Coming Soon - CTTC Video & Photo Presentation by Longtime Treasure Hunter Robert Lee Rigdon!

 

Coming Soon! I contacted my friend Robert Lee Rigdon, who has 49 years of metal detecting/treasure hunting experience, several months ago and asked if he would be kind enough to give a presentation for our Central Texas Treasure Club. He was considering it but realized that the long drive from his home to Brownwood was not feasible so he put together a fascinating video program for our Club and visitors to enjoy! I watched it last night and it's great! Bob also sent a lot of photos on jump drive to include with his presentation. Everyone interested in metal detecting, bottle-digging, dump digging, and treasure hunting will benefit greatly from watching this video/photo presentation.

Our Club has a lot of activities lined up for this next 4 weeks, Speed-Gold Panning Workshop(s), our regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 7th, then two programs for the Brownwood Public Library's Summer Reading Program for kids about Metal Detecting/Treasure Hunting on July 16th, registering Early Bird Entrants for our CTTC 2026 Friou Allen Memorial Open Hunt on October 10th, selling Gold Coin Raffle tickets to fund seeded silver coins for the Hunt, and recruiting CTTC Hunt Sponsors in order to purchase some great token prizes.

But Robert's program is so good that I'll be working on finding a good location and date to play it so that as many treasure hunting enthusiasts as possible will be able to enjoy it sometime in July!  Stay tuned for updates.

Happy Hunting!

Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

 

 

CTTC 2026 Friou Allen Memorial Open Hunt - Flyers

 "Thank You!" to our Central Texas Treasure Club's Co-Huntmasters Joshua Furry and Caiden Tyler for creating and preparing these 3 flyers for our October 10th CTTC 2026 Friou Allen Memorial Open Hunt in Brownwood! If you need a printable copy of our Hunt Registration form, you can find it in our Central Texas Treasure Club's Facebook page Files section or on our Featured Post at the top of our Facebook page. Get your Early Bird Entries in the mail today!

Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

 

 

2026 CTTC Friou Allen Memorial Open Hunt - Brownwood, Saturday, October 10th!

 Here's what many of you have been waiting for! Our 2026 Central Texas Treasure Club Friou Allen Memorial Open Hunt coming on Saturday, October 10, 2026!  Get your printable copy of this year's Flyer/Registration Form in our Club's Facebook group's Files section.  If you don't use Facebook, email your request for the printable copy to centraltexastreasureclub@gmail.com . Early Bird Entries still only $25 so get your fee and form in the mail today!

Hope to see you on October 10th in Brownwood!

Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

 

 

Most people don't realize that the Spaniards had a big presence and influence right here in what is now Brown County and in rural central Texas. That's why all treasure hunters in this area or any area need to have some knowledge of carvings and symbols that may lead you to some very old and rewarding lost treasure caches. Here are a couple that you should keep in mind when out with your metal detector or just out exploring. The first is a check mark. The second are drill holes. I don't recall ever finding a check mark in this area but I have found numerous drill holes in Brown and surrounding counties. An important fact to remember is that very little was known about the Knights of the Golden Circle when this book was published. Now, however, we know that many treasure signs used by the Spanish and by the ancient Knights Templar were also used by the KGC. These tips are from "Follow the Signs: A Treasure Hunter's Handbook", an excellent book written by Dayne Chastain (1977). We have a copy of this book in our Central Texas Treasure Club Library that may be checked out by dues-paid Members, for 1 month, at our monthly meetings or by picking them up at my home by appointment.

Page 57 - "When you find a check mark, it indicates you should follow the direction of the long side of the mark."

Page 59 - "A drill hole is a Spanish mark. At least, we have always found that the drill holes we have located throughout the countryside of a five state area have always been related to Spanish markings, and more than likely Spanish treasure or gold...

If you find one drill hole, you can find every drill hole in a five state area because one will lead you to another."

 

Which would you choose?

 Woods.  

Friou Allen, Central Texas Treasure Club Co-Founder, Has Passed Away

 

Friou Allen, Central Texas Treasure Club's Co-Founder and my lifelong friend, passed away at 5:00 a.m. this morning at his home in Brownwood.

Friou's funeral will be at 10:00 a.m. Friday, May 8th at Heartland Funeral Home in Early with Visitation from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Thursday.

Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

 

 

Today's CTTC 2026 April Surprise Hunt Was A Big Success!

 

Our Central Texas Treasure Club Members had a great time at this morning's 2026 CTTC Members-Only April Surprise Hunt in Brownwood. Thanks to Lisa Alldredge for doing a great job of photographing our Members having fun! 26 Members participated. The number of Club Members attending our activities continues to grow each year. While the most prevalent natural find today was old pull tabs, a couple of Members made some other nice natural finds. Caiden Tyler pulled a 1923 90% silver Mercury dime from the ground and Tommy Faught found a heavy octagonal "Bell System" telephone pole tag from the site.

Yesterday, I buried 3 special prize tokens - 2 for Mercury dimes and 1 for the Grand Prize, a beautiful Brilliant Uncirculated 1922 Peace Silver Dollar. Members Kendall Thomas and "Lucky Mike" Alldredge found the dime tokens and Alvis Boyce found the silver dollar token. Congratulations guys! I estimate that overall our Members cleanly removed over 300 aluminum pull tabs, pop-tops, and assorted aluminum and other trash from the site! Our next regular monthly meeting will be on Tuesday, May 5th. Visitors are always welcome and invited to attend.

Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club