Ring Found in Joplin Carnage

"A group of James River Assembly volunteers couldn't help but notice an 84-year-old Joplin man patiently searching the wreckage of his home with a metal detector Monday.

The volunteers, working nearby to rescue family photos, wedding pictures and valuable papers from an adjacent damaged home, walked over to see if they could help."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Mark Schiefelbein

MD Group Teams Up with Archaelogists

"Students from all over the country are gathering on the grounds of the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson historic site in Winnabow for an archaeological dig.

Peace College Archaeological Field School is conducting a project aimed at mapping Civil War barracks and learning more about life for the troops who battled their way through Southeastern North Carolina in the 1860s."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: WECT

Canadian Meteorite Hunt

"...

'It probably had a bigger entry velocity and higher beginning. This would also mean a somewhat smaller (than earlier expected) meteorite size on the ground.'

Still, meteorite hunters could head north from Wynndel and search east of Duck Lake. If there is snow, Nowell said, look for a hole in the snow. Otherwise, take a metal detector.

'Your metal detector would beep as it goes over it and a magnet would pick it up. It probably has a lot of nickel and iron in it,' said Nowell."

Read more HERE.

Oklahoman Lives to Discover

"When Justin Finley was 9 years old, he asked his mother if he could make a swimming hole in the backyard.

Finley never finished the pool, but he found a hobby buried in the dirt and clay of the family’s Sulphur home. He found a bottle buried in the yard.

It was old and had a skull and crossbones on it.

He later sold the bottle for a tidy profit.

'I was pretty much hooked from there,' Finley said.

These days, the 22-year-old lives in Del City. In his spare time, he grabs his metal detector and heads to any place he thinks might yield some treasure. But treasure hunting isn’t without its difficulties."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Bryan Terry / The Oklahoman

Hobbyist Honored for His Effort

"Bill Baecker set out last Saturday seeking a treasure he would never profit from, but of greater value than anything he had ever searched for.

Metal detector in hand and attuned to a high setting, Baecker walked the lonely, rainy corner of U.S. 42 and Utica Road in Lebanon, the site of tragedy a few days earlier. Shortly after 3 p.m., his detector alerted him to the prize he sought.

Baecker discovered the lost wedding ring of Sgt. Brian Dulle, the sheriff’s deputy killed in a high-speed chase last week, and had it returned to his widow, Abbie Dulle, on the day of Dulle’s funeral. He and two others were honored Friday by the Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Greg Lynch / Dayton Daily News

Mudlarking? UK Offshoot of the MD Hobby

I found this article about what is seemingly an offshot of our metal detecting hobby, and even really an extension as many folks who enjoy this hobby in the UK utilize MD's in their adventures.

"...

'Mudlark' is an old term, dating back at least to Victorian river scavengers, and their modern-day counterparts took the name for themselves with a certain inverse pride. Ask a mudlark why he’s up to his knees in muck and detritus and you’ll probably hear about something he dug up in the garden when he was a little boy, or a childhood friend with a metal detector who pulled some brilliant thing out of the earth. (This is England, after all, a country my husband, the Irish poet Paul Muldoon, once said was 'coming down with history.')

..."


Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Emma Hardy / NY Times

Class Ring Returned After 40 Years

"For nearly 40 years, Cathy White believed her beloved 1971 class ring from T.L. Handy High School in Bay City was lost forever — somewhere in the sands at the Bay City State Recreation Area.

White, 57, of Midland was brought to tears Wednesday upon learning the ring had been found and would soon be returned.

'This is a dream come true for me. I still can’t believe it,' White said while slipping the ring on her finger for the first time since she was 17 years old. 'It’s one thing to misplace something and still have hope that you’ll find it, but it was totally different to lose my ring, and know that I would never get it back.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Lauryn Schroeder | Bay City Times

1794 Liberty Cap Large Cent for Auction

"Buried treasure really does exist.

A rare 18th-century copper coin that was found with a metal detector will be auctioned at noon today in Bethel Township.

Auctioneer Russell Wolfe Jr. said his client, a Myerstown-area man, was unsure when he found the coin, but he knew that he found it while metal detecting.

'He's been collecting close to 40 years,' Wolfe said.

Wolfe discovered the 1794 large cent with a starred reverse in a collection that was consigned for sale."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: coinfacts.com

Uncovering Civil War Family History

"Walter D. Hodgson of Mercer County, Ill., joined the 124th Illinois Infantry at the age of 15 and went off to fight to preserve the Union during the Civil War.

About 100 years later, two of his great-grandsons, Don Finch of Bettendorf and his brother, Harry, packed up their metal detectors and set off to retrace their ancestor's steps through American history.

Don Finch estimates he has visited 80 percent of the Civil War battlefields.

'I got following everybody else's great-grandfather, too,' he said with a laugh."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Larry Fisher / QUAD-CITY TIMES

40 Years Finding What's Under Foot

"Dale Chapman has found that his metal-detecting hobby gets him out in the fresh air, gives him a little exercise and offers a return on his investment.

After four decades of metal-hunting, he is on his third detector, one that has more ways to indicate what lies beneath his feet. He can set the gadget to indicate coins, jewelry or relics.

'Silver dollars are always nice to get,' Chapman said."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Sam Yu / Frederick News Post

Irish Hobbyist Finds Medical Dicharge Badge

"A long lost First World War medal has been returned to its family home in Oving after being found on a remote beach in Ireland.

It was picked up by keen treasure hunter Stephen Hunter, 28, who trawled through stacks of historical documents to finally trace it back to Edward Lewis Brunswick from the Aylesbury area, who died in 1975.

He was then able to find Edward’s son Roy, who is the oldest living ancestor of the war hero and was delighted to have the medal returned."

Read more HERE.

WWII US Dog Tags Returned from France

I came across this great story of some hobbyists in France who came across and were able to return the dog tag of a US WWII veteran. And believe it or not, I have connection. The vet was part of the US Army 94th Infantry. That unit, after WWII was redesignated a few times and eventully became the 94th RRC, which I served under while part of the 439th QM CO (PS) out of New Haven, CT.

"American World War II artifacts continue popping up in European fields and villages, but connecting them to the U.S. soldier who lost or left them there rarely happens. Unless, of course, the veteran's old family address is embossed on the artifact.

That's the case for Herb Schueler, 88, of Columbia, Illinois. He is a retired home builder who served in the U.S. Army 94th Infantry Division during World War II. He can't remember losing one of his two dog tags in the fall of 1944. But he did, and two French treasure hunters turned it up with a metal detector in the small village of Heric in northwest France about 15 miles from the town of Nantes."

Read more HERE.

Rutgers Class Ring Found in a Lake

"With her trusty metal detector, Sue Beck has been digging up little Gloucester County treasures for a quarter century.

She's plucked her fair share of nails and soda can tabs out of the dirt around the Elk Township lake where she lives.

But among the bits of trash, she's found decades-old odds and ends that have some value, especially when it comes to the sentimental worth.

'I'm like the pied piper,' said Beck, a 34-year Elk resident. 'Kids and adults follow me around on the main beach. ... I've found so many old things.'

When she finds something good, the metal-detecting hobbyist always tries to return it to its owner even decades after it went missing on the beach or the bottom of Lake Gilman."

Read more HERE.
Original Story posted on Rutgers Media Relations site on May 9th, 2011.

Image Credits: Rutgers Media Relations

Religious Medieval Gold

"A medieval ring unearthed by a Pendle treasure-hunter in Kirkby Lonsdale has been described as the ‘find of a lifetime’.

Archaeology enthusiast Craig Scott was on a rare trip out with his metal detector when he found a silver 14th century ring in just six inches of soil in a field.

Engraved with the letters ‘IESUS’, two clasped hands and a five point star, experts say the ring is an extremely rare find."

Read more HERE.

NOTE: Image not of actual ring, but one of similar style and inscription.

MD Dune Buggy

I got this in my email today. It was an article about fun summer beach gadgets and whatnot. I saw the mention of the R/C Metal Detecting Dune Buggy and was pretty excited. However, apparently the thing was in the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog two summers ago and is no longer available.

Kinda irked my email would send me this awesome link to something I can't buy anymore... because I assure you, I would have.

Catalog listing for the dune buggy HERE.

Ohio Class Ring Found

A nice article by Margaret Hartmann on Jezebel.com about a class ring returned by a fellow hobbyist.

"After three decades, most high school rings wind up ratting around the bottom of a jewelry drawer, but Karen Price Liebisch says she's excited that her class of 1975 ring has been returned 36 years after she lost it at Northwest High School in Ohio.

Liebisch recently received a letter school saying the ring she misplaced a few weeks before graduation had turned up. Earl Corson found it 20 years ago while using a metal director at Brookville Lake in Indiana, but only turned it in recently.

Liebisch said it only fits her pinkie now, but she plans to have it resized so she can wear it. 'It's nice to find a piece of your past like this,' she said. 'It had a lot of good memories attached to it and I am really happy to have it back.'"

NOTE: Image shown is not of actual ring found.
Image Credits: Gtranquillity / Shutterstock

MD + Smartphone = Minefinder

"While mine-clearing protocols have improved substantially since World War II, the technology used to locate buried landmines has changed little: De-miners use metal detectors to find and identify mines. On a battlefield strewn with metal debris, differentiating lethal mines from benign cans, wires, and casings is enormously time consuming.

Now, computer scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have designed an elegant system that ties in smartphones to assist humanitarian de-miners by augmenting the information supplied by their metal detectors. Their system, known as pattern enhancement tool for assisting land mine sensing (PETALS), and which will be presented at this week’s Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, takes de-mining advances in a new direction."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Justin Ide / Harvard Staff Photographer

Students Learn Evidence Recovery

"When the "call" came into the West Manheim Township Police Department early Thursday morning, students in the Police Mentoring Program were ready.

The high school students, who are part of the program coordinated by the West Manheim Township, Penn Township and Southwestern Regional police departments, formed three investigative "units" outside the West Manheim Township Municipal Building to get to work.

The lead came from a 911 caller who saw a white SUV parked near the crime scene and the driver..."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Shane Dunlap / Daily Record

Canadian Hobbyist and His Treasures

"Broken pottery.

That's the secret to hunting 150-year-old historic artifacts, according to Steve Miles, a retired plumbing teacher who has dug up a lot of London and area history over the past 15 years.

'When you're looking for history, you look for pottery shards,' Miles said. 'The more you see, the better your (spot) is. They last forever. They look just as good as they day they were broken or dropped. It's one of the only things they threw out and is still there.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Chris Montanini / The Londoner

PA Police Search fo Evidence

Looks like a Tesoro to me :)

"Investigators from the Scranton Police Department - hoping to find new evidence - on Monday scoured the area off Saginaw Street where the body of a murdered drug dealer was found in December.

Police Chief Dan Duffy said Detectives Michael Schultz, James Pappas and Joseph Castellano, one of the department's crime scene investigators, sought to corroborate or disprove information gleaned from interviews conducted during the course of the homicide investigation."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Michael J. Mullen / The Scranton Time Journal