Wisconsin Hobbyists Get Together

"With headphones covering their ears, Tom Welch of Lake Wissota and Ken Briggs of Chippewa Falls would listen until a persistent beep would sound. Honing in on an area, they would look at the screen and see a drawing of a coin.

Then they would drop to their knees, spread out a cloth and take out a knife. The ground they would dig up would be carefully scooped into the cloth while they searched for the coin. When they found it, they would carefully replace the soil and start the process again.

On Thursday afternoon, Welch and Briggs were among six people belonging to three metal detecting clubs carefully combing through the grounds of the Cook-Rutledge Mansion, 505 W. Grand Ave., looking for bits of buried history."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Rod Stetzer / The Herald

Elementary My Dear Hobbyist

I found this photo from the Journal Times and laughed a bit at the attire this fellow hobbyist is wearing while he scours for treasure. It's never crossed my mind to wear a pea-coat, slacks and dress shoes out to a hunt.

"George Edgar puffs on a pipe as he searches for treasures with his metal detector in the 2600 block of Washington Ave., near Grange and Wright avenues, Wednesday April 6, 2011. Edgar uses a trowel to dig into the ground after getting a signal. He replaces any turf he digs up. In this instance, all he found was a rusty nail. However, Edgar, who lives in Kenosha, once found a coin from the 1870s in the same area which is why he likes to search in the park. He says that the most interesting artifact he ever found was a Civil War soldier's identity disc."

Image Credits: Mark Hertzberg / Journal Times