Brigadoon Pines

Well I was able to get out again today. It was super wet, but not cold. I hunted a neighborhood park at Lynnhaven and Albright, Brigadoon Pines. I've driven past it so many times and never got out to swing the coil.

I parked, and when I got out, a good omen, a Zincoln on the pavement at my feet. I snapped a few pics of the place and then got moving.

Kids were on the equipment so I ran the coil around the grassy areas. It was super soggy and just not great conditions for digging. I did manage 16 coins @ $1.51, so it was an acceptable day. I had planned on hitting up two open lots along Lynhhaven after but the rain was coming and I figure I'll try and hit it before the 1st as long as weather permits.

Jingle Hunt, Last of the Year?

I stayed home pretty much all day by myself. Just didn't feel well in general and so I lounged around horizontally in bed. I did get the itch to get out and do some hunting around my apartments, so I geared up. I was really wanting to load up Clive's Ring Enhancement Program from his book, but sadly, with the move so close, the book is packed up and inaccessible.

So I headed out and decided to use the stock Coin/Jewelry program. Only stuck it out for an hour or so, and managed $1.85 over 32 coins, not too bad for such an impromptu hunt.

I guess that's it for me unless Chad or Hollis want to get together before the New Year.

Recovery Services Directory

Good morning everyone. Just browsing my favorite MD hot spots on the web tonight and came across two links I'd like to share with everyone... both my fellow hobbyists and those who may have lost something and are looking for help finding it.

The first is "The Ring Finders". This is a rather new website created by a Canadian detectorist who is striving to create an online service directory of those in the hobby willing to travel and offer their skill with their machines up to those in need. In most cases these are on reward basis upon actually finding the items, and maybe a little bit for gas depending on range. As a person in the hobby, I can attest that being able to find a lost item for someone, in many cases a ring, is definitely one of the high points. You really achieve a great sense of accomplishment and really helped put someone at ease.

The second is "Metal Detective USA". It's another site boasting pretty much the same thing. It has directories for most of the US and Canada.

So if you are someone who enjoys using your machine to help those in need, think about signing up with these sites to get your name out there to possible clients.

If you are a person hoping to find your lost ring, or other valuable metal item, please visit the sites listed above and contact someone in your area.

If you are in Hampton Roads, or... in the greater Denver area, feel free to leave a comment here if you are interested in my free recovery services.

Some New Items

Just a heads up on two new links I'm promoting these days. The first is for my new movie review blog, Sectshun8 Movie Reviews. The link is right there under my profile pic. -->

The next is a new MD Hobbyist forum that has opened up recently. I'm still a very active member at FMDF, but to help pass the time out on the boat I decided to expand my horizons to another forum where I know the Admins. It's a great alternative for those looking for a home outside of FMDF. You'll now see a link to the American Detectorist in the MD Links in the sidebar.

Aussies Scour Antartica with MD

A research team from Australia is using a heavy duty MD in efforts to locate a plane used by Australian explorer Sir Douglas Mawson in the early 1900s.

Read more HERE.

Photo by David London, Mawson's Huts Foundation

MD Found Silver Stash Sells in UK

A silver groat stash estimated to be from the late 1600s during the "War of the Roses" that was found by a MD enthusiast in the UK just sold for £29,000.

Read more HERE.

Ontario MD Hobbyist finds WWII Grenade

On the murky banks of the Otanabee River in the area seen above, a Petersborough, Ontario man unearthed an explosive find dating back from the second World War.

Read more HERE.

MD Enthusiasts and Historians Unite in York

Historians and metal detector enthusiasts believe they have found York’s first metal recycling center – dating back to 1066.

A ten-year project aimed at discovering the site of the battle of Fulford, which preceded the better known battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings, has uncovered more than 1,000 pieces of iron.

Read more HERE.

SUNY Students Search for Timbucto

I found this article from the Watertown Daily Times in NY, I only noticed it because I was once stationed at Ft. Drum, NY, which is in Watertown. Pretty neat, a bunch of college kids using MD's out looking for a long lost civil war era free black settlement... Timbucto.

Read more HERE.

Image credit: Jason Hunter of the Watertown Daily Times

Treasure "Recoverer" restores FL finds

Florida resident Bill Moore, Director of Operations at Mel Fisher's Treasures, a non-profit museum in Key West, regards himself as a Treasure "Recoverer" not Hunter. Not only does he use his MD in underwater searches, but he actively restores most of the finds at the museum.

Read more HERE.

Image by Rik Jesse, FLORIDA TODAY.

UK MD permits for Private land?

That's what Nigel Foster of George F White would have be done if he has his way.

Read more HERE.

Hobbyists Faces Trial in Canadian Court

A MD hobbyists in Ontario, Canada has pleaded not guilty after being arrested while metal detecting in a cemetery.

Read more HERE.

On a side note, if you are reading this as a fellow hobbyist, cemeteries are completely off limits in the realm of the hobbies ethics. STAY OUT OF THEM unless you want to be like this guy, or just be an ass in general and ostracized by your peers.

Nebraska Man MD's to Reconnect With Son

"...It was no fertile hunting ground. It had never yielded any fruit save the time the two spent together. But a month after he buried his son, when he went back, he swept the green grass with his metal detector. Before long he had two new coins in his collection, coins that hadn't been there before: That nickel and that dime."

Read more HERE.

Image credit to Charlie Litton, NewsNetNebraska.

Canadian Woman 'Enriches Life'

Just a neat, positive nod to our hobby in the form of Lorraine Vos from Canada. Recently she was the subject of a small article about the hobby from our buddies up North.

Click HERE to read more.

IN THE NEWS: Human Bone Found While MDing

Earlier in the year, though being reported now, a young boy in Putney, England was out suing his metal detector on the beaches near the Hurlingham Yacht Club where his father is a member.

But on this day, he found much more than he could have ever imagined. Recent tidal action must have unearth it. It was a bone sticking out from the sand, in which he, like most any boy, kicked. Curious at what it was, he picked it up and noticed it was a bone, with three teeth still attached.

The bone was turned into officials who are investigating, but say that the bone, a lower jaw bone, appears to be that of a young man.

Read more HERE.

Back in the Gulf, on Tau

Hey everyone! I'm back to work in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm on a new (to me) boat, the Geco Tau, only 1200m from my old boat in the fleet, the Odyssey. I'm still getting used to the different surroundings, so hopefully they grow on me. I'm also on a new shift. Instead of working noon to midnight like I did on Odyssey, I'm on midnight to noon here. That's taking some getting used to, I'm already half asleep halfway through shift.

It's good I know a few folks on here, two of which I met recently when I was in Abu Dhabi. There is a pic from my Abu Dhabi/Dubai post of me and two other guys, they are Ray and Randy, both are here now. Also, a guy I worked with on the Odyssey, Dave Johnson is here now too. It's nice to see familiar faces, helps you not feel like a stranger. Dave showed up with the coolest shirt ever, and he knew I liked it so much he gave it to me. It's a blue shirt with a gangsta Popeye on the front and it says, "I'm On A Boat!" How perfectly awesome is that!? Well, back to work, hope it's a good one!

Zoe Gets Stitches Out

Today was a great day to be one Ms. Zoe Cat. I had a plane to catch today to New Orleans at 2:30p, so I showed up to the vet about 45 minutes early hoping to have Zoe seen as soon as possible.

I took her out of her carrier to take her cone off and weigh her, but she couldn't wait to get back in her little pink home. So I snapped a pic of her looking cautiously our the little holes in the side.

Anyway, they took her belly stitches out, and she is out of the "cone of shame" so hopefully she'll be back to her springy, feisty little self soon.

Skunked at Silver Site, But Still Goodies

Around lunch time today I headed back over to the lots off of Witchduck Rd. Thankfully, the old houses that stood here not too long ago are still visible in Google Maps, so you can get the orientations of where driveways and yards were to get a good feel for the hunt. Not only that, but I used a great website (www.zillow.com) to aid in my research. Zillow allows you to pull up an address and get lots of info on it, including square feet, lot size, bed/baths, how much it last sold for, what it's estimated market price is currently, and most importantly, the date in which the house was built! I noticed a few early '50s lots at the corner of Amberly, so that's where I decided to spend the next couple hours.

Wouldn't you know, I found nothing. Not even a single modern clad coin! I found some big trashy items scattered about, but nothing worth my time there that day. I don't think I've had a completely skunked day like this in a long time. It was sort of depressing.

On the way out, I drove past my local gun shop, The Armory. I usually buy ammo from the spot, but had never actually purchased any of my weapons here. Today that would change. About a year ago I stopped in and they had M4/A3 style AR-15's for between $550-$700, a sweet price range. Sadly, deals like that did not exist on this trip. But I did manage to pick up what I wanted, a Rock River Arms (RRA) LAR-15 with a 2-stage match trigger and Tactical Rail/Handle. I got it in a .223, mostly because it's the same as my M16 from the Army days, and it's relatively cheap to shoot compared to a .308, actually 5x cheaper. While in there I saw something else that had caught my eye, and felt I just had to have. It looked like a miniature mash-up between a AR lower and an AK upper... and in reality, that's what it was. They had one bored in .223, but this thing was a "pistol", and that seemed a little much so I picked it up for $200 cheaper in a .22LR. It's a Kel-Tec PLR-22. It used a modified AR clip and holds 27 rounds, which is pretty sweet. And being a .22LR, the rounds are like a penny a piece, so it's going to be really fun to shoot.

News Briefs from the past week

There has been lots going on in the world of the MD hobby in the news since I left to the UAE on Oct 30th, so while I caught up, I thought I'd do the same for those of you interested. So here goes:

OCT 30th: Minnesota Man finds wedding ring lost for 20 years
NOV 1st: Ryan Hone, the Human Metal Detector
NOV 3rd: Scotsman finds £1Mil treasure-trove
NOV 3rd: Nevada man finds $18k ring, returns it

There has been lots of buzz about the Scottish Treasure Trove. it's across all UK and US news pipelines, be sure to read more on it!

Back home, score silver!

Good afternoon all! As some of you may have noticed, I've been in the UAE all the past week for work related activities and just got home at 11p last night. My buddy "dfxing virginia" from FMDF promptly texted me to remind me of our plans for a hunt this morning in Hampton at 8a.

We headed out that way and hunted the area around Memorial Baptist and pretty much found nothing but trash and clad, it was rather disappointing for a turn of the century neighborhood. If there was good stuff around, we completely missed it. Though in our defense, this is home turf for the Hampton Roads Recovery Society, and I'm sure they've hit up much of the old neighborhoods. We left the place scratching our heads, but thankfully I had another place up my sleeve.

Next stop was the area off of Witchduck Rd. in Virginia Beach where the city bought up all the homes to tear down for road expansion. It's all grassed over now and ripe for the picking. We rolled up, geared up, and got to swingin'. And what do you know, in the first 20 mins, I pull two silvers. A '44 Merc and a '57 Rosie. The Merc was my very first plug dug on the site.

Anyway, we covered a lot of ground, possibly quicker than we should have, because out of the next couple hours, those two silver dimes were the only ones to come outta the ground. We both managed a few bucks in clad, and I fished out 6 wheats, but overall I felt there should have been more.

We found lots of odd and ends as well. I know I found a automotive thermostat and a few fence post tops. Landed another couple keys, that's 6 in my last few hunts. I've given them all to my hunting partners son. I also found what I thought was a gold bracelet, but it turns out it's "gold toned". It's made by Monet, an antique costume jeweler.

So that's the day, 60 coins $4.13.

UAE: Abu Dhabi | Dubai

Just made it back!

Yup, I've spent the past week in the UAE participating in the first Advanced QC course in the new WesternGeco building on the Schlumberger compound just outside Shamkha City. Traveling was exhausting. My scheduled 14 hour direct flight from Chicago to Abu Dhabi ended up being a 21 hour flight with a emergency stop in Milan, Italy because a passenger had a heart attack in flight.

But anyway... I stayed in the Al Maha Arjaan in Abu Dhabi, a very nice hotel, one I would recommend if you ever visit the city. It was close to everything, malls, street shopping, restaurants. Close to everything... except the damned compound. Every morning and afternoon it was a freakin' hour and half drive to and from, horrible.

Temperatures hovered in the low to mid 90's the whole trip, and unfortunately, travel was very limited. I did get one good night in Abu Dhabi or shopping for some touristy gift type things, as well as a framed UAE coin set. It's a perfect tourist gift for a person in the MD hobby, or coin collecting in general. I also scored a sweet middle eastern style hunting knife, a glass light up sculpture of the Burj Al-Arab, a couple magnets and a shot glass for my chica friend who is out on the Tau right now... I'll be seeing her Thursday for Crew-X.

My last night there, which was Thursday night, which in the UAE is their Friday night. Two buddies (Ray and Mauricio) and myself hired a private chauffeur to cart us out to Dubai and around the city for 8 hours. Dubai is AMAZING! Go there, if you can afford it! I went everywhere... Atlantis on Palm Island, the Burj Al-Arab, Burj Al-Dubai (World's Tallest Building), Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates... lots of cool places. I snapped a sweet video of the water show in front of the Burj Lake Hotel, check it out at the end of this post.

I ended up getting a 91 in the class, met lots of cool folks from the company, and saw a sweet new world city to add to my travels... enjoy the pics!

Abu Dhabi

DUBAI