Club members keep digging for buried treasures - Armed only with metal detectors, group finds valuables, crime clues
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20081218/COLUMNISTS01/812180348/1005/OPINION
Club members keep digging for buried treasures
Armed only with metal detectors, group finds valuables, crime clues
December 18, 2008
Call them treasure hunters.
Or call them by their official name, the
Southern Tier Metal Detector Club.
Founded 30 years ago and kept alive by
adventurers who enjoy sharing tales of the
musket balls, dentures and other stuff they've
found, the club has about 28 members.
They're overwhelmingly of the male persuasion,
but graced often by the presence of member
Betty Lou Grover.
President Alan Turnbull, of Endicott, has been
at the hobby for 50 years and has found his fair
share of treasures.
They bring Indian head pennies, Mercury dimes,
Civil War belt buckles, silver chains, spoons,
religious medals and other items to their
monthly meetings, where they compete for the
distinction of "best find" in the categories of
gold, silver, coin or treasure.
They also hold spring and fall hunts, wherein
tokens are dispersed throughout a field and the
most successful hunters (armed with metal
detectors and intuition) earn prizes.
But it's not all fun and games for these boys
and their toys.
"In addition to our in-house club activities,
we offer a club service to anyone that has lost
valuable or nostalgic metal items as well as
services to all law enforcement agencies that
may be looking for crime evidence discarded or
hidden, handguns, spent bullet casings, knives,
etc.," Alan points out. "We do not charge for
any of these services."
Alan was among those beckoned to western New
York to search for some long-buried bank bags
full of coins. They found the bags -- filled
with $1,000 each.
Just because you've got a metal detector doesn't
entitle you to charge unbidden onto other
people's property, Alan cautions. Detectorists
must obtain permission to go onto private turf
and must register with public lands, state,
county and town officials prior to going on
those pieces of real estate, too.
Club members are careful to restore land they've
dug into, points out hobbyist Rick Mancini, of
Endicott, and they routinely clean up litter as
they go, too.
Among their most unusual finds are two sets of
upper and lower gold-tooth dentures.
"Digger Dave" Cupina, of Endicott, wears a
necklace made of gold chunks he has found over
the years.
And then there's the 1758 Spanish coin found at
Tri-Cities Airport, once the scene of a Native
American village.
They've found plenty of items in the ground
where thousands of feet have trod, they say,
such as a diamond ring discovered inches beneath
the soil of a town park.
Leon Barrett, of Endicott, doesn't limit his
adventures to the Southern Tier, or even to this
hemisphere. He has already been to much of
Europe and will take his metal detector with him
when he treks to Egypt soon, he says.
Several members have thick books holding coins
they've found -- Alan's personal favorite is a
1842 Seated Liberty half-dollar -- and, like BJ
Coontz, of Endicott, tackle boxes containing door
knobs, thimbles, dog tags, keys and miscellaneous
other finds.
Their equipment alerts them to metal lurking up
to 12 inches or so under the soil, but they've
found plenty of other articles, too. Bruce
Wackford just won the Best Treasure category in
October for his Confederate $10 bill.
He enjoys taking his metal detector for a walk
along sandy shores and has dug up a sizeable
collection of little metal cars.
His beloved has another name for him, besides
"treasure hunter" or "detectorist."
"My wife thinks I'm crazy," he says.
* Just to clarify a recent column about Jon
Allen, a FedEx courier cited by his company for
his actions involving an accident in
January... Jon was one of three people,
including Jeffrey Finch of Conklin and Dustin
Bailey of Johnson City, involved in helping
victims of the collision. All three received
letters of thanks from Sheriff David Harder.
..