Metal Detecting and Treasure Hunting News from Around The Globe.
Gary Sturgill swishes the small gravel chunks around and around in a green pan.
His wrist flicks effortlessly side to side as the gravel slowly filters out of the pan submerged just below the surface, leaving behind only the heaviest materials. All of it came from a crevice in the bedrock along the South Umpqua River at Gaddis Park.
“I see gold in my pan already,” says Sturgill, president of the Douglas County Prospectors Association.
“No way,” says a skeptical onlooker.
“Yeah, way,” Sturgill replies, “this is the South Umpqua.”
ROBIN LOZNAK/The News-Review
By RICK BARRETT
rbarrett@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 22, 2008
They’re not searching for a heart of gold, but the chance of finding even tiny amounts of the precious metal is driving prospectors to crawl along the banks of Wisconsin waterways in what’s become a gold-panning frenzy.
The increased activity in recreational prospecting, largely unregulated by state officials, has not gone unnoticed by the Department of Natural Resources.
"It used to be that we would get inquiries about this every once in a while, maybe once in four months. But now I am getting them all of the time," partly because of high gold prices, said Philip Fauble, the DNR's mining coordinator.
Pokey uses an assortment of tools including a pickax, river sluice, shovel, gold pan and a rocker box while prospecting for gold. Pokey has found gold on 40 acres that he owns near Antigo.
A treasure hunter using a metal detector has discovered a pure gold cross dating from the 7th century - and worth at least £25,000.
The Anglo Saxon artefact is set with red gemstones and might have originally held a relic such as bone from a Disciple or fragment of the Cross.
Measuring just over an inch long, the 18 carat gold cross has been decorated with fine detail and is thought to have been worn as a pendant.
It is English made with gold that was probably melted down from Merovingian French coins. 
Photo: BNPS.co.uk
July 15, 2008 - 2:07pm — Kristin Holtz
Ralph Madison is not a pirate, but he sure likes his buried treasure. Rare coins, old jewelry, antique toys — he likes finding treasures of all kinds.
Most of all, however, he likes the hunt.
“There’s always that thrill of what it is,” Madison said.
With metal detector in hand, Madison can often be seen scanning Litchfield parks and yards for items of value as the beep-beep of the machine sings along. He works at his own pace, listening to the beeps grow in volume and frequency as he nears a possible prize.
Television shows like the Travel Channel’s “Cash and Treasures” and HGTV’s “If Walls Could Talk” have increased the allure for hidden treasure. Martin Reynolds, president of the Gopher State Treasure Hunters based in the Twin Cities, attributed the growth partly to increased advertising for metal detectors. The Gopher State Treasure Hunters club has nearly 70 members
“There is an element of adventure to it,” Reynolds said. “...You never know what you’re going to find.”
Madison was introduced to the hobby five years ago. “The first year I had it, I found a lot of change,” he said. “The second year is when I started to find jewelry.”
June 20, 2008
By Jenny Andreasson
By Nick DeRatto
Jun 4, 2008 - 12:54:15 PM
With Civil War battle sites littered across Chesterfield County, many residents spend their free time relic hunting, looking for artifacts to help preserve the history of the War between the States. While the process is perfectly legal when doing so on private property with the landowner’s permission, the hobby has gotten a bad reputation as many relic hunters are trespassing and digging on public and private lands, making no effort to fill in large holes that they have dug up.
“We have some members of our camp who relic hunt and they are very respectful of property owner’s rights,” says Eric Chandler, Past Commander of the Chester Station Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. “They know leaving open holes is not safe and creates a bad impression of relic hunters.”
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| Relic hunting is illegal in all Chesterfield County historical parks, such as Parker’s Battery, shown here |
Man finds a trove of good stuff on Tybee Island
By EMILY ZEUGNER
Associated Press
Published on: 05/27/08
Last summer Roy Evans, history buff, outdoorsman and "amateur treasure hunter," set off in search of buried riches.
Five hours a day, he scoured the fine, white sands of Georgia's Tybee Island and within a week he'd struck gold: 23 separate pieces including two crosses, 12 rings, a handful of medallions and broaches and one chain necklace — a bounty worth several thousand dollars at least.
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| Patrick Collard/AP |
| Roy Evans holds items at his home in Greer, S.C., that he has found using a detector. |
"It was amazing, what I found that week," said Evans, of Greer, S.C. "It might have been a new record for me."
But the loot wasn't buried by pirates. The jewelry, like countless other valuables all over the country, was lost by distracted and forgetful sunbathers, tucked into a shoe or under a corner of a beach blanket before a swim only to be misplaced in the confusion at the end of the day. To cash in, Evans needed only luck, a little patience and his trusty MineLab metal detector.
This summer, amateur treasure hunters predict the beaches will be filled with people just like Evans. Lured by the skyrocketing price of gold — now well over $900 an ounce — and the thrill of serendipity, new would-be treasure diggers are joining the ranks of experienced beach "metal detectionists," as they call themselves, in what might be a modern-day gold rush.
Gone are the days when most of the beep-beep-beeps meant digging a big pit only to pull out a penny or crushed soda pop can, said Stu Copperwheat, president of the Electronic Archaeological Recovery Treasure Hunters club of central New York state. Metal detection technology has improved considerably over the past decade and today's machines are sensitive enough to tell the difference between gold and platinum, nickel and quarter, necklace and kabob skewer.
The detectors run from $800 to several thousand dollars, but unlike other specialized hobby equipment, metal detectors "almost always pay for themselves," Copperwheat said. "You find one or two valuable things and there's the price of your machine."
27 May 2008
“It depends how they value something like this,” he said.
“The silver content is probably only worth a pound or two and I don’t know what price they can put on its historic worth.
“I’m only really expecting a token payment, but if it’s too small other detectorists making similar finds might be tempted to keep them.”
27 May 2008
“It depends how they value something like this,” he said.
“The silver content is probably only worth a pound or two and I don’t know what price they can put on its historic worth.
“I’m only really expecting a token payment, but if it’s too small other detectorists making similar finds might be tempted to keep them.”
May 20, 2008—Divers searching for a shipwrecked Spanish galleon on Sunday brought back a solid gold find: a combination toothpick and earwax spoon.
The 3-inch-long (7.6-centimeter-long) grooming tool dates back to the late 16th or early 17th century and was probably worn on a gold chain, experts said. It weighs only about an ounce (28 grams), but its value could exceed U.S. $100,000, Blue Water Ventures diver Chris Rackley told the Associated Press.
Rackley found the object while hunting for the remains of the Santa Margarita, which sank in a violent 1622 hurricane about 40 miles (64 kilometers) off the coast of Key West, Florida.
We were on the trail on the Margarita site following the artifact scatter pattern to the north," Blue Water head archaeologist R. Duncan Mathewson told AP.
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