History Hunters International

Here is the specimen that I show in an earlier post on Oct 22nd in my sons hands after a soak in Hydroflouric acid to clean and expose the gold.
Grubby

Here is a new pice I took out of the HF today. It weighs just over 1/2 an ounce at 17 gms. I found this the other day when I fell and broke my GMT in two in a ravine. Went on searching with the MXT and the new 12 in spider coil. It was at about 7 inches on bedrock. Wrenched my knee and back, but you can't stop me with that.
Grubby

Here is the last piece before it was acid etched.
Grubby

Just pulled a piece out of the acid that I cleaned yesterday. Decided to leave quartz on it. Makes a nice specimen that way. The HF acid does amazing work on these pieces.
Grubby

Son and I were recently out metal detecting on the ranch. He found a 1907 2.50 dollar gold piece and i scored a 10.00 dollar gold piece. Thought it was cool that a father and son would both strike gold on the same day using our Whites DFX detectors.
Grubby

My son and I were recently out on the ranch and he found a 1907 2.50 dollar gold piece and i found a 1893 10.00 dollar gold piece in the same spot on the same day. We were both using the Whites DFX detectors I have. Kind of cool father and son strike gold on the same day.
Grubby

Hi ya'll------------Just got my plan of operation approved by BLM and I start major excavations on the claim this next week. Will be moving the old tailing piles and going to bedrock. Here are a few pieces I found a few weeks ago with my Whites MXT and then cleaned in HF acid to their present state. These tailing piles have never been disturbed since the 49'ers.
Grubby

Well where do I start Feamistress. Think I will catoragize how I feel about Whites.
1. Simplicity of use. Auto ground balance. A turn on and go machine.
2. light weight.
3. Made in the USA
4. Excellent service dept.
5. Reliable

Newest Piece from out of my acid bath. Found it while out with BLM going over my plan of operations, on my claim. Also found smaller pieces in the back ground of the pic. Whites strikes again.
Grubby

                            Diamonds In Paradise
   It was a typical hot muggy tropical day when my son and I stepped off the plane at Charlotte Amallie on the island of St Thomas.  The date was July 6th. We were to be met by a friend and taken to a apartment where I would stay and use as a center for my treasure hunting this summer in the Virgin Islands. First things first, I had to get my son certified as an Open Water diver. He would go through a PADI instruction course to get his certification. He had dove with me for several years and I wanted him to be legal.  At 15 years of age he was anxious to follow in my footsteps.  My ride showed up an hour and a half late and it did not put me in the greatest of moods for my first day.  To fly all this way and not even have a ride when I got there didn�t say much for the friend, but that is a different story. That relationship would end by the end of my stay here on the islands.
   The next morning I was up bright and early even after spending the whole previous day flying from the west coast of California with three flight changes in between. We gathered up my sons diving gear and headed to Coki beach where he was to be certified. I spent the next three days searching the beach sand with my DFX while he dove and passed his written exam. I found some costume jewelry and lots of clad coins in the sand. Seemed like I could not walk a step without getting a hit on the detector. It was coin heaven. In three days I ended up with about $45.00 in quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies, but no significant jewelry. I really wanted to be more thorough, but the tourists from the cruise ships were so thick on the beach that at times I could do nothing. I did not want to be intrusive and give metal detecting a bad name. Gerrison passed his tests with flying colors and we were off on our treasure hunting exploits. But that is a different story for another time. This story is about my best ring find to date.
I was primarily using the Whites DFX on the beach and in the shallows the Whites Beach Hunter ID. I had brought several coils for the DFX. I decided to use the small eclipse Shooter DD coil as it was light and easy to work over the sand. These beaches are huge and I wanted to move swiftly. I had a lot of area to cover. When I wasn�t diving on a wreck site I wanted to spend my time scouring and scrubbing the beaches. After inquiring around I found that a beach next to the Marriot Hotel named Morning Star was where a lot of the wealthy tourists frequented. It was just south of Charlotte and easy to get to. The downfall was that the beach was lined up with hundreds of steel lounge chairs. This is where the little coil would shine. I arrived with my son early in the morning and started at the south end of the beach. He was using his DFX with a larger DD coil. I set my detector to the preset beach mode and started in. There was a volleyball court at the south end of the beach and we started there. Immediately we were getting all sorts of change, mostly quarters. Gerrison got a nice solid ring hit and at 6 inches pulled up his first ever, gold ring. It was a women�s gold ring. Kind of a cute design, He was jazzed as it was his first gold ring ever.  We worked our way off of the volleyball court and headed up the beach sweeping as we went finding all sorts of change.  About 100 feet up the beach I had the next big find. It was a platinum men�s wedding band.  I tried it on. It was a perfect fit. Now there would be no excuse for me not to have a wedding band on. The wife was going to be pleased. You know how that goes, kind of like being branded.  We continued further on down working in between the rows of lounge chairs. This is where the small coil really paid off. Gerrison could not get to close to the lounge chairs without interference. Gerrison succeeded in finding a couple of toe rings that were not very expensive.  The change just kept rolling in. I could tell it had been a while since anyone had worked this beach. A lot of the clad pennies were very badly corroded and in bad shape.  By now we had worked our way down about half way down the beach. It was time for a Pina Colada break at the little restaurant I saw sticking out onto the sand at the north end of the beach. It was hot and I was thirsty. The tourists that were there seemed curious, but no one asked questions. Gerrison got a soda and I sipped on a cold one studying the beach. I would really have loved to hit the water with the Beach Hunter, but the surf was way up that day and it was too rough. Soon we were headed back down the beach and sweeping the sand again. I had shown Gerrison that I actually scrubbed the sand with my coil. Using long arching sweeps of the coil at a medium speed. The beaches here were heavily mineralized and the DFX had given me some problems ground balancing once or twice, but it had settled down and was working just fine. My next find was a men�s diamond pinky ring. Looked to have three nice � CT diamonds and the gold was stamped 10 CT. I was ecstatic, but the best was to come yet. We continued on down the beach working our way in between lounge chairs, doing our best to not disturb the tourists. I did not want any complaints to the hotel management and a bad reflection on metal detecting. I know my scoop really got a workout with coin after coin as we worked our way northward. Gerrison was getting tired and had plopped himself into one of the chairs. I was determined to find some more and better stuff. My determination was soon to pay off. Our ride was due in about 30 minutes and I wasn�t going to give up yet.  I had done about � of the beach and was exhausted. We had been in the hot sun all day and the hot sand had burnt my feet. I actually had blisters from the hot sand even though I had sandals on.  My son just could not believe I was still going on and on. Finally it happened. I got a nice hit indicating another ring. I pinpointed the spot with the detector and scooped the sand up. After shaking out the sand in the scoop, I could not believe my eyes. There in the bottom of my scoop was lying the largest diamond ring I had ever found. It as a beautiful 2 ct marquis cut diamond surrounded by 18 Princess cut diamonds. There were 9 diamonds on each side of the center stone. The ring had a makers mark stamped inside of it with a 18 ct stamp. There was also stamped a serial number. I called my son over and we just stared at the ring trying not to draw much attention. He was astounded. I looked at him and said. �See son what determination gets you.� Our ride soon arrived and we kept our mouths shut. Only telling the driver we had found change. I called my wife and of course the ring was readily accepted and was to be confiscated as soon as I got home. After all she had worked hard to pay for my flights, was her justification. Women! The next day I went into the old town of Charlotte and looked up a reliable jeweler at Cardows. He looked the ring over and I asked how much it was worth. He, for a small fee appraised it at over $12,000.00. We had also ended up with about $90.00 in change the day I found the ring.
   This ended the beach hunting for a few days as we had shipwrecks to dive, on other islands. We ferried out the next day and another adventure started that took place under the water. But like I say that is another story. Just remember to keep researching, searching, and finding.

                Mariposa Treasure Myth or Fact?
   
   Not many treasures are known as classic lost treasures. To do so the treasure has to be able to be proven by printed original source data. The location also has to be generally known. Generally, if the location of such treasure is known after someone usually finds them. Maybe someone has found the Mariposa Tax Treasure, and not reported it, but this is not very likely for reasons I will explain later. No one can deny that the treasure exists. Facts are still available in the early county records to support the story.
   The general area can be pinpointed with great accuracy. Yet no one has yet found the burial spot. It seems that many of the searchers have been looking in the wrong area.  Many treasure hunters have thought they have solved the mystery where the river had been crossed by the Tax Collector. These searchers have not had any luck, they are often plagued by private landowners, extremely rough terrain, and rattlesnakes.
   Not to long after the gold rush began, the county of Mariposa was formed. In 1`851 they elected officers and Joseph F Marr won the seat of Tax Collector and treasurer. A log cabin on the banks of the Agua Fria creek was used for county business.
   A miner of the period wrote that the canyon that the creek flowed through was so steep that the sun rarely shown on the waters of the creek and they were consequently very cold. The creek was given the name Agua Fria, which in Spanish means cold water. Both the mine and the small settlement surrounding the creek were also named Agua Fria. Early records show that the name was frequently misspelled  �Agua Frio� and this misspelling has caused some confusion. Very little remains of the settlement or the mine today.
   In the gold rush days t5he economic situation and the duties of the Tax Collector were much different than today. There was very little hard cash, but lots of gold.
   Gold, as a medium of exchange is always acceptable, but is difficult to count your change. Not every miner had accurate gold scales, and those of the merchants were too adjustable. Since shipping gold back east to be smelted into coin and shipping it back was too expensive and dangerous, gold slugs began appearing almost as soon as the miners found gold. By 1851 it became evident that sot of licensing would be necessary or everyone would be coining his own money. In 1851 the government licensed John L Moffat to produce gold coins. The first issue was a fifty dollar gold piece called the Mt. Ophir gold slug. A description published by the Daily Alta Californian shortly after the mint opened will help treasure seekers identify this coin.
   Hexagonal fifty-dollar gold pieces, which contain upon one face an eagle in the center, are surrounded on the edge by the words �United States of America�, Just over the eagle is stamped �887 thous�. This signifies the fineness of the gold. At the bottom is stamped �50 dolls�. The other face is ornamented with a kind of work, technically called �engine turning�, being a number of radii, extending from around a common center, in which is stamped in small figures �50�. Around the edges is stamped the name of the United States Assayer.
   Mt. Ophir was already operating a mint when Joseph Marr assumed his duties as treasurer-tax collector. His duties were rather unusual compared to a modern day tax collector. Not only was he expected to keep the books straight, but Marr had to ride through the country collecting taxes.
   In early December of 1851, Marr was on a year-end tax collecting trip. He would ride through the mining districts of the county and collect the amounts owed either in gold dust or nuggets. He weighed the metal on the spot and gave the miners a receipt.
   Since he was on a lengthy trip, Marr would sleep over, often staying with the miners and sometimes just sleeping along the trail. It is a well known fact that each night before retiring he would pick a suitable spot and bury the gold he had collected on his trip.
   By today�s standards this sounds a little unusual. But no banks or other institutions of safe-keeping were available to deposit the gold. Almost all travelers who carried large sums of money in those days buried their money each night.
   After several days of tax collecting Marr had collected about $15,000.00 in gold. Since dust and nuggets were an unwieldy method of having the money, he made his last stop at Mt. Ophir. Here he had the tax gold converted into $50 Mt. Ophir gold slugs. These he packed in his saddlebags and started for Agua Fria.
   Most of the accounts of the day Dec 12, 1851 agree but there has never been a true definition of what Marr did that day. Some say he was returning from Mt. Ophir with the slugs.
   This version does not seem likely since if Marr were returning with the slugs he would have dug them up and had them in the saddlebags.
   The account given in a pioneer Mariposa account seems more plausible. These pioneer recollections place Marr at Agua Fria on Dec 12th. He had returned from Mt. Ophir and started towards what was called the Lewis store. The store would have been near the present road from Mt. Bullion to Mariposa.
   Recent rains has swollen the creeks, but Marr decided to ford a stream called Deadman�s Creek anyway. But the stream was swifter than he thought and both he and his horse were swept to their deaths.
   Despite several accounts that the loss of the Mt Ophir slugs was kept secret, most research data indicates that the loss was immediately known. As soon as it was possible a thorough search of the creek was made for several miles downstream. Since these men were experienced placer miners looking for what would amount to three-ounce nuggets, there is no doubt they would have recovered at least one of the slugs it they had been there. The search was continued for several weeks and then given up.
   When the creek proved fruitless numerous theories grew up about where the freshly minted $50 gold coins were hidden. County officials knew that it was Marr�s practice to burry the county funds until they were needed to pay bills. The search then began in earnest in Aqua Fria.
   First is the story that Marr had the money with him and buried it just before crossing the stream. Modern day maps do not show a Deadman�s creek in this area, so the name must have been a local idiom. Treasure hunters who accept this version have concentrated their searches at a place where the present road from Mt. Bullion crosses the Agua Fria on the way to Mariposa. This is an old trail and at this crossing the modern road is only a few yards different.
   Theory two is the hardest to believe, but it has been told so many times that it should be presented to. This tale has Marr coming direct from the Mt. Ophir mint with the slugs. In this version he meets his death on a stream just north of the Agua Fria site. Like the first version there is no reason why Marr would have the slugs with him when he crossed the stream.
   The third and most important version is the one given in the early part of this article. Most serious treasure hunters, as did the early day pioneers, believe that Marr secreted the treasure somewhere in the vicinity of the town of Aqua Fria, intending to dig it up on his return from his tax-collecting trip.
   Almost all the searches have been made in the general vicinity of the old courthouse. While this may seem logical at first, it is just as plausible that it could have been buried some distance from the cold courthouse. It appears secrecy would have been hard to maintain within the boundaries of the small settlement of Aqua Fria, even in the dark of night.
   It would have been smarter of Marr to bury the coins some distance from the town where he could have complete privacy. The burial would be well concealed but not to deep. After all he would have to dig it back up soon, and he would not have dug a 6-foot hole.
   In deciding to look for this treasure, there are several important considerations to be carefully thought out by the modern day detectorist. He would have to decide if the treasure is still there.
   The slugs might have been dug up years ago and never reported. On the other hand there are several reasons why this is probably not so. If the coins had been recovered they would have been placed back in circulation. Mt Ophir slugs are listed as rarities, and an additional 300 of them would have removed them from this classification. Neither does it seem logical to assume that the coins have been recovered and melted down. Someone recovering the coins would have been able to spend them easily without detection----so why melt them down.
   Today it would be extremely foolish to melt down the Mt. Ophir slugs. They were freshly minted and placed in a canvas or buckskin bag and almost immediately buried. The coins would be in virtually uncirculated mint condition and command a premium price from collectors. They would command high prices and would be worth a fortune. Three hundred coins would be a fair prize for a treasure hunter. I plan to seek this treasure and hopefully succeed where other have failed. So remember my motto to keep Researching, Searching and Finding.
   
   

Recently paid a visit to a wreck site and pulled this little beauty out of a crack using my Whites UW PI unit. My first of this kind of coin. Hope ya'll enjoy.
Grubby

Well after a three week sojourn at ST Thomas in the Virgin Islands I came back a happy camper and my wife an even happier one. While scrounging around at Morning Star beach with my DFX, I managed to pull this beauty and some other goodies out of the beaches of St Thomas. I used the DFX in beach mode with a small eclipse DD coil to scoop these beauties up. Also managed to get some Spanish gold, but that is another story I already covered. The big diamond ring was appraised at the island at $10,000.00 but later in the states it was given a $12,000.00 price tag by a reputable jeweler. This is an update post from my earlier one. Hope you all find the big ones.
Grubby

Hmmmmmmm! Been a while since I frequented the boards here, and have some updates. I have appropriated an excavator with a 2.5 yard shovel on it's working end. I will be moving m,assive amounts of old tailing piles and going to bedrock and seeking the golden metal with metal detectors all this winter. Met with the BLM people and filed my appropriate Plan of operation. They ahd an archeologist, a biologist and a senior official out at my claim going over the plans.Looks like I will be doing more than panning and sluicing this year. This is the same claim my 20 oz was pulled from this year.
Grubby

While on my West Indies jaunt I worked a couple of beaches that tourists frequent with my Whites DFX. I used the 4 inch Eclipse coil as it is light and easy to swing. Also is very accurate in trashy areas. My son found his first gold ring and I popped a $10,000.00 womens diamond ring, a mans diamond ring and a nice mans wedding band as well as a huge amount of coins. There were also toe rings and a few other pieces of costume jewelry.
Grubby