First Silver Ring

  I didn't go out for long yesterday, but I got rained out of work and decided to hit the park for an hour. Momentously, I found my first silver ring, a tiny little bugger, probably a toe ring or a child's ring or the ring of some hapless homunculi or incredibly shrinking woman. Anyway, it is small and I was happy to find it. I never seem to find anything other than costume jewelry and I marvel at these photos of these MDers with boxes of gold and silver rings and wonder what I am doing wrong. Well, not any more. Indeed, as is often stated in the books and forums, the tony ring registered as a pull tab on my machine and I almost didn't dig it. But now I dig it, dig it?

  Also, I found this 1917 Bulgarian 5 Stotinki piece. That was the real excitement of the day. It was deep, about seven inches, and at first I thought it was just a penny. It was much smaller than a penny however and I suspected it might be tiny money dropped by the little people who lost the ring, then I recognized what appeared to be Russian script on the rear. I cleaned it with soapy water at home and did some research online to discover that it was in fact Bulgarian and what is known as a Stotinki. Laura's pencil rubbing of the rear helped me to read the date as 1917. Marvelous!

Dan Hughes' New Book

  Yesterday I received my copy of Dan Hughes' new book, The Metal Detecting Manual, and I haven't been able to put it down. Filled to the covers with tales of treasures lost and found, tips on where and how to hunt, personal anecdotes, and useful historical information; this book is a wonderful reference volume for any metal detecting enthusiast. The book can be ordered from the website listed in my links-list, and don't forget to check out his md podcast.

Yesterday's Ring

 Found this in someone's yard in Union. The gold plating has long since worn off and the jewels disappeared into the earth, but it was still a good find. My second ring of the year. I don't know who she was, but she had some enormous sausage fingers. I can wear this thing on my thumb.

Lunch Break

  It can be very difficult to find time for metal detecting. I cannot justify taking time off of work in the middle of the day and the hours that I spend with my fiance on the weekend--which is often only a day--are so precious few as it is.  I suppose that is why I spend so much time metal detecting in the rain or in the dark or in the rainy dark.
  Anyway, if I get the chance on a lunch break, I will often walk down to the beach for a half hour or so and swing the stick. Many of these small, remote Maine beaches--if you can find one that isn't entire composed of rock--seem to have a wealth of old treasure to offer up, from antique jewelry to old coins sitting on the hard-pack just below the upper strata of sand. The key seems to be finding those beaches or parts of beaches that are being affected by erosion.  That is, where the ocean has temporarily moved deep sand away from an area, making that hard-pack beneath more accessible, and the booty it contains.

  I hit this beach briefly the other day at lunch. I didn't find much: a fishing weight, .89 cents in change, and a fascinating old ring. The ring wasn't valuable, but it was beautiful in its worn and battered state and I marveled at its delicate condition as I carried it back to my truck. It was literally about to fall apart in my hand. How incredible that it withstood the movements of the sea water and the stony sand for so long and ended up ultimately in my palm so near its point of destruction? I would guess it is almost a hundred years old. I brought it home to the woman I love, who I knew would care for it and appreciate its beauty as much I do, if not more.