Relic Hunting with the White's XLT
I just recently returned from a five day civil war relic hunting trip in Virginia.  I encountered the hottest ground conditions that I have ever seen in 33 years of metal detecting.  If you own a White's XLT then read my article, Civil War Relic Hunting Part V.  It is an eye opener on the drastic reduction of depth when encountering heavy mineralized ground and what you can do to overcome these conditions.

Lost Treasure Magazine
The newsletter that is put out by Lost Treasure makes for some great reading.  To view their newsletter click this link:  Lost Treasure Online NewsLetter.  They have newsletter archives dating back to 1999.

The Treasure Depot
The Treasure Depot is another website with a wealth of information about metal detecting and treasure hunting.  If you have an unknown relic, this is the place to upload a picture and let the experts tell you what it is or get their opinion of what it could be.  I posted my colonial shoe buckle on the relics forum and got an answer within minutes.  The guys over there are incredible.  Even if you don't participate in the forums, the pictures alone are worth the visit to see what everyone is finding.

Try eBay for Identifications
I have identified a lot of finds by using eBay.  Some were identified by myself and some by viewers of the web site.  What I thought was a Bull Durham medallion actually turned out to be a watch fob.  There were several up for bid on ebay! at an opening price of $14.99.  This has been a pretty good source for identifying some finds and getting an actual value.  Today on ebay! I discovered that the Hopalong Cassidy pistol pin was made in 1950.  The last bid was $34.00.  The Lone Ranger Silver Cup pin is currently bid at $26.75.  Some of the tokens that I have dug over the years have popped up for bid on ebay!  The Palmolive soap token is opening at $3 to $8.00.  Give it a try.  Since the Bull Durham medallion has now been identified as a watch fob I've been wondering if the Asbury Park Fireman's Medal is also a watch fob.  This will give me new avenues for research.

Keep an eye out for old bottles
I wanted to tell you 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 hunted the same area again after 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.

Headphones
Do you use headphones?  I always do.  The light weight headphones are fine until you try to detect next to a highway.  The sound of cars and trucks can really drown out the audio.  I prefer to use padded headphones that were made for stereo systems.  The particular brand I use is Pioneer model SE205.  They are an excellent choice for two reasons.  They have an excellent sound to them and they are deeply cupped so that your ears fit into them.  I found out early on in metal detecting that a cheap pair of headphones can flatten your ears right against the side of your head making it very uncomfortable and extremely annoying.  After about ten minutes of this, it seems like you spend all of your time "adjusting" your headphones to get comfortable instead of concentrating on the audio signals.  Save yourself a lot of aggravation and get a good, comfortable set of headphones.  It will pay off in the long run!

Question
Has anyone tried woods hunting for coins since reading my article?  If you have, drop me an email to let me know what you have been finding.

See you in the field!

J.R. Hoff

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