Popular Post Jonathan Porter Posted January 28, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted January 28, 2018 I don't do a lot of coin shooting, its not because I'm not interested, its because I literally live on a gold field so its actually easier for me to go find a nugget than it is to go find coins. Clermont the town I live in has a colourful past with gold being discovered here in the 1860's, so some of the coins to be had are quite old by Australian standards. Clermont also suffered from a massive flood in 1916 that killed over 60 people whilst they slept, this happened because the town had been built on the flats beside Hoods Lagoon an ancient river channel that is now a water hole, Hoods lagoon is away from the main present day water courses that flow past Clermont (the confluence of Sandy and Wolfang creeks). When both creeks get major flooding upstream (in the case of the 1916 flood it was due to a cyclone crossing the coast 300 kilometers away) the water backs up and flows out over the flats, in 1916 it backed up so far the water ended up inundating the town completely (some say 10 to 15 feet). The tragedy was further compounded because it not only happened in the middle of the night when people were in their beds asleep but also flash flooded at tremendous speed. For those interested I've included a couple of links to recent newspaper articles marking the centenary. ABC news article ABC news article 2 I have a good friend Paul who is mad on coin detecting, especially wading in the surf. He has an advantage in the surf because he looks like he's about 10 feet tall (obviously an exaggeration) so can wade deeper than most with some amazing finds for his efforts. He and I often go gold detecting together and on occasion we go on a coin shoot, the fact I had the Equinox 800 to play with was a good incentive on a 40 degree Celsius day, so out we went while it was still coolish targeting an area he had scoped out on previous occasions. The area he selected was near the banks of Hoods lagoon and was selected because the old town was once there but also more importantly the size of the gum trees told him they were old enough to have been there providing shade for people trying to escape the heat of summer. People like to lay down in the shade, they also place articles of value at the base of trees when they go for a swim, so the immediate areas around the bases of old gum trees are prime locations for coins.Paul having a play with the Equinox I have not even tried the EQ in the coin modes (other than having a bit of fun with Field mode when I was out prospecting, but that's another story) so you can consider me to be an absolute new chum, all I did was set the threshold tone to my liking and put the Tones on 50 using the Park mode. I wondered off from were Paul was digging up a 1 cent piece (he rubbed in the fact he had the first coin for the session, so it was game on). Now to be fair to Paul he did kind of "lead me" to the path of silverness and I was making him use an Xterra 705 as his CTX was back on the coast on lone to a friend. Sure enough in no time I had a sweet signal that screamed "dig me", it's funny how metal detecting for non-ferrous has a universal language even coming from my "Gold Prospecting" background. To me the signal sounded very sweet and mellow with the target ID complimenting what I was hearing, even though the dirt in Clermont is highly mineralised (it is a Gold Field after all) the Equinox 800 just purred along. My first Silver with the Equinox 800, a 1931 Shilling This coin would have been lost long after the 1916 floods but was still a decent find in my books, especially considering I'd only just turned the detector on. By this stage poor old Paul was a little distracted, I don't know who was more pumped him or me, he sure covered some territory with those stomping long legs of his as he hot footed it over when I screamed I had a silver coin. We shot the breeze for a bit, probably one of the highlights of this type of detecting with a good friend and definately more sociable than gold detecting where you have to keep miles away from each to avoid interference. Getting back to it I then pinged onto another "good" sounding target only inches away (the EQ really does makes a stand out signal on silver that's for sure), this time my second coin for the morning popped out of the ground. 1920 Six Pence I've really enjoyed being involved with the Equinox, its well outside my normal scope of detecting which I found challenging, being away from my comfort zone has helped me to grow in ways I had not expected as a long term gold specific metal detectorist. Tapping back into my roots chasing high frequency gold has also been extremely rewarding, I'm really looking forward to the coming months as others start to talk about their experiences with this brilliant detector. JP 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Gold AND silver - nice! Better yet, I am extremely happy to see you able to speak out on Equinox now JP. It has been lonely out here on the front lines the last couple months. Thanks for the great write-up and photos. Good going on the coins, we make make a coin hunter out of you yet! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn90403 Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 You make it look easy! WTG ... we are impatiently waiting. Mitchel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeBoxer Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said: Gold AND silver - nice! Better yet, I am extremely happy to see you able to speak out on Equinox now JP. It has been lonely out here on the front lines the last couple months. Thanks for the great write-up and photos. Good going on the coins, we make make a coin hunter out of you yet! Hopefully this reply is super duper top secret early tester code for we should be hearing something soon! Great finds by the way! I'm super excited to hear anything new about this detector! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontAmmie Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Dear MineLab, I feel that I must inform you-all of my most unfortunate situation. You see, I have this fatal illness and only 2 weeks to live. My last and most fervent wish is to get my 800 before I go to that big ole beach in the sky. PS. My turrible disease manifests itself with no outward symptoms and would in no way impede my ability to swing my Nox (for 2 weeks). Thanks. Mailing address to follow. PPS. Adolf says I can have his. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredmason Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 WTG, Jonathan...a break for silver is always good...but not as good as gold! fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDancer Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 OZ is my favorite place to detect gold or coin :) Make you a convert for sure JP Good on you and your Mate! There is gold in those parks to ;) lots of lost Abo's and Kangaroo's but its a thrill to dig 3 pence 10 pence shillings and fluorine's along with the old big penny's as well. Lots of good stuff down under. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewcon4414 Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Im sure you guys are chomping at the bite to give more details ...... and certain as well the day of shipment we will see BETTER videos of hunts...... thats when the real fun starts. Silver is sweet........ but man gold rules, because i just never get rid of any of my found coins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redneck Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 JP, inquiring minds want to know the details.... settings, depth, trash nearby, etc. You're just waving a steak in front of a pack of starving dogs , LOL . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyFish Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Thank you and your friend. Very good story. Waiting for sequels... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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