Well, it thawed out a bit quicker around here than I expected it to after the last entry. Two days on from the last post I went out, just to test things, and dealt with a mudfest/rainfest at my mega field site where I pulled the bust half last year. I detected for 2 hours in random fields, and did not pull a single coin. Such are the foibles of the Random Field Theory. You keep telling yourself — if you want big bust silver, these are the hunts you do.
Hunt was called on account of rain, as the E-Trac started to get a bit wonky, as it always does in the rain. (And I got a bit wonky as well, as I always do in weather less than 90 degrees.
Anyway, yesterday was back extending the same field, with the same results (more or less; at least this time I pulled a crusted zincoln and an abused wheatie — not bad, as these things go, I suppose. I also pulled some deep copper relics that some ogle over. I’m not one of those people, so I have only a vague memory of what they were, except that they were sort of floral or something in that vein).
Three and a half hours in I got frustrated, and started just freestyling in the various fields. Just 5 minutes into one, and 5 minutes before I had to get to work, I hit a copper. Woohoo.
So, next day, which would be today, I obviously set out for the field that gave up the copper, set up a grid, and got another copper just 5 minutes in. Are you kidding me? 10 minutes in this field, and I had 2 coppers.
Not soon after, I got a bizarre masonic badge, and a musket ball. The reales and bust silver weren’t far behind, but I had to go to lunch.
After lunch it was getting bupkis, I mean worse than bupkis. I was throwing my digger and coins on the ground just to make sure the machine still worked. 2.5 hours of detecting without digging a single target. Are you kidding me? Not even junk or ferrous. Such are the foibles of the Random Field Theory.
But, just at the end of the hunt, just before I had to get back, I got a deep, iffy 11-47 or so, which turned out to be my 2nd copper of the day. 3 coppers over 2 days. Not bad, as these things go (if you are into these things, that is, and, of course, I’m not). Projecting that out, that suggests a run rate of 72 coppers this year, It also projects a run rate of 0 silvers this year. We’ll see how it goes (In some sense, these Random Field Theory hunts don’t count from a statistical prospective. I’m doing them cause I’m gonna lose the site soon, and who wouldn’t bang a site that gave up a bust half?).
So, lets break the coppers and cruft down. Real treasures, don’t we agree —
The first and third coppers are King George III’s, but, like my teenage years, are dateless (except for what’s her name, a story for a different day). The middle one is even worse, its a UC (mapsurfer.com metal detecting database speak for “unidentifiable copper”. It likely was some sort of coin at one point, but, more importantly, it counts as a copper for prestige value). The musket ball is cool, cause musket balls are just cool, and, more importantly, it is consistent with the age of the coppers.
But, that masonic thing is real cool. It seems sinister, menacing, and benign at the same time. This is in a field were nothing was coming out but old coppers and musket balls just as old,. and that masonic thing. I wonder how old it is? I doubt it is that old, but who knows? I googled a bit, but wasn’t interested in going down the rabbit hole of mis-informed masonic BS that was coming up on my screen.
Well, it feels like its gonna be a different kind of season this year. More time looking for bust halfs, and less time looking for bulk silver, but we’ll see. I could easily see this being a 20 silver season, with at least the chance of something stunning (not that that bust half wasn’t, but you always want more, don’t you?).
But, there’s more. Well, just a bit more. Just after lunch, I got that dreaded “Over Voltage” message again, which previously prompted me to assume the OEM battery had given up the ghost, and prompted me to buy the RNB battery, which I’ve been keeping stats on. I did the usual things, power cycle, pull the battery, and so forth, and nothing helped, so I decided to go home. As I was walking back to the car, I realised I forgot my gridding cones (yeah, I use these small sports cones to set up my grids), and went back to get them. Turned on the machine, and it was fine, and I finished off the hunt.
So, the “Over Voltage” occurred when the battery had lost 2 bars. When I went back, after the machine was off for a while, it was only down one bar, and was fine for the rest of the hunt. I have read that when the RNB battery starts to lose it, it loses it quick. Anyway, I decided to recharge it, rather than do the science to see the maximum hours I could get out of it. As it stands, it gave me 29 hours on one charge (and may have been able to give more), but also gave that “Over Voltage” message when down two bars. So that’s that; into the zeitgeist of the RNB battery.
