I noticed the name on the mailbox as Richard Angst as I turned the corner, I parked the Blazer and stepped out into the rain to knock on the door. The blood was pounding in my veins, this was the first time I had ever asked permission from a total stranger. I was met by stares through the window and then a smiling face at the door, it was Richard the owner.

I introduced myself and told him that I lived just a "mile or so away". Living in the country a "mile or so" is a neighbor even if you don't know each other. I told him what I had hoped to do on his property, explaining the proper techniques of recovery and that all trash would be disposed of properly. Richard was hesitant, but as I kept going into the details of the hobby, he became more interested. I told him that I have extra metal detectors and that I would bring them along for him to try his hand at the hobby. I think that convinced him that I was sincere. I requested another meeting time to explain in more detail, the excitement and thrill of finding hidden objects that were unseen for about a hundred years.

At the next meeting at Richard's house, I was introduced to his wife, Barb and their children, Ryan and Jessica. I came prepared, copies of Western and Eastern Treasures Magazine with previously published articles that I've written, pictures of jewelry, toys and my three ring binder of the older coins that I've found over the years. I could see the enthusiasm building as each photo was scrutinized and the coins were passed around the room. They asked a lot of questions and with each answer there was another story of treasure found. I promised that the extra detectors would be brought along for them to use and get an idea of what great fun the hobby is. I then made sure that my detecting partners would also be welcomed to the activities, and was assured that it was OK. The hard part about getting the permission was over, now the hardest part was to wait for the day that Dennis and Darlene would actually get here to do the detecting. I visualized the great time ahead, finding silver coins, Indian head cents, all kinds of great finds just waiting for all of us to dig.

The day finally arrived and I met Denny and Darlene for the first time, we took to each other immediately, having the common bond of metal detecting. They had a lot of questions about the hobby because they were relatively new, having been detecting for only about a year. The first detector they purchased was a White's XLT, and I had been using one for about the same amout of time. I have also used a White's Eagle Spectrum for a number of years and I'm accustomed to some of the enhancements for added depth and sensitivity available on the top of the line machines.

We agreed to start detecting the yard at about 10:00 AM Saturday and the weather cooperated. Richard greeted us and introductions were made. The children seemed rather shy at first but after I asked them if they would like to try to do some detecting, they became a little more open to the strangers in the yard. Dennis and Darlene picked out an area to start their search after discussing the site. Dennis with his Garrett 1500, started between two large trees in the side yard where we had visualized a clothesline being strung years ago. Darlene took her XLT to the back side of the house where there was an area under some huge trees providing shade for the field hands on a hot day.

Richard, Ryan, Jessica, Erica, Jeff, (two cousins of the Angst family) and I went to the deck area. I gave instructions to Richard on the use of the XLT - what readings to look for on the Liquid Crystal Display, what a repeatable signal sounds like, other basics, and then let him start detecting. I told him that if he found a good signal, just to yell and that I would finish the training by showing him how to pinpoint and retrieve the target.

Now it was the youngsters turn for the training session. I had the smallest child try my White's Classic III Plus to see if she could handle the machine. She had some difficulty but managed the weight for a short period of time. The signals were few, not even much junk!! I expected trash everywhere like the other farm houses in the area. Usually there are pieces of scrap iron and rusted tin cans buried all over these types of yards, this one was baron. The kids and I dug a few signals, just to get a feel of the yard, a pulltab and some other miscellaneous pieces of trash were unearthed, but nothing of value was found.

I kept busy going between the detectors that were used and much to my surprise, NO good recoveries were being made. I questioned Darlene and she reported one Wheat cent which turned out to be a 1917. This one find seemed to be the only thing that was considered a "keeper", there were a few spent .22 cartridges, pulltabs and little else but dead air. I couldn't believe it, this yard was the perfect setting for finding mounds of treasure!!

I was just about ready to get out the Eagle for myself to use, when one of the youngsters said they thought they had a "good" signal beside the driveway. I went over to help them determine if it was worth the effort of making a hole. I showed Ryan how to pinpoint and determine where the target was in the ground. Yes, a repeatable signal with good tone at last! I probed and found the object to be larger than a coin and rather shallow, but for Ryan's first target, we had to see what it was. I told Ryan to be careful in the removal of the object, he had found a Tootsie Toy Airplane. At last a keeper!!

Ryan was proud of his discovery and the detector went into the hands of one of the other children. 4 or 5 feet farther along the driveway and and another signal echoed through the air from the Classic. With help pinpointing and retrieval, Erica had found a padlock key and with congratulations from the others and myself, the detector went into the hand of Jeff. He only made it a couple of feet farther and a toy semi-tractor surfaced. The kids had found a good spot for detecting targets, only a couple of feet farther and we unearthed two clad dimes in the same hole. I finally got a turn to try my luck and recovered another Tootsie Toy car, this one was given to Jessica, who was the smallest and didn't have much time to use the machine.

I would say that it was not a very productive day, but in looking back on the event, I guess it was all fun. The children made the day interesting an although Richard, Darlene, Dennis, and I didn't have much luck, it was great to just get out with friends. We filled in the rest of the weekend discussing stories of detecting, the use of the XLT's and different settings to try. Dinner at a local restaurant overlooking the Mississippi River was a good ending to the day. I also know that there are 4 future detectorists who have some stories of "antique" treasures to share with others, and I would hope, keep the hobby alive in the years to come!!!!

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