Metal Detector’s Blog

Last summer a friend and I were detecting a site when I found this 1773 Spanish reale in shockingly good shape. It was about 4 inches down. This was at a site along the El Camino Reale trail in central CA. We knew that there was a small and short lived trading post on the spot in the mid 1800’s and there were a lot of corresponding seated coins found. However, we also knew that it was in the area of one of D’Anza’a camps as he mapped the inland trail of California in the spring of 1776.

I have had my new Fisher Coin Strike for about 3 weeks now, and I continue to learn more about it each time I take it out. It is a bit different to operate than any detector I have used in my 35 years of detecting. That said, I do like a challenge!

I was searching in a small patch of a garden that’s not far from where the old garrison once stood on the original farm in 1650. The owner of the property often drives his tractor along the side of the corn garden to access his field, and by chance I decided to go over the area with my Minelab Explorer II. . .
“I’ve considered myself a Metal Detectorist for about 30 years. On and off since the 1970’s, I had given the hobby up for several years and started getting back out there in 2003. About a mile from my house, in beautiful New Hampshire, there is a farm owned by wonderful folks. It’s run full-time, ‘round year – they grow produce in the summer and Christmas trees in the winter.

Douglas P. from St. Thomaston, ME. has been metal detecting for some time now. He has previously owned 2 “Good” detectors but when he stepped up to the Top-of-the-Line Minelab Explorer II it was as if he was discovering metal detecting for the first time. His incredible finds include such a wide variety of valuables you hardly know where to begin such as valuable coins, rings and jewelry. Plus he has found a number of items that presently defy description, but they probably are very very valuable.

It was a beautiful day in Paradise, Alaska. Where the sun goes around you 24 hours a day. Mick and Cece Mann, the owners, have 4,000 acres of mining claims for prospectors to go up and have a wonderful time gold hunting and fishing. On the second day of our two week trip, Mick was digging and stockpiling for the prospectors.  Later we would check out his diggings for gold nuggets. My brother and I asked Mick if we could go on top of the mountain by the waterfalls.  Looking for gold nuggets with his Minelab SD-2200D, my brother was going fast and furious and went clear beyond the waterfalls where the stream started.  “Dale you are going to fast you better slow down you need to concentrate” I told him.  I went slow and took my time, checked every crevice and rock.  My brother came down and said it is time to get off the hill.  I can’t find anything and I have looked everywhere. He wanted me to follow him back down the hill but,  I had another reading with my Minelab Explorer XS.  He helped me dig the reading.  He wanted to know what I had found.  “Put your hand out” I said as I dropped an 8 ounce nugget into his hand. “Oh my God, where did you get that?” he asked.  “See, you should look a little closer, it was up by the waterfall.”  I checked all those areas, you have to dig. We dug up another target which ended up being a diver’s lead weight belt.“Show me where and how you found it!” my brother asked. We walked up there and I showed him.  I didn’t get any readings.  I saw all the over burn above me.  I looked down and saw a bedrock, there was a little cavity between two rocks.  If there is a gold nugget anywhere it would be right here.  I dug a foot didn’t get any reading with my metal detector so I kept digging and was getting discouraged.  I dug another foot and got a faint reading, I dug one more foot and lost the reading.  I pulled my metal detector upwards and heard my reading again and dug another foot off to the side.  I ran into another boulder and dug about 6 inches and there it was it was lodged in a groove. I pulled out a gold nugget half as big as my hand from the groove and said “OH MY GOD!” I held it up and thanked God.

I first got into metal detecting after my parents bought me one when I was 10 years old. On and off for the last 30 years I’ve been treasure hunting. I had a Bounty Hunter 505, but now own a trusty Fisher 1236-X2 . My favorite places to treasure hunt are private property and construction sites, and this past October I got a chance to go to a cleared construction site in Smyrna, Georgia that I was hoping would turn up something good.