Let's Start Finds without Metal Detector

demyansk1942

Elite Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
2,055
Location
Tax State never great
Hi,

Even though I go out at times and use the metal detector, a lot of my time for exercise is riding 20-30 miles each day. Often, it's a decision of riding or detecting and the riding usually wins out. I posted a few pictures of the finds I have found this year while riding. I don't stop for everything, but at times I tell myself I am going to find one coin while riding.

Today was interesting, went on my second ride of the day and I was going up an overpass in town and noticed a dark penny in the road. I always think to myself, should I keep going or turn around. This time I turned around -no cars coming-very important, and I stopped and it's a wheat penny 1941, then a foot away another one that I missed a 1955 wheat penny. This is a first, I think of 40 plus years of riding? Maybe can't remember everything, the best was finding four twenty dollar bills together.

The big one this year a few weeks ago is that Apple watch. I have found about 4-5 working small tablet phones and/or cell-
phones over the last 6 years.

I thought it would be cool if we could start a thread/post of finds without a metal detector. I often find a bunch of screw drivers, sheet-rock knives, nails, which I throw off the road to prevent flats etc.
 

Attachments

  • 20170820_171324.jpg
    20170820_171324.jpg
    35.9 KB · Views: 454
  • 20170820_171257.jpg
    20170820_171257.jpg
    38.9 KB · Views: 469
Isn't it interesting how "eyeball" finds seem to be more apparent for those of us who detect seriously? My kids and I are always on the lookout for anything of value that someone might have dropped and we find stuff often.

There have been a few posts just like yours but they're always fun. My best "eyeball" recently was a Leatherman Wingman in a river. I was technically detecting but I spotted this nearly-new multi-tool just in front of a little man-made dam. Then I swung over it.

Back in the day I eyeballed a sunglasses case in a parking lot. Figuring I was about to score some really nice glasses I was much surprised when I opened and found $1200 in cocaine instead. That was crazy! I didn't have to drink coffee for a month! :laughing:
 
Detectorists are trained by experience to look down more often and to notice anything out of the ordinary. My best eyeball find was a 100 dollar bill that Im sure was stepped right over by others , but since I have learned to always scan the ground I was the only one to catch it.

Funny enough , in a related topic , some people wonder why it seems only those who look for UFO's actually see them while others in the same areas don't. Well the same thing is happening , those who have become accustomed to always looking UP and looking for anything different are the ones who see them.....vs. people who aren't really interested in the sky or never look anywhere except right in front of them. Those who have trained themselves to look down.....or up.....see things most people never notice. People are usually " blind " to everything around them that is not in their normal field of view. Millions of things going on around the average person every day and nearly all of it goes completely unnoticed.
 
I agree though I think it should be a sub section like CRH. I'd have never even looked at the coins that I've found in the flea markets, yard sales and thrift store if it wasn't for the finds of other people on here that made me curious about the bags, tins or bottom of the box spills that I've been finding.
 
Loving the topic and Comments! :laughing: I will say, this Sport certainly leads to a heightened sense of awareness...A lot of these skills are carried over from other outdoor pursuit oriented activities we formerly mastered...

Now a days I find myself looking at the Jewelry people are wearing..especially drawing my interest are Big Gold chains!...I'm trying to come up with a Demographic Profile/Outdoor preferences of the Big Chain wearers in my particular AO.... If I can, I will strike up a conversation in order to gain a bit of deeper knowledge as to preferred outdoor activities these Big Gold Chain wearers tend to partake of...Basketball? Beach? Soccer? Dog Park person?

I never cared about this kind of stuff before I started detecting, what Humans were wearing for jewelry or what they did,...but now I'm hunting a different kind of quarry, so I gotta wise up, apply former skills and study...

You dont see many really huge chains worn in the day to day, so a guy pays attention...the odds of a loss are so miniscule, and the signal so bleak, a guy has to try to shorten the 'possible' loss location window right?

Yeah...even hunting a totter teaches a person a lot about how Humans interact with structure...travel zones, topography, seasons...Just like trapping or hunting or fishing...

I've always had a great 'turtle radar' while driving...I can see a turtle while zipping along down the interstate...so eyeballing road hazards and wallets and cell phones and Highway ditch toss outs has been an easy 'spring off skill' modification of that...

A guy learns that walking through a parking lot primary travel zones at low light angles early or late in the day makes metallic objects 'Pop'...A guy knows to hunt the fenceline downwind from the concession stand after a Friday Night HS football game to eyeball for wind blown bills....weird things and skills no normal Human considers...

We are certainly SUPER observant....Like in the top 1% of most Humanoids...I have no doubt I will find a big suitcase full of $100 bills someday....probably in the ditch of an interstate on or offramp...just zipping along eyeballing for turtles, empty cans, and 5gal buckets like normal!:laughing: I'm really locked on to that particular find..every.. single.. day...
 
Yes, I at one time felt like collecting cans. I went to a house and on the sidewalk was cases of chock f nuts coffee, it was good. I always have a good knack for finding coins. That Apple watch was a good find. I turned into a parking lot to look at a field I might consider detecting. I happened to look down and almost ran over it with my front tire. Now, just have to get it charged.

I also found a U.S. Marshals Government credit card. He couldn't believe he lost it off the top of his car after getting gas. I contacted him somehow through the internet, found his email and returned it to him. He was very thankful.
 
Well...I was coming home from an early morning hunt like normal and spotted this chair out on the curb for trash pickup...so I whipped around and pulled up for a look....Its a 'Bradington Young' Lincoln Executive leather Swivel rocker, made in the USA, retail was $1100! Not a scratch or stain or a rip or a tear! Immaculate! The swivel base was all loose and wobbly though...

I stuffed it in the trunk and went on home! Took me about 10 minutes to fix it with a screwdriver and allen wrench, popped it up on CL and sold it that very afternoon! All sorts of examples like this, all due to being out detecting and keeping a sharp lookout...Got a nice High end SUP CF paddle one early morning as well..same deal, saw it off to the side in the ditch and whipped around, didnt know what it was, but It wasnt there yesterday so it caught my eye and curiosity...took it home, took some pics, researched the retail price, popped it up on CL and zip! Instant cash!

These kind of finds really amaze the Wife!...She has tolerated plenty of my unprofitable time wasting hobbies in the past...Now She's like, "What are you doing sitting here? Go out and find Me something!":laughing: I guess overall, my eyefinds and detector finds are about equal in value...

I even found a kid once! Sound asleep drunk passed out on the beach! I thought Great! I could use a good strong kid around here! Maybe get him to mow the yard and do chores! He put up quite a fight when I tried to stuff him in my trunk though, even with a plastic bag over his head to keep him calm, like an alligator hunter would employ, he got to hollering and putting up such a fuss and ran off!...I'm too old to chase a kid down the street anymore...I kept his shoes though, and got $5 for them at the garage sale, so it wasnt a total waste of effort..:laughing:

One morning, running my fleet of Urban totters predawn, mainly for cans and clad, I pulled into a big Party Park and in the headlights, saw this wad of bills laying right there in with all the parking lot trash!! ...I saw that stack of money from 20' away and didnt even have to get out of the car! I just pulled up and opened the door, snatched it up and got the hell out of there! You gotta be an Early Bird for this kind of score! The first old Cannie coming along woulda certainly spotted this stack!:laughing:

I even found an abandoned and washed up JetSki about two weeks ago on the Lake Mi shore! It was after a really big blow...Super early in the morning of course...I figure somebody was out playing in the heavy surf the day before and lost power and abandoned ship or something...I tried to get it started to no avail, and even if I did, I knew I could never stuff it in the trunk, and with no other means to get it home, I left it there...plus, I was unsure of the 'Salvor Rights' rules here for watercraft...
 

Attachments

  • brad young-1.jpg
    brad young-1.jpg
    50.1 KB · Views: 233
  • paddle.jpg
    paddle.jpg
    39.3 KB · Views: 257
  • paddle3.jpg
    paddle3.jpg
    39.4 KB · Views: 248
  • may 23-15-1.jpg
    may 23-15-1.jpg
    48.6 KB · Views: 238
  • july 5-15-3.jpg
    july 5-15-3.jpg
    21.6 KB · Views: 278
Last edited:
being an Indian artifact hunter from an early age, I've always been looking at the ground. Drove my dad nuts, He hated shadow riders.( people that would ride along admiring their shadow instead of looking for the cattle).
Most exciting find was a buffalo point I found when I was in Jr High. We were driving to the back side of the place and going by an old natural spring we'd found artifacts at. Just as Dad was accelerating to climb a steep hill, I glanced out and saw this gray flint point laying on the side of the cow trail beside the road just as pretty as can be. I just opened the door and bailed out on the go. He about had a heart attack but I got my point. It's the best point I've ever found.
 
This is what I wanted to read. Mud-- are you sure you don't have a brother in N.Y.???

I am the same way, wow, that cash picture looks real sweet. What was that $400 ??

Cool
Demy
 
I went out today to detect at my buddy's 1920's house to see if I could pull more silver out of the ground. I only found $.37 of modern clad.:( As I was leaving his neighborhood I saw a small garage sale and decided to pop in. I bought two sterling silver (80 grams total) salt and pepper shakers for $2.00! That'll make up for the lack of silver in the ground today.:)

Lt7LNxR.jpg


ScDaIRC.png


c8B1j4X.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom