Don in SJ
Silver Member
- May 20, 2005
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(This story is a modified reprint I did for the SJMDC(South Jersey Metal Detecting Club) newsletter years ago, not too many wallets ever found in a farm field that contained the goodies this one did)
On a nice October afternoon, I was detecting at the site of an old high school football field when a young man driving by suddenly stopped and got out of his truck and approached me, and asked “how deep does that detector go?” I explained to him it depends on what the object is and type of soil, etc.
He then asked me if I could find his wallet that he lost. I asked him where, and was there any metal in it.
The young man than explained to me that while he was tilling his field, that numerous times he had to push his wallet back into the rear pocket of his jeans, while riding on his tractor. But, eventually it slid out unnoticed and by the time he realized it was gone he had done about an acre of tilling.
He of course panicked and looked and looked to no avail, he went to the local metal detecting distributor and rented a detector, again to no avail and basically gave up on finding it.
I asked him when did you lose it, he said back in the springtime, LOL, it was now October! He was really serious about wanting me to find it, he explained that he had a considerable amount of money, photos and credit cards in the wallet and felt that it still might be salvageable after 6 months in the ground and yes there would be a reward.
So, I agreed to meet him at a designated place the following week, and he would take me to the field where he lost the wallet. I met him the following week, we drove to the field and it turned out that the field was knee high in a cover crop and that the entire 1-acre search area was not detectible in that condition.
I said to him, you have to mow the grass down as low as possible and then we can hunt for it. So, we agreed to meet again the following week, same time, same place.
Remember how I asked him if there was any metal in the wallet? Well, his answer was that it had a metal snap to hold the photo section close and a metal clip that holds the plastic photo holders together, that is all. I was hoping he said he had a silver half dollar or some other big coin in it, nope, just a tiny snap and clip assembly.
With that knowledge of what I was really looking for I found a similar wallet at home and put that on the ground and tried my Garrett GTA1000 and see how it read on the meter. I determined, wow, I hope there is not much junk, because the reading was borderline junk type reading and this was going to be a challenge.
The following week I met him at the field, which he had just finished mowing. I brought along my son’s Garrett Freedom Ace detector and he started on the far end of the field and I started in the middle of the field.
Fortunately the ground was free of junk and I found a clad quarter right away. Within 15 minutes of hunting, I had a slight reading that was close to the reading I got on my test wallet. I looked down and sticking out of the ground was part of a leather wallet! I yelled over to “Joe” and he ran as fast as he could to the spot. I let him “recover” the wallet. He was overjoyed that it was still intact, one big smile on his face. However, the money in his wallet was all wet and stuck together, looking rather gummy and fragile.
In the wallet were drivers license, family photos of his wife, kids, and credit cards, including one for his father’s diner business and 12 One Hundred Dollar Bills!
There was no way those bills were going to stay together if he tried removing them from the wallet, after almost 6 months of exposure to the elements they were rather fragile. I think the environmental damage would have been worst if it were not buried, but regardless, the wallet was in decent shape.
I recommended to Joe to go to a main office of a bank and with the money in the wallet, explain what happened and I am sure they would take care of giving him credit for the money, once proper procedures were followed.
He was now being apologetic, he promised me a hundred dollar reward if I found his wallet, but he was counting on using one of those bills for the reward. I told him no problem, no reward necessary, but he would not hear of it, he then reached into his pocket and pulled out a $50 bill. He said, here, then take this and I will not take no for an answer.
Well, after again many thanks from him, I went on my way, and to this day I do not know if he followed up on getting his damaged money replaced.
I did ask him why he had such a large amount in his wallet while he was tilling and he said it was his mortgage payment and he was going to pay it later that day! Well, that was his story anyway. J
OK, so ends the story of the Lost Wallet, I can say I found $1200 while detecting, kind of nice.
Don in South Jersey
On a nice October afternoon, I was detecting at the site of an old high school football field when a young man driving by suddenly stopped and got out of his truck and approached me, and asked “how deep does that detector go?” I explained to him it depends on what the object is and type of soil, etc.
He then asked me if I could find his wallet that he lost. I asked him where, and was there any metal in it.
The young man than explained to me that while he was tilling his field, that numerous times he had to push his wallet back into the rear pocket of his jeans, while riding on his tractor. But, eventually it slid out unnoticed and by the time he realized it was gone he had done about an acre of tilling.
He of course panicked and looked and looked to no avail, he went to the local metal detecting distributor and rented a detector, again to no avail and basically gave up on finding it.
I asked him when did you lose it, he said back in the springtime, LOL, it was now October! He was really serious about wanting me to find it, he explained that he had a considerable amount of money, photos and credit cards in the wallet and felt that it still might be salvageable after 6 months in the ground and yes there would be a reward.
So, I agreed to meet him at a designated place the following week, and he would take me to the field where he lost the wallet. I met him the following week, we drove to the field and it turned out that the field was knee high in a cover crop and that the entire 1-acre search area was not detectible in that condition.
I said to him, you have to mow the grass down as low as possible and then we can hunt for it. So, we agreed to meet again the following week, same time, same place.
Remember how I asked him if there was any metal in the wallet? Well, his answer was that it had a metal snap to hold the photo section close and a metal clip that holds the plastic photo holders together, that is all. I was hoping he said he had a silver half dollar or some other big coin in it, nope, just a tiny snap and clip assembly.
With that knowledge of what I was really looking for I found a similar wallet at home and put that on the ground and tried my Garrett GTA1000 and see how it read on the meter. I determined, wow, I hope there is not much junk, because the reading was borderline junk type reading and this was going to be a challenge.
The following week I met him at the field, which he had just finished mowing. I brought along my son’s Garrett Freedom Ace detector and he started on the far end of the field and I started in the middle of the field.
Fortunately the ground was free of junk and I found a clad quarter right away. Within 15 minutes of hunting, I had a slight reading that was close to the reading I got on my test wallet. I looked down and sticking out of the ground was part of a leather wallet! I yelled over to “Joe” and he ran as fast as he could to the spot. I let him “recover” the wallet. He was overjoyed that it was still intact, one big smile on his face. However, the money in his wallet was all wet and stuck together, looking rather gummy and fragile.
In the wallet were drivers license, family photos of his wife, kids, and credit cards, including one for his father’s diner business and 12 One Hundred Dollar Bills!
There was no way those bills were going to stay together if he tried removing them from the wallet, after almost 6 months of exposure to the elements they were rather fragile. I think the environmental damage would have been worst if it were not buried, but regardless, the wallet was in decent shape.
I recommended to Joe to go to a main office of a bank and with the money in the wallet, explain what happened and I am sure they would take care of giving him credit for the money, once proper procedures were followed.
He was now being apologetic, he promised me a hundred dollar reward if I found his wallet, but he was counting on using one of those bills for the reward. I told him no problem, no reward necessary, but he would not hear of it, he then reached into his pocket and pulled out a $50 bill. He said, here, then take this and I will not take no for an answer.
Well, after again many thanks from him, I went on my way, and to this day I do not know if he followed up on getting his damaged money replaced.
I did ask him why he had such a large amount in his wallet while he was tilling and he said it was his mortgage payment and he was going to pay it later that day! Well, that was his story anyway. J
OK, so ends the story of the Lost Wallet, I can say I found $1200 while detecting, kind of nice.
Don in South Jersey
