Turtleman
Full Member
- #1
Thread Owner
Large gold ring (made someone's day), 2 cent coin, $90, unique IH
Folks,
Friday is my off day and yesterday my two year old son wanted to go "tweasure hunting" with me so we headed out to a park that has a section of woods with some old targets in them. I still haven't figured out if the stuff I am finding there is from the park era (the park dates to the early 1900's I think) or if there was a house somewhere nearby. I'm leaning towards the latter but have not located a foundation or anything yet.
We managed an 1864 2 cent piece with great details...two weeks ago I had not found a single 2 cent piece ever and now I have found two (I think the rest of the dirt will come off yet), an IH (1907) that was shot (see bent coin in photo), a toasted wheat, 18 shotgun shells from a small area (all looked old), a brass watering can nozzle and a number of other odds and ends.
Happy hunting, everyone. What fun this hobby can be!
Peace,
T-man
Folks,
Friday is my off day and yesterday my two year old son wanted to go "tweasure hunting" with me so we headed out to a park that has a section of woods with some old targets in them. I still haven't figured out if the stuff I am finding there is from the park era (the park dates to the early 1900's I think) or if there was a house somewhere nearby. I'm leaning towards the latter but have not located a foundation or anything yet.
We managed an 1864 2 cent piece with great details...two weeks ago I had not found a single 2 cent piece ever and now I have found two (I think the rest of the dirt will come off yet), an IH (1907) that was shot (see bent coin in photo), a toasted wheat, 18 shotgun shells from a small area (all looked old), a brass watering can nozzle and a number of other odds and ends.
In the early evening, I had a wedding dress rehearsal to attend (I'm a pastor) on a beach right by a lake. There was another wedding taking place in the exact same location today's wedding was going to be so we moved down the beach to practice the order of the ceremony. After we were done, I noticed the other wedding had let out and I was heading that direction with our wedding party to get in my vehicle to leave. I noticed a man rubbing his shoe back and forth over the sand like he was looking for something. I asked him if he lost something. A lady nearby said they had lost a wedding band. I thought they meant the band of either the new bride or groom. I didn't ask any questions, I just told them to wait a moment, let me get my detector (Explorer) out of the vehicle and I would find it. I returned to the site, asked if the ring was gold (yes) and what karat (14K) and approximately where the lady thought she dropped the ring. She showed me and said she followed a path that followed the tree line to the wedding ceremony site. I fired up the Explorer and found a lot of signals, mostly junk but also a 1953 wheat.
Then, about 80 yards from where the lady thought she dropped the ring I got a solid signal but it rang up high, similar to a penny. I took one scoop with my plastic shaker and this is what I found inside:
In the picture, my band weighs 2.7 grams and is much smaller in size than the ring I found. The band I found was thick, very heavy and obviously "tall." It had to be close to an ounce in weight. It turns out the woman had taken her husband's band (not sure why he took it off) and placed it in her purse but forgot to zip the purse shut. The ring fell out and the sand swallowed it up. It made my day to find the ring for her. She was in tears and said that she and her husband got matching wedding bands custom-made by a French-Canadian jeweler on their 15th anniversary near Niagara Falls. The ring cost over $1500 and that was 15 years ago before gold was selling for almost $1300 an ounce. She insisted she pay me. I resisted. The man with her (not her husband, he had already headed back to their hotel) said, "You are going to take this," and stuffed some bills in my pocket.
The lady told me if I didn't want to keep the money I could donate it to my church. I made a commitment two years ago to give every last penny I find detecting to either a non-profit or my church because I don't wantto become a miser. So the $90 won't stay with me for long. It was such a thrill to see the happiness in the lady's face as I handed her the ring. She didn't think there was a chance she'd ever see it again. This is one of the things that makes detecting so much fun.Happy hunting, everyone. What fun this hobby can be!
Peace,
T-man
and you were rewarded handsomely, the old coins are fantastic finds also 
