halfdime
Silver Member
'53 class ring, pilot's wings, my heart sings - UPDATE: I may have found my man!
I didn't have an old site lined up for today, so I decided to go back to a site that's given up some oldies in spots. A pastor friend of mine has given me permission to hunt the grounds around the church and parsonage, and I have; my first SLQ came from the property, along with lots of silver and a large cent. After two good days of rain, I thought I'd go back over and try my luck closer to the church, which dates from the mid to late 1960's. I figured that, at the very least, I'd rake in some clad (my how the standards have fallen!) and maybe find the odd piece of jewelry.
I started near an old foundation where I found the SLQ, just for kicks; I managed two wheat pennies and then went for the clad. It started pouring in quickly, with lots of quarter signals; if you're gonna dig clad, might as well make it quarters! Another good quarter signal yielded these silver pilot's wings; I suspect they're military but I'll have to confer with jethro1982 to be sure. Of course, there are other experts on the forum who will chime in, I'm sure. I picked out a utility pole and just started circling it, pulling in lots of clad. The good thing about this church (from a detecting point of view) is that there are very few pull tabs; nickels were nickels. Eventually, I got a 50/ring signal on the XLT; this almost never means a ring, but for some reason I was optimistic. Plug dug, I saw the distinct shape of a class ring. This is my third, and, as it turns out, the oldest yet. It's a man's ring (pretty sure) from West View High School, class of 1953. This school no longer exists; it was folded into the North Hills School District just outside of Pittsburgh who knows when. There are initials, so my mission now is to try and find the owner. I figure he'd be about 74-75 years old.
No sooner had I dug the ring than the Franklin Park Police pulled up; a passerby had seen me digging and, knowing a threat to national security when he/she saw one, called the FPPD. The officer had a sheepish grin on his face, the kind that means, "some moron called the dispatcher so I have to check you out." He looked at the clouds and hoped out loud that rain wouldn't shorten my stay and wished me good luck. Noticing also that halfdime Junior was riding his bike nearby, he concluded that we were no threat. I also assured him that I had the pastor's permission to be there, so I was okay with the law. Somewhere, though, an idiot with nothing better to do is thinking up different ways to intrude in someone else's business.
I figured today would be clad day, but finding Sterling wings and a 10K ring made it a great day!
UPDATE: I spoke with a woman who coordinates reunions for that class; she found one man who has the initials that match the ring. He now lives in Ft. Myers, Florida and we'll attempt contact tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!
I didn't have an old site lined up for today, so I decided to go back to a site that's given up some oldies in spots. A pastor friend of mine has given me permission to hunt the grounds around the church and parsonage, and I have; my first SLQ came from the property, along with lots of silver and a large cent. After two good days of rain, I thought I'd go back over and try my luck closer to the church, which dates from the mid to late 1960's. I figured that, at the very least, I'd rake in some clad (my how the standards have fallen!) and maybe find the odd piece of jewelry.
I started near an old foundation where I found the SLQ, just for kicks; I managed two wheat pennies and then went for the clad. It started pouring in quickly, with lots of quarter signals; if you're gonna dig clad, might as well make it quarters! Another good quarter signal yielded these silver pilot's wings; I suspect they're military but I'll have to confer with jethro1982 to be sure. Of course, there are other experts on the forum who will chime in, I'm sure. I picked out a utility pole and just started circling it, pulling in lots of clad. The good thing about this church (from a detecting point of view) is that there are very few pull tabs; nickels were nickels. Eventually, I got a 50/ring signal on the XLT; this almost never means a ring, but for some reason I was optimistic. Plug dug, I saw the distinct shape of a class ring. This is my third, and, as it turns out, the oldest yet. It's a man's ring (pretty sure) from West View High School, class of 1953. This school no longer exists; it was folded into the North Hills School District just outside of Pittsburgh who knows when. There are initials, so my mission now is to try and find the owner. I figure he'd be about 74-75 years old.
No sooner had I dug the ring than the Franklin Park Police pulled up; a passerby had seen me digging and, knowing a threat to national security when he/she saw one, called the FPPD. The officer had a sheepish grin on his face, the kind that means, "some moron called the dispatcher so I have to check you out." He looked at the clouds and hoped out loud that rain wouldn't shorten my stay and wished me good luck. Noticing also that halfdime Junior was riding his bike nearby, he concluded that we were no threat. I also assured him that I had the pastor's permission to be there, so I was okay with the law. Somewhere, though, an idiot with nothing better to do is thinking up different ways to intrude in someone else's business.
I figured today would be clad day, but finding Sterling wings and a 10K ring made it a great day!
UPDATE: I spoke with a woman who coordinates reunions for that class; she found one man who has the initials that match the ring. He now lives in Ft. Myers, Florida and we'll attempt contact tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!
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That's a beautiful ring, and I'm sure he'd be delighted to get it back! Terrific hunting, 1/2~ love those wings too! 
