From the Webmaster's Desk...

     Finally, a decent day to go out metal detecting.  The only snow around were the piles created by the snow plows.  The temperature was just right, hovering around 55°F.  The ground was nice and moist and easy to sink a knife blade into.  It just doesn't get any better.

     Me and my coin shooting partner Roy hit an old park in the Easton area early in the morning.  Things got off to a pretty good start.  Wheat pennies and new stuff were popping up just enough to keep things interesting.  Pretty soon Roy came over to show the silver dime he had just found, practically right on top of the ground...a 1964 Roosevelt.  The pressure was on!  Now it was my time to produce silver.  After a few more hours and only new stuff to show for our efforts we headed to a nearby high school.

     Right away I popped up 5 new clad dimes.  A quarter reading produced an International Gymnastics medal.  The pin on the back had long been rusted off.  Still a neat find.  On a slope in front of the school I got a dime reading at 2 inches.  Up popped a 1944-S Mercury dime.  The pressure was off!

     All things considered, it was a pretty good day.  I found a total of 109 coins.  The one silver dime and 16 wheat's were the only old coins I found.  The new stuff came to a total of $4.77.

     Just getting out and hunting with a friend is what it's really all about.

***

     I wanted to tell you all a story about finding some old bottles.  I have been collecting and digging bottles since the early 70's.  I was doing some field service work on an emission systems at one of our customers sites over in New Jersey, along the coast.  I don't want to be to specific.  The site is built on an old dump from the 1800's up to about the 1920's.  Bottles can be found right on top of the ground.  Blob top beers from New York, cone inkwells, cobalt blue bromo-seltzers by the bag full (cork top).  The area has been picked pretty clean in the last two years by myself and a co-worker.

     Recently, some heavy earth movers came in to dig out some old tanks and in the process moved a lot of soil around.  A few heavy rainfalls (which is why I had to go back to the site) exposed a lot of bottles and re-opened the entire area to bottle hunting once again.  I found 60 plus bottles in about a two hour time frame, no digging required.  Eleven bottles were cobalt blue (my favorite), 9 bromo-seltzers, a WT & Co. small panel cobalt and a 6 sided Avery's Auraline bottle.  Lots of blob tops, sodas, one small perfume bottle from Paris, a brown cone inkwell in excellent condition, one cobalt blue inkwell (cork top), one clear inkwell with "Inkout No. 1" written on it, assorted medicine bottles and food bottles.

     I broke the oldest bottle found that day.  It was an olive green 3-piece mold ale or beer.  Inside were 9 old clothes pins.  They were each turned on a lathe and cleaned up very well.  Also found was a tan and cream colored pottery ale bottle laying in a mud puddle.  I almost missed it.  I found 3 Bennington (blue) marbles that day too.  One regular size shooter and two pee-wee's.

***

     I was just notified that I was selected as Lost Treasure's "Site of the Month" for April.  This is a great honor and I wish to say THANK YOU to all of those that voted for Have Detector Will Travel.

***

     You have probably noticed that the Archive site for Have Detector Will Travel has changed.  I believe you will see better results as far as response and load times.  I am leaving the old site up for awhile until I make sure all of the links have been found in HDWT.  Please use the Forum.  Not only is it fun (no login required) but you can get other coin shooters ideas and opinions on the subject matter you are inquiring about.  I have used White's Forum for questions about relics and the response was almost immediate.

***

     On Thursday, May 4th I did another service call at the bottle site in New Jersey.  I hunted the same area again since we had some heavy rains.  I found another 30 some bottles...all right on top of the ground.  Four more cobalt blue Bromo-seltzers, 1 cone inkwell, Sharpe & Dohme small brown bottle, wine bottles, 1 large size blob top from New York,  a Three in One Oil bottle, 2 small round Omega Oil, 1 Carbona, some food bottles and the find of the day...I. Rokeach & Sons, Oil Refiners, Brooklyn, NY.  This one is listed on the Kovels web site with a 1996 price of $35.00.  I also found 1 brown regular size Bennington and 1 blue pee-wee Bennington marble.
 

See you in the field!

J.R. Hoff

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