Article in the January 2007 Australian Gold, Gem & Treasure magazine.

by CHRIS DURBRIDGE

Ace 250 - The Pocket Rocket Rides Again.

            I have a little more to tell you about my experiences with this little beauty of a machine. I probably should not be telling you at all about how good this machine is, because I think I may be encouraging some competition ! I have had some pretty good finds and fun with the machine since the last article. I have to start by saying that I have had two phone calls recently from desperate people in town who have lost wedding rings and I have been their last hope. Unfortunately they have lost their rings in a very large area and I was unable to recover them for the owners. I did manage to recover a number of readings on one property including old brass .303 shells dated 1942, some old coins (decimal and pre decimal) and a car key that was lost a few years previous. In both cases the people were very surprised and impressed at how well the Ace 250 ran and what they could pick up. They were also very pleased that I was able to have a go at getting their rings back too.

            I have slowed down a bit and have not been able to get out as much as I would like with the Ace. I have some competition with 2 other detectors that, truth be told, I reckon are a little jealous of the attention the Ace gets ! I am also starting to run out of untried playgrounds so I am finding myself going over some of my old ground. Previously I have only been going to the most productive part of a playground which is under the swings and any equipment where the kids hang upside down. Now I cover a wider area in the playground. Boy, you should see what I have missed ! I have managed to add a further $260 to my total in 575 coins. I am still averaging over $20 for every time I go out for an average of 40 coins. I have had some ripper jewellery finds in the last couple of months.

            Previously I have only ever had the sensitivity set at 3 but when I am detecting away from the metal play gear, I will run it up a few notches and the improvement in depth is substantial. Sometimes I will get some false readings. When this happens you just notch it back one or two and this usually stops it. Most of the decimal coin finds I have been making with the sensitivity cranked up have been deep and old. I have also been finding a lot more pre decimal coins in the playgrounds at depth with the sensitivity cranked up. My most interesting pre decimal was an Australian penny blank planchet.

            The kids really love how easy it is to use this machine. On a recent trip to the beach, my daughter managed around $5 in about 15 minutes. This was enough to buy an ice cream or two on the way home. They think it is great because they usually only earn 50 cents for washing my car (4 wheel drive). Yes, I work them pretty hard for their money and to get $5 in 15 minutes is real easy money to them. My young son also made around $8 in change in a very short period of time when he came with me on a park hopping trip. We stopped at the golden arches on the way home and he insisted on buying his happy meal with the money he found. He was quite proud of his finds.

            My last trip out was a doozy. I went to pick up an air conditioner for the house in the morning and had an appointment at 5 in the afternoon. So I had a little time to kill. I decided to try a park that I had been in before and got $30 and a silver ring out of. I started by detecting a little further out from the play gear when I started to get coins all over the place. I thought I had covered the area quite well, but I was wrong. I then got a mid tone reading underneath the swings and bent down to dig it. Up popped an 18 ct. gold wedding band. I was quite happy with that until I stood up. The machine went off again with a mid tone. I looked down and could see a silver coloured ring in my diggings. I bent down picked it up, turned it over and saw what appeared to be 3 big square diamonds. My heart missed about 5 beats. I have found rings like this before and they have always been fakes so I tried not get too excited.

            Immediately I started looking for hallmarks and I could see something but my eyes were not clear enough. I thought it said 9 ct. which usually means CZ stones. It wasn’t until I got home and using the loupe found it was 18 ct white gold. I realised that I may have my first real diamond ring. I had to wait until next morning until I could get the jeweller to verify the diamonds were real. He did just that and promptly told me that they were top quality diamonds and would be worth around $4000. I was stoked. I was even more stoked when I had the ring properly valued at $7950.

            This ring has by far been the best find I have had in the last 20 years of detecting and I owe it to my little Ace 250. What a great little machine. Since the last article I now have $3802 in 7407 coins, I have found a 18 ct. gold necklace weighing 11.9 grams worth $900, a 21.6 gram 9 ct. bracelet, the diamond engagement ring, 18 ct. wedding band, a couple more silver rings. Almost $16,000 retail value in coins and jewellery in 18 months. I have said it before and will say it again, I have had a ball with this machine.

Chris Durbridge.