Detector Base - On-Line Metal Detecting Magazine

Alabama bound

I thank my wife for purchasing my Lone Star Metal Detector last Fathers Day for me. It has sat idly for most of the last year due to the amount of snow we get here in Colorado. In preparation for my third deployment to Iraq, I went on leave from mid June to mid July of this year (2008). Alabama has been home to my family for years and in the back of my mind I have always wanted to detect a particular section of my Families woods. Years ago, while deer hunting, I noticed some bricks in the middle of the woods where there shouldn't have been anything. I took my dormant Metal detector with me this time to Alabama and on day two I went to the old brick spot.

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El Talisman (A true story)

It had been about 9 months since my mother died when my sister called. She wanted me to go over to her house and look at some of mom's belongings and to decide what I wanted for me. Shortly after I arrived she showed me mom's jewelry box with a lot of items in it.

There were some beautiful rings and a lot of other stuff, pennies, old pins, pictures etc. While browsing through the box I noticed some big coin on the bottom.

"What is that?" I asked.

It was about the size of a dollar coin, kind of a silverish color, and had weird signs on it. I could see a triangle, a star and some wiggly lines, but no date. My sister did not know what it was and neither did I. I picked it up and looked at it.

"Do you want it?" my sister asked.
"Yea I guess so, maybe I can find out what it is."

Went back to the house later and looked at the "coin" more carefully now. It had ridges like a coin but it was not a coin. Some of the signs on the coin were stars and what looked like small suns. Slowly it dawned on me what it was. I remembered seeing the commercial in Mexican TV channels. It was called "El Talisman" and it was supposed to be some kind of good luck charm and was meant to bring you riches and good fortune, a scam to get money from unsuspecting people. Mother had probably sent for it through the mail. Mom had been bedridden for years due to the effects of rheumatoid arthritis on her joints. She could hardly move but was a whiz with the remote control. Most likely when she received it, it was thrown in the box for safekeeping. I took the coin and for no particular reason put it in the cup container of my pick up.

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The Leak

I noticed the small puddle of water at the edge of the patio. I ignored it hoping it was just an accumulation of drizzle from the last week. I knew that if it was a leak I would have to reroute the water line which ran under the patio. Slowly but surely the puddle started to get bigger. Rats!! I would have to reroute the line.

It wasn't till about 3 weeks later on a Sunday morning that I decided to fix the leak. Taking my time I carefully dug a trench around the perimeter of the patio for the laying of the pipe. Didn't have to dig too deep since the frost line here is only about 3" but still it was a lot of dirt to move. After I had finished digging the trench I stood there and noticed the pile of dirt that had been displaced. I remember thinking "maybe there are some old coins there". With that premise in mind I got my Garrett 250 and started to scan the loose dirt. Not to my surprise pennies started to come out of the dirt. Memorials seemed to be the coin of the day.

I carefully worked my way along the trench and when I got to the end I got a nickel tone. Low tone. Hmmm, wonder if that is a nickel. Pushing the topsoil out I checked again. Still there. Couldn't see anything yet but all of a sudden I saw the circular shape of an object. Thinking it was just a stainless steel nut I grabbed it an pushed the dirt out of the center. Lo and behold, a gold ring!!!

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Ice Cream Cone Reward

When I was living and working in Avenel N.J. I hunted the beaches south of Sandy Hook every weekend for the entire summer. One day when the wind was really blowing, there were only a couple people on the beach. I was detecting near the dunes. I had a pocket full of clad coins when I noticed a very old woman with 2 little girls about 30 yards or so that seemed like they were having trouble. I worked my way closer and saw that the little girls were crying and the lady was very upset and in tears. I walked over to them and asked what was wrong. The lady acted scared of me. She thought that I was there to harm them. After I calmed her down she imparted this story to me.

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