Did You Ever Hear of a Flying Eagle Cent?

If you haven't they are pretty rare. They were only made between 1856-1858 and if you come across one from 1856 you just might find yourself a little richer. A little like $7000 richer if you find one that is considered G-4 Good = All details worn but readable according to my 2014 copy of the "Red BooK" which is really titled "A Guide Book of United States Coins."

I was lucky enough to find one of these coins a few weeks ago but sadly, it wasn't minted in 1856. Instead, it was minted in 1858 which is worth about $28. Still, its an old coin that many folks will never get lucky enough to find. I was lucky and its as simple as that. If you want to see me pull it out of the ground click the image below and it will take you over to my YouTube channel and you can watch the video. I'll also put a link via Amazon on the side in case you are interested in picking up the "Red Book". I have both the 2014 and 2015 versions and there isn't much difference. I like the book because it gives you the history behind the coin and approximate values. But its also handy for identifying coins that are hard to identify. I can't tell you how many times I've used this book to identify coins with very little detail. Plus, you you get to learn something about the coin. Its a win win situation. You can pick it up at most book stores for about $12-15 but you can probably find a used version cheaper on Amazon. I'll put links to both years of the book so you can see what they are going for.

 

Anyway, I hope you have a safe and happy new year.

-mm314

What Do You Know About Indian Arrowheads?

Stepping away from metal detecting for a brief moment but have you ever come across an Indian arrowhead? If so, where and how did you find them. Leave me a comment or drop me an email mentalmetal314@gmail.com. I personally haven't found any but I've been told to pay close attention in farm fields where the water has washed away the soil especially in places near a stream. In fact, many folks who find arrowheads find them in streams and rivers. My friend who owns a 300 acre farm here in Carroll County Maryland, sent me this picture the other day.

He sends me a txt message and asks me if I know anything about arrow heads because he had just found the arrowhead (picture above) in his garden.

I was honest and said that I didn't know too much about them but I did a little research and I also shot a tweet to my friend Jon @Ancient_life on Twitter who finds these things all the time in Illinois (follow him and see what he finds). He said it looked like a rossville or guilford and probably dated around woodland period 1,000 to 2000 b.p. (before the present) or earlier.

None of that made any sense to me but I found this article "How To Date Indian Arrowheads" by Dell Markey that goes into the some of the history and how arrowheads are dated but there are a ton of other resources out there. There are many sites that sell arrow heads but also have a good history section you can read. I really liked this website "Western Artifacts" This site really goes into detail and lists several books to pick up. There are 2 specific books that I'll reference that are supposedly really good. I have not personally read them but I'll list them somewhere on the right hand side of this blog post if you want to check them out on Amazon.

Anyway, my quest continues but maybe 2016 will be the year I find one. Hopefully some of this information will help you in some way too.


Happy New Year!
-mm314

Really Good How-To Videos Related to Relic and Coin Cleaning Techniques

For awhile now I've been searching around looking for ways to clean iron and coins that I've dug up over the summer. There are so many videos to watch but I thought I would save you some time and jot down a couple that I thought were very good and informative. If you are new to metal detecting, you'll want to watch a few of these. Trust me! They may even save you from ruining a good coin.

"Preserving Iron Relics": by Beau Ouimette

My First Magazine Article Published!

Once a detectorist, still a detectorist but now I'm also a new author! I have a 3 page article published in the latest edition of American Digger Magazine titled "You Have To Give To Receive" It starts on page 42. I have several videos based on that article from my YouTube channel. Its $4 for digital download of the magazine. That's another first for me!

 

www.americandigger.com

MentalMetal314.com Now an Amazon Affiliate!

www.mentalmetal314.com is now proud to be an Amazon Associate. Basically what that means is that I've been given the privilege to provide a portal/link into Amazon as well as provide links to the equipment I use that you can usually find cheaper on Amazon. So if you ever want to make a purchase from Amazon for anything (not just metal detecting gear) I have a link on the right hand side of the my blog that will take you into Amazon. The small fee I get from it will help keep fresh batteries in my detector for more metal detecting adventures/videos in the that I can bring to all of you in the future!

200+ Years Ago Something Was Lost In The River And I found It!

Its true! I found something older than our the United States of America. In fact, the Revolutionary War hadn't started yet. This coin was probably lost by a British soldier crossing the river one day and decided to take a dip in the water. Maybe that is a stretch. But from my old maps, an old ford crossing existed way back in the 1800s so I did a little recon on the area, brought my Garrett AT Pro, and starting fanning the bottom for relics. It was a perfect HOT summer day. But truth be told, I just got lucky. I probably dug 10lbs of fishing weights to find this gem of a coin. Was it worth it? Heck yeah! and I would do it again and probably will soon! If you want to see the other goodies you can head on over to my YouTube Channel and see the video.

1769 King George III (Irish)Half Penny (front)

Are you thinking about taking your Garrett AT Pro in the river or stream?

Then save yourself some time and read what I'm about to share with you. I'm going to share with you everything I know and learned over the last couple years about taking your Garrett AT Pro into fresh water. New update to this post 9/6/15. I made a video that compliments this post. You can watch it by clicking the link https://youtu.be/Dd4bi7lWsSY or clicking the image below.

Whats Under Your Ground?

What do you think rests under your own ground? Relics? Coins? Gold? Treasure? You might be surprised. If you live in the Maryland/Pennsylvania region and you want to know, we might be able to help. Greg and I have been detecting all over Maryland and Pennsylvania for the last couple of years. We typically look for historic sites to detect but if you have private property and are willing to let us have access to it we'll do a quick history check of the area and let you know if it looks promising. If it does, we'll work out a day and time to access the property and see what we can find. We do all of this for free. If you are interested you can contact me via email mentalmetal@gmail.com 

Scott (mentalmetal314) and Greg in Northern PA 2015

Thinking About Taking Your Garrett AT Pro to The Beach? Here is The Information You Need to Know

How many websites have you visited or YouTube videos that you watched hoping to pick up as much information about using your Garrett AT Pro at the beach? Never fear my friends I have the information you have been looking for. Well at least for Hilton Head and Myrtle Beachs here on the east coast and I suspect this information will serve you well at most beaches with white sand.

 Click Here to watch the video

Drilling Out a Civil War Shell - The Steve Phillips Way

I haven't had the pleasure of meeting this guy but maybe one day I will. He certainly knows what he is doing. I've been very curious as to how someone would drill out an old Civil War shell and here it is. This is a video will also give you some tips on the preservation process. This is a 2 part video so make sure you see them both. However, DONT TRY DRILLING ONE AT HOME! He does it from a distance and controls everything remotely.

Whats All The Buzz About?

Last week I posted a new intro video on my YouTube channel. It seems to be kicking some serious ass in 1 week (viewed over 8k times). Check it out here. Maybe I finally got things right LOL. If you haven't seen the channel what are you waiting for? Go there now and subscribe so you don't miss any of our adventures. Click here to head over to my channel and THANK YOU!

How To Figure Out The Date of Old Bottles

How the heck do you date old bottles? I didn't have a clue and I'm still reading through the information but the information is out there and its pretty good.

Broken bottles I found under an old foundation from the 1800s

Recently, I stumbled into the "Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website" and I thought I would pass it along. I'm not a bottle guy and when I say that I basically mean, I don't actually go hunting for old bottles. However, I do keep my eye out for them when I am out metal detecting. You never know when you might stumble into something good.

On of my recent metal detecting adventures, I crawled under an old foundation of a summer kitchen dating back to the early-mid 1800s. Here is the link to the video if you want to check it out.

 Click here for the link to the video

I was really mystified by the way they built stone foundations back in those days but I did uncover some broken bottles which made me try to find some way of figuring out the date. But while I was under there I took a look around and picked up a few artifacts to include a few broken bottles.

Garrett AT Pro hard at work in the hole

I have no idea how old they are but they look old. Like I said earlier, I'm not a bottle guy and I have no idea where to even begin but this website will get you started and if you have any other sites feel free to pass them long in the comments section or you can always drop me an email at mentalmetal314@gmail.com.

Stone foundation still holds up the structure

Old Vicks bottle from the 1930s

How To Stablize Your Metal Detecting Videos.

My Stabilizer Rig For Under $10

If you are into capturing your metal detecting discoveries and posting them on YouTube like I do, you probably have had this problem know as the "shakes". If you are holding your camera with your hands, no matter what you do and no matter how hard you try your videos will be a little shaky. In some cases, the shakes can ruin a really good video moment. However, I've built a cheap solution thanks to thefrugalfilmmaker that every detectorist should consider trying for themselves. 

Over 100,000 Views! NO WAY!

When I started uploading videos to YouTube I never imagined getting 500 views let along over 100,000 views but it has happened. We hit a new milestone on YouTube. It might not be a big deal to some of you well established YouTubers but I think its pretty awesome so thank you to everyone who views these videos. I really have a good time making them. If you haven't seen the video yet here is the link.

http://youtu.be/pxtvC3Sqzik

If that isn't enough to brag about I'm about to hit the 2,000 subscriber mark as well. So if you haven't subbed my channel yet follow the link at the top of the page which will take you straight to my channel.

Thanks again everyone!

- mentalmetal314

15" NEL AttacK Coil Vs. AT Pro Stock Coil

NEL 15" Attack Coil for the AT Pro

 

Is the NEL coil all its cracked up to be?

I've had a couple of folks ask me about the NEL Attack coil for the the AT Pro. I honestly have no clue whether this coil stands up to the stock coil that comes with AT Pro. I've been out the forums and read a lot of mixed reviews and I will admit that I'm not very fond of after mark equipment.

The Treasure Vault

To see the video click here

As I sit through winter and dream about warmer temperatures, I decided reach back into the vault to see what kind of unfinished videos I took over the summer. I was surprised with what I found.
All of these videos were taken on one piece of property that dates back to 1817. We were given special permission to detect there. As I look back (now) at all the items we found, I didn't realize how awesome and lucky we were to get the chance to dig on the property.

Metal Detecting With Old Maps

If you are new to metal detecting or maybe you aren't, I think you are gonna want to read this because part of your frustration is going to be figuring out where you can go or where to seek permission from land owners. I have this cool little technique that may remove some of your pain and frustration. 

Old maps, a smart phone, and Maprika.

Whether your into relic hunting or like finding the old parks for coins etc. this technique should help a lot but you are going to need a smart phone and a free app called Maprika. But first, you are going to need some maps. The Maprika website offers several maps you can download that folks have shared and some of the maps are based on metal detecting sites. I have an opinion on that but I'll share it later. However, most of their maps are not what you want to use. You need to find old maps from years long gone.

Where are the maps?

I'm always searching the Internet for maps and there are several places to grab maps. You just have to find the one that gives you the most detail. I like the maps that provided the land owners of that period of time. A lot of the older maps will have this detail but they are hand written maps and they are really accurate.

When you find a map you want to use you'll need to take a screen shot of the area of the map you intend to use. I'm a APPLE guy so on a APPLE computer there is a <shift-command-4> button combination that will let you draw a box around the part of the screen you want to capture and that combination saves the image to your desktop. Pretty handy shortcut I must say. Once you have the map you want to use this will be the file you upload to your phone and import into Maprika. To get them on your phone, I just email myself the images and save them on my phone.

Living in Maryland, I found some really detailed maps by county going back to 1877 and earlier. The maps are very detailed that include resident names, blacksmith shops, schools, train stations, general stores, wagon trails, and more. I added two good examples. The first image at the top is from 1877 and the one below is dated 1911. If you are into metal detecting, these maps are a gold mine of information!

Like I said earlier, these maps are useful as they are but what if you wanted to overlay today's Google Maps over these old maps and drive around town like it was 1877? That's where Maprika comes into the picture.

What is Maprika and how do you use it?

Without me reinventing the wheel I'll link you to their user guide section off their website. It's pretty cut and dry. They do a pretty good job of explaining how to use it but they mainly market it for folks who ski, hike, or bike. For folks like us who love metal detecting, this little app is amazing. They should consider marketing to us but they really don't so I will :-)


I stumbled into another blog entry from Scott Clark and this guy does a real nice job explaining how to use Maprika with with Windows. It dates back to 2012 but I think it still applies today. He goes into a lot more detail on using it than I do. After all, I'm a APPLE user and I do everything on my phone. He gives you the prospective of a using the software on a Windows PC. Check it out here.

My personal experience using old maps and Maprika

I have it installed on my IPhone 5C and it works like a champ. I've downloaded Civil War Maps from here and tested the accuracy of troop locations during the Gettysburg Campaign and let me tell you it was amazing to drive around Gettysburg and see areas where the fighting took place based on my old map. You almost feel like you are back in time or maybe I'm just a little strange...

Last year (2014) I also used an old residential map with Maprika and mapped my way to an old homestead on a 300 acre farm. In fact, the 1877 map was so accurate, that it took me across a field that once had a wagon trail that took me to the front door step of the old house. The wagon trail is obviously not there today but I walked down the path where it once was! The only thing left of the home was some of the foundation and I never would have found it but Maprika took me right there!

A couple of hints using Maprika. 

They talk a lot about anchors. The more anchors you use the more accurate your map will be. On their website they tell what an anchor is but think of it this way. An anchor is some location today that existed back during the date of the map you want to use. I always look for churches, cemeteries, intersections, bridges etc. and anchor all of those first. Try to get at least 30 anchors on your map before you use it.

Sharing your maps with Maprika. 

This is an option for you if you want to share your map with the world. However, keep this in mind. When you share your map you are also giving up your secret locations of where you are metal detecting. I don't recommend it but I've seen some maps out there that others have shared and all I have to say to them is THANKS for all that hard work that I don't have to do :-)

Are they paying me to talk up Maprika?

Hell no! Its free! In fact, I reached out to them asking them if they had or would make a version that could be used on an IMac because they have a version that runs on a Windows PC. Its easier to create anchor points on a PC first (bigger screen) then port it over to your phone. Unfortunately, they never responded to me and I could care less. I just like the app and I hope it continues to run on these newer smart phones!

Was this useful?

Let me know. I hope someone gets something out of this. I considered throwing up a YouTube video on this but let me know if you think I should.

Great Location Discovered But Crappy Laws Loom Over It!

I'm irritated at the state parks here in Maryland but should I be? We all know the issues and the reasons why they don't let us detect in most parks anymore but its still annoying.

Another Great Vid by The Chig

His videos are awesome. Here he talks about to remove the wood fuse from a Civil War shell. I just want to find one!

http://youtu.be/rQgR1ApgDKU

What Camera Do You Use?

I'm on the fence on whether to purchase a new camera for 2015. I currently use a GoPro Hero3 with the LCD display and a couple of batteries. However, I don't like the fact that there isn't any zoom and the microphone is a bit weak unless you are right up against the camera. Put on the watertight housing and forget the microphone because its horrible.The batteries don't last long either. Go out in the temperatures in the 30s and cut your 20mins down to 10.

Anyway, which one do you all use? I've looked into the Olympus TG-2 and 3. I've seen some YouTube videos made with the Olympus TG cameras and the video seems clear. I need a camera to be waterproof, long battery life, image stability and zoom in capability. I'm curious on your suggestions.

Whats under your ground? 

-MentalMetal314

Finally a Waterproof Pin-Pointer by Garrett

I'm sure many of you have heard about this already so this is probably old news but I'm itching to get my hands on one of these. Its made by Garrett and they are calling it the Pro-Pointer AT. Its submersible up to 10ft. They have a field test video out now as well as an independent review. If any of you are lucky enough to have one of these already then I want to hear your thoughts.  Leave a comment below or shoot me an email mentalmetal314@gmail.com.

If you don't want to wait for the new Garrett and want to waterproof the one you have, here are some ideas that failed and one that worked.

The Weather Continues To Stink But...

Well here it is Jan 23rd 2015 and a winter storm is looming here in Maryland. Snow accumulations won't be too bad but it just sets us back another week of detecting. But even if the snow melts quickly, the ground will still be frozen and hard break through. Lets face it, for us dirt diggers this isn't our favorite time of the year. But all is not lost.

A Lost Mining Town "The Sequel"

Click here to see the video

Yes we did. We went back! The original video I posted early last spring "Finding a Lost Mining Town" has received so many views 85k+ (compared to my other videos) and a lot you were asking if we were ever going to go back so we did. Thanks for the encouragement!