Incredible Metal Detecting Discoveries: True Stories of Amazing Treasures Found by Everyday People (12 page)

When his 7
^th
birthday rolled around, what do you think young Lucas asked for? He
did not ask for an Xbox. He wanted a metal detector. His parents made
his dream come true by giving Lucas a Garret Ace 150 and it didn't
take Lucas long to start recovering some of his own relics.

Lucas, along with his
sister and his father set out to find some real Civil War treasures
on private property. The area surrounding Lucas's home is rich in
Civil War history. There were six epic battles in his hometown alone.
It did not take them long to start locating plenty of relics. Some of
the relics were quite obvious, while others were not. Lucas held on
to all of them.

One Saturday afternoon,
Lucas and his dad set off on 4 wheelers looking for a new place to
hunt. Lucas saw a spot that looked good to him and they started
hunting. It did not take Lucas long to locate a good sized target in
the ground. His dad told him that because of the size, it was most
likely an old fence post or something.

Lucas was determined and
he kept digging. Together the two of them unearthed a once in a
lifetime Civil War relic. It was a Civil War sabre! Lucas and his
father could not have been happier with their new discovery.

Lucas and his older sister
are both homeschooled. His mother has created history lessons from
all of their finds. On a recent trip to a Civil War museum, Lucas and
his sister were able to identify some more of the items they
uncovered. Each item has taught them a little piece of history. Now
Lucas and his sister are learning from every single relic they
recover.

It did not take long for
news of the great Civil War sabre find to spread. Garrett, the
company who manufactures the machine young Lucas was using caught
wind of the find. They sent him a new metal detector that was a step
up from his current one. Lucas plans on giving his old metal detector
to his sister so the two of them can hunt together.

This is one great metal
detecting story that has taught valuable history lessons and brought
the entire family together. Congratulations Lucas. You deserve it.

There are different types
of treasure out there. Some of us eagerly look for old coins. Some of
us get bitten by the gold bug. Some of us look for old relics that
help rewrite history and some of us hunt for space treasure. This
space treasure comes in the form of meteorites. Some scientists even
believe this is how gold arrived on our planet, in the form of
meteorites.

Meteorite hunting, just
like any other form of metal detecting can become quite addictive.
How often do you get to hold a 10,000 year old rock from outer space
in your hands? For most of us this opportunity never arrives, but
that was not the case for Jansen Lyons.

Jansen, a 13 year old
homeschooled boy became very interested in meteorites after reading a
book that explained them in great detail. The book captured his
imagination and he started examining every single rock he could get
his hands on.

Seeing his determination,
Jansen's grandfather designed and built the boy a metal detector. You
read that right. His grandfather did not go out to the store and
purchase a metal detector. He built his own for his grandson. How
cool is that?

Jansen quickly went to
work using his homemade metal detector and in September of 2011 he
came across what he thought was a two pound hunk of space treasure.
The only problem was that Jansen had no way of identifying or
authenticating his find. It sat in his room for a year before he got
scientific proof.

Jansen and his mother
learned that the University of New Mexico had a museum of meteorites,
but the museum was closed for months while a new security system was
being installed. It seems that someone broke into the museum and
stole a very high profile meteorite that was worth a large sum of
money. Go figure. Thieves are everywhere.

Once the museum reopened,
Jansen and his mother were granted a private tour. Jansen brought his
space rock with him. He was eager to show it off and find out what it
was. Their tour guide was convinced Jansen was carrying around a two
pound rock. It was nothing special and it definitely was no
meteorite.

Meteorites are very rare,
and one of this size has never been found in his home town of Rio
Rancho. It could not possibly be anything but your average New Mexico
rock, but Jansen insisted that his rock was no ordinary rock.

Finally, the museum agreed
to test his find. It would take the museum a few hours to determine
what the rock was so Jansen and his mother went home where they
waited for the phone call.

When the phone rang, the
house fell silent while the news was delivered. His ordinary rock was
no ordinary rock at all. It was an L6 ordinary chondrite. A rare
meteorite and it was over 10,000 years old. Jansen has agreed to put
a small sample of his two pound space treasure on display at the New
Mexico Museum.

Jansen's story is not one
of beginner's luck, but one of hard work, determination and passion.
This is something that every single one of us can learn from.

Can you believe he found
his monster two pound meteorite with a homemade metal detector? It
just shows that hard work and determination are well rewarded.
Awesome!

Jansen Lyons proved that
hard work and dedication are always rewarded, but there is such a
thing as beginner's luck, and that is exactly what three year old
James Hyatt experienced on his very first metal detecting outing with
his father. His incredible find has become the envy of many people.
Here are the details.

Sunday, May 17
^th
2009 was an epic day for young James. James and his father were
searching for adventure using an entry level metal detector when the
machine gave them a good signal. They were searching a field in
Hockley, Essex England.

The two started to recover
the find when the dad saw a glimmer of gold in the bottom of the
hole. Their treasure was buried a measly six or eight inches down,
but it would turn out to be the find of a lifetime.

Image courtesy of Portable Antiquities Scheme

When they finally
recovered the treasure, they knew it was gold, but they had no idea
the age or value of the item. It would be a year before they found
out what they had uncovered.

They had unearthed a gold
pendant from the first half of the 16
^th
century. The front
of the pendant was engraved with a picture of a female saint holding
a cross. This image is believed to be the Virgin Mary.

The back of the pendant
slides open to reveal a cavity, but it was damaged and could not be
opened. It is believed the pendant was designed to hold a religious
relic.

Curators at the British
Museum created a special probe and used a microscope to repair and
remove the damaged rear lid. It now opens and closes along the
grooves cut into the side panel.

Inside the pendant,
researchers found matted root hairs and small outer stems of
unprocessed flax. It is believed these were pieces of locally grown
flax plants.

Three sides of the pendant
were engraved with the names of the three wise men and the fourth
side was engraved with leaves. What a magnificent piece of history.
The estimated value of this find is: £2,500,000 or $4,100,000.

Wouldn't it be great to
uncover something like this with your children? There is no reason
why you can't. Get out there and have some fun metal detecting with
your kids. You could find something even better.

Sooner or later every
person with a metal detector will find a ring. Hopefully it is not a
cursed demon ring like the rings of the Thetford Hoard and hopefully
is not the demonic ring from The Lord of the Rings movies.
My
Precious!
Although it may be a copy of that infamous ring. I did
find one on a playground once. It fit perfectly on my finger and the
world went dark when I put it on. Then I noticed the gold plating
peeling away from the side and my little daydream was shattered. Oh
well, off to the next target.

Rings are a somewhat
common find. Beach hunters are lucky enough to dig up hundreds of
them every year. They may be made of platinum, silver or gold and
they may be covered in jewels. They may also be nothing but costume
jewelry. Either way, finding a ring is a great experience. It doesn't
matter if you are waist deep in the water and you get a glint of gold
in the bottom of your beach scoop, or if you remove a freshly cut
plug and spy a hint of silver peeking out from the dirt. Rings are on
the top of the “gotta find” list of almost every single
person wildly swinging a metal detector.

Rings have been used by
people for over 6000 years. Most rings are used as symbols. The
circle means infinity. It goes on forever and that is why rings are
used as a symbol of marriage. They symbolize one person's never
ending love for another. Cue the romantic music and dim the lights.
Here are some of the most incredible metal detecting ring finds!

I have been fortunate
enough to find several rings on my metal detecting adventures. It is
something that I never seem to grow tired of. The next two ring
stories are my own personal stories. They are from my book entitled:
Metal
Detecting the Beach
. Enjoy.

When Summer rolls around,
I prefer to hunt the beach right before the sun goes down and
continue after the sun has set. It can be exhilarating to be on the
beach on a clear Summer night. A nice breeze to keep things cool, and
plenty of things to dig up in the dark.

I remember one evening in
the middle of the Summer when two strange things happened to me. I
was walking North along the beach and my plan was to hunt where
everyone had parked on my way up the beach, and then when I turned to
come back, I would work the low tide line. According to the local
weather reports, it was going to be a perfect night.

By the time I was halfway
through my hunt, I had already found two nice gold rings where people
had been parking their cars. I was in great spirits and the sun was
setting. Soon I would have the beach to myself.

The sun went down, and the
stars lit the sky. It was beautiful. I was getting tired so I decided
it was time to turn and head back. I could hit the low tide zone and
keep my feet wet.

I approached the low tide
line eagerly, and that's when I saw it. It was a shooting star. I was
lucky to see such a good one, and then out of the corner of my eye,
it flew back up into the sky. What the heck was that? I had never
seen anything like it. There it was again and this time it fell again
just below the horizon, and a few seconds later it rose back out of
sight. I was baffled, but It looked like I was getting closer to this
mysterious object in the night sky.

It would fall out of the
sky and then shoot back up like a rocket. It was just barely visible.
I was watching the sky, and suddenly my metal detector made a sound
that I loved to hear. It was a nice tone that 4 out of ten times
meant gold was buried under my coil. I dug a quick scoop and looked
over my shoulder and the UFO was still doing its crazy dance through
the sky.

I threw the scoop of sand
on the dry beach and moved my coil over the hole I had just dug. No
more target. I had retrieved it in that scoop of sand. It was dark,
and I had to feel my way through the pile of sand. I stuck my hand in
the sand pile and a ring slid right around my finger. I laughed out
loud.