Treasure Hunting Heartaches: Post Them Here If You Dare

[Ohio Jerry]

Ever dug a nice find only to lose it before you reached your car with it?

Ever get permission to hunt a great looking old 1800's site and then have the owner have a change of heart because of a spouse or other relative?

Ever dig anything valuable but you didn't KNOW it was valuable and simply TOSS IT!!

Post your treasure hunting heartaches here! Here's mine:

A year has passed BB and I thought it was time to share a heartbreaker. I've sheepishly told the story many a times to friends and family and I still find it hard to believe as i tell it here but...here goes.

My very first attempt at metal detecting came in January last year after sitting at work, looking at an old history book of my area and thinking to myself that i might enjoy digging some old coins and relics.
I got home on a mild day (45degrees),dusted off the kids Walmart special metal detector(Bounty Hunter,Pioneer 101) that on a good day will pick up a quarter at a whopping 3 inches deep and off into the yard i went.

My very first dig was a clad quarter(didn't know what clad meant at the time) and I thought it was pretty cool to be digging coins out of my yard. Along with the clad I dug this heavy round thing that I figured was a mangled old belt buckle of some kind and didn't figure it to be that old since our house was built in 1918. (Didn't know at that time that there was a house on this very foundation in the 1800's and it was tore down for this one to be built)
I took a picture of my first digs along with the "heavy round thing" dated 1/10/08. The next day i found some battered old hot wheels cars and some badly corroded cap pistols and labled the picture "Harleys,Guns and Money" A play on that song with the line about "Send lawyers guns and money" ...

ANYWAYS,in to a jar the clad coins went and in to a big plastic bowl the junk went. The weather turned brutal,the ground froze solid and the stuff was forgotten about until a few weeks later when we were having company for the weekend...
I tore in to my office doing a major cleaning and dusting,picked up that bowl of "junk" and into the trash container it went.
I sold a bunch of stuff on ebay and by the end of March had saved up enough for a DFX.
I was checking out today's finds one day in mid-April and noticed something on the banner. It was Buckleboy's three buckle day, the thumbnail photos were scrolling and what did i see?!



Oh no,it looked TOO familiar!! Can't be I told myself. I put a picture of BB's "round thing" in to my documents,cropped out the same size picture of my "round thing" and put them side by side..I called my teenage daughter in to take a look and her words were the final blow "oh Daddy" in a sympathetic tone.
I sent a picture to Buckleboy in an email pleading for him to tell me that I hadn't thrown away a genuine Civil War Era relic. ( I'm a longtime Civil War buff BTW with a tattoo of a Canon and Rebel flag on my shoulder) ...His very heartfelt,sympathetic answer started with "there's no way to tell you this that isn't going to sting"

So there you have it. I've developed a sense of humor over the blunder and I have had an awesome first year with some really neat finds but I'm afraid this one will always sting a little. If you look at my annual finds post you'll see that I haven't thrown away ANYTHING since
Thanks for hanging in for such a long post and feel free to share any treasure hunting heartaches here!!
Jerry

 

[DigginThePast]

No stories of my own to share but you have my deepest sympathies for your loss.

 

[Ohio Jerry]

Yeah this guy sent me some little silver thingy ... I said this is trash ... slammed it into the coinstar & got a full dime for it less 8.9 % ...

... LOL ...

Had to do it "dad" ...

Nicky

I AM KIDDING ...

that lousy 8.9% will get ya every time

 

[Ohio Jerry]

No stories of my own to share but you have my deepest sympathies for your loss.

Thanks,I'm just on a mission to find another someday

 

[BuckleBoy]

No stories of my own to share but you have my deepest sympathies for your loss.

Thanks,I'm just on a mission to find another someday

Jerry, the way you're hunting, you WILL find another! I have some ideas for how to "improve your game." But I haven't shared all of 'em with ya yet. PM me for the details. I would say more, but our e-mail correspondence has been a healthy one I feel--and you have pulled some INCREDIBLE things from the ground this hear--I mean, Jesus, you found the first NJ copper in OHIO--EVER!


First Thing--BRAVO! Second, PM me.



-Buckles

 

[chirper97]

Jerry,

Thanks for great thread and photos.

We feel your pain.

A lesson not easily forgotten!

 

[mpostma]

OJ,
I'm sure I have tossed something I shouldn't have at some point, but thankfully remain blissfully ignorant.
I am equally sure it wasn't as painful as yours is. You have my deepest sympathy!

Best of Luck,
Mark

 

[Ohio Jerry]

I know this thread is ancient, kinda like me but I met Gold charter member Gare over the weekend and got to sharing detecting stories. Even though I haven't posted anything for years I read this old thread of mine and of course felt the "sting" again but to add insult to injury, the thing about this eagle breastplate that has never been mentioned is that in the summer of 1863 Confederate Morgan's Raiders came right through my property! My house sits right on St. Rt. 43, his path north with Union General Shackleford's cavalry and the Steubenville militia hot on his heals. The union breastplate is brass filled with lead and very heavy (I remember all too well) and was worn on their cartridge box belt. They were often just discarded because they were heavy and purely ornamental. Bottom line? I can say pretty confidently that this breastplate was most likely discarded by one of Shackleford's Cavalry riders. 🥵

 

[Nathan W]

I dug a carbine sling hook years ago and tossed it because I thought at the time it was an old swivel for a dog leash or something similar. Makes me depressed thinking about it

 

[dowser]

Exploring in Az mtns with my stepson in 2003, we discovered a hidden entrance to a unlisted mine.
It was hidden by small boulders piled up to conceal a crawl in entrance.
The whole area was heavy colorful volcanic vuggy quartz, with no signs of a mine entrance, nothing was piled up, high grade or low grade, and I had no idea what sulfides was at the time.
Because of Cactus needles inside, I planned to return, when I did I lost the direction, couldn't find it.
After 10 yrs on Google earth I located the spot.
No record of being claimed yet.
It's off a washed out cutback trail that ends at a old mine.
Located in the Bradshaw's, and possibly the Lost Dutchman mine..
A lost/hidden mine either way..

 

[dowser]

Exploring in Az mtns with my stepson in 2003, we discovered a hidden entrance to a unlisted mine.
It was hidden by small boulders piled up to conceal a crawl in entrance.
The whole area was heavy colorful volcanic vuggy quartz, with no signs of a mine entrance, nothing was piled up, high grade or low grade, and I had no idea what sulfides was at the time.
Because of Cactus needles inside, I planned to return, when I did I lost the direction, couldn't find it.
After 10 yrs on Google earth I located the spot.
No record of being claimed yet.
It's off a washed out cutback trail that ends at a old mine.
Located in the Bradshaw's, and possibly the Lost Dutchman mine..
A lost/hidden mine either way..

We discovered this opening/adit?, 2 miles from Fools canyon, we're 100 miners perished.
If not Lost Dutchman, for sure a miner who lost his life in 1890 because of the "Walnut grove Dam failure".
It an authentic lost mine discovery that needs to be investigated further.

 

[dowser]

Loosing a lost Gold mine is bad, but I've had many more missed opertunities while treasure hunting.
Discovering that hidden adit, was no more than 50 yards from the 2-trak, and was found by sight not by Dowsing or detecting.
My biggest upset was a Dowsed one..
I had been practicing Dowsing Diamonds, in order to go to Arkansas diamond mine, and find some.
My Mom had given me a ring that had a small Ruby in the middle, and 2 very small cut Diamonds on the side.
The stones were my signals, but I didn't know much, and wanted a bigger signal.
I purchased 3 tube shaped Carbon water filters, and duct taped them together to fit in a 5 gallon bucket, which became my signal.
My girlfriend and I drove from Michigan to Arkansas, and camped at the Gleeson campground in the hills.
I was kinda new to Dowsing, and didn't have the signals figured out.
The Dowsing signal strength was much stronger back then 2004, and the thought that the signal wasn't continuous, hadn't yet crossed my mind.
The exciting morning came, we paid our entrance fee, I brought my own shovel, and She was rather upset, the new water park wasn't open yet.
I went out to the grounds, while she was busy looking as the souvenirs and stuff inside.
I went out a ways, set my Carbon filter signal bucket down, and Dowsed, with my 2 L-rods, a circle around my signal, and Dowsed and indicated 7 connection lines coming into my signal, from all directions.
I was extremely excited that it was working, and the Diamonds were signaling, for at home in Michigan I wouldn't get any Diamond target signals at all, but here I had Seven.
I went in to get my girl, and we proceeded to the far left to start my Dowsing adventure.
I will mention that they had lots of rain, and it was Sunny hot and extremely humid.
I set my bucket down, and decided on a signal to chase. It wasn't far, and was Dowsing as a strong diamond target below.
At the time I forgot or didn't know how at the time to Dowse the depth of my target, just went to digging.
Then it got difficult, it was rocky clay, the hottest Sunny humid day, sweating Soo bad, digging wasn't going well.
I had Dowsed a target on the lower end of the field, and with all the rain, I was digging in fresh overburden, I hadn't even reached the ground level, my energy was drained.
I decided to move to a different target over in some shade.
We shifted over into the shade and I started again, signal with my Carbon filters, acquire a connection line, follow Dowse it to over the target.
I will never forget, me commenting on the strength of the connection line toward the previously abandoned target. It was a strong signal, possibly a large Diamond.
Then things went Sour!
My signals disappeared, I didn't know what was happening. Everything was fine, then my Dowsing quit working, I was very frustrated.
I made 3 holes about a foot apart, and asked her to set my Diamond chip, I had in a fingernail polish jar, in one hole and cover them, while I don't look, and when done I would Dowse the target signaling with my Carbon.
But there was no signal, my Carbon, the Diamond, the previous spot, no signals, and I didn't know why.
We left and went back to the campground, were I pulled out my Silver and rods to recalibrate what I thought I new.
Still having problems I couldn't afford to spend time tying to figure it out in Arkansas, we left that morning.
The heartache of the story is, that Dowsing power wasn't constant, and I didn't know.
All I had to do was be patient, and eventually the Dowsing signal returns.
If I only knew then what I know now!

 

[Ohio Jerry]

I dug a carbine sling hook years ago and tossed it because I thought at the time it was an old swivel for a dog leash or something similar. Makes me depressed thinking about it

Thanks for sharing. Did you see one posted and realize it was the same as you had thrown out? Thats what happened to me. I try to laugh about it but......

 

[Nathan W]

Thanks for sharing. Did you see one posted and realize it was the same as you had thrown out? Thats what happened to me. I try to laugh about it but......

No it's an old site and I was early into detecting and found out later on

 

[Gare]

I also have one of those breast plates