Thanks go out to Homer for sending this to me. I thought some of you might enjoy it also.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Treasure Hunting 101, Part III
The general impression everyone gets about treasure hunting is that it’s all about the treasure, holding that gold or silver in your hand and being independently wealthy. For the most part that’s why 95% of us got into this hobby but if you stick with the hobby, you learn that it’s more about the search for the treasure and anything you find at the end of the search is a bonus. Yea, OK, I’ll agree that digging up an iron kettle full of gold coins will put a smile on your face but getting to the point of digging that hole takes A LOT longer than digging the hole.
If you are doing it right, treasure hunting requires a lot of research and with that comes knowledge. You learn about the history of the area you are looking in and history in general, the REAL history and not what you see on that TV channel of the same name.
So how do you find a spot to treasure hunt in? Many years ago a famous treasure hunter once said that there is a treasure hunting spot within twenty minutes of everyone. With the way society has spread out over the years I would partially agree with that statement.
If you are a coin shooter then the treasure spots for you are endless and you should be able to find one within twenty minutes of your home. Remember, treasure hunting is more about research than anything else. A coin shooter has the option of hunting old homesteads, parks, beaches, fairgrounds, ghost towns and just about any place else people have gathered. One of my favorite spots to coin shoot is on the beach in Hawaii. I don’t find any old items but lets face it, if you’re on a beach in Hawaii you’re already having a very good day!
If you want to work a beach where you might find gold and silver coins then you need to be along the coast of Florida where the Spanish ship wrecks occurred centuries ago. These beaches are well documented and I will say, worked on an almost daily basis. This doesn’t keep people from finding things though. The best time to work one of these beaches is during hurricane season. The hard core hunters are on the beach just after a hurricane has come through and it’s still raining. The hurricane churns up the things sitting on the bottom of the ocean and brings them up to the beach for the lucky hunters to find. Keep this in mind the next time you are planning a vacation. Just don’t blame me if you spouse is more than just a little upset that you have taken them to Florida during a hurricane.
Ghost towns can be a bonanza for almost any treasure hunter. Keep in mind that a ghost town doesn’t have to be like you see on TV, one that died in the 1800’s and looks like a ghost town. “Modern” ghost towns, those that died out in the early 1900’s, are very abundant and are great places for coin shooters, cache hunters, bottle hunters and relic hunters. This all comes back to research, do your homework and find the places that nobody else has thought of. Old plat maps of these towns are available at the county appraisers office and will show you where the businesses and homes use to be. Check the old papers to see if the town used to have a city fair or some type of annual gathering and figure out where that was. Don’t forget to try to talk to any of the old residents that still live in or near the town. They can be a wealth of information and it’s free.
Cache hunters have a harder time finding locations especially if you are looking for the ever illusive outlaw, Spanish or pirate, Arrrggggg! treasure. Normally, you have to go farther out of town for these types of places. I say normally because I have done some hunting in places such as Arizona where just four miles from my hotel in the big city where I was staying was more treasure sites than you could ever wish for.
No matter what type of treasure hunting you do, it all comes back to research. Spend some time in your local library reading through the old newspapers to see what actually went on in your neck of the woods and when. You’ll be amazed at the type of information they put in the paper back then.
There are many types of treasure hunting and I can’t mention them all. I am trying to give information about the most popular types of hunting and I am just skimming the top of those. If you have any questions about what I am writing you can always e-mail me if you would like at redrvr@aol.com.
Please remember, you need to get permission to hunt on private land. Not having permission could cause you several problems including legal and financial woes and it makes the rest of us look bad.
If you are doing it right, treasure hunting requires a lot of research and with that comes knowledge. You learn about the history of the area you are looking in and history in general, the REAL history and not what you see on that TV channel of the same name.
So how do you find a spot to treasure hunt in? Many years ago a famous treasure hunter once said that there is a treasure hunting spot within twenty minutes of everyone. With the way society has spread out over the years I would partially agree with that statement.
If you are a coin shooter then the treasure spots for you are endless and you should be able to find one within twenty minutes of your home. Remember, treasure hunting is more about research than anything else. A coin shooter has the option of hunting old homesteads, parks, beaches, fairgrounds, ghost towns and just about any place else people have gathered. One of my favorite spots to coin shoot is on the beach in Hawaii. I don’t find any old items but lets face it, if you’re on a beach in Hawaii you’re already having a very good day!
If you want to work a beach where you might find gold and silver coins then you need to be along the coast of Florida where the Spanish ship wrecks occurred centuries ago. These beaches are well documented and I will say, worked on an almost daily basis. This doesn’t keep people from finding things though. The best time to work one of these beaches is during hurricane season. The hard core hunters are on the beach just after a hurricane has come through and it’s still raining. The hurricane churns up the things sitting on the bottom of the ocean and brings them up to the beach for the lucky hunters to find. Keep this in mind the next time you are planning a vacation. Just don’t blame me if you spouse is more than just a little upset that you have taken them to Florida during a hurricane.
Ghost towns can be a bonanza for almost any treasure hunter. Keep in mind that a ghost town doesn’t have to be like you see on TV, one that died in the 1800’s and looks like a ghost town. “Modern” ghost towns, those that died out in the early 1900’s, are very abundant and are great places for coin shooters, cache hunters, bottle hunters and relic hunters. This all comes back to research, do your homework and find the places that nobody else has thought of. Old plat maps of these towns are available at the county appraisers office and will show you where the businesses and homes use to be. Check the old papers to see if the town used to have a city fair or some type of annual gathering and figure out where that was. Don’t forget to try to talk to any of the old residents that still live in or near the town. They can be a wealth of information and it’s free.
Cache hunters have a harder time finding locations especially if you are looking for the ever illusive outlaw, Spanish or pirate, Arrrggggg! treasure. Normally, you have to go farther out of town for these types of places. I say normally because I have done some hunting in places such as Arizona where just four miles from my hotel in the big city where I was staying was more treasure sites than you could ever wish for.
No matter what type of treasure hunting you do, it all comes back to research. Spend some time in your local library reading through the old newspapers to see what actually went on in your neck of the woods and when. You’ll be amazed at the type of information they put in the paper back then.
There are many types of treasure hunting and I can’t mention them all. I am trying to give information about the most popular types of hunting and I am just skimming the top of those. If you have any questions about what I am writing you can always e-mail me if you would like at redrvr@aol.com.
Please remember, you need to get permission to hunt on private land. Not having permission could cause you several problems including legal and financial woes and it makes the rest of us look bad.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Treasure Hunting 101, Part II
In my last article I briefly touched on the different types of detectors available to today’s treasure hunters. And yes, even though I’m sure some of you thought the article was a little long winded, I really only scratched the surface of what is out there.
So you’ve read the previous article, done a lot of your own research and then shelled out your hard earned cash for a detector, what do you do now? No matter if this is your very first detector or number twelve, you should practice, practice, practice! I can’t say that enough. Every detector is a little different even if it is from the same manufacturer. You need to learn the specific nuances of each detector you use. Not knowing how to use the detector to it’s full potential EVERY time you turn it on could literally cost you the find of a lifetime.
I have found the best way to practice is with your own “test garden”. It’s easy to do and will make a lot of difference when you practice. You simply need to find a place in your yard where you can bury different objects at different depths. Your biggest problem here is what your wife will think about you digging holes and burying things in the yard. I know ladies, there are women treasure hunters but let’s face it, we’re men, we don’t usually care if you are digging holes in the yard as long as we don’t have to dig them.
I keep several different coins buried at several different depths along with mason jar lids, a mason jar full of coins, a couple of different iron pots, one copper pot and some other iron objects like railroad spikes, horseshoes and an old knife. I also have a separate “trash” section for things like barbed wire, pull tabs, aluminum cans, etc.
Knowing what is buried at a certain depth allows me to know how each detector will react with each target and under different circumstances. A detector will work better, meaning finding deeper targets, if there is a little moisture in the soil, not soaking wet, just a little moisture. It will also react differently in topsoil, sand, clay and rock, etc. Having a little bit of each type of soil and a few rocks to detect over is a good thing.
What you bury and how deep you bury it falls into the same circumstance as which detector you choose. It will all depend on how you intend to use your detector. If you’re a coin shooter then you don’t need iron or copper pots or railroad spikes, etc. If you are a relic hunter you may not care about how deep the detector gets on coins because you know that what you are looking for could be deeper than the average coin anyway.
This treasure hunting stuff is starting to sound like a lot of work, huh?
It is work but if you get bitten by the bug then there’s nothing else like it and it won’t seem like work. If you are just a one day a month coin shooter then having a test garden could be a little bit of overkill. As a cache hunter I like to know how my detectors will react to different objects at different depths and in different types of moisture content.
OK, you have practiced, practiced and practiced so more and are ready to work a site. The first thing you need to do once you are at your site is to be logical about where you look. If you are coin shooting you need to be looking in the areas where there will probably be coins. If it’s an old homestead you work along the pathways where they walked, you look under the big old trees where people use to sit in the shade, you check under where the clothes line used to be (this is a great spot and has yielded me several silver coins, much to the dismay of my hunting partners) and you look anywhere else that would have had foot traffic where people could have dropped coins from their pockets.
If you are looking for the possible money stash of the home owner then you need to be looking where the gardens used to be or near or under a fence post. These types of caches usually were put within site of the home so the owner could keep an eye on the spot.
If you are cache hunting, like those left behind by outlaws or the Spanish then you will need more to go on and that’s where research comes in.
Once you start detecting and finding things the most important thing to remember is to ALWAYS check the hole again. Once you pull that coin or jar of coins out of the hole run your detector over it again to make sure there isn’t anything else below what you just took out. A lot of people forget this thinking, well, I found a coin, I will fill in the hole and move on. This can be a very big mistake! I think my record for coins in one hole is 13. You couldn’t see any of them but I just kept hitting the hole with the detector and kept getting readings. This is not a rare occurence. OK, maybe 13 coins in one hole is but finding a second or third coin happens all of the time and I can tell you that finding a jar of coins or an iron pot can definitely lead to finding a second one 6-12 inches deeper in the same hole.
Always check the hole before you fill it in!
Two more quick things. Headphones, do you or don’t you wear them? The idea behind wearing headphones is that you can hear the really faint signals and you won’t miss that one object you might really need to find. Personally, I like to hear what’s going on around me so if I do wear headphones (which is a rare occasion) then I only wear them on one ear. The only other reason to wear headphones is to keep anyone else from hearing your detector and maybe to keep your ears warm during the winter!
The other thing is batteries. The manufactures say you should remove the batteries from your detector if it is going to sit for any extended period unused. This is a very good suggestion and well worth heeding. The first time you have some batteries leak inside a compartment you will wish you paid attention.
So you’ve read the previous article, done a lot of your own research and then shelled out your hard earned cash for a detector, what do you do now? No matter if this is your very first detector or number twelve, you should practice, practice, practice! I can’t say that enough. Every detector is a little different even if it is from the same manufacturer. You need to learn the specific nuances of each detector you use. Not knowing how to use the detector to it’s full potential EVERY time you turn it on could literally cost you the find of a lifetime.
I have found the best way to practice is with your own “test garden”. It’s easy to do and will make a lot of difference when you practice. You simply need to find a place in your yard where you can bury different objects at different depths. Your biggest problem here is what your wife will think about you digging holes and burying things in the yard. I know ladies, there are women treasure hunters but let’s face it, we’re men, we don’t usually care if you are digging holes in the yard as long as we don’t have to dig them.
I keep several different coins buried at several different depths along with mason jar lids, a mason jar full of coins, a couple of different iron pots, one copper pot and some other iron objects like railroad spikes, horseshoes and an old knife. I also have a separate “trash” section for things like barbed wire, pull tabs, aluminum cans, etc.
Knowing what is buried at a certain depth allows me to know how each detector will react with each target and under different circumstances. A detector will work better, meaning finding deeper targets, if there is a little moisture in the soil, not soaking wet, just a little moisture. It will also react differently in topsoil, sand, clay and rock, etc. Having a little bit of each type of soil and a few rocks to detect over is a good thing.
What you bury and how deep you bury it falls into the same circumstance as which detector you choose. It will all depend on how you intend to use your detector. If you’re a coin shooter then you don’t need iron or copper pots or railroad spikes, etc. If you are a relic hunter you may not care about how deep the detector gets on coins because you know that what you are looking for could be deeper than the average coin anyway.
This treasure hunting stuff is starting to sound like a lot of work, huh?
It is work but if you get bitten by the bug then there’s nothing else like it and it won’t seem like work. If you are just a one day a month coin shooter then having a test garden could be a little bit of overkill. As a cache hunter I like to know how my detectors will react to different objects at different depths and in different types of moisture content.
OK, you have practiced, practiced and practiced so more and are ready to work a site. The first thing you need to do once you are at your site is to be logical about where you look. If you are coin shooting you need to be looking in the areas where there will probably be coins. If it’s an old homestead you work along the pathways where they walked, you look under the big old trees where people use to sit in the shade, you check under where the clothes line used to be (this is a great spot and has yielded me several silver coins, much to the dismay of my hunting partners) and you look anywhere else that would have had foot traffic where people could have dropped coins from their pockets.
If you are looking for the possible money stash of the home owner then you need to be looking where the gardens used to be or near or under a fence post. These types of caches usually were put within site of the home so the owner could keep an eye on the spot.
If you are cache hunting, like those left behind by outlaws or the Spanish then you will need more to go on and that’s where research comes in.
Once you start detecting and finding things the most important thing to remember is to ALWAYS check the hole again. Once you pull that coin or jar of coins out of the hole run your detector over it again to make sure there isn’t anything else below what you just took out. A lot of people forget this thinking, well, I found a coin, I will fill in the hole and move on. This can be a very big mistake! I think my record for coins in one hole is 13. You couldn’t see any of them but I just kept hitting the hole with the detector and kept getting readings. This is not a rare occurence. OK, maybe 13 coins in one hole is but finding a second or third coin happens all of the time and I can tell you that finding a jar of coins or an iron pot can definitely lead to finding a second one 6-12 inches deeper in the same hole.
Always check the hole before you fill it in!
Two more quick things. Headphones, do you or don’t you wear them? The idea behind wearing headphones is that you can hear the really faint signals and you won’t miss that one object you might really need to find. Personally, I like to hear what’s going on around me so if I do wear headphones (which is a rare occasion) then I only wear them on one ear. The only other reason to wear headphones is to keep anyone else from hearing your detector and maybe to keep your ears warm during the winter!
The other thing is batteries. The manufactures say you should remove the batteries from your detector if it is going to sit for any extended period unused. This is a very good suggestion and well worth heeding. The first time you have some batteries leak inside a compartment you will wish you paid attention.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Treasure Hunting 101, Part 1, Detectors
The blog has grown tremendously over the last year to the point that we have people from several different nations reading it. I know we have a lot of seasoned treasure hunters that visit this site but we are also starting to get a lot of “newbies” to the hobby looking for information.
Because of that we will be posting some different articles to try to help the new and the old with navigating their way through this great hobby of ours.
Part I of this article is about metal detectors. There are just about as many different metal detectors as there are treasures and sometimes it hard to choose what detector is the right one for you.
To decide what kind of detector you need (and there is a difference between what you need and what you want) you need to decide what type of treasure hunting you will be doing.
If the majority of your treasure hunting is going to consist of coin shooting then you have a myriad of detectors to choose from and several companies that make them. The most prominent brand names for these detectors would be Whites, Garrett, Tesoro, Fisher, Minelab and Bounty Hunter. There are others out there but these are the main names that come to mind to most treasure hunters.
The majority of these detectors all work on the same principal and it’s not until you get into the higher end detectors or ones with manual tuning that you will see any real difference in the amount of depth they get.
For coin shooting you can buy some pretty complicated machines with lots of bells and whistles or you can get pretty “plain Jane”. I personally tend to lean towards Tesoro and Garrett for my coin shooters although Whites makes some very nice machines. If I’m feeling particularly lazy I will opt for one of my Garretts just because I can set it on auto and go. I don’t have to worry about messing with the ground balance because their auto setting does a pretty good job. With that said, any of the companies I mentioned produce some really nice machines. I’m not real big on the Bounty Hunter detectors but that’s just me.
If you like to do your coin shooting underwater then you options get more limited and you will switch from a VLF machine to a pulse induction machine. You will also pay a LOT more for an underwater machine but if you have to have it, you have to have it. Again, there are several companies that make the underwater machines and for the most part, it will boil down to your personal preference and budget on which you choose.
If you are a relic or cache hunter then you will be wanting a machine that has all of the manual settings on it so that you can get the best depth possible in any condition. I am partial to the Tesoros for this type of hunting. They get great depth, are very light and easy to use.
If you cache hunt more than relic hunt then you will be looking at purchasing more than one detector and getting a more specialized version for your needs. One of these versions is called a two-box. This term refers to a “box” being at each end of the detector and you will hole it so it is horizontal to the ground. These days there really isn’t a box at each end on most models. They have switched those to metal loops. The one glaring exception would be the two box detector by Fisher. It actually has a box at each end.
Now here’s a warning for all prospective buyers of metal detectors. If you are wanting something that looks deep into the ground, say more than 3-4 feet then buyer beware. In my opinion, the ads that most companies use are really generous with the amount of depth their detectors will get. Most of the “tests” used to measure this depth are open air tests. This means they stand on a ladder and go up until they no longer get a reading from a car battery sized metal object. This works great if what you are looking for isn’t buried but then you wouldn’t need a metal detector now would you?
A lot of the two-box detectors are said to get 15-20 feet. Good luck with that! You can figure that in any given soil you are going to get four, maybe five feet and even six feet if the conditions are absolutely perfect.
Another type of cache hunting machine is the pulse induction detector. These work on the exact same principal as the underwater PI machines but you can get them with loops as large as four feet. These types of PI detectors can be pricey but they will get you a lot more depth. Something with a four foot loop can easily detect a car battery sized metal object at ten feet or better. I have mentioned this before on this blog but Whites has come out with a new PI machine that works with a smaller loop and has shown very good results for cache and relic hunters.
One of the lesser known detectors for cache hunting isn’t really a detector. The company that makes it refers to it as a metal locator and that’s exactly what it does. The Schondstedt is used by surveyors and pipe companies. It will only locate iron and steel but it’s the best machine out there for finding ferrous metals. It’s small, light and simple to use and it will find a ¾ inch round pipe at a depth of nine feet every day, all day.
Besides the two-box, pulse induction and the Schondstedt you also can choose from several more extremely pricey machines such as ground penetrating radar, cesium magnetometers and electro-magnetic induction tools. You’ll probably have to rob a bank or find a treasure before you can afford one of these so I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about them. I will say that all of these are very specialized machines and require a lot of time using them to accurately interpret the data they present you with.
This is by no means a complete catalog of the different types of detectors out there but it will get you started. It also ends Part I of this article.
Please remember that although we aren’t “experts” (between all of the contributors on this blog we have over 90 years of experience in treasure hunting) we will gladly try to help you with any questions that you may have so please feel free to e-mail us.
Because of that we will be posting some different articles to try to help the new and the old with navigating their way through this great hobby of ours.
Part I of this article is about metal detectors. There are just about as many different metal detectors as there are treasures and sometimes it hard to choose what detector is the right one for you.
To decide what kind of detector you need (and there is a difference between what you need and what you want) you need to decide what type of treasure hunting you will be doing.
If the majority of your treasure hunting is going to consist of coin shooting then you have a myriad of detectors to choose from and several companies that make them. The most prominent brand names for these detectors would be Whites, Garrett, Tesoro, Fisher, Minelab and Bounty Hunter. There are others out there but these are the main names that come to mind to most treasure hunters.
The majority of these detectors all work on the same principal and it’s not until you get into the higher end detectors or ones with manual tuning that you will see any real difference in the amount of depth they get.
For coin shooting you can buy some pretty complicated machines with lots of bells and whistles or you can get pretty “plain Jane”. I personally tend to lean towards Tesoro and Garrett for my coin shooters although Whites makes some very nice machines. If I’m feeling particularly lazy I will opt for one of my Garretts just because I can set it on auto and go. I don’t have to worry about messing with the ground balance because their auto setting does a pretty good job. With that said, any of the companies I mentioned produce some really nice machines. I’m not real big on the Bounty Hunter detectors but that’s just me.
If you like to do your coin shooting underwater then you options get more limited and you will switch from a VLF machine to a pulse induction machine. You will also pay a LOT more for an underwater machine but if you have to have it, you have to have it. Again, there are several companies that make the underwater machines and for the most part, it will boil down to your personal preference and budget on which you choose.
If you are a relic or cache hunter then you will be wanting a machine that has all of the manual settings on it so that you can get the best depth possible in any condition. I am partial to the Tesoros for this type of hunting. They get great depth, are very light and easy to use.
If you cache hunt more than relic hunt then you will be looking at purchasing more than one detector and getting a more specialized version for your needs. One of these versions is called a two-box. This term refers to a “box” being at each end of the detector and you will hole it so it is horizontal to the ground. These days there really isn’t a box at each end on most models. They have switched those to metal loops. The one glaring exception would be the two box detector by Fisher. It actually has a box at each end.
Now here’s a warning for all prospective buyers of metal detectors. If you are wanting something that looks deep into the ground, say more than 3-4 feet then buyer beware. In my opinion, the ads that most companies use are really generous with the amount of depth their detectors will get. Most of the “tests” used to measure this depth are open air tests. This means they stand on a ladder and go up until they no longer get a reading from a car battery sized metal object. This works great if what you are looking for isn’t buried but then you wouldn’t need a metal detector now would you?
A lot of the two-box detectors are said to get 15-20 feet. Good luck with that! You can figure that in any given soil you are going to get four, maybe five feet and even six feet if the conditions are absolutely perfect.
Another type of cache hunting machine is the pulse induction detector. These work on the exact same principal as the underwater PI machines but you can get them with loops as large as four feet. These types of PI detectors can be pricey but they will get you a lot more depth. Something with a four foot loop can easily detect a car battery sized metal object at ten feet or better. I have mentioned this before on this blog but Whites has come out with a new PI machine that works with a smaller loop and has shown very good results for cache and relic hunters.
One of the lesser known detectors for cache hunting isn’t really a detector. The company that makes it refers to it as a metal locator and that’s exactly what it does. The Schondstedt is used by surveyors and pipe companies. It will only locate iron and steel but it’s the best machine out there for finding ferrous metals. It’s small, light and simple to use and it will find a ¾ inch round pipe at a depth of nine feet every day, all day.
Besides the two-box, pulse induction and the Schondstedt you also can choose from several more extremely pricey machines such as ground penetrating radar, cesium magnetometers and electro-magnetic induction tools. You’ll probably have to rob a bank or find a treasure before you can afford one of these so I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about them. I will say that all of these are very specialized machines and require a lot of time using them to accurately interpret the data they present you with.
This is by no means a complete catalog of the different types of detectors out there but it will get you started. It also ends Part I of this article.
Please remember that although we aren’t “experts” (between all of the contributors on this blog we have over 90 years of experience in treasure hunting) we will gladly try to help you with any questions that you may have so please feel free to e-mail us.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Learning a lesson (or two)
I would like to thank Rob for sending me the information for this article. Not only is it an article about finding treasure but there are at least two very imporant lessons to be learned from reading it.
The first lesson is that you have to be persistent in treasure hunting. It is the very, very rare occasion that a treasure hunter finds a cache of anything in the first few tries. It usually takes a continued effort and there usually seems to be a massive learning curve to finding any cache you are hunting.
The second lesson is to never turn off your detector until you get ready to get into your car. One of the very first things I was taught by another treasure hunter, many, many years ago, is that you should be running your detector while walking to and from your vehicle. You never know what you'll run across.
I'll admit that if you do this it usually makes your trip to and from the vehicle take a lot longer but you just never know. I can't tell you how many stories I have heard (and a couple that I have told) about the things people find while just walking to or from the car with their detector on. A couple of really big finds have been uncovered this way. This should be S.O.P. for every treasure hunter if you are hunting a cache or just coin shooting. Luck is always a welcome thing in treasure hunting!
Now for the article, straight from the web.
The first lesson is that you have to be persistent in treasure hunting. It is the very, very rare occasion that a treasure hunter finds a cache of anything in the first few tries. It usually takes a continued effort and there usually seems to be a massive learning curve to finding any cache you are hunting.
The second lesson is to never turn off your detector until you get ready to get into your car. One of the very first things I was taught by another treasure hunter, many, many years ago, is that you should be running your detector while walking to and from your vehicle. You never know what you'll run across.
I'll admit that if you do this it usually makes your trip to and from the vehicle take a lot longer but you just never know. I can't tell you how many stories I have heard (and a couple that I have told) about the things people find while just walking to or from the car with their detector on. A couple of really big finds have been uncovered this way. This should be S.O.P. for every treasure hunter if you are hunting a cache or just coin shooting. Luck is always a welcome thing in treasure hunting!
Now for the article, straight from the web.
Treasure hunter finds Bronze Age founders hoard
A treasure hunter has found 18 Bronze Age items in a field near Newark in Nottinghamshire.
Maurice Richardson stumbled across the collection, which includes four socket axes, a spear head, a chisel and a fragmented sword, by mistake.
"I was on my way back to the car after being out all afternoon and wandered off the track," he said. "If I hadn't I wouldn't have found it."
This is the third major discovery Mr Richardson has made. In 2005 he dug up an ancient necklace valued at £350,000 while in 2010 he found a hoard of Roman coins.
The tools were found just a foot below the surface of a farmer's field.
The first things to be dug out were three of the four axes; Mr Richardson said he immediately knew what they were.
The items have been confirmed by Dr Chris Robinson, an archaeological officer from Nottinghamshire County Council, as a founders hoard.
"Bronze Age metal workers tended to be itinerant. They would travel around the land plying their trade," said Dr Robinson.
"Often they would bury their produce and come back for it later."
The finds will now be submitted to the Portable Antiques Scheme (PAS) so that they can be recorded.
All prehistoric base-metal artefacts found after 1 January 2003 qualify as treasure and the PAS will forward the items to the British Museum for further assessment, dating and valuation.
Research by Mr Richardson suggests that his latest hoard may be worth a few thousand pounds.
But the tree surgeon said his hobby, which he has been doing every Saturday and Sunday afternoon for 40 years, is nothing to do with the money.
"It's the interest in the local history and the buzz from handling something that is thousands of years old," he said.
Mr Richardson confessed that there was no secret to his success.
"It's embarrassing really. There's no recipe. It just seems to happen," he said.
Maurice Richardson stumbled across the collection, which includes four socket axes, a spear head, a chisel and a fragmented sword, by mistake.
"I was on my way back to the car after being out all afternoon and wandered off the track," he said. "If I hadn't I wouldn't have found it."
This is the third major discovery Mr Richardson has made. In 2005 he dug up an ancient necklace valued at £350,000 while in 2010 he found a hoard of Roman coins.
The tools were found just a foot below the surface of a farmer's field.
The first things to be dug out were three of the four axes; Mr Richardson said he immediately knew what they were.
The items have been confirmed by Dr Chris Robinson, an archaeological officer from Nottinghamshire County Council, as a founders hoard.
"Bronze Age metal workers tended to be itinerant. They would travel around the land plying their trade," said Dr Robinson.
"Often they would bury their produce and come back for it later."
The finds will now be submitted to the Portable Antiques Scheme (PAS) so that they can be recorded.
All prehistoric base-metal artefacts found after 1 January 2003 qualify as treasure and the PAS will forward the items to the British Museum for further assessment, dating and valuation.
Research by Mr Richardson suggests that his latest hoard may be worth a few thousand pounds.
But the tree surgeon said his hobby, which he has been doing every Saturday and Sunday afternoon for 40 years, is nothing to do with the money.
"It's the interest in the local history and the buzz from handling something that is thousands of years old," he said.
Mr Richardson confessed that there was no secret to his success.
"It's embarrassing really. There's no recipe. It just seems to happen," he said.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Need a vacation?
We all need some time away when we can get it. Now a days it seems harder and harder and more expensive but here's something the whole family might enjoy and as treasure hunters, we could learn a few things while we are there. It's all about pirates you see. Arrrrrrrggggg!!!
Pirate Museum Moves to New Florida Digs
Avast Ye Mateys! Fans of all things pirate will want to visit a newly opened museum in the historic Florida city of St. Augustine.
The St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum is the brainchild of former Philadelphia 76ers president Pat Croce, who has a passion for both basketball and pirates.
"It just happened when I was a kid. I fell in love with Errol Flynn and "Captain Blood" movies," Croce tells AOL Travel News. "I would write a skull and cross bones in notebooks, and the nuns would smack me. And I was a pirate for Halloween as a kid."
As his wealth grew from businesses, Croce, an entrepreneur and motivational speaker, started collecting pirate artifacts including one of only two original Jolly Roger flags known to exist (the other is in Finland), the only authentic pirate chest in America, a journal from Captain Kidd's last journey, and real weapons and pieces of eight.
About six years ago, Croce opened Pirate Soul in Key West to display his collection, with exhibits featuring not only memorabilia but Disney Imagineer-designed animatronics, interactive displays and technologies such as creepy 3-D sound, all used in an attempt to re-create the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730).
The museum was popular, but given Key West's somewhat remote location, hours from Miami, it didn't attract the family and school group tourist crowd that Croce was hoping for, he says. He decided to close up shop and move the museum to St. Augustine in northern Florida, the oldest city and port in the U.S.
"I love Key West. I have a home in Key West. But you go there to party. In St. Augustine, heritage is number one. And families go there."
The former museum's exhibits are back in the St. Augustine venue. But there are also new displays outlining local routes where famous pirates walked the streets, plundered and pillaged – Sir Francis Drake and Robert Searles even burnt St. Augustine to the ground in 1586 and 1688, respectively.
Added attractions at the new museum, which is located across from a 17th century fort, also include a participatory treasure hunt, 17th century cannons that fire (in electronically simulated fashion) and pirate movie memorabilia.
"We now have Hollywood pirates, props from "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Hook," and "The Goonies," Croce says. "I took it up a notch."
Movie items on display include Captain Jack Sparrow's sword and cursed Aztec coin and Captain Hook's hook.
Among nearly 800 museum-quality artifacts are borrowed historical items from the State of Florida collection including gold, rings, jewels and sword handles.
Croce is still collecting too.
"I just got some really cool coins from the 1715 fleet off the east coast of Florida," he says.
Avast Ye Mateys! Fans of all things pirate will want to visit a newly opened museum in the historic Florida city of St. Augustine.
The St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum is the brainchild of former Philadelphia 76ers president Pat Croce, who has a passion for both basketball and pirates.
"It just happened when I was a kid. I fell in love with Errol Flynn and "Captain Blood" movies," Croce tells AOL Travel News. "I would write a skull and cross bones in notebooks, and the nuns would smack me. And I was a pirate for Halloween as a kid."
As his wealth grew from businesses, Croce, an entrepreneur and motivational speaker, started collecting pirate artifacts including one of only two original Jolly Roger flags known to exist (the other is in Finland), the only authentic pirate chest in America, a journal from Captain Kidd's last journey, and real weapons and pieces of eight.
About six years ago, Croce opened Pirate Soul in Key West to display his collection, with exhibits featuring not only memorabilia but Disney Imagineer-designed animatronics, interactive displays and technologies such as creepy 3-D sound, all used in an attempt to re-create the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730).
The museum was popular, but given Key West's somewhat remote location, hours from Miami, it didn't attract the family and school group tourist crowd that Croce was hoping for, he says. He decided to close up shop and move the museum to St. Augustine in northern Florida, the oldest city and port in the U.S.
"I love Key West. I have a home in Key West. But you go there to party. In St. Augustine, heritage is number one. And families go there."
The former museum's exhibits are back in the St. Augustine venue. But there are also new displays outlining local routes where famous pirates walked the streets, plundered and pillaged – Sir Francis Drake and Robert Searles even burnt St. Augustine to the ground in 1586 and 1688, respectively.
Added attractions at the new museum, which is located across from a 17th century fort, also include a participatory treasure hunt, 17th century cannons that fire (in electronically simulated fashion) and pirate movie memorabilia.
"We now have Hollywood pirates, props from "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Hook," and "The Goonies," Croce says. "I took it up a notch."
Movie items on display include Captain Jack Sparrow's sword and cursed Aztec coin and Captain Hook's hook.
Among nearly 800 museum-quality artifacts are borrowed historical items from the State of Florida collection including gold, rings, jewels and sword handles.
Croce is still collecting too.
"I just got some really cool coins from the 1715 fleet off the east coast of Florida," he says.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Fact or fiction?
I received a story from one of our readers who, for reasons that will become obvious, requested to remain anonymous. This is his story.
If you have the time, I have a tale I can give you that actually happened. This is not a “made up” story manufactured out of thin air. This happened in my past. Actually this one happened about thirty five years ago, when I was younger and much more active in treasure hunting.
Our local newspaper used to have a section called “News From the Past” which was tidbits taken from the historical archives of the paper. Items were dated 25 years ago, 50 years ago and 100 years ago. One of the stories from the 50 years ago part told about the death of a local gentleman by the hand of someone unknown. Our hero was found lying in his living room apparently several days after someone blew a very large hole in his chest area. The home had obviously been looted because everything was strewn out onto the floor. The story went on to tell that the deceased seemed to have no relatives and was famous for lending money to people who needed it. Until three years before his demise, he had lived on a farm about five miles from town, had no apparent income but always had cash to loan to his acquaintances. The recipients of this favor always came to his house after dark and told him of their needs. The man would tell them to sit down for a while and he would leave out of the back door. After about fifteen minutes or so, he would return with greenbacks or gold coins. These always smelled “musty” and it was assumed that our hero had to dig the cash up somewhere in the back of the house. When a debt was repaid, the borrower was told to take a seat and wait. After about fifteen minutes, the loaner would return through the back door and brew up a pot of coffee for the two of them. (Believe it or not, this was really in the newspaper.)
While I didn’t think that there would still be any cash left at the farm site, I thought it may be a good idea to check it out. The property was now owned by a large agricultural aggregate so I sought permission to go onto the site with a detector and “Look for coins where the house used to be”. They didn’t know that a “two-box” detector wasn’t exactly a coin hunting machine. No problem gaining access but as I had imagined, no luck at all.
Next came the problem of hunting the house in town. He had lived there for three years and I figured that even though the murderer had thoroughly searched the house, if he buried it while on the farm he would also bury it in town. Naturally, there was a family living in the home but they didn’t know of the story. It didn’t take long to learn that no one was going on the property “To look for lost pennies and old toys”, even if a 50/50 split was offered. How to get onto the property proved to be a perplexing problem. Would posing as a water department worker for the city work???? That would gain someone access to all of the back yard.
I’ll leave it to you to decide the answer to this perplexing question. If I told you that it didn’t, you would think that I’m just an old windbag, spouting stories. If I told you that it did, the IRS might think that I needed to be audited. It’s your call.
Oh yeah, as far as I know the murderer was never caught.
I will add that I have known this treasure hunter for a few years now so I have no problem believing the story. I am also leaning towards the fact that the water department employee ruse was a good one and worked well but as he said, "it's your call".
This should serve as a reminder about how to find clues to lost treasure. They are everywhere, you just have to be paying attention.
I would especially like to thank this reader for sharing this with our readers. We all need that little extra incentive sometimes to keep us going.
If you have the time, I have a tale I can give you that actually happened. This is not a “made up” story manufactured out of thin air. This happened in my past. Actually this one happened about thirty five years ago, when I was younger and much more active in treasure hunting.
Our local newspaper used to have a section called “News From the Past” which was tidbits taken from the historical archives of the paper. Items were dated 25 years ago, 50 years ago and 100 years ago. One of the stories from the 50 years ago part told about the death of a local gentleman by the hand of someone unknown. Our hero was found lying in his living room apparently several days after someone blew a very large hole in his chest area. The home had obviously been looted because everything was strewn out onto the floor. The story went on to tell that the deceased seemed to have no relatives and was famous for lending money to people who needed it. Until three years before his demise, he had lived on a farm about five miles from town, had no apparent income but always had cash to loan to his acquaintances. The recipients of this favor always came to his house after dark and told him of their needs. The man would tell them to sit down for a while and he would leave out of the back door. After about fifteen minutes or so, he would return with greenbacks or gold coins. These always smelled “musty” and it was assumed that our hero had to dig the cash up somewhere in the back of the house. When a debt was repaid, the borrower was told to take a seat and wait. After about fifteen minutes, the loaner would return through the back door and brew up a pot of coffee for the two of them. (Believe it or not, this was really in the newspaper.)
While I didn’t think that there would still be any cash left at the farm site, I thought it may be a good idea to check it out. The property was now owned by a large agricultural aggregate so I sought permission to go onto the site with a detector and “Look for coins where the house used to be”. They didn’t know that a “two-box” detector wasn’t exactly a coin hunting machine. No problem gaining access but as I had imagined, no luck at all.
Next came the problem of hunting the house in town. He had lived there for three years and I figured that even though the murderer had thoroughly searched the house, if he buried it while on the farm he would also bury it in town. Naturally, there was a family living in the home but they didn’t know of the story. It didn’t take long to learn that no one was going on the property “To look for lost pennies and old toys”, even if a 50/50 split was offered. How to get onto the property proved to be a perplexing problem. Would posing as a water department worker for the city work???? That would gain someone access to all of the back yard.
I’ll leave it to you to decide the answer to this perplexing question. If I told you that it didn’t, you would think that I’m just an old windbag, spouting stories. If I told you that it did, the IRS might think that I needed to be audited. It’s your call.
Oh yeah, as far as I know the murderer was never caught.
I will add that I have known this treasure hunter for a few years now so I have no problem believing the story. I am also leaning towards the fact that the water department employee ruse was a good one and worked well but as he said, "it's your call".
This should serve as a reminder about how to find clues to lost treasure. They are everywhere, you just have to be paying attention.
I would especially like to thank this reader for sharing this with our readers. We all need that little extra incentive sometimes to keep us going.
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