TIDEWATER COIN AND RELIC CLUB
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Master 50/50 Winner – $13.50 Donald Britt Fuchsia Tickets – Buddy Hembree – guest, Charles Agnew- new member Spring Hunt – Steve Warren |
Welcome to Tidewater Coin & Relic Club's Newsletter for APRIL ’08 Club address – P.O. Box 3462 Virginia Beach, VA 23454 PAGE LAST UPDATED: 05/07/2008 Meeting place, date, and time 936 Independence Blvd. Virginia Beach, VA Next Meeting May 13, 2008 6:30 PM to 9 PM VISITORS Chris Dunlop NEW MEMBERS REFRESHMENTS May ‘08 David Main FINDS OF THE MONTH The winners this month received an Indian Head penny and a War nickel. Coin–Gary Gray–1899 Indian Head penny Relic–Ina Finn–CW Calvary cuff button Jewelry–Ina Finn–1965 ODU 10kt gold ring (Returned to owner–story to follow) Wild Card–Eating Utensil–Norm Franz-Silver spoon Table – Louis Biro Other – David Main |
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NEW BUSINESS Steve Warren made a motion that we change the voting for finds of the month to having all the members participate and vote. Then the votes will be tallied. The Table finds would be a raffle ticket for each person who entered in that category and be drawn from the entries. Hopefully, members will bring in more items for a chance to win prizes. OLD BUSINESS Gary Gray will have a report in May regarding the patch. I think the majority agreed one size would be the best. 2 ½ inch patch would fit nicely on hats, shirts, etc. David Main and Gary Gray have been securing a permanent meeting place on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. Since the meeting has taken place, they have secured the Pretlow Library located at 111 W. Oceanview Ave. Norfolk, VA 23503. Their phone number is 441-1750. We have the meeting room A with a kitchen from September through the rest of the year. In January, the room will be booked for the entire year which will make it much simpler. They will report on this at the May meeting. 12 Yellow raffle ticket packets are still available. Do you think we can sell the entire 1,000 that we ordered? Sure would be great if we did. Take a book at the next meeting. If you have sold your tickets, please bring in the stubs and money. The Spring Hunt is going well. We have 41 paid entries including the children. I think the article needs repeating again!! CLUB COIN CLUES Steve Warren is starting all over again with clues since the club coin has mysteriously disappeared. He will have the 1st clue at the May meeting. Here is a picture of the new token. It is solid brass.  ODU RING RETURNED AFTER 40 PLUS YEARS Ann lost her ring in the late 60’s while sledding down a small slope with her young children. I was only 9 or 10 years old at the time!! Anyway… I was detecting the small piece of public land to hopefully find another CW bullet. But up pops this 10 kt gold, black onyz ring. Cool!! Whether you have found your first class ring or your 20th, you have thoughts on what you should do? Try and find the rightful owner or become the new owner? Finders Keepers, losers weepers? A person who finds something can keep it, and the loser has no right to it. This proverb is of dubious ethical merit. Yes, ethical merit. That little angel on your shoulder saying “Try your best”, “Your class ring is lost too and what if someone found it?” So, instead of going through the alumni association and telling them the scenario and they pass on the info and then the person (if they are registered) contacts you, etc. I know an ODU professor. I asked her if she would investigate the initials and help me find the owner. Then she says “That’s my sister Ann’s ring”. Small world. So here’s Ann with her ring that was lost 40 some years ago!!
COMPETITION HUNT ARTICLE If a club has been around for a long time, they will have experienced seeders who understand the importance of evenly distributing targets. Our club usually breaks the hunt field up into 4 or 6 quadrants, and each seeder gets a quadrant. Usually, an official of the club or someone who is not hunting will seed the prize tokens, so none of the regular seeders can be accused of cheating. Success in a competition hunt depends on 2 things - speed and luck. First and foremost, you must completely embrace the concept that EVERY SECOND COUNTS! When the whistle blows, everyone has an equal chance, but it's the fastest competitors who will walk off the field with the most coins and tokens. Do NOT spend time inspecting your targets. Just dump them in your waist basket (you DO have a waist basket, don't you?), and move on. If it takes more than 3 scoops, it's too deep and probably isn't a seeded target. Also, don't try and analyze every target because some clubs will hide a coin or token inside a bottle cap or tape it to a pull-tab. At the beginning of the hunt, targets will be plentiful, so you may have to play a little "Twister." If you get into an area with multiple signals, while you're digging the first one, plant your feet on the others. In other words, try to spread yourself out to protect your nest of signals so the guy next to you doesn't come along and clean out your arc in short order. A sturdy, medium-size handheld scoop is best. With a long-handled scoop, you'll spend too much time reaching into the basket for the target, as opposed to just dumping the contents in your waist basket. Field positions.... try to avoid the corners because you will converge with other participants in a matter of seconds. Some people like to race to the center of the field immediately, and some will remain along the sidelines. If the field has been seeded properly, there should be no single area holding more targets. This is where the luck factor comes in. I've seen experienced hunters walk off the field with hundreds of coins and no tokens, and I've seen novice hunters find only a handful of coins and several tokens. Some last thoughts on preparations... Of course, fresh or fully charged batteries are a must. ALWAYS check your detector at least a half hour before the hunt to make sure it's in good working order. It's also a good idea to mark your detector with fluorescent tape or a name tag so it's easily distinguishable from the piles of identical detectors, scoops and baskets. Plan to arrive early enough to register and get yourself situated before the starting signal. Is your car gassed up, your directions clear, and have you listened to the weather and traffic reports to adjust your departure time accordingly? These questions may seem overly rudimentary, but I've seen scores of people miss hunts for those exact reasons. Other incidentals would include rain gear or sun block depending on the weather, a folding chair, a cooler packed with food and plenty of drinks if there are no concessions nearby, and a back-up detector if you have one. The first time I entered a hunt, I felt completely intimidated and overwhelmed by the frenzy of activity going on around me. I found it very different from the peace and solitude I usually enjoy while detecting. I also found it fun and exciting and a terrific social opportunity to meet other detectorists. Since then, I've entered many hunts, made a lot of friends along the way, and have won a fair share of top prizes. If you go with the attitude of trying to make your entry fee back, you'll probably be disappointed. But if your intention is to have some fun, try a new experience, and meet some great people, you'll have a BLAST! May 17, 2008 Open Hunt The Spring Hunt Committee needs your help to ensure great prizes at the hunt. For a quick fundraiser, we decided to put on a raffle with all of the proceeds going to prizes for the hunts. 1st prize is $100.00, 2nd prize is $50.00, and 3rd prize is $25.00. The club member who sells the most raffle ticket wins a 1 oz silver round. Raffle tickets are $1.00 for 1 ticket and $5.00 for 6 tickets. Sherry Ferguson is in charge of the raffle. She will have the tickets at the January meeting. Help us out and sell a book or two of 25 tickets. Flyers and registration form are on the website. Copies are available at the meetings. If you pay after May 1st, we would appreciate cash. Everyone attending must complete the registration form whether you are going to hunt or help with the hunt. Please fill in all the fields and sign the form. I have extra forms, but if you have access to our website www.tc-rc.com , you can fill it in and copy and make sure I receive the form. Happy hunting, Ina, Secretary
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