissolved it. “Due to the presence of the dissolved layer, one diamond began to move freely inside another — just like a Matryoshka nesting doll.”

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=277106

Reg Wilson is a bit of a legend in Australian detecting circles and has kept a comprehensive photo collection of his finds over 4 or 5 decades. Now everyone likes gold images and stories - and there are plenty here! I've been offered existing topics to post on, but I believe the topic deserves its own thread to do it full justice. All images are those of Reg Wilson unless otherwise attributed. The album consists of hundreds of photographs of not only gold, but many gold detecting industry characters, some of whom are no longer with us, but who all contributed in their own unique ways to the great gold chase we still enjoy today. Firstly, a bit of background. Reg first shot to international fame with the finding of this 98 ounce piece which he named the "Orange Roughie" in 1987, decades later to be fraudulently rebirthed as the "Washington Nugget" By no means his first find, Reg was already a successful detector operator and at the time was testing a prototype GT 16000 for Minelab's wizz kid engineer Bruce Candy: Photo: Australian Sun Herald L to R: Bruce Candy, the late Doug Robertson, Ian Jacques, Reg, John Hider Smith. Reg recalled: "The man standing next to Bruce Candy is the late Doug Robertson, who with his brother Bruce worked the aluvials below the famous and fabulously rich Matrix reef at McIntyres. They had an old Matilda tank with a blade attached to clear Mallee scrub. Between them they had a wealth of knowledge of the northern Victorian gold fields. (Doug's name may have been Robinson. Memory is a bit foggy)" Ian, Reg and John were prototype SD 2000 testers in Victoria, AU and were collectively known as the "Beagle Boys" a name bestowed upon them by Dave Chappel, the publican of the Railway Hotel Dunolly. On any Friday night huge nuggets, some weighing well over a hundred ounces could be seen displayed on the bar. 120oz from Longbush. Found all on its own, finder anonymous: The playing cards and US currency indicate that the nugget has just been purchased by the late "Rattlesnake" John Fickett, a US gold buyer who bought many of the big pieces back then: Ian Jacques and Reg with 44 oz 1989: Ian Jacques with his SD 2000 prototype late 80's. Real prospectors don't use bungees All for now, but at least we've made a start - - -

This has been picked up in the news lately by several outlets. Great story. Silver is great and all but I am more interested in the fact that the one of the detectorist is rocking the Equinox mounted on an "S" shaft and it looks pretty cool. So, just thought I would start up the ol' S-Shaft/Straight Shaft debate again. Apparently, the only conclusion you can come to is that the S shaft is better for finding silver hordes. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7413021/Seven-detectorists-stumbled-5m-ancient-coins-Somerset-field-JILL-FOSTER-joins-them.html

Buddy mine found these turtles last Dec frozen in a farm field. They were smaller than a quarter. They were hibernating but the farm is active and they would have turned it over before they could make it out of there. Don't know what number they showed up as ? Will be releasing them in june.

US woman finds 3.72-carat yellow diamond at Arkansas park 25 Aug, 2019 7:39am Miranda Hollingshead found a 3.72-carat yellow diamond at a park in Arkansas in the US. Photo / Facebook Miranda Hollingshead was hot and tired during an extended family outing to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, a couple of hours away from her Bogata, Texas, home. Her two young kids were over it. There was dirt everywhere, but no gemstones in sight. So as others in her group continued the dusty hunt on August 16, she found shade and did what comes naturally to 20-somethings who need guidance: turned to YouTube. "I searched 'Crater of Diamonds how to find a diamond,'" Hollingshead, 27, said in an interview Friday. "That's all I wanted to know - how do I find diamonds here?" The park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, is known for the 40 kinds of rocks and minerals visitors can hunt for and take home. As Hollingshead watched the first video, featuring an "older gentleman" talking about dry-sifting techniques, she ran her hands through the rocks on the ground. She felt something pop over her finger and looked down to see what it was. "I was like, 'Oh, that's shiny,'" she says. Then she realised: "Oh, my God, that's a diamond." A check by experts at the park confirmed her hunch: It was a 3.72-carat yellow diamond, the largest diamond registered at the park since a teen found a 7.44-carat brown diamond in 2017. Hollingshead's is the largest yellow diamond found since October of 2013. Park interpreter Waymon Cox said visitors discover an average of one or two diamonds a day, most around a quarter of a carat in size. A 37.5-acre search field is actually the eroded surface of a volcanic crater, according to the Crater of Diamonds website. So far this year, 319 diamonds have been registered at the park, with 13 weighing at least one carat, a news release said. Yellow diamonds are the least common to discover at the park, followed by brown and white. Cox said many visitors consult how-to videos before or during their searches. But he's not aware of a find quite as serendipitous as the one Hollingshead made. "I haven't heard of that one too often, of somebody watching a video and looking down and finding one," he said. "That was pretty funny." Hollingshead was asked to name the diamond, which is roughly the size of a pencil eraser. With input from her son and mother, and a nod to her superhero fandom, she called it the Caro Avenger. Then she took it for additional verification. One expert said they did not believe it was actually a diamond, but three more who examined it assured her that the original diamond certification from the park was correct. She hasn't had the stone appraised, and she hasn't decided what to do with it yet. But she's leaning toward taking her mom's advice and getting it cut into two separate diamonds to pass on to her daughter and son, who are now 3 and 4. "I mean, anyone can use the money, but not everyone can tell their kids, 'Hey, that ring you're about to give to whoever you're going to get engaged to, or the ring you got engaged with, your mom found that,'" she says. "That way it carries on, it's just a family heirloom at that point." https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12261636

I've returned from my second detecting trip to England and what a trip it was!! I was lucky enough to be staying in the same barn as Steve Herschbach!! The first day on the fields are a half day usually. After the 2 hour ride from London to the "barn" where we will be staying for the next seven days. The "barns" are actual barns that have been renovated into vacation rental units. We unload all of our luggage from the van, find our sleeping spot for the week, dig out all of our gear, assemble everything, jump back in the van, and head out to the first field! My best find that afternoon was a hammered copper Rose farthing. They are commonly dated 1636. (Look for the pattern here). And the usual buttons and lead. So that was a good start. Day 2: Our first full day. A cool, slightly foggy, just perfect! The day wasn't real eventful for me. We hunted two different farms. At the end of the day my better finds were 5 farthings and a wiped out copper token, plus some buttons and lead. The farthings were late 1700s-1800s. Here at home in the States, to find those 5 coins would be a day to talk about for months. It was funny for me while I was over there, knowing with so much history the possibilities make my hopes and expectations exhilarating! You truly never know what will pop up next. It could be 10 years old or 2000 years old! There were multiple milled, and hammered silver coins found and some neat relics dug throughout the day by the other team members. Day 3: Things started to pick up for me a little on day 3. We came across a late Georgian/Victorian home site members of the team started popping some milled coins. Coppers and silvers. If I remember correctly one member found 3 or 4 silver 3 pence coins in that same field. A little silver 3 pence was one of the coins I was hoping to get while I was there, but it wasn't meant to be this trip. Shortly before lunch I switched fields and got onto my first bit of English silver for the trip! An 1844 Vicky 4 pence in nice condition. So after lunch I was headed back to the field were I got my 4P and we had to walk past a 1700? mansion to get back to where I wanted to be. So I slowed down and detected in front of the mansion along the way and got my first hammered silver for this trip! A nice "full" penny. Turned out to be a 1279 Edward I ! That was the highlight for my day three. But I did find plenty of buttons and lead too. Day 4: This day was one of those roller coaster type hunting days. The morning was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead. Until while hunting near a 13th century church and villa when I popped a nice little cut quarter hammered silver and less than 10 mins later another hammered silver coin fragment. Kinda bang bang! We broke for a short lunch break and went our separate ways and as I was walking into a field through a tractor path I got a nice high tone. But real erratic at the same time. One you would figure to be either a coin or part of a beer can. But when I pinpointed the target it was a nice small tight pinpoint I figured I better dig it. Boy am I glad I did! Turned out to be a 1908 Edwardian decorated silver mount! Turns out it was in a place they usually park the van! The rest of my days finds consisted of the usual trash plus some buttons and lead. Day 5: Today was another one of those days that I was digging lots of targets like buttons and lead... But not one coin all morning till around lunch. After lunch I decided to stay on that field determined to find one of my wish coins a "Bullhead". A King George III silver. And with the coins being found in the area one was definitely a possibly. Lo and behold it happened! A melted bulkhead six pence. Even though it was melted almost to the point of unrecognition I could make out a G III and a reeded edge. Mission accomplished! The only other "wishlist" coin I really had on my mind on my way over was a Roman silver coin. Not really expecting to ever find one. We all carried radios every day, and as a good find was made, we would put it out over the radio. Ron gave the 15 min count down to the end of the days hunt over the radio so we all started to swing back towards the van. Walking pretty fast, with 8 minutes left, I got a signal figured I had time to pop one more. Boom! A Roman silver coin! It has a bad "horn crust" on it that needs to be "cooked" off so it can be properly identified. Early id's put it in the 4th century! I'm really looking forward to seeing that coin cleaned up! Day 6: The group split up in the morning between some rougher ground and some land that was nice and smooth. I went to the smoother field with a few other hunters. First hole out of the van 20 feet away I nabbed a hammie fragment! After that the first half of the day was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead of course. It was a enormous field. It has been hunted a lot over the years from what I understand. The lack of targets for me proved it. But it wasn't a total waste. You just have to walk over the stuff. With a half hour walk back to the van and only about 45 mins left to hunt I spun around and within or 3 or 4 swings later I got a loud high tone! As I was pinpointing I looked down and laying right on top of the ground was a complete silver thimble!! Sweet end to a pretty slow day. Day 7: The day I dread. The last day. You know not only is it your last day of detecting heaven and the inevitable time you'll power down for the last time of your trip, plus the last day is usually cut a little short. That's so we have time to get back to the barn and get all of your finds from the week cleaned, bagged, catalogued, and photographed if you want to see them again before they leave your life for the next few months. To optimize our hunt time we decided to hunt some nearby land. Even though it's also the land that the club has had lasted the longest! Even after all those years there were many great finds found on it this season! The week before we came a gold coin and a beautiful Celtic gold "votive offering" were found on it! I walked across the road from that field to a field that was surrounding a 16th century two story mansion. After a half hour or so of slowly working around the old mansion I dug a small piece of a hammered silver coin. That coin put me in a tie for 1st place for the weekly "Hammy competition". So I slowed down hoping to get another one to take the lead and hopefully win the competition. It was 10:10 a.m. when I got the loudest, jumpiest, most obnoxious signal of my trip. Not being too far from a tractor entrance into that field I figured it was a beer can or a grease tube but I figured I'd dig it up and get it out of there anyways. I missed the target on the first scoop. Moved a shovel blade to the left, stepped it in and kicked the back of the shovel and pushed the dirt forward and a big yellow ..... egg looking thing rolled out to my left. As I looked at it half my brain said to myself " what is that?" And the other half of my brain was saying "HOLY .....!!!!! That looks like gold!!" When I bent over to pick it up and I was lifting it off the ground the weight of it made it fall out of my hand! That's when I knew it was definitely a big piece of gold!!! After Ron came over to shoot some video and take some photos I strapped back on all my gear took 2 steps and 3 swings and got a solid 19 TID on the Equinox 800. I told myself after just finding that thing I don't care what this is, I'm digging it up. One scoop, and I pushed the shovel forward and a 11.2 gram ancient solid gold ring was laying there looking at me!! I about started to hyperventilate!! I quickly got Ron's attention again and he came over to shoot more video and more photos. I can only imagine this will be the most amazing thing I will ever find! It's been over a week since I found it and I still can't stop picturing those two artifacts rolling out of the dirt in my head...... Thanks for lookin' & HH

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/114551337/retiree-overcome-with-emotion-after-2kg-gold-nugget-find-in-australia Retiree 'overcome with emotion' after 2kg gold nugget find in Australia A prospector has dug up a massive gold nugget near Ballarat in central Victoria. A pensioner was overcome with emotion after unearthing a two-kilogram golden nugget in Australia. The massive nugget was dug up on the outskirts of Ballarat, a former gold rush town in Victoria. A local prospector store which sells gold mining equipment said the finder was "overcome with emotion" when he present the nugget to store workers. The explorer who found the big bounty was a retiree who wished to remain anonymous. Gold Ballarat/ Screenshot from Facebook What a find. A pensioner was overcome with emotion after uncovering this large lump of gold. Gold Ballarat posted on Facebook saying that for the explorer, "his lifetime dream had come true". "The retired Pensioner was overcome wth emotion! when he presented the "Nugget" to us in store," the Facebook post read. The nugget weighed in at just under 2kg, and had an estimated value of $140,000. Mark Day of Gold Ballarat told Nine News that the finder had already received offers of $160,000 for the nugget. "I've been in this business for 25 years and this is the biggest find we have seen by one of our customers – that they've told me about anyway," he said. Gold Ballarat/ Screenshot from Facebook One Australian pensioner has hit the jackpot after finding a gold nugget worth more than $140,000. Day said the man's detector went off when he had been searching in old pastureland. At first he unearthed a lead bullet, but his detector kept "insisting" there was something further down. About a metre deep, he found his golden treasure. Collectors were reportedly lining up to buy the nugget, which was set to fetch a premium because of its size and shape, Day told Nine News. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ps... you missed that one Mitchel

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jun/28/apollo-11-tapes-moon-landing-sale-value-nearly-lost ...valuable treasure found, and certainly appropriate for today's date!