Two Bucket Listers In Two Days

[Rick73]

I have been detecting for over 40 years and the last two days gave up two bucket listers. I have been hunting a farm field  for the last 6 years that at one time was a picnic grove. The grove was cut down about 100 years ago and has been tilled ever since. Yesterday I hit the Morgan dollar. It gave a whisper 39 40 and negative -9 numbers. I about gave up on it thinking a large iron item very deep. This was at no less than 12 inches. I run Park 1 will full sensitivity, five tones, no discrimination, speed 4, little or no iron bias. And then today the Seated Half with my Deus.  I use the deep program and just doctor it up a bit. In my 11th window I run x-y 12kHz, in my 12th window horseshoe at 8kHz. I was running the x-y pattern when I received the very weak signal. The x-y line was broken so I switched to my 12th  window. 93-95 with never a left hand horseshoe. Only right hand. This was about 8 inches down. The field is freshly combined and then shallow disked. We had a drought here this year so the ground is like concrete. The Equinox 800 and the Deus complement each other well. About all I have left on my bucket list is a gold coin. Still hopeing.

[okara gold]

Great finds!  I’ve never scored a silver dollar. 

[Valens Legacy]

Great hunt! Nice finds and wish you luck on the gold coin to be found on your next hunt.

[Badger-NH]

 Those are two that I'm still looking for. 

Just wondering, why do you choose Park mode over Field mode? 

Have you tried 4 kHz out there? That might give you just enough reach to pluck a few more silvers.

[GB_Amateur]

12 hours ago, Rick73 said:

...at one time was a picnic grove.

I think that is Dick Stout's #1 recommended site type -- people sitting around (often on the ground) ignoring their troubles/responsibilities for a couple hours and dropping coins in the process.  A coin hunter's dream.

Fantastic finds!

[Rick73]

Badger-NH. To answer your question I am basically a coin hunter. The area I live is not that old so relics aren't that great. Homesteaders started to appear here in the late 1860's to early 1870's and they were sparse and few in between. By the 1890's the area was becoming more populated with people gathering for celebrations etc, as what this grove was used for. I was lucky to get an Equinox early in 2018 when they were hard to get. At that time I had several detectors that I spent a lot of time with in this field before the crops went in. I found that Park 1 just seemed to the best one for me. I think the key is to listen to it all. My 12-13 'nickel bin' tone bin is set a level close to my silver coin level tone pitch. This to me is the biggest advantage the 800 has over the 600 is that you can set the volume levels in the 5 bins. The unwanted numbers I have set with a low grunt at low volume. Now as far as the 4 kHz, this grove has produced around 50 v-nickels for me 'carousel rides were a nickel'. Including an 1885 a couple of years ago. The other day when I was out I ran my normal mode and hit a good 12-13. I switched to 4 kHz and found out I would have missed it. It was a 1916 full horn buffalo at about 6 inches. Now I will say the latest update has made the machine quieter and more stable. The 4 kHz is as good if not better than multi on the silver coins. It is a very close comparison but not enough to start missing nickels. 

[GB_Amateur]

7 minutes ago, Rick73 said:

My 12-13 'nickel bin' tone bin is set a level close to my silver coin level tone pitch. This to me is the biggest advantage the 800 has over the 600 is that you can set the volume levels in the 5 bins.

Exactly what I do.  Pitch (audio frequency) set to 24 for TID's of 12-13 and 25 for (typically) TID's 20-40.  Even the 24 vs. 25 is a huge difference to my ear, and my brain is trained to recognize the nickel zone hits compared to all other tones without having to revert to screen checking.  Even if the 800 didn't include other pluses (gold mode, WM08 module) I think the many audio tone options (pitch, volume, breaks) are worth the $250.  (But I might have complained anyway.  😏)

16 minutes ago, Rick73 said:

The 4 kHz is as good if not better than multi on the silver coins. It is a very close comparison but not enough to start missing nickels.

Again we're on the same page.  4 kHz is a specialty setting which brings with it potential shortcomings.  Fortunately many who have preceded me detecting my parks and schools didn't value the nickels as much as I do and weren't willing to dig the trash that overlaps its TID region.  At least they left something for me.  👍

How about a picture of that only slightly worn, strongly struck 1916 Buffie....  And an 1885 V-nickel, key to the series!  That would get my heart racing for sure if I found one of those.  Fellow coin detectorists, ignore nickels at your own risk.

[Rick73]

Thanks GB_Amateur. Here are a couple of photos from the same field from a couple of years ago. Someone wanted the 1885 worse than I did so I sold it to him plus it wasn't a pretty coin. I have only sold 2 coins that I have found. The 1885 nickel and a 1918/17D buffalo so you can understand my feelings about nickels. The buffalo paid for my Deus and Equinox and a few accessories. Couldn't resist.

[GB_Amateur]

1 hour ago, Rick73 said:

Someone wanted the 1885 worse than I did so I sold it to him plus it wasn't a pretty coin. I have only sold 2 coins that I have found. The 1885 nickel and a 1918/17D buffalo so you can understand my feelings about nickels. The buffalo paid for my Deus and Equinox and a few accessories. Couldn't resist.

1918/17-D Buffie -- talk about a/the key date+MM!  I take it you've found a lot of nickels to be able to claim this and the 1885 (two excellent rarities) among them.  (The Cherrypickers' Guide to Rare Die Varieties of United States Coins is the bible and it estimates the survival population of that 1918 overdate as 125-150 specimens.  That qualifies as a find-of-a-lifetime in my book!)  I'm still waiting for my key date nickel.  As of now I'd settle for a semi-key (at best) 1955 plain Jeffie.

Those three nickels in your first photo are clearly tip-top shape (low wear).  I can't figure out the dates on the other two (second photo).  Any help there?

As soon as I finish my lunch I'm headed out.  The spot I've chosen for today probably doesn't have any V's, but Buffie's are a possibility as are scarce date Jeffies.  Thanks for the inspiration!

[Badger-NH]

5 hours ago, Rick73 said:

Now as far as the 4 kHz, this grove has produced around 50 v-nickels for me 'carousel rides were a nickel'. Including an 1885 a couple of years ago. The other day when I was out I ran my normal mode and hit a good 12-13. I switched to 4 kHz and found out I would have missed it. It was a 1916 full horn buffalo at about 6 inches. Now I will say the latest update has made the machine quieter and more stable. The 4 kHz is as good if not better than multi on the silver coins. It is a very close comparison but not enough to start missing nickels. 

If the single frequencies and Multi are getting about the same depth where you are, I would guess that you probably have a good amount of mineralization in your soil. Here in southeast NH where our soil is very mild, all the single frequencies get significantly better depth than Multi.

When I use the single frequencies, I pretty much commit myself to hunting for a specific type of metal. So, I tend to use the low frequencies for silver and the high frequencies for the lower conductors. If I was hunting nickels, I would probably go with 20 kHz. 

I'll usually hunt a new site in 15 kHz because it's the best all around single frequency being in the middle of the range. I only use Multi if there is a lot of iron or hot rocks around. After I have hunted a site a bunch of times in 15 kHz or Multi, and targets start to diminish, I start picking away at it with all the single frequencies. Each frequency has an advantage on certain types of metal. I often change frequencies during a hunt depending what metal I want to focus on. I have lots of old sites that I have been detecting for many years and I try to use every tactic I can with the machines I use. The Equinox is all I hunt with these days. I would love to own a Deus but don't want to spend the money.