Zoidberg661
Senior Member
Hey there fellow detectorists, I haven't been posting in a while, work is all consuming and until yesterday I had not gone detecting in quite a few months. In fact, yesterday, Thursday March 14th all I was planning on doing was going surfing in the nice 4-6 foot waves that were crashing from Palm Beach all the way up to Cocoa Beach. I got to Ft Pierce around 8:30 AM and actually decided to to wait on the tide for better surf as the waves were super disorganized and rough, plus it was freakin cold! I got back in the car and headed north from Ft Pierce towards a locals break I know a few miles up the road in the heart of the Treasure Coast but when I got there, the conditions were the same, ggrrr, so I decided to grab my Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II and go do some scanning to kill time.
I found nothing at all for the better part of the morning/afternoon, a few nails and junk but not so much as a even a penny. I was going to leave but I ran into another metal detectorist hunting with a Minelab (Xterra I think). We chatted for a bit and laughed how we were finding nothing but nails and fishing lures/sinkers. He told me the area I was in was a really good treasure hunting area statistically as many finds have been dug over the years. BTW, I didn't catch his name but if you are reading this, thanks for leaving the fishing sinker/leader/hook rig at my vehicle, gonna use it this weekend
I thought my day was a total wash, no good surf, no good finds, my arms and back were killing me but after what the other detectorist guy told me about that area I decided to go back to my vehicle to have some lunch, try and get a second wind, and then head back out for some more scanning.
Finished my lunch and went back out on the sand to start searching again, found a very distinct shell line along the shore in this one particular area and decided to begin scanning it, there were hits everywhere on it. I found quite a few nails and odd shaped metal, then I got a solid signal and about 12 inches down I pulled the encrusted coin you see in the image. I couldn't believe it but wasn't going to get excited as I have found so many coins that have turned out to be nothing so I put it in my pouch and kept digging. The next hit sounded like it was right underneath the coil, very strong and loud so I started digging, and digging, and digging, and digging. I was getting very frustrated (and tired) as I was a solid 2 feet down and 3 feet wide in a hole and the signal was just as strong as it was when I began but no target. I dug so freakin deep there was water in the hole at the bottom and my feet were starting to sink in it while I dug, finally I was so pissed off from digging I shoved my hand into the sand on the bottom of the hole to see if I could feel whatever the signal was and felt something solid, I pulled with all my might and out came the encrusted handle/loop thin you see in the image. I couldn't believe what I was holding and looking at, and to be honest, I still don't know exactly what I am looking at. It appears to be a handle of some kind for a door or chest and is VERY HEAVY, it's completely encrusted with stones and shells and growth. I went back to my car immediately and put it away, then headed back to the same area. I couldn't believe it, first a coin then the handle thing. Kept scanning in the one area and found the black bar about a foot down. At that point my body was telling me the day was over, my back and my arms and my legs were cramping bad from squatting down and digging so I decided to finish up around 5:30 PM.
It was the best day of metal detecting I have ever had, now I need to figure out what the coin is, and how to properly clean all these finds without harming anything. Also gonna put these images in the "Help to ID My Finds" forum so if you have any ideas as to what that handle thing is or some tips on the proper way to clean these finds I would greatly appreciate it. Enjoy he images, i'm still in disbelief from these finds.......
PS - the camera I'm using is a piece of !!!!, will get better macro images of the coin when I can use a better camera.
I found nothing at all for the better part of the morning/afternoon, a few nails and junk but not so much as a even a penny. I was going to leave but I ran into another metal detectorist hunting with a Minelab (Xterra I think). We chatted for a bit and laughed how we were finding nothing but nails and fishing lures/sinkers. He told me the area I was in was a really good treasure hunting area statistically as many finds have been dug over the years. BTW, I didn't catch his name but if you are reading this, thanks for leaving the fishing sinker/leader/hook rig at my vehicle, gonna use it this weekend
I thought my day was a total wash, no good surf, no good finds, my arms and back were killing me but after what the other detectorist guy told me about that area I decided to go back to my vehicle to have some lunch, try and get a second wind, and then head back out for some more scanning.
Finished my lunch and went back out on the sand to start searching again, found a very distinct shell line along the shore in this one particular area and decided to begin scanning it, there were hits everywhere on it. I found quite a few nails and odd shaped metal, then I got a solid signal and about 12 inches down I pulled the encrusted coin you see in the image. I couldn't believe it but wasn't going to get excited as I have found so many coins that have turned out to be nothing so I put it in my pouch and kept digging. The next hit sounded like it was right underneath the coil, very strong and loud so I started digging, and digging, and digging, and digging. I was getting very frustrated (and tired) as I was a solid 2 feet down and 3 feet wide in a hole and the signal was just as strong as it was when I began but no target. I dug so freakin deep there was water in the hole at the bottom and my feet were starting to sink in it while I dug, finally I was so pissed off from digging I shoved my hand into the sand on the bottom of the hole to see if I could feel whatever the signal was and felt something solid, I pulled with all my might and out came the encrusted handle/loop thin you see in the image. I couldn't believe what I was holding and looking at, and to be honest, I still don't know exactly what I am looking at. It appears to be a handle of some kind for a door or chest and is VERY HEAVY, it's completely encrusted with stones and shells and growth. I went back to my car immediately and put it away, then headed back to the same area. I couldn't believe it, first a coin then the handle thing. Kept scanning in the one area and found the black bar about a foot down. At that point my body was telling me the day was over, my back and my arms and my legs were cramping bad from squatting down and digging so I decided to finish up around 5:30 PM.
It was the best day of metal detecting I have ever had, now I need to figure out what the coin is, and how to properly clean all these finds without harming anything. Also gonna put these images in the "Help to ID My Finds" forum so if you have any ideas as to what that handle thing is or some tips on the proper way to clean these finds I would greatly appreciate it. Enjoy he images, i'm still in disbelief from these finds.......
PS - the camera I'm using is a piece of !!!!, will get better macro images of the coin when I can use a better camera.
nice of the fellow to give you some tips and the fishing gear,,,,,I don't think I will have to ever buy any fishing sinkers ever again,,,,
GL HH
Great machine and you used it well.
