Big Silver in the Surf !!
October 2007
It was a Sunday evening and I had not detected all weekend. I was kind
of bored so I headed down to a local beach. Low tide was around 10 pm. The moon
was half full and the skies were partly cloudy but no chance of rain. The wind
was blowing directly out of the east. So that usually mean’s not much of a low
tide here. After about an hour, I was getting a little clad. A quarter here a
nickel there with and a few zinc pennies mixed in. I got a small gold earring
and though things were looking up. I was now working down low, in the tide. That
is something I normally don’t do late at night. But since there was not going
to be much of a low tide, I thought I would go for it. You know the scene. When
you feel like one of those little sand pipers on the beach, chasing the receding
tide down, quickly scan for a few targets, and then sprint back up the beach to
avoid being soaked in the incoming wave.
One of those encroachments to the sea I got a good hit. It was kind of a double
hit so I though it might be as quarter on its side. I took on big bite out of
the sand with my scoop and checked the target area again; I now had a single
elongated signal. Could this be a chain I thought? Did I have part of it in my
scoop? Should I dig again or go check my scoop. I could not check its contents
while being knocked around by the surf. So I proceed up the beach out of the
waves and dumped my scoop. I found I had a large piece of black metal. Well it
looks like a medallion of some kind. Quickly thinking about the other target, I
put the large blacked piece of metal into my pouch and returned down into the
surf to try and locate the other target. But of course the tide had already
washed away any evidence of my previous scoop hole. I scanned around a few times
and then found it again. I was now getting soaked, but I did not want to loose
the target. It took three scoops to get it. But after the third scoop the target
was no longer in the hole. I hoped it was in my scoop and not washed out further
into the ocean. I once again walked up the beach on to the dry sand. I dumped my
scoop and but could see nothing. I then raked my hand through the pile. I then
pulled up a very large black chain. It felt heavy but I could see it was not
gold but blackened silver. The clasp was missing but the medallion attachment
loop, broken and split was still on the chain. Well its not gold, but it will do
!!
Here is a picture of the medallion…..
Here is a picture of the complete chain before cleaning…..
Here is a picture after several days of cleaning. I repaired the attachment loop…..
Another picture with a quarter as a sizing reference.
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