We had a big turnout at the May meeting! I counted 70 people on hand for a real fun time! We spent some of our time talking about the Spring Seeded Hunt, which was an amazing success and enjoyed by all!

    The Find of the Month contest was one of the biggest ones that I have ever have witnessed! If the rules didn't limit the number of coins entered to one per person, we could have gone on half the night! Several members sought out my advice regarding which coin they should enter because they found so many good ones!

    I cannot explain why, but the sale of waterproof metal detectors has been way down for me this spring. On the other hand, land detector sales have remained very strong! Is it me, or does it seem like our usually warm summer has been really slow in getting here? On July 1st I was running around all day with a long sleeved shirt and a jacket! I am amazed at how you believers in global warming still cling to your beliefs! I say all of this, as I am thinking about our water hunters and the Jewelry category.

    Connie listed in her meeting notes some new members and guests. They were Bethany from Rockford, Rachel and Lucas Luscomb from Kalamazoo, Anne Kline from Portage and Bill Funkes from Zeeland. We wish to welcome each of you to the fun!

    At the meeting we talked a lot about the Spring Seeded Hunt! Everyone agreed, it was the best one ever! Not only did we have the best turn-out, but we had the best weather you could ever imagine! It was not too hot and not too cold! Even Goldilocks would have been pleased!

    One special note about the hunt; I wanted to mention that our good friend, Eric Andrews, lost his Garrett Pro Pointer at the spring hunt. As near as I know it hasn't shown up yet, so if you spot something, or hear something about its whereabouts, be sure to let us know.

    Big John! Big gentle John Neuman, no relation to Big Bad John, was our fishing trip winner! What a lucky guy! I love fishing for those big hunkers with Captain Gary!

    At the last meeting I was a couple minutes late and I learned that president Mike Walker already filled in the group about my medical situation. Thank you, Mike! Mike has been heading up prayer requests on my behalf and so many others in the club who have been going through health issues. I would like to thank all of you for those prayers; they make a huge difference! God has been so good to watch over and care for me and my wife during this very hard time.

    I am working on this letter today, July 2nd, and I just learned that I will have surgery to remove any remaining cancer tumor tissue in my neck on July 8th. There is a very good chance that I will be spending at least one night in the hospital.

    My wife and I, and especially our granddaughter, are hoping to get away for a week or two. We hope to leave for vacation around the 15th. If that is the case, I am not sure if we will be back in time for the meeting. We will have to see how it goes--- time will tell.

    Another item mentioned at the last meeting was the current coin raffle. As we went into the last meeting, we were halfway from selling enough tickets to give away that prize. I haven't seen the prize coin and I forgot what it is. As I worked on the newsletter, I placed a call to Mike for the details. I'm so glad the tickets are not all sold! The prize coin is a beautiful 1877 Seated Liberty Seated Liberty Trade Dollar! I'm telling you--- this is a very cool coin!

    Also at the meeting, and as he has done before, Mike told us about the interesting sport of Geo-Caching. Apparently there are geo-caches nearly everywhere! I have held a resentment toward this hobby ever since it started and I apologize! If you find this enjoyable, then God bless you! The reason for my burr under my saddle is simple and stupid! The powers that be will let you trample over everything and anything to look for these caches in the same places where they will not allow metal detecting. So, I should not be upset with Geo-Cache lovers, but instead the powers that be!

    Another thing that was mentioned at the last meeting was that our friends John and Joyce Fredericks have sold their house in Plainwell and will be moving south to be closer to family. We will miss them but we hope they can claim some southern treasure!

    We did have our club elections, and as we knew going into our voting, many things would remain unchanged. Mike Walker is still our president and John Dudley the vice president. Connie Cherkel is our secretary and Jerry Lipscomb is our treasurer.

    Our club board members are Deb Wittkowski, John Assenmacher and Tom Latterner with Brian Matecun as our alternate.

Each month we give away many, many prizes! If I listed everyone who won something, it would take up a lot of space! Our 50/50 Drawing winners were Ernie Lawson and Tom Bielby. I cannot think of two more deserving fellows!

Our Silver Dollar Raffle winners were Ron Osborne and Tim Peterson!

Our Fish Bowl winner, or as I call it "Silver Cache" winner, was Denny Noel! Unfortunately, Denny wasn't present, so the treasurer shovels more silver coins into the large oak sea chest for next month!

Mr. Lucky, John Neuman's name was called, and he was found to be wearing his name tag! As a result, he pocketed a very nice silver half dollar!

Penny Pig!

    It has been awhile since I mentioned the penny pig, so I am sure there are many club members who don't know much about it. In 1982, the U.S. mint changed the composition of the penny from predominantly copper, to a thin copper skin over a zinc core. In 1982 some coins have a predominantly copper composition where others are mostly zinc. They can be distinguished by weight.

    The problem that they were trying to solve was the cost of making the coins. When the penny was almost pure copper, with a small zinc composition, it had become a money loss for the government to make! As I recall it was costing 2 or more cents to make one penny--- not good business! The zinc penny was cheaper to make, but if it was exposed to the elements, it would quickly corrode. We just got tired of digging all those junk coins!

    Some of the folks thought they got smart when they discovered where the zinc cents were reading on their target ID meters. As a result they stopped wasting their time digging new pennies. What they had not figured out is that the Indian head pennies also give the same reading, in most cases!

    So, here we are with a problem to solve. How can we make digging the new zinc cents worthwhile?

    The solution is the Penny Pig! Here is how it works. You set aside all of your zinc cents until you have a peanut butter jar full. Then, you bring them over to Pro Stock Detectors and dump them into a huge 5 gallon plastic water jug that we call the Penny Pig! When the pig is full, we dump the coins into a cement mixer with some soap and water and let them tumble clean.

    While they are cleaning, we grill some hot dogs and burgers! When the coins are clean we rinse them off, sort, dry and roll them up. The sorting part is real interesting! Last time we did this, we found wheat and Indian cents, and even some old silver, mixed in!

    The bottom line is this- the jug holds almost $300.00 in coins. Years ago we voted to donate the coins to a Kalamazoo organization named, "Friends of Children with Cancer."

    This money is used to help the uninsured with things like hair pieces and transportation to treatments. It is the perfect group because they are so grateful and they help in the most heart breaking cases. So, please don't forget the Penny Pig!

    I tried to find out more information about this story for you but I didn't have much luck. I had a nice used White's Beach Hunter ID posted in an e-Bay auction. It sold and I have long since shipped it to its new owner. While it was up for bids, it really generated a lot of letters. One of these letters was from a soon-to-be-retired Sing Sing guard. I thought you would find it interesting.

This is his paraphrased letter.

    Hi, I'm new to this treasure hunting thing. I am looking for a detector that I can use anywhere like the beach, park, yard etc. I live in New York and I am looking for relics as much as jewelry and coins. I don't want to buy a detector then turn around and purchase another one later. I like what I read about this one, and the fact that it is waterproof. What do you suggest? I like the feedback on you and respect your judgment. Please point me in the right direction. I don't mind a used rig. Obviously I am cost minded but would like a good one. Thanks! Red

    PS; Here is just some info you may find interesting. I'm a correction officer now in up-state New York. At one time I convinced the SING SING prison brass to buy a couple of Garrett detectors in 1992. We used them for yard searches at first and on the very first day we found over 100 shanks (homemade knife blades) and weapons some new and some probably a hundred years old! One of the best finds was a 38 short revolver! We believe the gun had been used in a shooting back in the thirties that at that time had been un-found. I am close to retirement now and want to still be a detective and historian.

His name is Red and I asked if they found coins while searching the prison grounds. He wrote:

    Yes, I found what is called prison currency (tokens). These were the only MONEY so to speak that the system allowed the prisoners to have on them. These are small coins that say either 5, 10 , or 25 which in the thirties was big money to be used in the prison commissary. Of course they say state prison and a couple say Sing Sing. I don't recall if the detector picked up the coins at the time or if they were near the other objects which were found such as homemade filed shanks. Strangely enough a small prison metal crucifix was found-- I still have all of them.

    I also found metal spoons with the prison stamp on them, a metal plate (late 1800's era) and also a horseshoe forged with a prison stamp. I am still planning on getting the detector, but I got busted up in a fight in the block. I got the first one down but while holding him his buddies did a number on me.

- singsingbadge

    I steered Red in another direction, one that I thought would be better for him. He phoned me and we had a very interesting chat. Apparently there have been a few prison yard murders at Sing Sing. That is why it isn't easy to track down the crime mentioned in Red's letter. How would you like to go coin hunting in a prison yard built in the 1820's?

    When it was completed, Sing Sing was considered a model prison. It actually turned a profit for the state. The warden a man named Elam Lynds, employed the Auburn System, which imposed absolute silence on the prisoners; the system was enforced by whipping and other brutal punishments. After Lynds left in the wake of a scandal involving the pregnancy of a female prisoner, conditions at the prison began to deteriorate. Fires and disease became common, and in 1861, the governor called in the army to quell a riot.

    Another notable warden was Lewis Lawes. He was offered the position of warden in 1919 and he remained Warden for 20 years, a position which had been filled by nine separate people in the previous nine years, one for only three weeks! What he found was a facility that had lost any semblance of order through decades of neglect and abuse. Records documented 795 male and 102 female prisoners at Sing Sing. A head count turned up only 762 and 82 actually present. "How these missing prisoners had left the prison or when, could not be ascertained," he said.

    Worse still, for one prisoner who had been incarcerated for five years, there was no record of admission or retention history. He was declared a "volunteer" and released on the spot!

    Also, more than $30,000 in cash was missing from prison bank accounts, and there was no trace as to where the money went. Lewis Lawes made many positive changes and put inmates he knew he could trust in positions within the prison. Having known Jimmy DeStefano since he was a young orphaned boy running the streets of Little Italy with Al Capone and the Five Points Gang, he was not surprised when he reviewed the inmate records to see his name on the list.

OLD SING SING CELL

    Knowing Jimmy could be trusted and depended upon to do one of the most stressful assignments in Sing Sing Prison, he assigned him as the Barber in the

    Death House. He remained in that position longer than any other inmate barber ever had. During the five years he was barber, he gave 46 men and one woman their final haircuts.

    The woman, Ruth Snyder, was executed for murdering her husband in order to gain insurance money. A New York Daily News photographer hid a camera on his ankle, and the moment the first jolt of electricity passed through Ruth Snyder's body, he snapped the most famous and only picture ever taken during an execution. This photo is still in demand today.

    Ruth Snyder's last prayer was, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

JEWELRY

1. 10k Diamond & Ruby Ring                                                                              By: Mike Walker

2. 14k Gold Ring                                                                                               By: Brian Matecun

3. Sterling Silver Earring                                                                                         By: Rick Burch

4. 18k Gold & 950 Platinum Ring                                                                    By: Jerry Lipscomb

5. 14k Gold Gent's Wedding Band                                                                   By: Deb Wittkowski

6. 14k Ring Diamonds & Gems                                                                         By: Billy E.. Knapp

7. 1975 Parchment Class Ring                                                                                 By: Tom Beilby

8. 10k Gold Ring w. 22 Diamonds                                                                         By: Bruce Wood

9.14k White Gold Wedding Band                                                                 By: John Assenmacher

10. Old Indiana State Seal Pendant                                                                             By: Shawano

11. 14 k Mens Wedding Band                                                                                 By: Denny Noel

    What a contest! Billy Knapp's ring would have had a great chance with all its small rubies and diamonds, but there were a few stones missing-- darn!

    Bruce Wood had a real vote getter with all of its sparkling diamonds, but it too fell slightly short. It was the heavy 18-k gold and platinum ring of Jerry Lipscomb that was our big winner! Jerry's ring was worth between 2 and 3 thousand dollars!

1.1914 DIME                                                                                                      By: TOM HERMAN

2.1912 BARBER DIME                                                                                     By: MIKE WALKER

3. 1906 D BARBER HALF                                                                             By: BRIAN MATECUN

4. 1839 LARGE CENT                                                                                  By: JERRY LIPSCOMB

5. 1972 KENNEDY HALF                                                                            By: DEB WITTKOWSKI

6.1901 BARBER DIME                                                                                    By: RICK SEYMOUR

7. 1900 INDIAN HEAD                                                                                      By: JOHN DUDLEY

8. 1938, 40-1¢ & 1943-50¢                                                                                     By: TOM BEILBY

9. 1899 'O' BARBER DIME                                                                         By: ALAN RANDOLPH

10. 1936 WHEAT PENNY                                                                                     By: JANET GRAY

11. 1867 2-CENT PIECE                                                                                           By: SHAWANO

What a great selection of coins! It is time like this when I wonder, how do you pick a winner? Well, the club picked the beautiful 1906-D Barber Half Dollar! Great find, Brian!

1.M.C.B. 1-BEER TOKEN                                                                                                    By: TOM HERMAN

2. 1953 DOG TAG                                                                                                                  By: MIKE WALKER

3. FURNITURE CO. TOKEN                                                                                        By: DEB WITTKOWSKI

4. STATE FARM INS. CO.                                                                                              By: ALAN RANDOLPH

5. CHALLENGE TOKEN                                                                                                         By: TOM BEILBY

6. 1863 CIVIL WAR TOKEN                                                                                                By: JOHN DUDLEY

7. 5c IN TRADE TOKEN                                                                                                         By: RON JENNER

8. OLD MILITARY PIN                                                                                                           By: JANET GRAY

9. MASON'S BADGE                                                                                                              By: DENNY NOEL

10. MOTEL KEY FOB                                                                                                                  By: SHAWANO

Our winner was John Dudley with his Civil War patriotic token from 1863! Super nice find, John!

1.EMERSON DRUG BOTTLE                                                                                               By: ALAN RANDOLPH

2.JOHN DEERE PLOW TOY                                                                                                  By: BRIAN MATECUN

3.OLD FISHING REEL PART                                                                                                     By: MIKE WALKER

4. TOY GERMAN SOLDIER                                                                                                           By: RON JENNER

5. TOY RACE CAR                                                                                                                  By: CARLISLE FLEGAL

6. 1920'S FISHING REEL                                                                                                                By: BRUCE WOOD

7. TOY COAL BUCKET                                                                                                          By: DEB WITTKOWSKI

8. OLD TIRE PUMP                                                                                                                     By: JOHN NEWMAN

9. FAUCET QUEEN TRAP                                                                                                                By: JANET GRAY

10.OLD CLOCK PENDULUM                                                                                                              By: SHAWANO

11.CASH REGISTER SIGN                                                                                                               By: TOM BEILBY

    Our winner was mentioned in the last newsletter! It was the "Amount Purchased" cash register sign from the very early 1900's! Very cool find, Tom!