A while back I was going by one of the city parks. There was a young fellow about 15 years old with a Whites 5000D just swinging away. He was not alone for I could see his mother was close by. You could easily tell it was his mother, she was sitting on a park bench with a Whites metal detector bag with the look of hope, the same look you would expect to see if her child had sent a puck towards the goal.
There was some time to spare so over I went. I introduced myself to the mother explaining how I had used the 5000D for years and noticed her son out there weed-wacking. It didn't take long for her attention to be focused on every word I was saying. She explained how much her son was into coin collecting and how he wanted to add to his collection. And that by finding his own coins was the only way to afford the hobby. There was much to say about their stradegy, good for them. But I could not help myself in stating they were looking in the wrong place.
Lesson 1 in metal detecting is to make your first, and all after searches count. This fellow made a good choice on the used 5000D. A good machine and it was in excellent shape, and yes it worked. You see by this time he had joined us and I checked out the 5000D. He knew he made a good deal on it, it was his uncles. $50.00 for a machine the uncle could only generate cigarette money with. The young lad had to take his lunch to school for a month so he could save the lunch money to pay off the debt. Could you imagine, peanut butter sandwitches for a month! This young lad had it going except for two thing, how to use the 5000D properly and where to use it. I didn't want to see him walk in his uncles footsteps, and by looking at the pitiful stack of clad coins, he was well on his way.
It only took me a few minutes to demonstrate the 5000D. This kid ran back to his mothers car for some paper so he could take down some notes. I really liked this kid. I explained all the controls in plain english. Got him to swing the 5000D at the best speed in the proper arc. Explained overlapping and working in a grid, yes he wrote everything down. You would think I was giving him the directions to a bag of gold. Did I say I like this kid?
Now the hard part. I had to tell him that his mother had brought him to the wrong place to find what he was looking for. Well it turns out that it wasn't the mother who had them in this park, yea you quessed it... uncle. Mister cigarette money. The same uncle who had show how to use the 5000D. I was committed in helping this lad. I told him it wasn't a genetic problem at all; he didn't get that one but his mother did. I sat them both down and told them where the treasure was. All he had to do is go and get it.
I live in Pittsburgh, the gateway to the west. A place where people were dropping coins for 350 years. I have to admit, I am not intereste in the last 100 years of coins, but this young lad would be happy to get any coin that was not clad. A quick history lesson, a place they could get a 100 year old city map, told them how to pinpoint the locations and off they went. I left my number with the mother (HEY! IM MARRIED!) so they could let me know how things turned out. I just wanted conformation on my efforts.
Two weeks went buy. I had forgotten all about the encounter. Then the phone rings. For the first 5 minutes the conversation was all one way, his. The lad had called me up to tell me of all the great finds he had found. Reading each date and currency amount. After he ran out of breath I jumped into the conversation. I asked why he didn't call sooner. I knew he didn't find all the coins in one day, he had quite a list. He told he that he found over 20 silvers on the first site. He wanted to call but his mother told him to waite until all the other locations were searched. Even to my surprise not one location gave up less that 20 silvers. I really liked this kid.
His mother got on the phone and thanked me again for all that I had done for her son. She was glad he was excited about these treasure hunts and there was no stopping him. No video games, TVs, or just hanging out. He was now researching, getting other maps, and warming up the 5000D.
FYI: The clad coins were not used for cigarette money. I told him to save them towards a new Whites. At the end of summer I got another call from him. His new Whites, a 6000D was on its way. Yes you can tell this is an old story. But it is a good one, one that will get you thinking... How were those locations pinpointed?
You all have a great day and God Bless,
Roy
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