r/metaldetecting

This sports complex is yet to give up any gold. But I got two rings. One is silver and a fidget ring.

Central Connecticut. Back in my hometown for some pet sitting and I decided to check out a spot 2 minutes down the street from where I grew up that’s been on the back of my mind since I started metal detecting. I spent a couple hours metal detecting inside some stone boundaries and found absolutely nothing and then hiked further in to where they did some fairly recent clear cutting. I pulled up my lidar map and noticed I was basically in the middle of another stone boundary, got out my detector and not even two minutes later I get a beautiful signal and that sounds like a modern quarter on my machine. Pulled out the 1803 draped bust, which I definitely did not expect to clean up as well as it did (photos of it straight out of the ground are the last photos). Walk maybe 100 yards away and get an identical target, I should’ve live dug it because I had a feeling it would be something good again. Sure enough, it was another draped bust. A little more slick so I can’t read the date but I waaaaant to say it almost looks like it starts with a 17. Found some horse tack and a beautifully ornate cast iron piece. I haven’t been able to get out detecting much recently due to health and work related issues, and when I have, I’ve come back with absolutely nothing. It’s been over a month since I’ve even found a button! These are my first draped cents and the best day I’ve had detecting in months probably. So grateful for days like these that really help turn your whole mental mindset around. Thanks for looking!

Found something cool today!

These are my finds from my first time out with my new detector! I found some public land in a local historic town and only had a couple of hours to search, but I’m definitely hooked and will be going back.

I’m especially curious what everyone thinks about the buckle in the bottom left. It looks fairly early to me, and I believe it’s brass. If anyone has an idea of its age or what type of buckle it might be, I’d love to hear it.

I was also pretty stoked to pull a couple of coins—even if they’re only worth a cent! 😂 Not bad for my first outing.
I’ll definitely be posting anything else interesting I find in the future. Thanks for looking, and happy hunting!

This is the update post - see the original post here https://www.reddit.com/r/metaldetecting/s/RVgm9rzKD4

Thanks to the first post, several fellow New Yorkers with metal detectors answered my plea for help. One person from Brooklyn reached out, and we agreed to meet up, she even brought a friend along!

Taking advice from the comments on my last post, I hit up a hardware store and grabbed a roll of wire mesh that looked like the right size. I cut it with shears to fit over a clear plastic container. I also brought whatever I could get as dividers – a compact ironing board frame, a thick picture frame mat board to use as dividers and paper towels cardboard box (the most useless thing).

In the photos, you can see just how massive the pool was. We targeted the specific area where the ring went missing, plus a buffer zone around it in case it shifted.

Unfortunately, just like during my first amateur attempt, neither the metal detector nor the pinpointer worked. The floor structure underneath was full of metal reinforcement, so the detectors were either completely blind or beeping non-stop. Since we assumed the ring had sunk to the bottom, we needed to scan right against the floor – which made the detectors completely useless.

The Strategy

We decided to isolate sections of the pool using our dividers, scoop out all the beads, and sift them through the mesh into the plastic bin. Once sifted, we dumped the clear beads on the far side of the pool and repeated the process.

We started along the edge, hit the bottom fairly quickly, and then moved the dividers to expand our grid. At that point, we ditched the detector and pinpointer entirely and just sifted with whatever we had on hand: a kid’s bucket, a plastic beach shovel, and grocery bags.

To be honest, it felt like a true Sisyphean task. The container would fill up instantly, but the pile of beads in the pool didn't look any smaller. I thought a thousand monkeys in a thousand years would def do the job, but there were only three of us and we two hours before the place closed.

The Discovery

About 30 minutes in (and 10 containers filled), Alisha stopped and said "Wait, is this it?" and picked something up.

It was the ring! It was sitting right on top of the surface, just outside our active search area. I am 100% positive it wasn't on top when we started—our digging and shifting of the beads must have pushed it upward.

All’s well that ends well! And next time hit the Space Club, make sure your valuables are in a zippered pocket!

Thought I had an old penny but this ended up being very cool!!! Printed to supplement currency when people were hoarding coins during the civil war.

I found this object in Normandy. The area apparently saw fighting during the Battle of Normandy. The shape seems quite unusual for it to be leftover ammunition. What do you think?

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Any chance that someone out there may be able to help identify this please? Found in North Norfolk

Found in my backyard. NW Ohio.

I’m getting mixed results from my personal research. Some say as late as 1880s-90s and others are saying early as 1840s. The tiny “DUPRE.” Is what’s tripping me up. Found in Saratoga Springs NY