Hooked on Relic Hunting with My MX5
Published by Jessica M. on 02/21/16
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I was able to try out the new MX-5 while hunting in Oklahoma at the former Jerusalem Community during a relic hunt being conducted by a local metal detecting club. The community was founded prior to statehood on lands allotted by the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian Nations to be used by their freed slaves, called Freedmen. The church was founded in 1906 and burned in 2008. Only the brick foundation remains of the one room school built in 1902 that held up to 30 children in 1st through 8th grades. For the past few years I've been using a Prism IV. I need a metal detector that's lightweight because I’m a petite lady. The MX-5 was easy to swing, even after several hours of hunting. My Prism IV didn't have VDI numbers so I welcomed the ability to identify things by number and to discriminate and block various signals. I was eager to see what the new MX-5 would permit me to find. My first find of the day was a brass Oklahoma 5 mill tax token marked for Old Age Assistance issued in 1936 and 37. My first relic! I continued to check the area and found a 1914 wheat penny about three inches down. A friend pointed to the ruins of the old schoolhouse, but cautioned many others had detected there and that probably nothing remained. Sounded like a challenge to me! My MX-5 didn’t disappoint. I got a very strong signal, and an iron reading near the ruins of a brick foundation. I got on my knees and started digging. The guys started to gather around me. I dug about 7 inches down - I hit something with my pinpointer. What a find! I found the iron escutcheon plate for a doorknob with the skeleton key hole to the school. I will be donating it to the museum for display, joining other items that have been discovered there by the club. Now I’m definitely hooked on relic hunting with my White's MX-5!