1870: GOLD FOUND ALONG TRENTON'S "PETTY'S RUN"

Articles such as the above make the heart beat a bit faster when those of us who are into the metal detecting hobby read about the exciting find of Colonial Spanish coins found along Petty's Run in the Chancery Street area of Trenton. I have been a metal detector operator since the early 1960's when the hobby was just beginning to evolve. My first unit was a "BFO" squealer that had depth capability of about 2 or 3 inches. The technology evolved as hi-tech detectors became available during the 1960's and 70' from popular detector manufacturers such as White's, Garrett, Wilson-Neuman, Gold Mountain, and numerous others. It is interesting to note that many of them went out of business very rapidly, but new ones spring up every month. Over the years I had a number of detectors. Wilson Neuman "Daytona GBD," a "Bobcat" from a manufacturer whom I can't recall, two Garrett detectors, a Fisher, two White's, and I currently own a Bounty Hunter "Pioneer 500," a Garrett GTP 1350, and my favorite, a vintage Fisher 1265X. The metal detecting hobby is a very rewarding hobby both physically and if you are lucky, financially if you are able to detect any gold or silver coins.