My First Experience with the EXCALIBUR II 1000


A great find of Spanish coins and a clump of coins


When our new Minelab Excalibur II 1000 arrived, I was very eager to try it out.  You see, many years ago I worked as an agent representing  the State of Florida on a number of salvaging operations of the Spanish fleet that sank off the coast of Florida loaded with treasures.  I wanted to relive some of those exciting days finding gold, silver and precious jewels and artifacts.   I figured the Excalibur was my ticket to adventure.

It just so happened that my wife had to attend a work shop in Orlando, so I went along, hoping to try out my new Excalibur II 1000.  Once we got settled and my wife went to her workshop, I decided to take a drive to Florida’s Treasure Coast, so named because so many Spanish shipwrecks occurred nearby and a lot of treasure is still to be found there. 

Once I arrived at the beach I had to find a place to park with beach access.  Finally I found a spot with no other vehicles.  It looked like a good spot to do some long overdue  treasure hunting.  After I got all my gear together I climbed over the sand dunes toward the beach.  On the way there I spotted a large bunch of mangrove trees.  I thought about all of the years that had gone by since those ship wrecks happended and decided to investigate if some of the storms could have deposited some Spanish coins or other Spanish artifacts in there.  I turned on the Excalibur and after making a small adjustment I was off detecting.  It didn’t take very long before I got a reading. Being very careful not to harm the mangrove tree, I started digging and about 18” down I hit something hard.  It was too large to be a coin and,  to my surprise and delight, it turned out to be was a small cannon ball.  Wow, was  I ever excited!

So , I put the cannon ball aside and worked that area more.  Soon I got another reading about the same depth, around 18” deep.  There was another cannon ball about the same size!   The expanse of beach beckoned,  so I decided I had better  quit there and head for the beach. 

Walking along the beach at the edge of the water, I  got some good readings that turned out to be American coins and trash, but at long last I found  a really nice Spanish piece of eight date 1694.  What a great find !  Was I ever excited!    After standing there admiring my find, reality finally brought me back and I decided to do some more hunting.  Not very far from my last good signal the detector sounded again, and with great excitement I dug down to find another Spanish coin.  This coin wasn’t as good shape as the first one, but, hey, it is Spanish piece of eight.  Just think, these artifacts were down there over 200 years and I was the first person to see them in all that time.  What a great feeling!  To me the Excalibur II 1000 is the best machine on the market today, and I can’t wait to go treasure hunting again.

Ron Pagel