Last Metal Detecting of the Year

With outside temperatures getting down in the teens, I think my metal detecting for 2011 is done.  This picture represents my dad's finds for the last week before the really cold temperatures arrived.  He had 5 quarters from the 60's but none of them silver.  He did manage to find a small silver ring.

Thankgiving Holiday Hunt Produced Silver

Having a couple days off work for the Thanksgiving holiday, allowed me to get outside to do some metal detecting.  Silver ring #47 was found at Grandview Elementary.  Registered on the metal detector as a dime.  Also found a holed dime with monofilament line tied on it.  Maybe they used that to trick a vending machine.  

While my dog was getting x-rayed at the vet I also hunted the soccer field East of UVRMC (Fox Field). One of the items found there was a little silver cap.  Not sure what it came off.

Detecting in the snowFaux pieces of eight Spanish coin

On Saturday November 19th, with an inch or two of snow on the grass, I went metal detecting in the snow for the first time.  The temperature was in the 40's.  I stopped by Scera Park for an hour.  The snow would stick to my coil when I would let it touch the snow, building up until it became too heavy and I would have to stop and knock the snow off.  I first target I pulled out 4 quarters from the same hole.  On that hunt I found 5 quarters, 3 nickels, and one dollar.

I met up with dad at Scera park a few days later, after the snow was gone, and after work. In the short time I was out I found another dollar and a bunch of clad.  Some interesting finds were a copper button, and an imitation Spanish piece of eight coin (at least that is what it looked like to me).

Cascade Park Coughs Up a Silver Ring

I have not been able to get out after work because it is already dark by the time I get there.  However, my Dad has still been getting out.  From a couple outings to Cascade Park he found a big pile of modern clad and a nice 925 silver ring.

Discovery Park - Ring #45

I keep thinking it is time to hang up the metal detector for the winter, but this past Saturday me and my dad went out for a couple hours.  We went to a new location, Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove.  I could tell it was a relatively new park because most of the targets were in the top 2 inches.  It was a good thing too, because the ground was very hard!  Dad found a presidential dollar and a set of keys.  I found more silver ring, bringing the year to date total to 45.

Silver Beads?

Dad found a nice day this past week to get out and do a little detecting in Orem City Park.  He found 5 beads that appear to be silver but no special markings.  Would beads have a hallmark if they were silver?

Frozen Ground - Silver Ring #44

Made it out after work for some metal detecting for the first time since the daylight savings time shift.  Of course it was in the dark and the ground was frozen, but I manage to find 11 quarters and a nice silver ring.

Westridge Soccer Field

Got out the last Saturday in October with my Dad for a little metal detecting.  We hit the soccer field behind Westridge Elementary School.  We found a good amount of modern clad.  No silver :(   I did find a 1976 6th place medal for cross country, a mood ring, an oil vial, and a sparkly diamond button.

Mystery Object #3

 Sometimes you find objects that are just a big clump of rust.  After spending a night in the electrolysis tank can turn the clump into a recognizable object.  This time the clump turned out to be finger nail clippers.

Silver Holland Spoon

 Here is a cool silver spoon from Holland I found while metal detecting in the 70's.

Thimble and Wheat

After dropping my bicycle at the shop, I decided to go try Lion's Park again, in hopes to find some more old coins.  I found a 1945 wheat penny and a smashed thimble.  I have seen other detectorists find thimbles, but this is a first for me.  I also had hope that it was silver, but it was aluminum.

I lined up the coins by decade.  Bottom row is from the 200x, and the next row up from the 1990's then 1980's, 1970, and then one dime from 1967, and the 1945 wheat penny.  I would like to be seeing more from the 60's.

Nunns Park - No Metal Detecting Allowed

Dad and I drove up the canyon after work to search Nunns Park.  There used to be an old hydro power plant that was built in 1897.  The grassy areas were hard to detect because of all the junk and iron  in the ground.  I did pretty good just picking up the quarters in the grass.  As it was getting dark my batteries ran out, so I ran to the car to get new ones.  It was then that I noticed a sign.

 NO METAL DETECTING ALLOWED... whoops.  I don't know why this park is different than any of the other county parks.  Once we noticed the sign, we packed up and left.

Provo River Park Finds

Dad and I tried hunting an old park up Provo canyon.  It was very trashy with a lot of iron.  Usually I find more coins than my Dad, because I can get up and down faster than he can, also I have a Lesche digging tool.  This time my Dad got more coins than I did.  He got a cool UTA token.  The first thing I found was a hypodermic needle (not something I want to dig up).  The second thing I found was a small silver ring.  I also found a big fishing weight and a wheat penny.

Back to Cascade Soccer Field

Dad and I went back to the Cascade soccer field again Saturday to see what else we could find.  Dad came away with a cub scout pocket knife, button, lock, Chuck-E-Cheese token, and a little silver CTR ring.

I got my first pet collar, a cub scout 50th anniversary token, a gaming token, a couple foreign coins, a Sacajawea dollar, and a koala.

We both found CTR rings.  Dad's is on the left and mine is one the right.  Problem with mine is that it doesn't have any hallmark.  Dad's is stamped with Sterling.

Precious Metal Ring Count: 41, 42, and 43

Ring count year to date: 43.

Cascade Elementary School Soccer Field

This past Thursday, Dad and I hit the soccer field behind Cascade Elementary School.  Dad found a Haste watch, mechanical pencil, a mood ring, some clad and a small pebble that registers like a dime.  The pebble is too light to be lead... not sure what it could be.
I had a great night I found 18 quarters, a presidential dollar, and a couple silver rings, including a ring that has some nice stones (still have to take them to a jeweler).

Personal Record for Nickels

Nickels used to be so hard to find. The Whites XLT would display a nickel icon and when I would dig it up it would turn out to be a pull tab.  One thing the Minelabs ETrac has taught me is to not depend on those icons.  Now I stand a much better chance of predicting when I have found a nickel.  I got out on Saturday with my Dad for a few hours and managed to find 14 nickels including one from Portugal and one from Domincan Republic.  That is a new personal record for nickels.

Identify Ring #4

I have to admit that when I am metal detecting and see a ring like this pop out of the ground, I get a little excited.  It was pretty dirty, but it had what looked like some big diamonds.  Finding a ring with some real diamonds is probably my only real chance to recoupe the money invested in this hobby.

One of the first things I noticed about this ring is that it appeared to be flaking some sort of plating.  That pretty much convinced me that it was a fake, but as I got it home and cleaned it up and put it under the microscope I have to re-question my first assumption: Is it real?

There were 2 hallmarks stamped in the ring: 925, and FAS.  925 usually means sterling silver, but I had never seen the FAS hallmark before.  Google suggested that it meant "fused alloy silver", which would make sense with the 925 (92.5% pure silver).

What do you think?  Is it real?

Chinese Coin - circa 1875 to 1908.

I found this coin many years ago at the Johnson Home on 800 South in Orem.  They had a huge black walnut tree with a pioneer plaque attached to it.  When the coin was found it had a piece of fabric in the middle of it like it had been used as a button.  From what I can tell, the coin dates somewhere between 1875 and 1908.

Kuang	Hsu	T'ung	Pao

Kuang Hsu (1875-1908 a.d.)

The back of the coin indicates the province where it was minted.
Boo-Giyan
Kweiyang
Kweichow

One-of-a-kind Silver Ring

Found this unique ring in the grass surrounding a small playground in Scera Park.  The ring has no hallmarks or special markings of any kind.  It was probably some school metal shop project.  Anyway, my metal detector sure thinks that it is silver.  It rang up as a 50 cent piece.

Selection of Quarters

A 1964 quarter, significant because it was the last year the quarters were 90% silver.  A little one sided mini-quarter, it must have come off a piece of jewelry.  The 1995 quarter with the gold George was used to decorate the face of a wrist watch that my Dad found.

Six Pence - All The Richer

I found this British six pence as I was looking through old metal detecting finds.  Turns out that this coin is 50% silver.  It is not a rare coin, over 28 million were minted in 1928, but not very common in Utah.  So this one is going to the silver pile.

Tokens

Some of the tokens I have found over the years.

Heart Pendant

When I found this little pendant, I thought it was gold with diamonds.  Now, when I look at it under the microscope, I am not sure. 

Looking closely at the back, it appears to say "925" and "CZ" pretty clearly.  The mark in the middle is not as clear.  Perhaps it says 18, for 18 carat gold?  Anyway, I believe now that the stones are cubic zirconia.

Help Identify Ring #3

I was pretty excited to find this ring, because I thought it was gold.  I guess I thought that because it had a gold tint, but the metal detector indicated that it was silver.  So I have 2 questions for you: 1- Do you think those are real diamonds?  2- What metal do you think was used?  Maybe a plated silver.