I always liked finding things in the ground. As a youngster I did a lot of gardening work for my mother and family friends and living in an area with a long settled history I found things I thought were really cool. Large cent, seated liberty dime in my yard, handmade marbles, large cents and indians at other gardens. Dug a huge bottle dump near my house from age 13-17 and made more money selling bottles, crocks, and other things than my buddies did shoveling snow and mowing lawns. I was into civil war relics from about twelve on when one could buy dug US oval buckles for three dollars and minie balls ten for a dollar. Went to a civil war show in VA in 1969 and saw my first metal detectors for sale and the next year I drove all the way to VA from NY and bought a brand new Garrett BFO with two coils. Strictly beep and dig, no discrimination at all, but with practice I could tell what some targets were going to be but I dug all. Armed with Karl Von Muller's Treasure Hunter's Manuals #s 6&7 I hit all the schools, churches, and historical houses I could find. I was the first guy with a detector and all sites were virgin and I had a blast. Bought another BFO for my girlfriend and we hunted all summer finding loads of silver coins and early coppers and some nice jewelry. There have been some years since then that I did not do much hunting after cleaning out every school and church in my county and surrounding areas, but I still love the hunt and still get a thrill every time my machine says TARGET, no matter what the target is. I probably found more with that old BFO simply because I did not have a discriminator and dug every signal, and now my local spots are pretty hunted out, but the occasional permission for an old site keeps me going. Even considering a new Equinox although my current arsenal is really plenty good. By the way, that first BFO cost me $150.00, a little more than a week's pay so considering inflation $1,000.00 machines today are still a good deal.
