Any awesome find you regret parting with?

[DixieLandMan]

I will never part with my first find. A quarter 4" deep in my parents back yard. It was around 7 years old at the time. Must've fallen out of the truck.

[Swinglow]

Originally Posted by lucky_c

I sell my jewelry finds, I have no sentimental attachment to them, and my wife is fond of cash.

The old coins I find I keep, though those are few and far between.

I found my first gold ring yesterday and while I always said I'd never sell any of my finds, i'm finding that I have no attachment to it. I'm contemplating taking it to my coin dealer and seeing if he'll trade me for a gold coin and/or silver coins.

[bigstemz]

i sorta wish i would have kept my 12gram 18K ring i found last year. but only because of how high gold prices are now! i needed the money last year. Usually i keep half of my gold finds for the year. I just sorta wish i kept that ring, IT WAS SUCH A HONKER!

[scaupus]

Great, great topic. I love seeing and hearing about all the stuff people have parted with, because it makes me feel better about the stuff I don't have anymore that I regret.

I gave a vintage sterling bracelet I found on my dad's property to my mother (his ex), and that part of it is fine, I get to see it every time I visit because she always wears it. The only thing I'm worried about is she says my sister gets all her jewelry when she dies...including my bracelet.

Not if I get there first!


Then there's a bronze short sword...sigh. That one is really gone, gone. I can't believe I sold it. I really just cannot reconcile myself...

I wish I still had my Mexican biker ring that I dug up last year. Sold it for $210, which was too cheap, I'd already been offered $250 twice, but I had a need for the money, so I'm not mad at myself, but I don't like to think about it not being here in my jewelry box. It lives on in my avatar photo...such a gorgeous ring...mwah.

I've sold a bunch of other stuff, that I don't regret, because I got the cash and they're with collectors who value them. There was an antique sprinkler I'd like to still have, but I guess it's ok, a collector has that one, too.

[scaupus]

Originally Posted by bigstemz

i sorta wish i would have kept my 12gram 18K ring i found last year. but only because of how high gold prices are now! i needed the money last year. Usually i keep half of my gold finds for the year. I just sorta wish i kept that ring, IT WAS SUCH A HONKER!

I kept mine...7.54dwt 18k ring...

[bigstemz]

Originally Posted by scaupus

I kept mine...7.54dwt 18k ring...

scaupus you dug a sword handle? Where at in fl? thats pretty awsome dude! now worries about the ring, i got another 18Ker this year, just not as big as the 12gram

[John in NC]

Back in the 70's I was hunting a battlefield (private land) the woods had foxholes. I decided the scan down in every one and got a big hit in the side of one. Dug out a union ringed canteen. Both sides were there and a coating of rust, but in good solid shape. They were stolen along with some other relics in a move. Just wish I still had it.
John in NC

[MyrtleBeachGuy]

Originally Posted by John in NC

Back in the 70's I was hunting a battlefield (private land) the woods had foxholes. I decided the scan down in every one and got a big hit in the side of one. Dug out a union ringed canteen. Both sides were there and a coating of rust, but in good solid shape. They were stolen along with some other relics in a move. Just wish I still had it.
John in NC

whats a union ringed canteen ? i dont know what that is i googled it union ringed canteen google images but a bunch of different pictures come up n im really curious ... ?

[scaupus]

Originally Posted by bigstemz

scaupus you dug a sword handle? Where at in fl? thats pretty awsome dude! now worries about the ring, i got another 18Ker this year, just not as big as the 12gram

Originally Posted by bigstemz

scaupus you dug a sword handle? Where at in fl? thats pretty awsome dude! now worries about the ring, i got another 18Ker this year, just not as big as the 12gram

it was one single piece handle and blade brazed together, like a short sword or long dagger. I did once see a photo of a dagger dug up in Kansas that looked somewhat similar as far as the grinding to shape the blade and if I remember right and i may not, rounding off the edges of the guard and tang.

An archeologist, and one amateur who had some experience forging blades surmised it must be a 20th century workshop project since it appears to be welded (or brazed) and ground, and not cast as "all" bronze edged weapons were. But after seeing the kansas blade that was dug up, I regret selling it. Anoher local archeologist, bob carr, well known for his work down here thought it likely to have been in a collection, but not a local piece at all. I found it about 4 or 5" deep and he concluded that something found at that shallow depth would not have been left by Spanish. there was an amateur archeologist who had found some interesting things who thought it might be something.

I found it in a yard in the Brickell area, a mile south of the mouth of the miami river. There was a Spanish mission there, with a detachment of Spanish soldiers, but they weren't here for very long, the tequesta indians were not receptive. Bahamian wreckers were known to inhabit the shoreline at times after the tequesta and before the seminoles inhabited the area. some of this section south of th river was covered in part by a plantation early in the 19th century, abandoned due to seminole wars mid century, and possibly resettled to a degree late in the 19th century, before development as a residential section in the 1920s. We are, however, talking about not more than a scant handful of people before the 1890s.

[foundit2]

Originally Posted by scaupus

Great, great topic. I love seeing and hearing about all the stuff people have parted with, because it makes me feel better about the stuff I don't have anymore that I regret.

I gave a vintage sterling bracelet I found on my dad's property to my mother (his ex), and that part of it is fine, I get to see it every time I visit because she always wears it. The only thing I'm worried about is she says my sister gets all her jewelry when she dies...including my bracelet.

Not if I get there first!


Then there's a bronze short sword...sigh. That one is really gone, gone. I can't believe I sold it. I really just cannot reconcile myself...

I wish I still had my Mexican biker ring that I dug up last year. Sold it for $210, which was too cheap, I'd already been offered $250 twice, but I had a need for the money, so I'm not mad at myself, but I don't like to think about it not being here in my jewelry box. It lives on in my avatar photo...such a gorgeous ring...mwah.

I've sold a bunch of other stuff, that I don't regret, because I got the cash and they're with collectors who value them. There was an antique sprinkler I'd like to still have, but I guess it's ok, a collector has that one, too.

I know how you feel about parting with your finds. At least you did get to sell them. I in the other hand, had all my good finds stolen from me a few years back from a brake in.... That really hurt.
Lots of rings, coins and necklaces that I have found as far back as late 70s when the pickings were a lot better. Heck, at one time I had 30 V nickles that I found in one cache.
Things like, Gold rings, Gold & Silver Coins from the 1800s, Old buffalo nickles, The list goes on and on. Now I try not to think about it. Don't want to get my blood pressure up.

oh yeah.... scaupus, you might want to down size those pic. I can't see them there so big....

[bb_in_maine]

Originally Posted by Swinglow

I didn't part with mine voluntarily but I was burglarized back in July and they stole this display box I had put together which contained every piece of jewelry I'd found this year. They also stole a bank box previously used for penny rolls that was FULL of bagged/labeled MD finds. Sad part is nothing was really worth much, but had tremendous sentimental value for me Oh, they also stole my F70 but as it turns out, I ended up upgrading to an F75se thanks to Dinosaur1 hooking me up!

I will never sell any of my finds and all "keeper coins" i find, get slabbed/labeled in plastic coin holders much like PCGS and NGC use.

Wow.... HEARTBREAKING! Really sorry, man... that would be a kick in the gut.

[willyeinstien]

The first gold ring i found, a 15.1 gram 14k white mens gold ring....and I still wish i cld have kept it. but i had to pawn it (hoping i cld keep it) however--I cld not get the money to get it out soon enough.one day ill be able to keep all my finds....however if i found that sucker today i would do it again..,I believe I havent found my biggest or best find yet !!!

[greginwv]

The one i miss the most is this one. It was stolen by a relative along with my first years worth of silver coins.

[rick-n-ns]

Originally Posted by Iron Patch

Here's my two, and I didn't have to sell them, wanted to, but of course I'd love to have them back. I don't really regret doing it, and my only regret is not having them, but you can't have both the finds and the money!

The token is extremely rare, and I dug it in 2009 making a quick stop on the way home at a field we hadn't hunted or even thought about for years. We had another place in mind and my diggin bud drove by as there was some confusion with our plan, and that's when I looked across the creek to see the plow had gone through the field, so we decided to give it a shot. We hunted the main site and didn't get much, well I didn't, so I walked up to the top of the field where there was a slope and I had dug some targets years before. Think it was my 2nd target I dug the token and it was very corroded and I just figured it was a little 1800s European coin. Once I got home and started cleaning it up and seeing words revealed my eyes were popping out of my head and I grabbed my book and literally had to match every letter to prove to myself that's what it was. I had no plans to sell, but after I cleaned it I seen it had a hairline crack running almost all the way through and it would have been too much of a gamble for me to keep. Plus I couldn't even preserve it from drying out because when it was wet it looked pretty bad, so sealing it would have had much the same effect. I sold it about two weeks later for $5,000.


The button I dug in 2001, the year my coil was on fire. If you know someone that is lucky, and tends to make the good find, well that was me that entire year and my friends were just left scratching their heads. It almost seemed too easy, which these days I find it hard to believe things were that good at one point. That being said the finds did not come without effort, and some persistence because where I found the button it took me three times trying the field to find the very small site. I had done the research, and I knew the map was good because all the other places I had hunted seemed accurate, and the time frame of these sites was just to good to give up so soon. The third try was with my other buddy and I made a plan with him of detecting up the river and trying some new fields on the way, but what I didn't say was if we didn't find a spot we would end up at the same large fields and I had already struck out twice on. Obviously we made it there as I said it was the place I found it, but I'm lucky it was me who got over it because my friend hunted the slope higher up first and must have been within inches of it, and our other friend showed up and he too hunted there and must have been very close. Finally when I left the small iron patch to expand my search a little did I get the target, and it was only about 4" deep and a no-brainer signal. At first glance I was ticked because it was so shiny in the sun I thought for sure I had found a modern button mixed in with the old stuff, but as I focused and started to read it did it start to sink in that I had a very rare Rev War officer button in the best condition I could have ever dreamed of finding. Even if no one reads this it doesn't really matter to me because I love living that moment and wish I could bottle it and give it to everyone. Can't imagine any drug ever coming close to the feeling I had that day. Shortly there after I had an offer that was too good to refuse and sold it for $5,000. It was by far the biggest number offered, and I assumed more would be found so felt it was the right thing to do to take the money. The day I sold it I promised myself if I ever dug another nice one again I would keep it no matter what, and that Summer I did just that and have the button sitting in my display case as I type. I turned down a pretty good pile of cash for it, but for me it's definitely not all about the money and like my hard choices to sell, I made a hard choice to keep, but very glad I did. The one pictured below is the one I sold.

What a beautiful button. Something I would almost call "cameo" appearance, with it's purple on gold.

Yes a shame to sell, but 5,000 is a lot of dollars for a small piece of metal, I may have been guilty of doing the same thing, only I never found such a beauty. Glad you found another..That I seen personally.

[Battlecry4]

Regrets I have a few,but then again to few to mention!
Whilst searching a trackway near to a 12th Century Abbey I found a plaque which had been bent in two.On taking home the artifact and arranging for an expert to open it up an image of 'Christ in Majesty' appeared.Although nearly all the enamel and gilt had disappeared it was still a wonderful object.This artifact would have been fitted to the reverse of a Limoges Cross from the 12th-13th century.As the monks went to their many services and holding up the cross they would have focused on the image of Christ.
Henry VIII dissolved,or should I say,destroyed all the abbeys,monastries and priories in the land,in a fit of peek regarding divorce.All icons or religious images were destroyed and church wealth looted.The roundel of Christ is obviously one of them.
A request had been made in a metal detecting mag from a guy who wanted to construct a Limoges Cross.I let him have the roundel.A rare find now gone from my possession,but hopefully restored to to a former glory?

[Battlecry4]

Originally Posted by MyrtleBeachGuy

whats a union ringed canteen ? i dont know what that is i googled it union ringed canteen google images but a bunch of different pictures come up n im really curious ... ?

I'm guessing...a water (drinking canteen) from the American Civil War period.Possibly with a logo or motif of the Union Army?I might be a Limey but I bet I'm right!!!

[Battlecry4]

A follow up regarding 'union ringed canteen'.These were indeed water carrying vessels of the union army.They were made of iron with a tinned coating.The technical shape of them was 'oblate spheroid'.They were often referred to as being 'bullseye canteens' because they had a set of concentric circles on each side,similar to an archery target.Often the canteens had personalized covers.These were hand made out of cloth and would, often have the soldiers name and regiment sown in;or some other personal information, maybe even giving the canteen a nickname.
In 1858 the Quartermaster responsible for equipment utilized 'kersey cloth',whatever that may be, in a standard blue colour for canteen covers.By 1862 the 'bullseye canteens' were a common issue to all soldiers.All metal canteens had one major problem!They absorbed heat making the water taste foul!