My Metal Detecting Finds » gold

A Look Back At 2009′s Great Metal Detecting Finds

Metal Detecting Man — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:12:26 +0000

These days, it’s great to be a metal detector. With the advancements in technology, ordinary people can make extraordinary treasure find. As we make our way through 2010, lets take a look back at some of great metal detecting finds of 2009.

1) Housewife Finds £250,000 Treasure

Holy Trinity Treasure

A great example of how patience and persistence really pays off! Mary Hannaby was out one day with her son on a metal detecting walk when she found a stamp-sized, golden pendant with a picture of the Holy Trinity on it. She had been metal detecting for seven years in fields and beaches but she had never found anything as substantial as this. The metal detecting find is estimated to be worth more than £250,000 (Over $400,000 U.S.)! Fortunately for her, this trip has become her dream come true!

2) Man finds Anglo-Saxon War Trophies

Anglo-Saxon Hoard

A British man found one of the largest caches of Anglo-Saxon relics ever discovered when he was out detecting on a farm. The relics, which were dated back to the 7th century and included items such as pommel caps and sword hilt collars, are said to have been war trophies. The estimated worth of this find: millions of dollars!

3) Hoard of Iron Age Coins Found

Iron-Age Gold Staters

A team of archeologists made an amazing metal detecting find of Iron Age coins in the UK. 824 gold staters were found in a broken pottery jar and were estimated to be between £500,000 and £1m at the time of their circulation, but are likely to be worth less now. These gold staters date back the late Iron Age and will help highlight the ancient political, economic, and religious importance of the area.

4) First-time Metal Detector Finds worth £1million of Ancient Golden Jewelry

First-Time Metal Detecting Find

Imagine buying your first metal detector and finding a hoard of Iron Age jewelry estimated to be worth £1million! Just one hour into his metal detecting trip, and David Booth made the find that would change his life! The metal detecting finds date back as far as 300 BC and has significantly helped archeologists on their view of Scotland’s ancient inhabitants. A surprised Mr. Booth can think of no other way to spend his new riches than to pay off his car loan! “‘I’d always fancied buying a metal detector, just as a hobby, and I decided to do it. It turned out to be a pretty good investment.” A very good investment indeed Mr. Booth!

5) Father-son Team Finds Buried Viking Treasures

Rare Viking Treasures

After being turned down from searching two farm fields, metal detecting team David Whelan and his son Andrew made an incredible metal detecting find: a hoard of viking treasures valued to be more than £1million! The treasures are said to be dated back to the Viking era, before Anglo-Saxons had taken control of the area. The last time such a find was made was over 150 years ago. The treasure is so rare that it was only the second of its kind in Britain and among six or seven in all of Europe! Andrew Whelan said: “Being keen metal detectorists, we dreamt of finding a hoard but to find one from such a fantastic period of history is just unbelievable.”

6) Stranger with a Metal Detector Finds Wedding Ring of a Couple Married 68 Years

Mary and Ed Marzec

The last metal detecting find is one that is worth more than all the money in the world. Mary Marzec had lost the wedding ring in a field of overgrown grass; the same ring she had worn for nearly sixty years. She scrambled and searched for her ring and couldn’t find it. Heartbroken and crying, she gave up. Fortunately for her, a sheriff’s deputy had been nearby and contacted George Kollmer, a metal detecting enthusiast. Kollmer came out to the field where Mrs. Marzec lost her ring and found it within ten minutes. Kollmer returned the ring to Marzec and was awarded with $50 dollars. Her ring was not only her commitment to her husband, but was a piece of her heart. “If you promise yourself to someone,” she said, “that’s for life.”

With our look back at some great metal detecting finds, we can look forward to a new year of incredible opportunities to have one heck of a time finding great treasures. If you haven’t already, add “Discovering the most important metal detecting find of 2010″ to your New Year’s resolution. Good luck and Good Hunting!

Gold Metal Detectors: What You Need To Know

Metal Detecting Man — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:45:07 +0000

A lot of people have this idea that metal detectors are all the same. That they’re just devices used by bums who refuse to get a real job and spend all their time combing their local beach for people’s lost jewelry. While in some respects it is true, most of these people are sadly mistaken. Case in point, the gold metal detector.

Gold metal detector? Aren’t all metal detectors the same?

That isn’t so my friends! You see, all metal detectors are different and serve different purposes. When you go through airport security, they check you with a metal detector. There are metal detectors designed to help farm hands find nails and other nasty bits of metal that they don’t want their cows to ingest. Then you have my personal favorites, treasure detecting detectors (that’s a mouth-full)! And just as there are many kinds of treasures that you can find, there are many kinds of metal detectors for specific treasures!

So how is a gold metal detector different from other treasure-hunting detectors? Well, these detectors are so fine-tuned that they can detect even the smallest traces of gold at great depths. They’re main purpose is to find gold, no matter how big or small, deep within the earth!

The interesting thing about gold metal detecting is in how all the commercial gold you see is made. There aren’t tons of people going out with gold metal detectors trying to find nuggets to send back to jewelry factories. They actually take large amounts of rock and earth and use a chemical process to extract the tiny amounts of gold within those rocks. However, with a gold metal detector you can find naturally occurring nuggets of gold! Why is this important? Because naturally occurring nuggets of gold are many times more valuable to collectors!

How was gold found the old fashioned way?

Back then if you wanted to strike it rich with a nugget of gold, you had to pan for it in rivers. Rivers that flowed from the mountains would sometimes bring along small nuggets and if you were at the right place at the right time, you could catch a few in your gold pan. There are still people out there today who are going out and panning for gold, just like the old days. But this is backbreaking labor! Imagine being hunched over a small stream all day long, filling your pan with water, and shifting it around, trying to separate dirt from gold. And even if you find some gold, it will literally be a tiny flake of gold! Oh, and did I mention, that when panning for gold, you have to be by a running supply of water? That’s right. Forget about searching caves and mountains, you’ll be stuck in the same spot, day in and day out, looking for flakes of gold!

With great technology brings great chances to find gold

Thank God we’ve moved on from the gold-hunting dark ages! With today’s modern gold metal detectors, we can find gold in nearly any environment! One of the best places to search for gold is in the arid regions of the southwestern United States: Arizona, Southern California, Nevada, and New Mexico. There are possibly huge reserves of untapped gold veins because there aren’t any water supplies nearby. Remember, in the old days of the Gold Rush, you needed to be by a river to find gold, leaving gold in rocky and dry areas relatively untouched. This is where you can make some great metal detecting finds! Now, gold that was impossible to get 100 years ago has been made available to us through gold metal detectors!

Gold Metal Detector Suggestion For The Desert:

The gold metal detector that I think would be best for searching in the desert is the Bounty Hunter Gold Digger Metal Detector. It’s a great metal detector, capable of withstanding the dry and dusty climate of the desert. Plus, it’s light and only costs a measly $70.44 on Amazon!

Not just the desert

But don’t think you have to buy a plane ticket all the way to the southwest to get in on the shiny stuff. There are many untapped gold veins throughout the United States. Just search the gold production history of your state, and you’d be surprised at what you’ll find. For instance, states with no history of having high levels of gold productions, such as Alabama, Michigan, and even Pennsylvania have had some sort of gold production. And because of the lack of technology, we’ve often thought of these places as barren sites for gold. But thanks to new gold metal detectors, we’re discovering more and more gold veins that have been untapped all across the United States!

Gold Metal Detector Suggestion For Moist Climates:

I suggest the Famous Trails Md6000 The Neptune Metal Detector for wetter climates. This bad boy is fully waterproof up to 120 feet and still keeps its sensitivity to distinguish between different types of metals! And while most waterproof gold metal detectors can cost up to $1000, this one comes in at just $295 at Amazon! That’s a steal in the metal detector industry!

These amazing advancements in metal detector technology has opened up a whole new world of great gold finds. We’re finding more gold in more places than we have ever found during the Gold Rush! Don’t let this chance to cash in pass you by. Pick up a gold metal detector and strike it rich! Oh yeah, don’t forget to leave a comment below when you do hit the motherlode!

UPDATE: Check out our field test of the Garret Ace 250 Metal Detector. It’s a great, all-around metal detector and another option to helping you make a great metal detecting find!

Possible Lead On Hidden Nazi Gold

Metal Detecting Man — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:35:50 +0000

According to the Times Online, treasure hunters in Germany may have found hidden Nazi treasures! In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and looted the treasures of the Amber Room, a chamber in the Catherine Palace that was completely decorated with amber panels, gold leaf, and mirrors. The remnants were brought to what is now known as the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. However, the treasures remained hidden, even to this day. There are many theories concerning the treasure, from being destroyed during bombing raids and even being put on board a submarine which was later sunk by Soviet forces.

However, treasure hunters have claimed to have found two tons of treasure which they believe to be part of the Amber Room. The treasure hunting team had received tip-offs from people who claim to know about the secret railways where the treasures were stowed. However, one tip-off that could lead to the greatest treasure find of the century has come from Christian Hanisch, son of a German WWII Air Force signaler. Hanisch claims that while going through his father’s papers, he came across documents that gave the co-ordinates to the areas that Nazis hid gold and diamonds. These documents even contained warnings about booby traps! This important information could lead to the final resting place of the treasures of the Amber Room.