I had the honor of hunting with one of the good guys today... My buddy Alan Charles decided to take the 2 hour trek down to Summerville to do some detecting with me. We were supposed to head right for Folly Beach but the tide wasn't for quite a few more hours, so to kill some time, I took him to a spot that I've hit a few times before to see if there was anything around. We got to the site & get geeked out. (gear up) I knew where I wanted to hunt at this spot... The last time I took someone there, the dude found a 1723 Rosa Americana. Yes. That was Shannon Pelleteuse. This site is VERY well known to most of the old time relic hunters of our area so I will not even say what town it's in. Sorry folks! As we are geekin', I start explaining to Alan what I know about this spot and the history of the plantation which dates back to the 1600's. Nestled in the heart of Plantation Row, this plantation was destroyed during the Revolutionary War by British forces and was never rebuilt. During the Civil War, a large portion of the property was mined for phosphate needed for making gunpowder. This site has been hammered to death over the past 40 years but I have seen stuff come from here before... We start walking in a straight line in the area Shannon had scored that Americana coin at. Alan turned his machine on pretty much right away. I didn't though. I was waiting to get to where we were going because we weren't planning on staying at this spot for very long. The beach was calling! Between us and the area I wanted to be at a small creek that was most likely used for irrigation back in the day. Fortunately, there was a downed tree crossing the creek which made that part easy as pie. Thank God for Off! Once we crossed the creek, I stopped dead in my tracks & said, "I think I'll start here." So I extended the shaft on the CTX and powered it up. I use Wireless Headphones so I turned those on and I made sure I was in the program I wanted to be in. Relic mode & wide open. Now, I know this next part is gonna sound all sappy & cliche but it is what it is... I don't know really how it happens but this wasn't the first time. I've had this happen many times to me but each time is totally without a conscious rhyme or reason. Never a notion or even a clue that "This is gonna be one of those times!" Well, today, it happened again! Why did I stop right where I did? I honestly do not know. All I do know is that my mind had made the commitment, but it seemed to be after my body was already in the motions. It was like my core was already locked in on something & my brain had to go along for the ride or play catch up! This is no lie. Alan had walked past me while I was turning on my detector & he must've missed the target by mere feet. I took literally 5 steps. No more than five feet from where I just said I was gonna start & I got a chop. Not a clear repeatable signal by any means, Choppy for sure but with a slight squeak that was almost like a dinner bell to my already heightened senses! I kicked away the sticks & leaves to get my coil closer to the soil but the signal was still coming through choppy. "Alan... Come listen to this." "Would you dig this?" I asked Alan. I wanted to see if maybe he was getting a better signal coming through his machine. Different settings and whatnot. "Choppy." he said. "But I'd dig it." I took another quick swipe over the target and said screw it... I'm gonna dig it. Most likely trash or with my luck... Evil! I pinpointed the target and dug my plug but after sticking my pinpointer into the hole, there was no signal at all! I grabbed my machine and pinpointed the target again. I was off by like the length of the freakin' coil! I must've been hitting the target with the back tip of the DD coil. All I can say here is "Thank God we were in the woods!" I tore that ground up! LOL Not really but the hole was something you wouldn't wanna see on your front lawn... Hehehehe... I stuck the pinpointer back in and got nothing! Damn it! I gave the ole One Swirl & that's when we heard the chirp. My target was in the sidewall about 6 inches down in VERY wet soil. I reached in and could feel that it was round but not quite coin round. As I plucked it out of the sidewall my finger went through it & I knew then that I had a ring! Yee Ha! First target of the day! I handed it to Alan right away without even looking at it. He looked at it and I saw his face had this "What?" sorta look on it like he was in a bit of disbelief at what it was he was seeing. He wiped some dirt from the top of the ring and smiled from ear to ear! "Have you ever found Spanish silver before?" Alan asked. Well, there was a big ole reale that I found on a beach but I'm still not convinced that it's real so aside from that, nope. No Spanish silver yet for me. Alan wiped away some more dirt and he could make out the date with ease! 1751! Someone took a 1751 Spanish Half Reale and attached it to a silver ring! First freakin' target of the day! Alan took out his phone & went pic crazy then live on FB! I am still a bit in shock. Even now wearing it... Yep! It fits! 15 feet away Alan got his first good signal of the day. He nabbed himself an 1892 IHP! We stayed at this spot for a little over an hour and then we headed for the beach to meet up with James Polly III. Unfortunately he couldn't make it so Alan and I hit the pier for lunch and the beach for a few hours but with not real luck. We ended up going back to the spot on the way back but again no more luck. This was a find that I was meant to make. Why? I do not know but there is no rational explanation for why I decided to stop right where I did. Why were there only these two targets aside from some junk washed in from all the rain? We hit that area pretty hard and even though we didn't get anything else, I am convinced that there is more to be found. To think that this ring was hand crafted hundreds of years ago lost most likely soon after it was made and rediscovered on 10-16-16 by Al-Fu...
Al-Fu – SC, USA.
