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WINNER #1
My U.S. favorite find for January 2020 is the 1700's Gold Wax Seal Signet Ring, found by Louis G. from Massachusetts with his AT Pro.
Louis’s success story: So to start detecting in January in Mass can be a cold one. However on this fine festive Saturday it was a crazy 65 degrees. A few other detectorists and myself went to a 1700's permission I had gotten last summer. We had been there a handful of times and every time we left with many colonial items. We arrived nice and early as we knew it was gonna be such nice weather. Got out there and started swinging. I was using my all powerful and super star AT PRO that I purchased last spring after 7 yrs or so of using an Ace 250 & 400. Everyone was pulling colonial coppers, and relics out of the ground. After about six hours of swinging and the day winding down I was in an area we all definitely went through either that day or in the past.
I got a nice 57 signal and said “c'mon gold" and dug up a pull tab. After you find gold every 50's signal you will always say “c'mon gold". LoL. About five feet away I got another 56/57 signal. Dug down 6 inches or so and low and behold what came out but the shine of GOLD!!!! I was so excited I called over a couple people. One thought I was playing a trick on him. They were both blown away as I was. After removing dirt what lay in my hand was a 1700's Wax Seal Signet Ring. The other person that came over said he was just in that area not that long before I was and must have missed it. I was thrilled beyond belief as to what I had found later on that evening when I posted it on social media and some others chimed in with more information. To me, finding colonial gold itself is a find of a lifetime, but for it to be a lost personal item that has a story to be told, that makes it all the more incredible. Research on it will be ongoing until all possible avenues are looked into.
Louis’s success story: So to start detecting in January in Mass can be a cold one. However on this fine festive Saturday it was a crazy 65 degrees. A few other detectorists and myself went to a 1700's permission I had gotten last summer. We had been there a handful of times and every time we left with many colonial items. We arrived nice and early as we knew it was gonna be such nice weather. Got out there and started swinging. I was using my all powerful and super star AT PRO that I purchased last spring after 7 yrs or so of using an Ace 250 & 400. Everyone was pulling colonial coppers, and relics out of the ground. After about six hours of swinging and the day winding down I was in an area we all definitely went through either that day or in the past.
I got a nice 57 signal and said “c'mon gold" and dug up a pull tab. After you find gold every 50's signal you will always say “c'mon gold". LoL. About five feet away I got another 56/57 signal. Dug down 6 inches or so and low and behold what came out but the shine of GOLD!!!! I was so excited I called over a couple people. One thought I was playing a trick on him. They were both blown away as I was. After removing dirt what lay in my hand was a 1700's Wax Seal Signet Ring. The other person that came over said he was just in that area not that long before I was and must have missed it. I was thrilled beyond belief as to what I had found later on that evening when I posted it on social media and some others chimed in with more information. To me, finding colonial gold itself is a find of a lifetime, but for it to be a lost personal item that has a story to be told, that makes it all the more incredible. Research on it will be ongoing until all possible avenues are looked into.
Louis G. WINS a ACE 300 Metal Detector
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WINNER #2
My second U.S. favorite find for January 2020 is the Warrant Officers Lapel Pin, found by Rick W. from Georgia with his AT Max.
Rick’s success story (edited): One Saturday morning the weather was bad but I wanted to go metal detecting. I recently had some luck working curb strips in and older part of town. I loaded up my gear and headed into town. As I arrived at the location it began to rain. At this point I was thinking about heading back home but then I thought wait I have an ATMax. It's water proof. Certainly a little rain won't hurt me. So I began working the side walk strip. I set up my AT Max on zero mode with zero descrim. I like to hear everything because of the fact that this is a very old part of town and I knew that the sidewalk was very old as well as it had not been updated or replaced. After ground balancing my Garrett 5x8 coil I began slowly moving forward sweeping the coil right to left and back again. Lots of iron signals could be heard and I felt like I was in a good spot as I worked my way up the street. I found several pennies and was ok with that as I was taken back to my childhood playing out in the rain like kids do.
I looked around at my whereabouts as sometimes I kind of forget exactly where I'm at. I see a for sale sign in the yard of the house I am standing in front of. So I called the realtor and introduced myself and explained to her what I was doing and asked would it be ok if I detected the yard. She said that it would be fine, so after thanking her I stepped into the yard and began methodically working my way up and down the yard. I began digging penny after penny as the wind picked up and light rain started. I hit a screaming signal. It was an old gold plated pocket watch. As I'm cleaning it up I'm thinking could my day get any better?
As I slowly worked my way through the yard I was greeted by another mid to high tone kind of faint but solid. As I removed the plug I began to see what looked like gold. Immediately my hands began to shake as I slowly unearthed it from its years of slumber into the light of day. I could see the eagle and his wings. It was a gold plated Warrant Officer Badge from WWll. I had never seen anything so shiny and beautiful in my life as I sprayed some water on it. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs as I have not had a day this good in what seemed like forever. My excitement was cut short by the emergency alert system as we were under a severe weather storm warning.
This is what I found out about the piece. It is a warrant officers lapel pin that was used from 1920 to 2004. It is 24 carrot gold plated brass but was unable to date it. Judging by the depth and age of all the items that I found I would place it around the 1940’s. There was a Air Force base east of the location that housed B52 bombers during WW2. Hundreds of soldiers moved in and out of the area. If I can find who owned the property before it got zoned commercial I would love to return it to any surviving family member that I can find. To me it is a piece of American history and a reminder of the generation that came together to rebuild America after a War far from home and family.
Rick W. has generously donated his Ace 300 to the kid’s hunt during the upcoming CG Memorial Hunt 4! Thank you Rick for your generosity!
Rick’s success story (edited): One Saturday morning the weather was bad but I wanted to go metal detecting. I recently had some luck working curb strips in and older part of town. I loaded up my gear and headed into town. As I arrived at the location it began to rain. At this point I was thinking about heading back home but then I thought wait I have an ATMax. It's water proof. Certainly a little rain won't hurt me. So I began working the side walk strip. I set up my AT Max on zero mode with zero descrim. I like to hear everything because of the fact that this is a very old part of town and I knew that the sidewalk was very old as well as it had not been updated or replaced. After ground balancing my Garrett 5x8 coil I began slowly moving forward sweeping the coil right to left and back again. Lots of iron signals could be heard and I felt like I was in a good spot as I worked my way up the street. I found several pennies and was ok with that as I was taken back to my childhood playing out in the rain like kids do.
I looked around at my whereabouts as sometimes I kind of forget exactly where I'm at. I see a for sale sign in the yard of the house I am standing in front of. So I called the realtor and introduced myself and explained to her what I was doing and asked would it be ok if I detected the yard. She said that it would be fine, so after thanking her I stepped into the yard and began methodically working my way up and down the yard. I began digging penny after penny as the wind picked up and light rain started. I hit a screaming signal. It was an old gold plated pocket watch. As I'm cleaning it up I'm thinking could my day get any better?
As I slowly worked my way through the yard I was greeted by another mid to high tone kind of faint but solid. As I removed the plug I began to see what looked like gold. Immediately my hands began to shake as I slowly unearthed it from its years of slumber into the light of day. I could see the eagle and his wings. It was a gold plated Warrant Officer Badge from WWll. I had never seen anything so shiny and beautiful in my life as I sprayed some water on it. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs as I have not had a day this good in what seemed like forever. My excitement was cut short by the emergency alert system as we were under a severe weather storm warning.
This is what I found out about the piece. It is a warrant officers lapel pin that was used from 1920 to 2004. It is 24 carrot gold plated brass but was unable to date it. Judging by the depth and age of all the items that I found I would place it around the 1940’s. There was a Air Force base east of the location that housed B52 bombers during WW2. Hundreds of soldiers moved in and out of the area. If I can find who owned the property before it got zoned commercial I would love to return it to any surviving family member that I can find. To me it is a piece of American history and a reminder of the generation that came together to rebuild America after a War far from home and family.
Rick W. has generously donated his Ace 300 to the kid’s hunt during the upcoming CG Memorial Hunt 4! Thank you Rick for your generosity!
