Fun on the other side of the puddle

Are you bored, lonely? There is a lot of fun and excitement to be had metal detecting in the UK if you play by the rules. Jimmy Sierra Normandi takes Discovery Tours to England each year to search for lost artifacts. The English have an antiquities act which specifies what can be removed from the country, but it is reasonable. And if a long plane flight does not turn you on, try some good old USA Ghost Towns.

Here are a few of my best finds abroad. First, I found a Bronze Age axe head in perfect condition, about 3,000 years old. It resides in the Castle Museum in Norfolk. Then by eye I found a perfect stone hand axe, a grand find for a forester! Then a gold half noble dropped out of a sod down by the English Channel. It was from 1824, King George IV, and in perfect condition.

But the excitement grew when I found a Celtic brooch dated at about 250 B.C. A Roman silver denarius added to the fun and finally a perfect Saxon stirrup mount topped it all off. Everyone was amazed when I found a rare coin from the count of Flanders, one Gui Du Dampierre, minted in Belgium about 1272.

They are not found in England as a rule and no one knew what it was. But the show stopper was a gilded strap end with a chantry on one side. The only other example of such a strap end had a praying monk inside the chantry. Mine had an acorn and an oak branch in the chantry! That smacks of the Druids! The other side has a zoomorph, an animal made up from a hart, a loin and a swan’s wings with a trefoil tail.

I think this is a clue to the owners identity, but whoever it was, he or she had a sense of humor. Then this summer I hit the jackpot when my DFX found a Roman trumpet brooch from about 50 A.D. White’s DFX did most of the work and is my best friend and companion!

Nellie (OR)

Dear White’s,

In April 2006, I made a trip with a metal detecting buddy to a site in Alabama where we thought the Old Federal Road might have been located. We also felt that there might have been an old fort nearby that dated from the Indian Wars in the early 1800’s. I began searching with my XLT in an area under some trees that looked like it might have been a shady haven in years gone by.

I found a pewter button, but not much else and was about to move to another area when I got a solid “dime” indication. I dug a mint condition 1829 silver dime. Since it was getting dark, we had to leave, and were not able to return for several weeks. When we did return, my buddy took off in another direction, but I really felt that there had to be something in this grove of trees.

So, I continued to search and soon turned up a set of keys hung on a copper chain. I even found the rusty nail that held the chain! The keys were probably used to lock an armory or other valuables in the fort. Then I began to find musket balls, military buttons, name plates, and several more coins, including a 1712 Spanish Real and an 1810 Two Skilling Courant from Norway.

The buttons were Artillery Militia and Army General Service buttons dated 1814-1821. But even, more interesting was the discovery of a counterfeit “white metal” US Dollar coin! Then, I found a 1900 “V” nickel and a Shield Nickel that indicated that the area was populated in later years even though there was no evidence to indicate that.

We were probably not the first to hunt in this area, but with my XLT, I didn’t let that stop me. It’s a great machine and I have the finds to prove it!

By the way, a photo of the keys and three of the coins were published in the Nov-Dec issue of American Digger magazine.

Thank you again for your help, and for making a great metal detector.

Mike (AL)

Dwight from Southern California

Thank you White’s for making a great metal detector. I purchased an M6 from Jim at Escondido Coin for Christmas.

I went camping last weekend at a state beach campground; I tried the beach area first with very little luck. So I went back to camp with only a few coins. While in camp I was watching the cleanup crew cleaning up the vacated camp sites. I noticed they were raking up all the leaves under the trees. The light came on, I grabbed my M6 with the new 10” Spider coil and off I went detecting.

By the end of the weekend I found 176 pennies, 3 nickels, 18 dimes, and 18 quarters. The best find was when I was digging up a penny about 8 inches deep. I hit something solid, and dug up an Indian grinding stone. I found out the park service brought in sand from a nearby riverbed.

In the three months I have retrieved 5 rings, 2 necklaces, and 115 quarters, 83 dimes, 36 nickels and 494 pennies at beaches and parks. I just love retirement and my new hobby.

It was time again for me to drive to the Mojave Dessert and do some dry washing and metal detecting.

I had been prospecting the same area for a while, and had been successful in finding a lot of small nuggets with my White’s V-Sat and the DD coil. This detector has found me a lot of smaller nuggets in the past, and I was still hoping to find the Big One. Most of my finds ranged from -01 grams to 1 gram.

Prior to leaving home I noticed a nice sized plastic vial sitting on the sink counter. I grabbed it, and advised my wife that I would like to use it for my prospecting. I told her I didn’t want to seem presumptive, but one day I was going to find a nugget that wouldn’t fit in the smaller vial I was using.

I think you can guess the rest. That same day I found a nice 2/3 ounce nugget with my metal detector when I detected my dry wash hole. The nugget fit nicely into my new nugget container. I now take that container with me every time I go prospecting.

I’ll continue to use my White’s V-Sat because it has been faithful to me, but I’m going to spend some time with my new birthday present, the TDI. I understand it will go deeper so I’m going to go back over the areas I’ve already covered, and I want to find a “Big Nugget”.

Joe S. (CA)

Dear White’s Electronics,

I’m writing this letter for a fellow employee that owns one of your metal detectors. His name is William and he saved my husband from divorce.

This is my story:

My husband and I have been married for 10 ½ years now and during that time he has lost 2 wedding bands. Not just any wedding bands, they were his father’s rings. You see, his dad passed away 18 years ago and my mother-in-law gave my husband his father’s diamond band to use for our wedding day. That band was lost when my husband was working on our farm and he hung it on the directional signal arm in his truck to be safe. Never to be seen again.

The second wedding band my mother-in-law wore on a chain ever since my father-in-law died. It was his original gold band. It was engraved inside and was very sentimental. My husband started wearing this ring. Well, one day while pulling weeds in our ½ acre garden area he lost it. He was sick over it and never told me.

One day, I noticed that he wasn’t wearing the ring. He confessed what happened. I don’t think I need to tell you what happened at that point. But anyways, I went to work the next day and upon seeing Billy B. I remembered the metal detector.

Billy came over the next day and after about an hour of searching the area where my husband told him he was, he came into the house. I figured he had no luck and when he lifted up his hand he was holding the ring, I just couldn’t believe it. My husband was saved.

I just wanted to share this story with you. Thanks for your great equipment and now you can consider yourselves marriage savers.

Sincerely yours,

Elizabeth (NY)