For a hobby, metal detecting is hard work.
Days of digging on hard, rocky clay may yield only a handful of aluminum pop tabs, perhaps a nail or some other piece of nothingness.
But then youll come upon just the right piece, and youre hooked all over again.
Jerry Ashe of Baxter Springs and the Registers Bob Johnson spoke about metal detecting Sunday at the Allen County Historical Societys summer meeting.
IVE ALWAYS liked history, Ashe said. Any time I dig something, it makes me wonder who had that, or how they dropped it. Ive always liked how I can hold a coin somebody held 100 years ago.
Ashes introduction into metal detecting came in the late 1970s when he bought a used detector at an auction. It didnt work, but the manufacturer repaired it for $12.50.
It was with that old Garrett detector that Ashe uncovered his first treasure a Civil War-era Minie ball bullet.
The bullets replaced the round balls of lead used in muskets and firearms up to then. Its conical shape and concave tail caused the Minie ball to spin as it was projected from the rifle, thus creating greater range and accuracy. The bullets size made it particularly devastating.
Itd take your arm off, Ashe noted. Itd take your leg off, or your head off.
As soon as he realized what hed found, Ashe was intrigued
I was hooked, he said.
Ashe soon bought another, more advanced metal detector. Then another.
Because he and his wife already owned an antiques store, Ashe soon expanded his inventory to include metal detecting equipment. (Hes now an authorized dealer of most domestic brands.)
That way I could buy stuff at cost, he joked. That was my motivation.
JOHNSONS introduction came as a youngster, when his dad allowed him to dig holes in the end of his garden.
