Long Day, Two Permissions, Vindication

[F350Platinum]

Today was another great day of 2026, despite all the storms and ice that forced me South for a long time. 😵 It was great fun but expensive 💸

I invited Chase down to hunt with me not only to test the Deus 2 with V4, but I also put the Manticore in the truck as a backup and am glad I did. 🤔

First off I'm not going to say the Manticore is a better detector than the Deus 2, but it does have its strong suit. I highly recommend that if you are really serious about Relic and Beach hunting, you consider owning both.

That is, of course, if Minelab doesn't replace it soon. 😏 The Deus 2, albeit getting too complicated, is a fantastic detector. I think the end justifies the means.

After having an incredibly frustrating morning at another permission with the Deus 2 and V4, I decided to go to a great permission that always seems to give up the goods. Chase was running late so he met me there.

I used the Manticore, I wanted to focus on low conductors which is the Mcore's forte.

Nothing like a warm day in February, the sky was clear and it hit the lower 60s.

I love bean fields, it was a great relief to hit one after my morning at another corn field, but I forgot my new stubble plate. 🙄 The ground is perfectly saturated, and digging was easy.

It didn't matter, the recent ice and snow had flattened out the bean stalks so it wasn't much of a problem to keep the coil low without the plate.

I ran into the landowner, I'm going to give him the ~300 year old literally priceless gold ring I found here. I explained that it was from one of the first families to settle this area who came up from Jamestown, about the 3d generation of the family.

There are so many implicatons, issues, and deep responsibility behind such a great find, I feel it is better to turn items like this over to the landowner:

A 22kt gold mourning ring with the names of both parents on it, they passed life a month apart in the early 1700s. It has been on my mind to pass it on to the landowner since I found it. He was thrilled. I've had it for a while.

Some of the implications of finding such a relic are first and foremost the stir that will be caused finding such a thing, the amount of detectorists that would show up uninvited to search for more, and the possibility of great archaeological interest which could or will cause difficulty with making money on crops. 🙄 I have decided I will let him choose what to do, and will provide him with any history I've found on this which is to say the least extensive. I almost know for certain which family member lost it.

If I found it casually at a public beach, I wouldn't think twice 🏴‍☠️ 🤣

Moving on. 

Here's today's trash, a mix from both permissions. The large iron hook thing and the alien probe part (shiny metal piece) are the only undesirable objects that came from this field. I always dig lead and Buck, and you'll see why in a bit. Got lots of it. The ring above came from this practice. It is a discipline I force upon myself. 

Got lots of cool buckle bits and buttons, one really old lead button, and a small ring that held something in place. It has a nick on either side. I don't see threads so I don't know what it could have been used for 🤷‍♂️

Next up is an ancient knob with a great early twist, a piece from a ring or broach, and an extremely small ball button with a shank. 

Usually I put silver as my last item, but today was unique. I probably got karma from my offer of the ring, so as we were leaving I dug this, I photographed it while waiting for pizza in a Domino's 🤣

A cut Pistareen.

I'm going with a 1717 2 Real:

 

The best find to me was this:

A heavily gold plated small button that may be a Tudor Rose. It was a solid 20, found in machine gun iron with recovery speed at 6 on the Manticore. Many of the buck balls above were a 20 as well. 🥳 The Pistareen was a 50, in the same conditions.

After an exhausting morning my decision to switch paid off. 

🍀

[stupot]

On the point of detectors, you really summed up some good points in your early paragraph. I actually gave up the complex d2 after three years of ownership when the Manti arrived, smooth & responsive. I did shift however, a vast amount of stuff with the Deus, maybe I'll re-visit it.

Onto your ring. Well I'm guessing in the US these will be excessively rare! I'm betting that donation will open up many other doors to you from introductions. Is the stone still in place?

And another cut piece....

 

 

[F350Platinum]

44 minutes ago, stupot said:

On the point of detectors, you really summed up some good points in your early paragraph. I actually gave up the complex d2 after three years of ownership when the Manti arrived, smooth & responsive. I did shift however, a vast amount of stuff with the Deus, maybe I'll re-visit it.

Onto your ring. Well I'm guessing in the US these will be excessively rare! I'm betting that donation will open up many other doors to you from introductions. Is the stone still in place?

And another cut piece....

Thanks, stupot.

You and @Rivers rat are my two "favourite" UK detectorists. I consider it an "honour" to get comments from ya. 😅 Seriously. 🏆

Hell, someone in the USA has to give y'all some competition... 🤣 I haven't found an older coin than 1607 but I also haven't found any Spanish Wreck treasure... Yet. 😎

I plan to write a small treatise on why I think someone who already has the Deus 2 should also purchase a Manticore. I have found a literally unfair amount of great stuff with both of them, but currently I fear the story ends at the D2 with V2 at present. 🤔

The ring sadly lost its "hair stone", the practice of setting aside money in a will for mourning rings remained in the US until about the late 1800s to early 1900s as I recall. I looked for it.

Here is an AI take on it:

"In summary, the primary era of mourning rings as a common practice in the USA effectively ended in the early 20th century (around or shortly after 1900–1910s), with no strict cutoff but a clear decline from Victorian peaks. Modern equivalents exist today (e.g., ash-infused or memorial jewelry), but they differ from the historical mourning ring custom."

I've been called a 'Spanish Silver magnet' before, but we all know that's impossible... 🤣

🍀

[rvpopeye]

Returning that ring is helping keep your karma bucket full 350 ! 

Silver magnet is your karma cash in bonus .

That 60 degree thawed ground might also be bonus adjacent. 

So WTG 350 !   Just like Mr Magoo . You've done it again 🤩

I still have Bob Seger dirt , "like a rock". (With a skim coat of mud around noon on the good days....)🙄

[JCR]

 It is a very special Honor to be able to not only find an object of historical interest, but to be able to discover it's also lost history & provenance.  Our fore fathers were real people, who lived real lives. We need these reminders more than we realize.

 Excellent hunting & spot on thinking about detectors.

[F350Platinum]

2 minutes ago, rvpopeye said:

Returning that ring is helping keep your karma bucket full 350 ! 

Silver magnet is your karma cash in bonus .

That 60 degree thawed ground might also be bonus adjacent. 

So WTG 350 !   Just like Mr Magoo . You've done it again 🤩

I still have Bob Seger dirt , "like a rock". (With a skim coat of mud around noon on the good days....)🙄

Thanks RVP. 🙂

3 more days of cold, then bam, 12 days of 70s. Might mean I'll have to cut grass... 😬 Then we will get an ice/snow storm in April 😵 it's happened.

I'm no stranger to the 10 pound boots man, all it takes is a melted frost. Not fun. I think the worm will turn for you soon! 🍀 Lots of birds out there this morning, but it also means not much time left to relic hunt 🥲

Bob Seger 🤘👍

[F350Platinum]

4 hours ago, JCR said:

 It is a very special Honor to be able to not only find an object of historical interest, but to be able to discover it's also lost history & provenance.  Our fore fathers were real people, who lived real lives. We need these reminders more than we realize.

 Excellent hunting & spot on thinking about detectors.

Thank you JCR,

I'm really developing a mental picture of what was going on at that farm, and I'm very grateful to have had the introduction made by another landowner. This gentleman owns a large section in the area, and has given us permission to search it all, even going as far as to spare us a long walk from the other gentleman's property that we call the Death March. It's about a mile. 

Thanks to the records of this prominent early family I have read much about them. None of the surviving relatives live in the area, or at least none that I could find. 🤷‍♂️

They are not the most prominent settlers of this region but are among the first. I wish I could post the history here but that would draw unwelcome attention. 😅

It's a shame that what I have in my head can't really be passed on but to a select few. 

🍀

[Lodge Scent]

You continue to rock it on just about every aspect of metal detecting F350. Put me down for an autographed copy of your detecting memoirs when you get around to publishing them. We got 3 feet of snow here last weekend. Yes 3 feet. It's going on almost 2 months now since I last swung a coil out in the wild. So please keep detecting and posting your finds and observations.....it helps keep me from climbing the walls. 😵‍💫😄

[F350Platinum]

Thanks Lodge,

Glad to do it. 🙂 Detecting is my life now, and I'm grateful to my wife who supports and encourages it, particularly when I'm beach hunting 🤣

I remember the old days in CT when the snow hung around until April 😬 I'm glad I moved here. Snow never lasts more than a week. We are protected by the Blue Ridge mountains that also funnel warm air this way. 🥳 All that and two salt rivers. I photographed the Pistareen at Domino's while waiting for pizza to celebrate my find.

I hope I'll get around to it someday, I'm sharpening my writing chops here. 😅 I should probably just retrieve and compile all my posts for the last 6 years 🤔

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