ASPHA Member Best Finds

     
                1806 Half Dollar                        Deno Barbour metal detecting in 2009                          1806 Half Dollar
Deno Barbour thought he was dreaming on January 30th 2007 when he uncovered one of his best finds ever. A 1806 Bust Half Dollar in excellent condition.  Deno was relic hunting an old homesite near Taylorsville, Kentucky when he got a solid 50 cent hit on his White XLT metal detector.  When Deno flipped over the plug of ground he saw a beautiful site, Silver!  The coin is shown above prior to cleaning, still showing dirt clinging to the coin after its 200 year dirt nap in the ground.  Deno has found some excellent finds in his years of metal detecting, but he will never forget the day that he unearthed this 200 year old beauty.

        
    1791 Spanish 8 Reale found in TN       1851 $1 Gold Coin, 1753 2 Reale, cut silver bits             Various Civil war buttons

     
     Civil war Union Brest Plate                  Jim Armstrong hunting in Mass April 2009        One days finds at a KY Civil War campsite

Shown above are some of Jim Armstrong's best finds.  If he had to pick one item to describe as his best find it would be his 1851 one dollar gold coin that he found at a Civil War campsite in the spring of 2000.  Jim still uses his original metal detector a Nautilus DMC IIB, and has found almost all of his best finds using that machine.  The one dollar gold coin and the Civil war union brest plate are probably two of Jim's all time best finds because he found both while relic hunting with his close friend Boyd Bunting, now deceased.  Boyd was a legend in southeast Virginia and taught Jim many of the relic hunting techniques that he uses today to find relics.  Another all time great find is the 1791 Spanish 8 Reale that Jim found while relic hunting with his close friend Colonel Ron Cyrus.  Jim found the 8 Reale on the top of a mountain near Livingston, Tennessee.

 
Shown above are a few of Frank Abel's favorite finds, which include several nice Union and Confederate Civil War buttons and minnie ball rounds as well has a 1844 large cent that he found near his home in southeast Tennesee.  Frank relic hunts with a Minelab E-Trac with a Garrett Pro Pinpointer.

   

They say the nut doesn't fall far from the tree.  Chris Armstrong has been relic hunting since 2004, when his Dad gave him a nautilus DMC II Ba for Christmas.  Since then Chris has found some great relics including this Confederate Martingale Plate that he recovered while relic hunting with dear old Dad at a Central Kentucky Civil war site.  The Martingale Plate still has the leather attached after over 140 years in the ground. Chris discovered the plate near a fresh water spring that kept the plate and leather wet during its 140 year dirt nap.  The plate was approximately 12" in the muck.