10/29- New locations, Small Coil Pays Out, and Harold

This weekend I was all over the valley. My dear friend and supporter Marc Sitterud tied the knot this weekend and I would just like to congratulate him and Jackie on a lovely wedding. The wedding brought friends from all over. One in particular is my good friend Harold Abell from Chicago. He has always been a big supporter of the metal detecting so I had some time to get out with him Saturday morning. Thanks to my friend Zeke and his brother, I was able to test out a new property in Salt Lake. It is an 1890 home with some good potential. Harold and I only searched for 30 minutes but it paid out one 1945 wheat penny. I am confident that I will find some good stuff when I have some more time to hunt it.

Here is Harold (aka Big Hair) in front of the 1890 home. He is an engineer for GE and was giving me some wisdom while we tested out the location. Thanks for coming out buddy.

 A lady stopped me when I was hunting a house in Pleasant Grove and told me that this house was just purchased by the city. I did some research and found that it was built in 1930. I told Ben about it and we met up to hunt it. The targets were very deep. Ben found 5 wheats, 1 merc, and a piece of silver jewelry. I found 4 wheats and a tax token.

 

This token was found in the yard, it appears to have a name and on the back it says Florida Pool Products. I thought it was interesting.

 

On Sunday, I headed back to the 1904 lot in Provo where I found a hoard of costume jewelry. I decided to use my small coil since Ben and I had already covered the area once before. The small coils continues to amaze me since I found another 5 wheat pennies, 1 mercury dime, and a silver ring. The picture is a good example of how the small coil works between bad targets to find the good stuff. The silver dime and wheat penny where found next to this large iron target. The larger coil was not able to pick it up. The silver ring was also found next to some rusty old nails.

 

Total finds from the weekend.  10 wheats, 1 mercury, 1 tax token, and silver ring.

 

Most of the coins are from 40's and 50's with one from 1925. The stone is not a real diamond :(

10/25- Gun, Missouri, and Hoard of Rings

It has been far too long since I update this bad boy. I have been traveling for work and play. I have been to 11 states in the month of October and enjoyed a lot of good times with friends and family. During my travels, I have spent some time looking for the good stuff. The last couple weeks have paid out with some very interesting finds. Here are some of the best!

When I pulled this up, I couldn't believe it. It appears to be either a .22 Cal or .25 Cal. It's amazing what is lost in the yard.

 Last weekend, I spent some time in Missouri with my Grandma Meme for her 80th birthday. She lives in this 100 year old house on a farm in southwest Missouri. I decided to take my metal detector with me to see what I could find.

 View from the farm.

 Total finds from Meme's house. I only found one wheat penny from 1952 and a toy car that probably belonged to my cousin.

 I was driving home one day and saw this empty lot. I did some research and got permission from the owner. Judging by the houses and the area, I knew it was an old lot. It turned out that there was a house from 1904 was torn down a little while ago. The lawn and tree strips were still good though

 I dug this picture up from Provo records. It gives an idea of what the house looked like before it was torn down.

 The first day I was there and only tried the tree strips. I found 8 wheat pennies, 2 tax token, and my 2nd buffalo nickel!!! I thought the lawn would be even better but it wasn't. Ben, Keith, and I went back last night and I didn't find anything old. Ben found just a few coins but he managed to score a buffalo from 1926, tax token, and one wheat penny from 1942. Instead of finding older items, I had a one any only type of experience. I found this 8k gold ring with a pretty purple stone. After that, I found a hoard of costume jewelry.

 All of this was in one hole. At first I thought I hit the mother load but none of it is real gold.

 Total finds from the one hole is 8 rings, 9 earrings, 1 pendant, and 1 bracelet with hearts. I doubt I will ever beat a jewelry hoard like this again.

 Total coin finds from the house. No silver :(

9/10- The Great Buffalo Nickel Found at Last

For the longest time, I have been in search of a buffalo nickel. In all the old homes we have searched, I have never found one until this week. My buddy Ben has actually found a couple this year and I was hoping to follow his lead. Last weekend I was searching a old church in Provo when I noticed two houses that appeared to be empty. I searched for the owner and found that the church has purchased them in preparation for the new temple in downtown Provo. Since Ben has been such a good friend in allowing me to hunt some of the homes he discovered, I decided to wait until he was able to go. We met up on Monday night and had a blast. Between myself, Ben, and Keith (Ben's dad), we found 11 wheat pennies, 3 silver coins, 1 buffalo nickel, and 4 interesting tokens. Here is the link to ben's blog to check out his finds: http://blog.benhere.com

This guy was about 3 inches down and I just had the strongest feeling that it was time. I was pretty excited

 The date is worn off on it so I can't tell what year it is. Buffalo nickels are from 1913-1938.

 Along with the buffalo nickel, I found my second standing liberty quarter with no date. The mercury dime is from 1939.

 I found three tokens that have "LOANED FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY" on one side and "PROPERTY OF O.K. VENDER" on the other. Doing some research showed me that these were traded and used in slot machines and could be traded for prizes like candy or gum. They were also used in illegal underground gambling. They date back to the 30's.

 All the good finds from the hunt. I found 7 wheat pennies from 1930,35,38,44,44,46,47.

 Total finds from the house. I went back last night and didn't find hardly anything which tells me we did a good job cleaning it out.

 Some of the other finds from the trip. The three keys were from the same hole.

10/8- Too Much Travel, Not Enough Finds

I have not been out as much as I would like due to the fact I have been traveling a ton for work and family. I was in Boston the other week attending my cousin Jenny's wedding. I did not take the metal detector with me since I was going to be with family I hadn't seen for a while. I got back from Boston and immediately left for San Francisco for a week for work. I did take my metal detector with me and went out a couple times at night. In the between time, I have been to Lion's park with Ben where we focused on digging every target to try to find some older and possible gold items. We also went back to Rock Canyon Park in search of gold rings since I had my record day there with 7 silver rings in one day. After conference, I spent some time at an old church downtown Provo where I found some good stuff as well. Here are the finds.

First here are a couple pics from Boston with my sister, mom, and Meme. I had a great time with them in Boston seeing some of the historical sites. This is in front of North Church where Paul Revere hung the lantern to signal the British were coming.

 This was my view from San Francisco. Not a ton of targets and no silver but it was fun to try a new place

 All my silver items from this last week. The star of David and little peace sign is from Rock Canyon Park. The 1944 mercury dime is from the church. The little piece sign is the smallest silver item I have ever found and gives a good idea of how sensitive my machine is.

 Total finds from my week. Ben and I both had a pocket spill with two presidential dollar coins in it.

 Other items from the hunts. Nothing of real worth but always interesting.

 Total wheat for the week was 7 and one mercury dime. Brings the the total to 39 silver coins and 158 wheats for the year.