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I recently returned from a Beach Hunt and was able to put some time on my new White's TDI Beach Hunter. I'll be posting photos of some of the finds as time permits. This interesting discovery had me laughing all the way home. Not exactly sure what it is, but about 5" long and looks to be a snorkel with a 2 headed and 8 legged octopus on the side. One end has a breathing mouth hole piece and the other has a small hole with brown stain around her rim. I'm sure you can't go down vary far with such a short snorkel, but I'm no expert either. Anyone have any clues?

Pulled 1 last really cool find before years end. Went to a late 1800’s site and found a few keepers with the Equinox 800. My favorite is this Pre WW1 military dog tag. I don’t want to clean it up much more than is, but I think it says: MILTON P CROWE. L 1ST CAVALRY. If I understand it correctly, then the L is for Lieutenant. 1ST should be 1ST CAVALRY. Also saved this US Cavalry crossed sabers Insignia Pin, a nice large non primer rifle casing, an old lead bullet, Eagle Coat Button and then another “whats it” do-dad. It’s made of brass and has like a pull end with two guide lengths (sorry about my description, check the photo). Any help of ID or knowledge in it is appreciated as well. But the dog tag is the shits… Anyone familiar with old military dog tags and how to research them, please email me the site.

Since I keep records of all my hunts I've gotten into the habit of summarizing the years' finds. First the raw numbers (with 2017 numbers in parentheses): Hours in the field: 263.5 (228). Number of hunts: 80 (65). Common coin (clad, Memorial) face value: $78.68 ($20.65). Different sites searched: 15 (11). [Note: 6 of this years' sites were permissions compared to just 2 last year.] Pulltabs (all types): 382 (524). "Old" US coins (see photo): 22 (8). Wheat cents: 90 (61). By "old US coins" I mean any silver coin, Buffalo nickels or earlier, Indian Head cents or earlier. About 2/3 of my old coin finds have already been reported on this website. The photo (below) shows six silver dimes and six silver nickels ("Warnicks") for a total of 12 silvers. Also shown is one V-nickel (next to the dimes), seven Buffies, and two Indian Heads (bottom row). Also shown on the bottom row are a 1917 Canadian large cent, my first ever (and only, to date) dollar (modern 😢) and half dollar (clad 😢). The nickels are the big surprise since I hadn't found a Warnick since 1972(!) and back in the spring when a thread was begun (paraphrased) "what are you hoping to find first with your Equinox" I responded "my first ever Buffalo nickel". As you can see I found seven, the first two without dates and then a run of five with dates. None of the coins shown has any value over metal content (silver) or face (the rest) since they are all common dates. My best Wheatie find of the year was a 1924-D which I reported on in detail earlier this year. Although I don't hunt jewelry as many do, I sometimes find some anyway. My second photo shows my better jewelry finds and my best relic of the year, a Civil War cartridge box plate size and front face are quite similar to belt buckels but the backside is different. (I wrote this up earlier in the year -- found on 4th of July!) Just found the pocket watch on my last hunt of the year (Sunday 30 Dec). It's in very bad shape as you can see. I think it's gold plated -- you can see one very shiny spot. Probably never was a valuable piece.... The only piece of jewerly which has more than a few dollars value is the amethyst crystal in the gold bezel. Interestingly that is the only jewelry find my wife has ever wanted -- I happily gave it to her after I photo'ed it. 🙂 So why the change in production (both clad coins and old coins)? There are several small reasons but I think the big one is the use of an 11 inch coil (on the Equinox). Another thing I wrote up previously is that I was 'forced' to use a coil larger than my previous habit of 5 inch to 6 inch diameter and I was able to cover a lot more ground as a result.

I have been nugget hunting seriously for the past 6 years with some fair success and once in a while I would find a relic the prosecutors left behind. These relics compromised primarily of rusty iron, picks, axe heads and shovels. As usual I set out early morning to detect some nuggets when i got this deep tone on my Minelab. I was using my Coiltek 14" mono and I knew by the sound of it that the target was deep. I dug a foot down, than 2 feet..the sound got loud ...but the dirt was compact and hard..virgin ground I thought..another foot down and perhaps a life changing gold nugget maybe? no gold...damn !! After about a half hour of digging..I pulled out a beautiful piece of a 2 piece Naval buckle. The wreath is sharp, as if it was made yesterday...a gorgeous patina to boot. After research, I am pretty sure its a 1840-1850's Naval belt buckle, I could be wrong...as I only found 2 examples of it on line and they were reproductions. I think I have a real treasure here, in a historic perspective. I would imagine this sailor probably came to the gold fields from San Francisco, probably went AWOL and set his course to the Sierras in his search for gold. California just became a new State and joined the Union...and now I hold this buckle in my hand. For me this is as good as GOLD !

Sometimes it is better to be very lucky than good. So I am working this beaten slope of a hill in Stafford, VA off of a period CW road. It's thick as snot and getting the coil to the ground was a struggle. I get this nice 22-23 signal with the Nox down 11". I dig up the target and it is s deep knap sack hook. Scan the hole and I am still hearing that 22-26 signal. One more shovel full and it is in my dirt pile. Usually a IH or a trime will ring up that high but not brass unless it is big. In the dirt pile is this half inch by half inch piece of folded brass. So how does a knap sack hook and a piece of folded brass read so high? I look at the folded brass and see some silver plating where the two pieces meet. I very GENTLEY pry it open and see my surprise. Soldier looks to have made an ID tag from possibly a tin-type picture case. The tag reads: SERGt J. Brown Com C. 7th Reg The tag belonged to Sergeant Joseph Brown, Company C, 7th Rhode Island.

Hi Folks I had a great hunt at the beginning of September with the Equinox. At this site I discovered a nice handful of Native American Kettle Points, Jesuit missionary rings and a tinkler cone or two along with some later 1700's artifacts. One of the rings was an L Heart ring which was worn by the missionary, while the other ring was one that they gave to the Native Americans. Overall a great hunt that will be hard for me to top. I can't wait to get back and try for more. HH

I found this great badge in an old barn

Only got out for just a little short hunt today. no coins found this time but, I did find a Henry .44 rimfire case...never found one so I am pleased. Try to get a pic up soon.

when my boys were growing up 8 and 15 we spent two years gold hunting in an area around Dalonegha, GA. yes we always found a little gold but my best find was an 1800 hand forged mining pick. I was using a fisher gold bug and when I swung over the pick it sounded like a buried volkswagen. This is one of my finest finds. In addition my older son found a 400 year old fully intact alt alt point. The memories of our hunts are more valuable than the gold we found.

Hello all, I made an interesting find with the Nox the other day. I was detecting an early 1900s military site in Montana and found a copper or brass arrowhead (left in photo). I did a check online and found a few similar ones which are described as "fur trade era" arrowheads. They were apparently commonly made from scrap metal, copper kettles, etc. The Crow were said to have been expert at making these points. The other arrowhead I found at a different military camp in Colorado from the late 1860s over 20 years ago. I suspect that these points had nothing to do with the military camps, but were instead lost by native hunters. These are the only two metal arrowheads I have found since I started detecting in 1977. Just curious if anyone else has found a metal arrowhead.

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