I took my detector to Pensacola beach once. I found a few modern coins and a set of keys...nothing to speak of really. The only thing I ever found that I kept (besides the coins that keep piling up in the coin jar) was a good luck token. This token appears to be made of aluminum. I researched online and found several like it but none with the same markings. This one (pictured) was found about 4 inches down in my brother's packed gravel driveway in Gaylesville, Alabama. The ground was so hard to dig in I almost gave up. While it doesn't have any real monetary value, I hung onto it because it is different. Maybe it will bring me luck....who knows?

Many years ago I was a police officer in Atlanta, Georgia. A sergeant I worked for was invited to go out metal detecting with one of our lieutenants. The sergeant had always had an interest in detecting but never made the time, nor did he have a detector. The lieutenant loaned him a low cost detector and off they went. They went to some privately owned property, with permission of the owner. near Kennesaw Battlefield in Georgia where new construction was taking place and heavy equipment had removed several inches of the topsoil preparing the site for building. Not long into the day the sergeant unearthed a CSA belt buckle in pristine condition...later appraised at over $4000. When he returned to work the next day he told us all about his find. The find excited him so much that he said "if I can find something like that with a cheap Wally World metal detector, just think what I can find if I get a really good one." He proceeded to go out and spend almost $1200 on a new detector (a huge price tag in the mid 90's) and in his words again, "I haven't found anything since." Recently while channel surfing I came across a new show called Diggers on the National Geographic Channel (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/diggers/). Two guys going by the nicknames King George and The Ring Master go around and dig various famous historical sites. The show is entertaining but makes it look like one will find priceless artifacts, coins, etc...every time one digs... We do get brief glimpses of all the trash they dig on rare occasions. However, the show piqued my interest in metal detecting again. I have had a couple metal detectors in the past but never really took the time to give the hobby a fair chance. I usually kept it in my car so I could detect somewhere if an opportunity presented itself. Not really giving it a chance, any time I needed a little extra cash I sold my detector. Later the bug would come back and I would purchase another. Now I have a Garrett ACE 350. Like the others, I keep this one in the car for detecting opportunities. I guess time will tell what happens with this one...