Have you ever lost a necklace while playing with your children in the yard or misplaced a ring at the family BBQ? A newly formed club in northern Arkansas may be the solution to your seeking woes.
The North Central Arkansas Relic Hunters Club has recently formed and one of the many services the club offers is helping to reunite lost items with their owners.
“This club is a gathering of metal detector hobbyists. Most of the time, the people that do this, their hobby is going out with metal detectors and looking for all kinds of things.,” Founder Kenneth Holland said. “ If anybody has lost an item that is valuable to them and know about where they lost it. They can contact us and some of us will come there and try to locate it for them free of charge. We love to provide that service.”
Although it has only been a few short weeks since the club’s formation, Holland said they have had the privilege of helping one family whose home burned to recover some of the items lost in the rubble.
“It was the most difficult hunt I’ve ever been on, but it was also the best birthday I’ve ever had. It felt good to be able to help the family,” Holland said.
Holland, who resides in Horseshoe Bend said the club was officially formed just three short weeks ago and is open to anyone who would like to join.Members will help those who may be new to metal detecting to learn the best practices and rules.
“I live in Horseshoe Bend, but this involves the whole area of North Central Arkansas and anyone can be a member. It’s more than treasure (hunting)because we look at treasure, like if I find a horseshoe from the Civil War that’s treasure to me. It’s relics. You’ll find a lot on beaches, people have lost jewelry and that is a treasure,” Holland explained. “Anything we find that is valuable like a ring or necklace, we try to find the owner of that and we take pride in reuniting that piece with the person that lost it. We’re not out to make money on anything really, but we do try to help. Several of us have found expensive rings and things like that and have located the owners and that is a really good feeling when you can see their eyes light up when you return a lost item like that.”
Holland said the club has not set regular meeting dates and times yet, however; all of the hunts will be listed on the North Central Arkansas Relic Hunters Facebook page.
“We’re probably going to try to meet once a month or every two months but for us, a lot of our meetings are when we go to a hunt and that’s when we go out as a group looking for something. We haven’t done that yet because this is all new,”Holland said. “A club is beneficial because you can help new people who don’t know it very well and introduce them into the hobby.”
Holland said the type of equipment used by club members varies from a basic metal detector to more sophisticated equipment which can hone in on certain materials using frequencies.
“Some of us have some pretty sophisticated gear. A lot of people think a metal detector and that it and they do have plain metal detectors but I have one that is the latest and greatest from Australia, it’s called a Manticor and it is a computer that can send out 25 frequencies and it can pick up and almost tell you what is down there and can almost show you what is underground,” Holland said. “Some of have just basic detectors and they work great, but the one I have here is good for like an old house that burned down, there will be all kinds of metal, nails and the detector I have can go through and I can actually tune out or discriminate out the iron signals and you can pick up any silver, gold, or a certain frequency of signals and metal detection has become very sophisticated and very technical.”
Holland said the club is actively seeking new locations to hold hunts and that they are guided by the rules of ethics. He added, if allowed to hunt on various properties, property owners will be informed of what was found whether it be a tin can, or something more alluring and the items will be turned over to the property owner if they desire them.
“There are rules of ethics when it comes to metal detecting and we go by them strictly. Always get permission, you don’t hunt on memorial sites or things like a state or federal park, we go by the law.When you dig your hole and find an item, no matter what it is, take the item out and fill the hole back in. We pick up the trash and we leave it better than orlike we found it. That is important to us,” Holland said. “We we’re always looking for places to go and this is something we’d like people to know.”
For more information, contact Kenneth Holland at 870-692-0155 or visit the North Central Arkansas Relic Hunters Facebook Page.
Lauren is a an award-winning journalist who decided after 10 years of newspaper experience to venture out. Hallmark Times was born.
