Metal Detecting in GA

June 6, 2020June 7, 2020

Metal detecting — Mid-20th century GA farm — hunting a previous productive site

My trip started around 10am. I was driving back from a dental appointment and it was raining pretty heavy. I drove past the site and headed home, very disappointed! I made it almost all the way home, and the rain started to lift, so I turned around determined to at least give it a try.

Mike, my dad and I have gone numerous times metal detecting at this site and the interesting finds are still present! This mid-20th century farm keeps producing great finds!

When I knocked on the door, the familiar smiling face wasn’t there. I was greeted by the owners daughter, Rebecca, who seemed cheerful enough but wondered who I was? I told her I was a friend and normally the owner allowed me to go metal dectecting in her yard. She invited me in and she went to talk to the owner. When she came back, she said “just let me know what I found” and I was good to go.

My first target was a penny/dime signal, but it was large and about four inches deep. I was hunting with my Garrett GTI 2500 which has target imaging or target size data. I was confident it wasn’t a coin, but you have to dig everything. You never know what you found until you dig it up! I cut a large plug and I pulled out a toy gun from the 1950s or 60s.

The front yard has produced the most finds from this site, so I started working in that area, going really slow to make sure that I covered the ground throughly. Out pops up a couple wheaties, so I’m feeling optimistic. My next target is a quarter signal around 4 inches deep. Thus site produces a lot of clad, so I thought it was just another clad quarter. I cut a plug and looked in the bottom of the hole and instantly saw silver! I’ve found a lot of silver dimes in George, but no quarters or halves. I grabbed the coin and I had a found a 1957 silver Washington quarter! My first silver quarter in Georgia!

1957 Silver Washington quarter found using Garrett GTI 2500 in previously hunted site!

I continued to work the front yard and got a few more clads coins along with the ever present memorial penny finds. Working towards the large propane tank, I got another great quarter signal and it was four inches deep. As I dug the target, my mind wondered to thoughts of another silver quarter, but I was greeted by a large copper coin shaped target. Gently rubbing the find I noticed the familiar globe and monument from the 1939 New York Worlds fair. I love finding targets that give insight into the lives of the people that lived there. The people who lived her in the the 1930s might have visited the worlds fair! How cool! I wish I could have been there too!

Continuing the the treasure hunt yielded another silver dime (1943), one more wheatie, an old cow tag, an old pocket knife and numerous trash.

All the “good” finds from the 3 hour metal detecting hunt using a Garrett GTI 2500 (I dug plenty of trash too!)

As I said before, this site was heavily searched in the past by my brother, my dad and myself. It yielded numerous silver dimes and great relics, but yesterday’s hunt just proves the old metal detecting adage, “a site is never completely hunted out”. So get out there and hit an old site that was productive in the past, you might be surprised just how many targets you missed!

The “wheaties” found were dated 1939, 1949 and 1956.

May 31, 2020

Found metal detecting! Early jar lid with crow feets.

Mike and I explored North Georgia again today for about 5-6 hours. We didn’t find anything terrific, but Mike found this interesting jar lid:

We can’t date this piece, but it appears pretty old. Maybe mid 19th century??? If anyone has any information about this metal detecting find, please comment below. The jar lid was found on an old fairgrounds that predates the American civil war using Mike’s Equinox 800 with a large 15″ coil.

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020

Asking permission to go metal detecting

Our day started at 7am, I packed some snacks and the cooler. I also checked my batteries and grabbed any other essentials that Taylor, Mike and I might need on our adventure.

When Mike arrived, I woke up Taylor and we all hopped in the car and started on our way north. Our destination was a small town in north GA with a deep history. We arrived at our destination around 8:15am and our first stop was Dr. Ash’s house. On our last metal detecting trip, we had detected here and the site had a lot of potential.

The home was owned by Dr Ash, but it’s his second home, so the odds of Dr and Mrs Ash being home were slim. During our last visit, we had obtained permission from the young lady that was staying in the house as a favor during COVID-19. The young lady had spoken this Dr Ash over the phone and Dr Ash had said that he had lost a gold ring in his back yard. I wish we could have found his ring and returned it, but it didn’t happen this trip or the previous (maybe next time!).

After about an hour, I met up with Mike and we went over our finds. At this point, I had two wheaties and a strange lead pouring cup (at least, that’s my best guess).

We noticed a neighbor across the street and Mike went over to obtain permission. Unfortunately, it was a hard “NO” with her response, “whatever is in the ground, stays in the ground”. Not feeling discouraged, all three of us walked next door and the homeowner was in her car in the driveway. She said that she thinks it would be alright for us to metal detect on their property, but we’d better check with her husband. That’s when we met Lloyd, he immediately granted us permission and added that he had found relics just digging in the dirt during renovations. He proceeded to show us a very old hammer that he said was just a large ball of iron oxide and muck when it found it! The head of the hammer and the handle was forged as one piece, which seems pretty uncommon to me. It was a fascinating find and we were very ready to get started metal detecting his yard!

Lloyd’s yard was very large and Mike started in the back. I worked the front, because Taylor was eating the rest of her breakfast in the car and I wanted to stay close by to keep my eye on her. After an hour or two, we called it quits, no 19th century relics, but we had a blast. I did find a cool belt buckle with an eagle on the front, but it appeared modern.

Metal detecting finds using a Garrett GTI 2500 (found in North GA)

Before leaving Loyd’s, we wanted to catch up with him and thank him for his generosity. We didn’t find Loyd, but found his nephew Josh. We showed Josh our finds and he said he remembered some of the toy cars we dug up and they were probably his back in the day. Loyd, Josh and his wife are amazing people and we hope we can visit them again in the future.

As we’re heading to the car, another neighbor across the street was checking her mail. I went over to talk and ask permission. Her name was Kathy and she immediately said “yes!”. She said we weren’t the first to ask, so her yard had been detected before and she would let her husband know that we might be coming by to metal detect her yard.

After grabbing some lunch, Mike, Taylor and I met with Kathy’s husband Bernie. He said we had a “ace in the hole” when asking permission by bringing along my daughter Taylor because she is so cute. He also said he and his wife would be more than happy to babysit Taylor while we detected. However, Taylor declined and decided to stay outside with us. She said she was scared of catching COVID-19.

My first find was the depth of my digger or 7.5″ deep, which is a deep target for me. I got real excited when I popped it out of the bottom of the hole because it just looked old and it was covered in stars!

1930’s-1940’s Luxor compact (made in the USA)

After we got home we performed some internet “sluething” and identified the object as a compact or makeup container from the 1930’s or 1940’s. Here is what it would have looked like when it was dropped:

Luxor — 1932 compact or blush makeup case

We all had a fun day of metal detecting and the biggest treasure we found were our new found friends; Lloyd, Josh, Kathy and Bernie. The moral of the story is don’t be afraid to ask permission to metal detect, once you do it a few times it’s not nearly as scary as you imagine (trust me, I know).

Mike’s find using a Equinox 800 — metal detecting in North GA

May 8, 2020May 8, 2020

Metal Detecting 1906 Farmhouse — North GA

Mike and I went back to the 1906 farmhouse in North GA. We’ve hit this spot numerous times and the finds keep coming. Here are my notable finds from the hunt (using Garrett GTI 2500):

Finds include a 1946 silver dime, three wheaties (1941, 1956 & unknown), an old buckle and a token with Thomas Edison on the front and a shell on the back

Close-up of token (front), silver dime and wheaties

Close-up of token (back), *silver dime and wheaties*

Mike did a great job too! He was hunting with his trusty Minelab Equinox 900 and his finds include a WWII uniform button, a 1920’s Model T dust/grease cap, a 1969 tootsie toy (very bad shape) and a “America First” SW Ashworth Buford GA tag (unknown). I attempted to research the SW Ashworth company, but I haven’t found any results.

1920’s Ford Model T — showing location of dust/grease cap that Mike found using Equinox 800

Close-up of S.W. Ashworth, Buford GA tag from using Minelab Equinox 800. My guess would be the tag came off a piece of equipment such a vacuum cleaner or farming tool. Anyone with more information, please comment below!

It started to rain, so our hunt was cut short, but I had a great time! It’s always fun to get out there and find some treasure!

April 27, 2020May 4, 2020

Metal Detecting — Then vs. Now (1988-2020)

I started metal detecting in 1988. I was 14 years old and quickly turned 15 in March of that year. For the next four years, my dad and I would go metal detecting all the time. We joined a club, the Michigan Treasure Hunters and attended meetings and went on club hunts. The club hunts were both weekend excursions aka natural hunts (such as an old boy scout camp or a 1930s logging camp) and “seeded” hunts. We loved them all, especially the natural hunts.

Metal detecting photo taken between 1988-1991 (The author on the left, my brother Mike in the middle and my dad on the right)

We would also go metal detecting outside of the club, almost every time we could. We mostly went to old schools and parks. We particularly liked metal detecting in Royal Oak, MI and Bell Island park in Detroit. Here is our 1st year finds:

Metal detecting find log from 1988 — 1st year of metal detecting

Something happened in 1991…I graduated High School and metal detecting continued, but when I moved off to college metal detecting slowed down, way down. Then in 1993, my dad lost his job at the hospital he worked at in Pontiac MI. He was out of work for awhile, but eventually he found a new job at the CDC in Atlanta GA working as a researcher and moved to GA.

I was still living in Michigan finishing my college degree and my dad and I still went metal detecting when I would come and visit. We found civil war bullets and relics in Jonesboro GA and Lovejoy station. We also still went metal detecting at schools and parks and even found an occasional silver dime, but metal detecting took a back seat. By 2002, we had almost completely stopped going out metal detecting. My brother and I got into Gold mining (gold dredging, high banking, etc) and metal detecting took a back seat.

In 2019, I started to really miss the sport of metal detecting, so I purchased a used Garrett GTI 2500 and my brother (who never really got into the hobby back in the 1990s) got a world class Minelab Equinox 800.

Mike struggled at first, the combination of new to metal detecting and a brand new detector, but now he’s just as good as his metal detector — world class. His finds are starting to show it too!

I’ve also found some good finds over the years, here is the large cent I found a local elementary school in Troy MI!

Large cent found at local elementary school in 1990s

I found my large cent in the gravel parking lot of the elementary school where I attended Kindergarten in 1977. I’m sure that parking lot is now paved, but how did a large cent end up in an elementary school parking lot built in the early 1970s? You can see that my large cent is very highly corroded which was common for both silver and copper coins found in up there. The soil in Georgia is totally different and all the silver coins pop out of the ground looking like the day they were dropped. It’s obvious which side of Mike’s large cent was sitting up (the side heavily corroded), because that side has a much higher amount of oxidation. The back of Mike’s large cent looks great!

April 25, 2020March 8, 2021

Bartow County GA — Large cent found!

Mike, Taylor and I went metal detecting in Bartow county GA this morning. We were hoping to find civil-war era relics…but we found even older!

Mike’s find using a Minelab Equinox 800 include a 6″ antique key, early 1800’s candlestick holder, 50 in trade Maverick token, 1907-1936 good luck Membership emblem of the don’t worry club tom Schneider political token and a 1843-1857 large cent.

My finds using a Garrett GTI 2500 were not quite as impressive. I found a 1940’s-1950’s Bartow County Fair thimble and unidentified piece of metal.

Here are some more photos of the finds:

Here is an example of what the candle stick holder from the early 1800s would have looked like complete:

Early 1800s candle stick holder — courtesy of AntiquesNavigator.com

September 26, 2019April 27, 2020

Metal detecting Atlanta & North GA

I haven’t posted in a while, so I wanted to give you some updates. So far this year, I’ve found 6 silver dimes and other coins from the mid-20th century (mostly 1940s thru 1960s). The 1 anna coin (British coin from India) is pretty unique and it was found in the historic Matt GA area.

Metal detecting finds from North GA in 2019 — Metal detecting finds using GTI 2500 in North Georgia.

The silver dimes were found at numerous locations thru-out North GA (Five in Forsyth county and one in Cherokee county). Most of the silver dimes were found on private residence with the oldest location dating back to 1891. However, I did find one of the silver dimes at a public school in Forsyth county that was founded in the 1960s. I’ve also been finding some really cool relics:

June 30, 2019June 30, 2019

Metal detecting Settingdown creek in GA

Wow, I had a blast this morning. I went metal detecting in a creek in North Georgia called Settingdown creek. I was very unprepared for the adventure.

I brought with me my metal detector, a long handle sand scoop and my finds pouch. The first target was a bullet or percussion cap, it’s really small. The sand scoop was worthless, the site was covered in bed rock and there was nothing to scoop!

The next target was identified by my GTI 2500 as a coin and target imaging said it was b-size or coin sized, but unfortunately I never found it. The target was located in a deep crevice in the bedrock and multiple rocks were stuck between me and the target. I didn’t have the proper equipment to find it. I really needed my gold prospecting equipment called a crevice tool that normally used to clean out crevices to find gold nuggets.

The next couple of targets were bullets, a lead weight and a pulltab. I was real excited on the pulltab signal because it had all the characteristics of gold ring. I also identified another coin signal in a different crevice, but again I never recovered it because I just couldn’t remove the rocks that were jammed in the crevice preventing me from retrieving it.

At the end of the hunt, I moved to some deep sand in a area of the creek where the water was moving real slow. The long handle sand scoop worked great here. I found a real deep quarter, a zinc penny, a piece of scrap metal and my first meteorite! It might be a meteorite, but it’s probably just a piece of lode stone.

River finds metal detecting north GA — Settingdown creek

May 4, 2019May 4, 2019

Union and confederate positions Nov 15-16 1864

Map of Union and Confederate troop positions on November 15 and 16 1864

This is a map from a report by Bvt. Major General A.S. Williams of the U.S. Army.

Here’s the index of different divisions represented on the map:

March 30, 2019April 9, 2019

Ox Knob found Metal Detecting Atlanta Area Parks

Taylor, Mike and I spent around three hours today metal detecting two old parks in Atlanta. Both parks were within a mile from Grant park. Wow, the first park was literally covered in trash targets! I started the hunt using my 12.5″ coil. That was a major mistake! I quickly switched to the standard 9.5″ coil, but even that coil had trouble keeping all the signals apart.

I’m sure there are some great coins hidden beneath all the trash, but neither of us found one. I did find some interesting copper relics. One of the copper relics hinges on one end and I think I’ll try and bend it back into what I believe is the original shape.

We had a metal detector showdown, my brother and I, about who would find the best targets. I was using a Garrett GTI 2500 and Mike was equipped with a Minelab Equinox 800. My total in clad coins was 70 cents and Mike found 53 cents, so it was pretty close. I think the imaging saved me some time not digging aluminum cans, but I still dug a few, just to check the detector. I’ve also noticed deep coins fool the GTI imaging system, so I didn’t want to pass up a nice deep silver coin. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you think of it, all the larger than a coin targets were exactly as predicted by the GTI 2500, junk. Here’s a video of the metal detector showdown:

Here are some still shots of our finds for the day:

My finds using the GTI 2500 — the unusual copper “bracelet” is in the upper right hand corner

Mike’s finds for the day using a Minelab Equinox 800

In my eyes there was no clear winner in the metal detector showdown. I found 70 cents in clad and a few copper and brass relics in the roughly three hours of detecting and Mike found 53 cents and a bunch of trash. Neither of us found any old coins, not even a wheatie and that was our goal, at least it was my goal. If we were after clad coins, the local school yards in Forsyth or Dawson county would have probably been more productive. In the end, both machines did a good job.

I have a idea to really pit the two machines against each other. We return to either park and each mark out a 10′ x 10′ detecting area for each machine. I would hunt my 10′ x 10′ area with my GTI 2500 and Mike would hunt his 10′ x 10′ area with his Equinox 800. We would then switch and I would detect Mike’s 10′ x 10′ area and vice versa. The challenge would then be complete and we would compare our finds.

Update:

One of our youtube viewers identified two of my relics. I found a ox knob which was screwed on the end of a Oxen horns to prevent the ox from attempting to sharpen his horns and it also helped protect people and other animals from the sharp horns and I also found a Ford Model T valve stem cover nut! Here are some close-ups of my finds using my Garrett GTI 2500: