A
Anonymous
Guest
Well, I had the day off today, so I decided to head over to the old swimming hole I researched. Boy, and I glad I did!
Today was a bright, slightly breezy day, and I felt comfortable getting into the water, even at this time of year. I was wearing an extra pair of socks, heavy jeans, a t-shirt, fleece pullover, and my US Army Field Jacket, with the waders and trapper's gloves to keep me dry. I had to park about 100' from the stairway leading into the water. Boy, did I feel like a dunce wearing all that, plus carry a floating sifter, my water scoop, and my CZ-20.
I laid my 20 down on the rock wall, along with my scoop. I carried the sifter down the stairs and into the water with me. The water was about 18" deep, wasn't really all that cold, and wasn't moving quite as fast as I had feared. However, it was moving. I've only hunted a river once, last year. I knew this was to be a learning experience, as well as a reconnaissance search. After hipmounting my 20, put the headphones on, and extended the shaft, I grabbed my scoop and away I went. I knew that I always wanted to face upstream in case any floating debris came downstream. But I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to search. I started by GB'ing my 20 to the bottom right there. I immediately located a target. I scooped it up, and deposited the entire scoopful into my sifter. I checked the hole to see if I had it, and I did. I spread the material out to let what little sand there was sift through, while picking up and tossing the larger stones. Then I saw it, a penny. In the shell-shocked state my mind is right now, I can't remember what kind of penny it was.
Ok, now that I have that one in my mesh bag, it's time to dump the sifter, and fill the hole. A few feet away, there was a nice mid-tone. I bracketed that target, and scooped it up. I checked the hole, and I had it. I then dumped the scoopful into the sifter, and turned back to fill the hole. When I turned back to the sifter, I saw a large ring roll out of the pile of material. Sweet! It was a little stained, but had a yellow color to it under the light staining. I picked it up, and saw it was a signet ring, with the initials MMG. I looked inside the ring, and noticed it was marked with 10K. It's a nice, hefty thing, without any of the hollow space under the mount that the cheaper rings have. Here's a pic, all cleaned up.
<center> <img src=http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/3846/20060406goldring0fp.jpg> </center> <p>
I started to get the hang of things. I worked across the stream, facing 45 degrees into the current. I found that I could actually see where my coil was at all times, as long as I faced in the current. It's also easier to scoop a target into the current. I was picking up coins left and right, all of them pennies, with 5 of them being Wheat's. After a few hours, I had to take a phone call (darn cell phones), and in the process of wading back to the stairs to prop my gear and rake off the trapper's gloves, I eyeballed what appeared to be a silver ring. After I ended the call from my other half, I went and retrieved the visual target, which was in fact a silver ring. It didn't need much cleaning, so it probably hasn't been in the water very long. Here's the pic:
<center> <img src=http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/6249/20060406silverring6pg.jpg> </center> <p>
The reason I knew it was a ring, was that I found one of the same pattern a couple of years ago.
A few minutes later, I got a really LOUD high tone hit through the headphones. I was looking at where the target was, when suddenly I realized I was looking at what appeared to be a half dollar, almost straight up vertical, leaning against a rock. I scooped it up, and then picked it up. I saw what appeared to be a date of 1918 on this coin, and it looked like I had a corroded, stained Walking Lib Half. I fipped it over, and was puzzled for a minute. The coin was thinner than it should be, and what the heck? That's a man's bust facing left. Then, I saw the word "GEORG...." leading into some corrosion. I flipped it back to the first side, and looked closely, and realized I could see the bottom half of Brittania. Ok, my first British Penny, or similar coin. Here's a cleaned up pic:
<center> <img src=http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1340/20060406britishcoin5mu.jpg> </center> <p>
I had to cook it a bit in my electrolysis tank at home. These things are made out of bronze, correct?
Anyway, here's "the whole nut":
<center> <img src=http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/3131/20060406nut7zv.jpg> </center> <p>
I ended up eyeballing a railroad spike, and recovered a brass padlock, a couple pieces of lead, some modern clad, and other goodies.
Note: the picture(s) might not show up due to bandwidth limitations. If the picture(s) are not there, check back at a later time.
Today was a bright, slightly breezy day, and I felt comfortable getting into the water, even at this time of year. I was wearing an extra pair of socks, heavy jeans, a t-shirt, fleece pullover, and my US Army Field Jacket, with the waders and trapper's gloves to keep me dry. I had to park about 100' from the stairway leading into the water. Boy, did I feel like a dunce wearing all that, plus carry a floating sifter, my water scoop, and my CZ-20.
I laid my 20 down on the rock wall, along with my scoop. I carried the sifter down the stairs and into the water with me. The water was about 18" deep, wasn't really all that cold, and wasn't moving quite as fast as I had feared. However, it was moving. I've only hunted a river once, last year. I knew this was to be a learning experience, as well as a reconnaissance search. After hipmounting my 20, put the headphones on, and extended the shaft, I grabbed my scoop and away I went. I knew that I always wanted to face upstream in case any floating debris came downstream. But I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to search. I started by GB'ing my 20 to the bottom right there. I immediately located a target. I scooped it up, and deposited the entire scoopful into my sifter. I checked the hole to see if I had it, and I did. I spread the material out to let what little sand there was sift through, while picking up and tossing the larger stones. Then I saw it, a penny. In the shell-shocked state my mind is right now, I can't remember what kind of penny it was.
Ok, now that I have that one in my mesh bag, it's time to dump the sifter, and fill the hole. A few feet away, there was a nice mid-tone. I bracketed that target, and scooped it up. I checked the hole, and I had it. I then dumped the scoopful into the sifter, and turned back to fill the hole. When I turned back to the sifter, I saw a large ring roll out of the pile of material. Sweet! It was a little stained, but had a yellow color to it under the light staining. I picked it up, and saw it was a signet ring, with the initials MMG. I looked inside the ring, and noticed it was marked with 10K. It's a nice, hefty thing, without any of the hollow space under the mount that the cheaper rings have. Here's a pic, all cleaned up.
<center> <img src=http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/3846/20060406goldring0fp.jpg> </center> <p>
I started to get the hang of things. I worked across the stream, facing 45 degrees into the current. I found that I could actually see where my coil was at all times, as long as I faced in the current. It's also easier to scoop a target into the current. I was picking up coins left and right, all of them pennies, with 5 of them being Wheat's. After a few hours, I had to take a phone call (darn cell phones), and in the process of wading back to the stairs to prop my gear and rake off the trapper's gloves, I eyeballed what appeared to be a silver ring. After I ended the call from my other half, I went and retrieved the visual target, which was in fact a silver ring. It didn't need much cleaning, so it probably hasn't been in the water very long. Here's the pic:
<center> <img src=http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/6249/20060406silverring6pg.jpg> </center> <p>
The reason I knew it was a ring, was that I found one of the same pattern a couple of years ago.
A few minutes later, I got a really LOUD high tone hit through the headphones. I was looking at where the target was, when suddenly I realized I was looking at what appeared to be a half dollar, almost straight up vertical, leaning against a rock. I scooped it up, and then picked it up. I saw what appeared to be a date of 1918 on this coin, and it looked like I had a corroded, stained Walking Lib Half. I fipped it over, and was puzzled for a minute. The coin was thinner than it should be, and what the heck? That's a man's bust facing left. Then, I saw the word "GEORG...." leading into some corrosion. I flipped it back to the first side, and looked closely, and realized I could see the bottom half of Brittania. Ok, my first British Penny, or similar coin. Here's a cleaned up pic:
<center> <img src=http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1340/20060406britishcoin5mu.jpg> </center> <p>
I had to cook it a bit in my electrolysis tank at home. These things are made out of bronze, correct?
Anyway, here's "the whole nut":
<center> <img src=http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/3131/20060406nut7zv.jpg> </center> <p>
I ended up eyeballing a railroad spike, and recovered a brass padlock, a couple pieces of lead, some modern clad, and other goodies.
Note: the picture(s) might not show up due to bandwidth limitations. If the picture(s) are not there, check back at a later time.
