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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/06/2018 in all areas

  1. I've returned from my second detecting trip to England and what a trip it was!! I was lucky enough to be staying in the same barn as Steve Herschbach!! The first day on the fields are a half day usually. After the 2 hour ride from London to the "barn" where we will be staying for the next seven days. The "barns" are actual barns that have been renovated into vacation rental units. We unload all of our luggage from the van, find our sleeping spot for the week, dig out all of our gear, assemble everything, jump back in the van, and head out to the first field! My best find that afternoon was a hammered copper Rose farthing. They are commonly dated 1636. (Look for the pattern here). And the usual buttons and lead. So that was a good start. Day 2: Our first full day. A cool, slightly foggy, just perfect! The day wasn't real eventful for me. We hunted two different farms. At the end of the day my better finds were 5 farthings and a wiped out copper token, plus some buttons and lead. The farthings were late 1700s-1800s. Here at home in the States, to find those 5 coins would be a day to talk about for months. It was funny for me while I was over there, knowing with so much history the possibilities make my hopes and expectations exhilarating! You truly never know what will pop up next. It could be 10 years old or 2000 years old! There were multiple milled, and hammered silver coins found and some neat relics dug throughout the day by the other team members. Day 3: Things started to pick up for me a little on day 3. We came across a late Georgian/Victorian home site members of the team started popping some milled coins. Coppers and silvers. If I remember correctly one member found 3 or 4 silver 3 pence coins in that same field. A little silver 3 pence was one of the coins I was hoping to get while I was there, but it wasn't meant to be this trip. Shortly before lunch I switched fields and got onto my first bit of English silver for the trip! An 1844 Vicky 4 pence in nice condition. So after lunch I was headed back to the field were I got my 4P and we had to walk past a 1700? mansion to get back to where I wanted to be. So I slowed down and detected in front of the mansion along the way and got my first hammered silver for this trip! A nice "full" penny. Turned out to be a 1279 Edward I ! That was the highlight for my day three. But I did find plenty of buttons and lead too. Day 4: This day was one of those roller coaster type hunting days. The morning was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead. Until while hunting near a 13th century church and villa when I popped a nice little cut quarter hammered silver and less than 10 mins later another hammered silver coin fragment. Kinda bang bang! We broke for a short lunch break and went our separate ways and as I was walking into a field through a tractor path I got a nice high tone. But real erratic at the same time. One you would figure to be either a coin or part of a beer can. But when I pinpointed the target it was a nice small tight pinpoint I figured I better dig it. Boy am I glad I did! Turned out to be a 1908 Edwardian decorated silver mount! Turns out it was in a place they usually park the van! The rest of my days finds consisted of the usual trash plus some buttons and lead. Day 5: Today was another one of those days that I was digging lots of targets like buttons and lead... But not one coin all morning till around lunch. After lunch I decided to stay on that field determined to find one of my wish coins a "Bullhead". A King George III silver. And with the coins being found in the area one was definitely a possibly. Lo and behold it happened! A melted bulkhead six pence. Even though it was melted almost to the point of unrecognition I could make out a G III and a reeded edge. Mission accomplished! The only other "wishlist" coin I really had on my mind on my way over was a Roman silver coin. Not really expecting to ever find one. We all carried radios every day, and as a good find was made, we would put it out over the radio. Ron gave the 15 min count down to the end of the days hunt over the radio so we all started to swing back towards the van. Walking pretty fast, with 8 minutes left, I got a signal figured I had time to pop one more. Boom! A Roman silver coin! It has a bad "horn crust" on it that needs to be "cooked" off so it can be properly identified. Early id's put it in the 4th century! I'm really looking forward to seeing that coin cleaned up! Day 6: The group split up in the morning between some rougher ground and some land that was nice and smooth. I went to the smoother field with a few other hunters. First hole out of the van 20 feet away I nabbed a hammie fragment! After that the first half of the day was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead of course. It was a enormous field. It has been hunted a lot over the years from what I understand. The lack of targets for me proved it. But it wasn't a total waste. You just have to walk over the stuff. With a half hour walk back to the van and only about 45 mins left to hunt I spun around and within or 3 or 4 swings later I got a loud high tone! As I was pinpointing I looked down and laying right on top of the ground was a complete silver thimble!! Sweet end to a pretty slow day. Day 7: The day I dread. The last day. You know not only is it your last day of detecting heaven and the inevitable time you'll power down for the last time of your trip, plus the last day is usually cut a little short. That's so we have time to get back to the barn and get all of your finds from the week cleaned, bagged, catalogued, and photographed if you want to see them again before they leave your life for the next few months. To optimize our hunt time we decided to hunt some nearby land. Even though it's also the land that the club has had lasted the longest! Even after all those years there were many great finds found on it this season! The week before we came a gold coin and a beautiful Celtic gold "votive offering" were found on it! I walked across the road from that field to a field that was surrounding a 16th century two story mansion. After a half hour or so of slowly working around the old mansion I dug a small piece of a hammered silver coin. That coin put me in a tie for 1st place for the weekly "Hammy competition". So I slowed down hoping to get another one to take the lead and hopefully win the competition. It was 10:10 a.m. when I got the loudest, jumpiest, most obnoxious signal of my trip. Not being too far from a tractor entrance into that field I figured it was a beer can or a grease tube but I figured I'd dig it up and get it out of there anyways. I missed the target on the first scoop. Moved a shovel blade to the left, stepped it in and kicked the back of the shovel and pushed the dirt forward and a big yellow ..... egg looking thing rolled out to my left. As I looked at it half my brain said to myself " what is that?" And the other half of my brain was saying "HOLY .....!!!!! That looks like gold!!" When I bent over to pick it up and I was lifting it off the ground the weight of it made it fall out of my hand! That's when I knew it was definitely a big piece of gold!!! After Ron came over to shoot some video and take some photos I strapped back on all my gear took 2 steps and 3 swings and got a solid 19 TID on the Equinox 800. I told myself after just finding that thing I don't care what this is, I'm digging it up. One scoop, and I pushed the shovel forward and a 11.2 gram ancient solid gold ring was laying there looking at me!! I about started to hyperventilate!! I quickly got Ron's attention again and he came over to shoot more video and more photos. I can only imagine this will be the most amazing thing I will ever find! It's been over a week since I found it and I still can't stop picturing those two artifacts rolling out of the dirt in my head...... Thanks for lookin' & HH
    17 points
  2. I think Oct was Indian head penny month for me. Not much silver but some cool tokens, shot two ringer, boy scout fob, indian war cuff button, only a couple v- nickels. I gave an 1886 indian to a friend which made 31 total for the month. Mostly old churches and schools. Same settings if it ain't broke don't fix it. Pk1 recovery7, iron bias 3. I learned something last month about digging deep targets(10+") pay attention to the numbers and depth meter the sound although it will hit the target may not be as sweet as you like. One old church had two inches or so of sod then six or more inches of chat before you got to the dirt again but quite a few of those Indians and wheaties were in that deep dirt.
    10 points
  3. Tom and I were able to get out yesterday for some detecting at the same site we posted a few weeks ago. This time I wanted to test another camp site that wasn't far away from the one we got the eagle tongue and groove buckles at. It was supposed to be a larger camp, but it pretty much turned out to be a bust. You could hear iron here and there, and we did get some period conductors, and period iron relics, but nothing to write home about. We did a fairly good job covering it, it just wasn't a productive site, perhaps someone else detected it before we did. I wondered back to the camp we detected a few weeks ago to see if I could locate the other half of my eagle buckle that fell out of my finds pouch, and while that didn't pan out, I did find an old eagle button of some sort. It's a domed one piece cast button, if anyone can ID it, I'd greatly appreciate it. Found another part of an eagle buckle, but no more complete ones on this trip. The only coin dug (old coin, we did manage to dig some pesky clad on this hunt :? ) was a Chinese cache coin, and possibly a toasted copper coin, but not sure about that. Rim fires, musket balls, lead, and hand forged iron and bronze nails/spikes: One piece eagle button, any ideas on the ID? No clue what this is, it may have been made from a copper coin? Old lock? It's cast bronze whatever it is, has a part on the top with a spring lever under it. Couple of iron relics, part of an eagle buckle, love that old copper hand forged hinge: Every one of these copper bits sounded sweet, all sound like coins and some were super deep! No idea what this was??? Almost want to say some kind of hunting point, but it has no edge. [/url] These are frequently found at old sites in California! No clue what this was used for? Bezel is silver, appears to be a finished stone, but cannot see where it attached to anything :S Thanks for looking! Cal
    4 points
  4. Just had my second hunt today with the 15” coil. It is a game changer for me! I have never had a coil improve my finds so dramatically as this coil has. If you have open areas to hunt with real deep coins, it’s a no-brainer. It’s not that the new big coil is dramatically deeper but that it hits the 9 and 10” coins so easily that I am confident that it is finding the coins at depth that the stock coil has a harder time catching.. 4 Indian Head Cents today. I have never found 4 in one day. Also found 4 silvers today. Extremely rare but I did both the same day. My poor friend got crushed again today, this time with his trusty V3i and big coil. He found 2 old coins to my 12! That’s 23 to 2 over a two day period. That is not the norm. He is a very skilled hunter but just could not reach these coins. Bryan
    4 points
  5. My brother and I found a couple of nice patches this spring. I used my SDC 2300 and he his TDI. After cleaning out the "easy" stuff, I decided I needed to get a used GP 3000 I'd had 4 years and never used going and bought a new lead acid battery. I also got it a new NF Evo 14x9 coil. After cleaning out the next layer of deeper gold with the GP 3000, I got myself and my dad both GPX 5000 units so I could teach him how to use it while out together. He and I both found some more good gold in the patch area and surrounding it. I then added a 17x13 NF Evo to my GPX and found some deeper gold I'd missed previously in the main patch area. Now that its getting harder to find gold in my patch, I decided I'd go after some of the smaller stuff that has to be there, so last week I had an Equinox 800 arrive. My brother also got one at the same time. I also got us both the 6" coil to go with it. My last VLF was a White's MXT in 2005 and I never found gold with it other than 1 class ring, so now I have some more modern vlf technology for coin and jewelry searching when I'm not out swinging for gold. So, for 2018 I revived a Minelab GP 3000 by getting a new battery, bought a GPX 5000 and just got the Equinox 800. I think I've become a Minelab fan. ? I definitely I have the bases covered very well for nugget hunting with the PI and hot VLF. Thanks to the capabilities of the Nox, I also think I have any coin, jewelry and beach hunting also covered very nicely! ?
    4 points
  6. Bear in mind that hearing is highly subjective. My experiences will in no way be the same as anyone else's and I'm forced to use imprecise terms to describe my efforts. At 64 yrs old my hearing is relatively good and high frequency noise bothers me more than most. We all know that the Z7000 is a noisy machine but with time and experience our hearing adapts and we become more proficient with it's tendencies. So, after 3 or 4 months away from the machine it's like starting all over and wondering, wow this detector is really noisy. That's how it has been for me over the last couple days out here in Sunny Yuma. Add in some decent rain last month and certain rock types hold some moisture and became a major hot rock nuisance. I hit a deep gully yesterday that had a lot of decomposing course grained granite. The granite is ordinarily pretty mild, but the left over moisture was making fist sized chunks into high spiking hot rocks. They're really not the kind of hot rocks that sound like nuggets, the tone is a short high pitch that falls off very quickly. Going to the Difficult setting really calms them down, but then you're missing small faint nuggets. Raising the coil and going painfully slow is one solution, as well as keeping detecting sessions short. I decided to see if there was some kind of intermediate step with the SteelPHASE system of filters. After some trail and error I settled on Z7000 settings of High Yield, Normal, Sens 12, Low Smoothing, with just enough threshold to level off the spiking signals. Then I played with the SteelPHASE. I used the recommended Mode 1, then went through the various filter settings. Filter 1 and 2 give me a high "tinny" kind of tone over the hot rocks, not helpful. Filter 3 as best I can describe dulls all the tones, but was the best choice in this circumstance to dull the high tones of hot rocks. After a half hr I was cruising along pretty good partly because my hearing was adapting and the SteelPHASE was keeping the annoying hotrocks at a manageable level, or so I think. I finally got over a very faint signal well into the side bank of the gully. I went through everything I could think of to test the equipment. First I left everything in place and switched to Difficult. Not a peep. Then with everything in place I raised and lowered the sensitivity. Sens below 9, the tone was barely audible and mainly because I knew it was already there. I doubt it would have stopped me otherwise given all the noise in hotrock heaven. Raised Sens really made it stand out, but the noise would have been unmanageable for normal prospecting. Then I unplugged from the SteelPHASE and plugged my earbuds directly into the Z. The tone was audible over the target and probably enough to stop me in normal prospecting mode. Back into the SteelPHASE for a comparison. As best I can tell the SteelPHASE gave me some "separation" from background noise and a bit of "distinction" or "amplification" of the actual target. By that time I had pulled all the surface hot rocks away, so I was no longer bombarded with that kind of noise. I switched back and forth a few times and found the SteelPHASE gave me a more noticeable tone, (I think). I dug this tiny nugget out and was again amazed at what the Z7000 can do on small gold. This nugget was back into the side bank and down at least 6 inches. I think its round ball shape gives it a better density that favors detection at this depth. So, with a 6 hrs use on the SteelPHASE in some very limited circumstances, I would say that it is helpful but not a game changer. Anything that boosts my confidence and keeps me in the field a bit longer will no doubt increase my odds. Perhaps for the guys who use external speakers and need an amplifier anyway, this is a good investment. I just don't use speakers so we'll have to wait for one of them to chime in. Given its $200.00 pricetag, I give it a neutral thumbs up/down for now. I'll keep at it, it's early yet and will report more as it happens.
    3 points
  7. Hi Cal_Cobra… well I suppose you might call it a bust, but frankly I enjoyed reading your post and viewing your relic finds. I find that my interest in relic hunting has increased a good deal because of the contributions to the forum from you and others. On occasion some remarkable coins and artifacts are recovered, and that is exciting. But I think what attracts me most to relic hunting is the historical significance of the artifacts and how they were used by North America’s native residents, our colonial forefathers, and the following generations who lived each phase of our history. Then too, pursuing the identification of relic finds is a challenge, not to mention the accrued knowledge about these artifacts and related activities from so long ago. All this is to let you know that your contributions are much appreciated by us. Incidentally, I’ve found a few of the old Chinese coins over the years as depicted below. It’s all quite interesting to me, please keep up the good work, and thankyou for the just excellent illustrative photos………………..Jim.
    3 points
  8. The weather is finally starting to break here in Sunny Yuma. Still hitting the high 80's but the mornings are decent. I got out for a few hrs this morning to try out the new SteelPhase signal enhancer. I picked one up from Rob at Rob's Detectors in Surprise, AZ. I'm a sucker for every new piece of equipment that might give me an edge on the other guys. I wired the SP01 directly to the Z7000 with my in-ear monitors (earbuds) plugged into the headphone jack of the unit, I didn't use the standard Minelab wireless module for this test. I can't say I wouldn't have found this nugget without the SteelPHASE but it didn't hurt. The signal was very faint in some pretty active ground. After I was fairly certain I had a faint signal I ran through the "filters" on the SP01. Position 3 really dulls all the tones, but the faint target signal was still pretty clear. Position 2 seemed to be the best. It was a long tedious dig getting through the interlocking rocks of a deep desert gully. At about 18 inches I was down to sensitivity level 1 on the detector and still having trouble with the tone overload. I got out my new and unused Minelab Pro-Find pinpointer (more toys) and bingo, pinpoint problems solved. The 2 nuggets were actually attached by a thin strand of gold but came apart when I tried to clean the dirt off. A good morning all in all. I have detected this gully at least half a dozen times, and I know that BeatUp has detected it at least as many times. I saw BeatUp's well covered and concealed dig holes so it has been a producer in the past. Next time out I'll try and check targets with and without the SP01 to see what kind of difference there might exist.
    3 points
  9. Yup...all you need in bear country is a .22 ..... if you encounter a hungry bruin or a nasty momma bear, just shoot you ex-buddy in the knee and calmly stroll away. LMAO!!!!
    3 points
  10. I am primarily a gold prospector but I do enjoy all things metal detecting. The thing is I really like finding gold (or platinum, silver, etc.) so my focus is always on precious metals. That being the case relic hunting has not particularly appealed to me, especially given the laws surrounding finding true artifacts in this country. Many relic hunters are at least technically in violation of federal law if they are recovering items 100 years or older and in many places 50 years or older can get you in trouble. I don't need that kind of problems in my life, and so even though the actual risks involved tend to be overblown, it is not something that excites me. I have the law firmly on my side when prospecting for gold on land open to mineral entry. Eight years ago some friends suggested I might enjoy hunting ancient artifacts and gold in England. The UK has laws regarding the recovery of antiquities that are far superior to ours. They actually support metal detecting and have proven so successful that museums are being overwhelmed by the numbers of exciting finds being made. I always wanted to find a gold coin anyway. My friends suggested the operation that centers around Colchester, England. Colchester is the site of the earliest Roman occupation in England and has history extending far earlier. The Celtic tribes in particular were active in the area, with many Celtic gold coins found by detectorists. The gold coins found span the millenia though including hammered gold coins and milled gold coins of more recent vintage. Just browse the website finds page for an idea of the types of finds made every day in this area. All photos in this story may be clicked or double clicked on for larger versions. Just one field of several at this one location. I could have spent the whole trip here. The hunts are limited to a couple times per year when the farm fields have just been harvested or planted, so Feb-March in the spring and Sept-Oct in the fall. The limited timeframe and limited openings means it is hard to get your foot in the door with this club unless you apply a year or more in advance. 2019 is already filling up and people are booking 2020 now. Long story short I made the trip for two weeks back in 2010 as told at Metal Detecting Ancient Coins at Colchester, UK. I refer you there for more details especially photos of all my finds. The hunt was amazing with finds ranging over a 2000 year span. Finds that would be world class in the U.S. are not only common but considered "new" by comparison to the finds I made almost every day I was in England. Yet I did not score that gold coin. There are many found, but when you consider the number of people hunting 12 hours a day the reality is that you have to be very lucky to get your coil over one, even given a full two weeks. I came away better educated on that reality. It was a fabulous trip but I was in no great rush to return knowing what I learned, plus it rained half the trip, and UK farm field mud is as sticky as it gets. It is far easier to find gold nearer to home and I went back to prospecting and jewelry detecting as my main focus for finding precious metals. Nostalgia does creep up however, and as time passed I thought I should give it another go. I booked a slot with two of the hunt managers, Minnesota Mindy and Chicago Ron, figuring that I had a shot at maybe at least one of them. I had never met Mindy but we knew of each other from Ganes Creek days, and Ron I took a photo of making his first Morini Celtic gold coin (see story above). A year went by and then suddenly Mindy had an opening, which I jumped on immediately. Just a few days later Ron had an opening. I was going to decline, then saw by some miracle his week started when Mindy's ten days ended. I really hate making trips of any magnitude for less than two weeks. This is low odds stuff and the costs also do not justify short hunts in my mind. I booked with Ron also and suddenly had seventeen days in England on my calendar for October 2018. By sheer coincidence it turned out that a forum member unearth (hi Gary!) was booked for Mindy's portion. Field with view of the River Stour I got a ticket with United for $1250 round trip to Heathrow from Reno, NV. It is a pretty easy flight really. Afternoon flight out of Reno to Los Angeles, and then 11 hour overnight flight from LA to London. Overseas flights coach class is more like domestic first class, and if you can sleep on planes you can sleep most of the journey away and wake up in England. My return was the reverse but routed through San Francisco with a longer layover in order to deal with customs on re-entering the U.S. No real issues for those used to navigating large airports. It could be exciting for novices however but just relax and ask for help the minute you have any problems. The trips to a certain degree are like an all inclusive vacation with most everything covered, but may include nights out at English pubs for dinner. I did none of that my first trip so looked forward to seeing a little more local flavor this time around. I must be mellowing with age because it is not all about the hunt these days - I am making more effort to smell the flowers along the way and just enjoy. Accommodations on the trip are in barns that have been converted to apartments, which is why these types of hunts are referred to as "barn hunts" but there are other options. Rooms are normally shared - my room for the first ten days. Art was a great roommate. I got far more lucky with weather this time much to my relief. It makes everything more pleasant for all involved. Groups consist of seven or eight people including the host, who busses the group to different fields each day or twice a day. All morning hunting takes place on one farmers fields. The hunt may continue on that farmers land in the afternoon, or switch to another famers land. The farmers are paid by the number of people on their land each day so for logistical purposes it is one or two landowners per day. The amount of land available is mind-boggling vast. There are fields that have been hunted for the 16 years the club has been in existence, and good finds are still being made. This is part due to the sheer size but also the fact that the famers deep plow and turn the land. Targets that were too deep or on edge get brought up or reoriented, and so areas thought dead come back to life on a regular basis. I proved that myself this trip. New fields are also added on a regular basis for those who like that feeling of being on less hunted ground. I took two Equinox 800s on the trip, one outfitted with the new 15" x 12" coil that arrived just before my departure. This is a fantastic coil, very light for its size, and just the ticket for covering huge areas. There is a depth bonus also on most targets but to me that is just a bonus. That extra 4" coverage per swing is far more important in improving the odds for finds than another inch of depth. I will get more into my settings and how they evolved during the trip as a follow up post. United wants $100 for a second bag, and I was able to bring two complete Equinox and everything I needed for three weeks on the road in a single 40 lb bag plus small satchel carry on. Nice! I could drag this out as a blow by blow accounting of each day but let's cut to the chase. Just a couple days into the hunt one of our group found a Celtic gold coin, always a good sign. Five days into the hunt Gary (unearth) scores part of a medieval gold ring with a red stone, possibly a ruby. A great find and Gary was very pleased to find gold - who would not be? Congratulations Gary! I and the others were finding various old coins and artifacts similar to what you would see in my story from 2010 - lead seals, hammered silver coins, watch winders, buttons galore, musket balls, etc. Gary scores gold and a gemstone - jewelry finds are very rare October 16 dawned nice and sunny, and we went to hunt some of the older ground in the club and so few people want to hunt there. Yet I was immediately busy digging "gold range" targets with my focus being on target id numbers from 7 on up. I will explain the reasoning there later. I made a few passes back and forth digging all manner of small lead bits when I got a nice little 7-8 reading no different from hundreds already dug in the last few days. I turned over a spade full of dirt, and out popped an oddly shaped piece of gold! Celtic "Votive Offering" fresh out of the ground! I knew it was gold but I was not sure what it was. It looked like a small torc, normally a band worn around the arm or neck. This was too small, maybe 5-6 inches long, so it would barely loop around a wrist enough to stay put. More like the size of a ring really. Whatever it was I knew it was great and my emotions soared sky high. I reached in my pocket for my iPhone to take a picture.... and had an emotional crash. My phone was gone! I went from elation to panic almost instantly. I left the find and detector where they were, and proceeded to backtrack my trail. I had not gone far and the ground was rolled flat, so I determined I must have left the phone in the van with Mindy. So I got on the radio and announced my find of a "mini-torc" and explained I had lost my phone. New Minelab Equinox 15" x 12" coil helps make once in a lifetime find Mindy was excited and said she would be right there. She did indeed have my phone, so we rushed back and took photos of the find. Everyone gets excited when gold is found and this time was no different. Now that I had my phone I got excited all over again, quite the rollercoaster! Happy guy! Photo courtesy of Mindy Desens Celtic gold, the find of a lifetime for sure. Many of the Celtic gold coins found here date from around 50 BC to 25 BC and so it is reasonable to think this find is of similar age, though that cannot be determined for sure without further testing. Gold dropped around 2100 years ago - simply amazing! Equinox and Celtic gold! The find has since been labeled as a gold "votive offering". The ancients lived for the harvest, and offerings were made to the gods in the form of gold tossed into the field to insure a good harvest. At least that is the theory that tries to explain why nearly all the farming land seems to have at least a few Celtic gold items found in them eventually. The truth is nobody really knows for sure as there are no written records from that time. For all we really know this might be an ancient gold hoop earring! That's half the fun, imagining what this stuff is and why it is where it is. The club has been hunting these fields for around 16 years, and while many Celtic gold coins have been found this is the first item of it's type, making it a particularly rare and satisfying find. It is really hard to get my head around the fact that somebody last held this gold over 2000 years ago. Celtic gold "votive offering" closeup All gold or silver that is not a coin is immediately declared as treasure to the museums. I actually got to handle the find very little before it was whisked away to a safe. The museums will evaluate it, and possibly bid on it. High bidding museum gets the find, and the money would be split between me and the property owner. If the museums decline, I will pay the property owner one half the value and eventually get it back. This normally takes about a year but can take two or more years depending on the backlog. Every item found that the finder wishes to keep must go through this process, and there are only so many experts who can identify and catalog all this stuff. I live for the hunt and the photos. It's not like I haul gold around to show off to people - it all resides in a safe deposit box. So for me the only real value is in making that adrenaline rush happen and then having photos I can easily share with others. I won't mind therefore if it sells at auction and I get half the cash. Clean and easy. If I get the opportunity to get it back however I may very well have my find fashioned into a ring. There are not many people in the world who can claim to be wearing jewelry fashioned before Christ was born. I could sell it myself no doubt for over twice whatever I pay for it, but I don't need the bucks that bad to part with such a find. Celtic gold details - actual age unknown but BC, around 25 to 50 BC if in range of coins found in area The Equinox with 15" x 12" coil did a good job making this discovery. As a classic open ended "broken ring" type signal it was reading 7-8 and was detectable to only about 4-5 inches in air tests. I am guessing it was about 4 inches deep. The Equinox is exceptionally hot on gold and while you can never say for sure it is very possible that this gold item was left in this heavily hunted area because it is such a poor signal on most detectors. Needless to say I am very happy with both my Equinox and the new 15" x 12" coil. It is the perfect coil for this type of large field detecting. Speaking of Equinox I was surprised at how many were already in use with this random cross section of hunters from around the U.S. About three-quarters of the hunters were swinging the Equinox, most having switched from the Deus or CTX 3030. Other than the typical minor quibbles people were unanimous in liking the machine and there was constant talk about how well it was performing. The Equinox really loves round items in particular, and people were reporting noticeable increases both in depth and target id accuracy at depth. Ferrous identification is almost 100% accurate under these conditions. I dug only one ferrous item in nearly three weeks that just clearly fooled me, a very deeply corroded steel spike of some sort. There were a handful of other ferrous targets I dug that I figured were ferrous but were borderline enough I figured "just dig it". Better safe than sorry, but in each case they were the expected ferrous items. Lots of Minelab Equinox plus a Deus and CTX The next day we were back in the same general area. There was one small plot Mindy wanted to hunt and nobody else was interested, so I decided to hunt with her. I was at one end of the field and Mindy the other. I was hunting fast, trying to cover area, when I got one of those showstopper signals and dug a nice 1737 George II milled silver sixpence. I had no idea what it was - kind of looked like a Roman emperor to me and so Mindy had to take a look. I found I was best off not speculating on finds as I was usually wrong though I am learning. The "George" I know now is a dead giveaway that this is a "recent" vintage coin. A real beauty though and I was quite pleased with it. 1737 George II milled silver sixpence It was only 15 minutes later that Mindy calls out on the radio that she found a full Celtic stater, the larger of the Celtic gold coins. It was her twelfth gold coin find on these hunts over the years, and a real beauty at that. I am one of those people who get nearly as excited as the finder when a great find is made - I love seeing people do well detecting - and this was very thrilling to witness. Although I was in no position to complain this was exactly the sort of find I had hoped to make myself, and it is nice to know these targets still remain. I had walked maybe ten feet past the coin as I headed for the far end of the field. Just a stunning coin, and looked almost brand new even though it had been in the ground for around 2100 years. Gold is just amazing in that regard, whether nuggets, jewelry, or coins, they pop out of the ground like they were dropped yesterday. Mindy scores a Celtic gold stater - her 12th gold coin 45 BC to 25 BC Addedomarus - Trinovantian tribe 5.58 g.16.90 mm Can you imagine, twelve gold coin finds, including a hammered gold noble, some sovereigns, and Celtic gold? Mindy is amazing. Here I am looking for my first gold coin and she gets her twelfth - now you know why this hunt attracts people. The next day we were hunting some of the newer, less hunted ground, but after some high speed scanning I wandered off to an area that has been hunted a lot before because two gold sovereigns had been found there recently. There are areas where there are lots of targets, and also vast stretches of fields where targets are few and far between. People tend to like the idea of new fields, but they often have very few targets to dig. I kind of prefer older target rich zones that have prior gold history because even after years of hunting I have no problem digging lots of gold range targets in these locations. This does usually mean lead but I am happy to dig lead targets all day as opposed to being in an area where there are only targets once every 15 minutes or more. This was one of those locations, and I was in gold hunt mode digging lots of tiny signals in the 7-10 range with 9 being particularly prevalent. This almost always is an oblong little bit of lead, but I dug another nice 9 signal and up popped a large gold flake! It was not much different than something I might find gold prospecting, but is either a fragment of a hammered gold coin that has been worn to oblivion or maybe a portion of a blank gold sheet. I don't know but it was my second gold find in three days and so very nice to see. Just making one gold find is exceptional, and two in a week is harder yet. The flake only weighs 1.03 grams and is 15.05 mm long and 0.80 mm thick. Truly just a flake of gold, and another testament to the gold ability of the Equinox even when running the larger coil. I was pleased with the find as much from a technical aspect as anything else, since I have already found countless similar flakes of gold while prospecting. I went all the way to England to find a flake of gold! It finally came time to say goodbye to Mindy and the group and get handed off to the new group incoming with Chicago Ron. Ron is an incredible hunter with a real nose for making finds. I really enjoyed watching him - an artist at work. In fact there are many people on these hunts that are amazing detectorists (Scott and Scott, and Mike, I'm looking at you) and there is always something to learn by observing good detectorists in action. What makes Ron special is he just wanders around in an apparently random fashion, yet consistently wanders into some really great finds. He has one of the best noses for detecting I have ever seen. My luck dropped off in this final week but no complaining here - nobody would sympathize anyway! I had my trip in the bag and was more relaxed and I was admittedly cherry picking a lot more now, focusing on the gold range and round targets. Most people are hunting hard for hammered silver coins, but for me those were more accidental bycatch. I just hunt for gold and let the rest happen. I had the chance to eat out a few times with Ron's group and enjoyed seeing more of the local flavor than I did on my first trip to the U.K. There was a dinner night out with Mindy's group (I bought dinner and drinks for all celebrating my find) that was a good time. I just love the English people and these nights out gave me more chance to interact with them. I even took time out from a hunt to go shopping in town with Mindy just to see the town of Manningtree close up. Again, one of the benefits of making a great find - the pressure was off and I did not get so crazy about just detecting. Manningtree, England One pub in particular out with Ron and company was directly across the street from where the captain of the Mayflower lived. The history everywhere you look is just stunning. Ron like nearly everyone in his group is was swinging an Equinox, and early on one day of the hunt he made a find that is rarer than the gold coins - a huge 1653 Commonwealth hammered silver half crown (30 pence). This is one of the few English coins with no king on the front because England was a Commonwealth without a king for a brief period of years. How this 14.39 gram silver coin was still sitting in the middle of a hunted area is a mystery, but as we all know if you do not get the coil right over the spot finds get missed. The coin is 34.66 mm or 1.36 inches in diameter and 2.0 mm thick. I got a great photo of Ron with his first Morini Celtic gold on my last trip, and here he is again doing his magic. What fun! Chicago Ron and 1653 Commonwealth hammered silver half crown Ron's 1653 Commonwealth hammered silver half crown I added to my collection of hammered silver, 1700 and 1800 copper coins, and milled silver coins with the remaining time I had. I tended to wander off in oddball directions away from the group, doing the "go big or go home" thing by hoping to get into some little corner or hotspot overlooked by others. Given the size of these fields there are limitless opportunities for this sort of wandering, and it often means fewer finds. It is however how spectacular finds like a horde happen so I do enjoy giving it a go. It ultimately is my favorite type of detecting, being alone in some place wandering around doing my own thing. Gridding target rich zones is probably more productive, but it has a mechanical work aspect to it. Wandering is more freestyle and also more conducive to the sort of meditative mental state I achieve while metal detecting. I am one of those types that lives in my head and some of my best thinking is done while wandering around detecting. I get so into "the zone" that hours flash by in apparent minutes. Whether I make finds or not I find metal detecting to be wonderfully refreshing. For me at least there are few things more relaxing than metal detecting. The trip ended with a spectacular bang by another new Equinox owner who recently joined the forum. Tim was kind of frustrated with the Equinox when I met him, but I did what I could to help him gain confidence in his detector, and the finds started coming. The very last day he made a find that exceeded my own in some ways, but that is his tale to tell so I will leave it for now. It was so awesome again to be around when a major find was made, and come to find I had walked about 30 feet away from it the previous week. Miss it by a foot or a mile, and you miss it. Usually you never know what you miss, but in this case I got to find out. It may be hard for people to believe but I am happier that Tim made the find than me. I am getting a bit jaded these days whereas Tim nearly fainted from the excitement. I get a real charge out of seeing that in people and Tim is just a really nice fellow. He really worked hard for that find and it was an awesome way to have the adventure come to a close. I am sure we will hear the details about Tim's amazing find very soon. I could not be happier with my 2018 UK adventure. The weather this time was really great. I actually got a farmers tan while in England! Mindy and Ron and his wife Gretchen are all great, doing everything they can to insure people have a good time. The folks I got to visit with in both groups came from all over the country, and I could not ask to meet a nicer and more upbeat bunch of people. I really am going to have to give this another go because I finally came home without that gold coin. Even that is ok because what I did find is even rarer, and I made two gold finds on the trip. Eight years ago I went home with a pouch full of great stuff, but I think my pride was a bit wounded that I had found no gold. I am supposed to be the "gold guy"! I am constantly competing with myself at some level, and this trip really left a warm glow. Again, my thanks to all involved for making this one of the best experiences in my now very long detecting career. Just awesome!! ~ Steve Herschbach Copyright © 2018 Herschbach Enterprises Many more details and pictures later in this thread plus the settings I used so do follow along ! Here is a partial selection of some of the finds I made on this trip. I won't be able to post a complete listing until I get the museum documents back - may be a year or more from now! A few finds made by Steve Herschbach in England, 2018
    2 points
  11. This was my first beach hunt in a few days because I had been out in the Rye Patch area over the weekend. While I was gone I understand that it had rained and some wave alerts had been sent to my email. Our area beaches get hit hard by detectorists but I know them pretty well and followed my intuition when I got there. We don't have a negative tide right now and there is a Santa Ana wind blowing so the new waves are very small. On my way 'out' I hunted near the waterline. There was very little to find. I walked about a mile or so with very few targets. There was a bit of a trough at the bottom of the hill (beach slope) but nothing seemed to be holding. I was thinking about leaving and I worked back in the direction from where I had come. Then I got a clue. The clue was the junk wire pack. It was completely buried in the wet sand and had a thin plastic bag around it. It certainly is an unusual beach find for me. This pack was at the bottom of the hill and just above it for about 6 feet or so was hard sand and just above that was about 10 yards of 'past wave' deposited sand. You need some energy to move targets and you need the right conditions for those targets to be 'grouped' and deposited. Some beaches will stay this way for a few days and some beaches will only keep targets for a few hours. I look for these pockets. I liken it to a crab crawl on the Deadliest Catch. Anyway, I went up into this area and found a hoop earring among the bobby pins, pennies and a few other coins. I was using the Nox 11 on all metal and I was digging EVERYTHING. Sometimes I skip pennies and bobby pin sounds but not last night. Then I was surprised by one of the silver hoop earrings and its mate was just about 5 feet away. Then came a copper hoop, and then another and all of them within 10 feet. They're all water tarnished. Then I got what I thought was a ring ... earring it turns out but then a stainless steel bracelet. Then another earring (GOLD) and finally a couple of silver rings (.925). I worked the patch with a grid pattern and it kept giving. I had had enough after 4 hours. A 'bad' beach had turned into the most hoops (10) I've ever found. I've been on beaches where I've found 5 chains in a session but they are as rare as this beach. You never know. Follow your clues. Mitchel
    2 points
  12. We recieved the 15's from Crawfords in the UK . Who kindly sent mine with Randy's together for Saturday delivery .Thank you the Crawfords crew you made this hunt possible . Kev my son with his sooty and sweep went out with Randy Dee on a permission that has been well detected in the last few years . And producing Roman coins and artifacts . Randy and my self where armed with the new 15 inch coil . I was in field1, AM ,5T,BIAS 4,RECOVERY 2 . I usually set at 20 but due to the nature of the field iron infested . I settled with 17 with the 15 . It worked great . As we progressed I meet up with Randy mid morning (fund out ) Bloody hell the whyly fox had 8 romans .His comment was THIS A CRACKING COIL. Coming from Randy that a great complement as he has 40 ++ years detecting and has had the machines . I had 2 ???? I was detecting back to the car for lunch . BANG 31 hhhuuumm . Dug over the full length of my JR Stainless spade . Tried it still in the hole reading 29/30 .By this time Randy and Kev had appeared . Randy gave it a swing hhhuumm summet there DEEP . So I dug 4/5 inch out with my digging tool place it on the side looked .Could see a silver glinting in the muck . I pick it up gave it to Randy .he said its a bloody Denarius and an early won .'Turned out to be a Vespiasian . 69/79 AD . My first Roman Silver and a cracker . I ended up with 8 roman bronzes and the Denarius . nice roman brooch . Randy really cut it up 22 romans and other bita and pieces .Kev had 8 and a very nice snake item (*brooch) ??? Se if I can put some pics on . Well done Minelab on producing a fantastic coil WHICH will stay on the Noxie .
    2 points
  13. Tim, location dictates when I dig a lot of middle numbers. Last month I stopped at an old church I had hunted long ago as well as a bevy of other hunters. I wasn't expecting to much but find a couple Indians. Sweet!! I went back the next day three more, next morning six. Altogether I got 18 Indians and 2 v- nickels and some wheaties . After having some good fortune at an old church I went to a couple more with a couple old schools thrown in as well. I'm not getting the silver I was in yards but I'm having a blast finding some neat stuff. So far I've only hit one old church that didn't give up any old stuff. Deer season has slowed down the treasure hunting but I'll still be getting out some. Thanks, Tom
    2 points
  14. I've been enjoying the stock wireless headphones that came with my 800. What's nice is when you get the 800, you also get the WM 08 module. During the hot summer months, I often used that with a good pair of wrap-around ear buds and had zero issues with it. The stock headphones will be nice in colder weather for helping to keep my ears warmer. Like a lot of headphones, the stock units are not the strongest on the planet, but using common sense and a little care, they should last a lifetime.
    2 points
  15. Had a super short spin for 1/2h yesterday. 3,30€, two navi buttons... and a ring - I still don't know if it's copper or something good, but hey - it's a ring
    2 points
  16. Oh I know the feeling. I had no words but " I'm freaking, I'm freaking out, I'm freaking."
    2 points
  17. Dang Bryan! I'm on the wrong side of the state! Awesome finds!! I can't wait to get my 15" this week!! And I can vouch for your comments about the tough ground and the 6" limit. If this 15" gives a little better response at the 6+" range... it is a game changer (on a machine that is already a game changer). ~Tim.
    2 points
  18. Decided to get me another AT Pro. Last hunt back I was out in a light drizzling misty rain with my metal detector wrapped in a walmart bag and decided I needed a wet weather detector. Did a review and I know its not the new darling around town but I remembered how well the Garrett coil performed for me in the past and decided to get another one. Looking forward to chatting about it later. HH Mike
    1 point
  19. I was really heavy into very late fall and very early spring dredging in the late 90's time frame. This photo is from 1996 and was taken by my friend Rich Lampright. I worked a lot at Crow Creek Mine, which is glacial fed. It runs very high and fast in the summer when the glacier is melting. The best time to dredge is in the winter months when freezing temps bring the water levels down by over 50% and the water starts running crystal clear. It also made for some very cold dredging at times, but properly outfitted with a good drysuit you can stay surprisingly comfortable. Usually. Funny how some days I really was cozy and others it was just plain cold. I could operate well down to about 15 degrees. Below that, and the water literally froze in the sluice box while it was running. I resorted to subsurface dredges for the coldest spells as the box being underwater did not freeze up. But even then you see weird stuff. Ice crystals floating in the water build like snow drifts of slush behind rocks on the bottom, and giant balls of slush form on the pump intakes, eventually plugging them. Why suffer this you ask? I was seeing multi-ounce days working by myself. I took a lot of gold out of Crow Creek; even after paying a percentage to the owners it was good. In fact the best dredging I ever did. My best day in there working a 6" by myself was over 8 ounces of gold. This was my favorite dredge, my old Keene 6" with twin Honda 6HP pumps. This model was made with a molded marlex powerjet in two pieces - the jet and the flare. The jet and flare assembled was about six feet long but I could just toss it over my shoulder and carry it in one piece it was so light. The dredge had a stout frame with a lever handle leveling system, far superior to the later slide the box back and forth nonsense. The box was a well built single run sluice that I preferred over later double-decker designs. I never should have sold it. I did however, to Brian Berkhahn, and he also got a lot of gold with it. And I know he now also regrets selling it. It was the best Keene dredge I ever owned. Mark Keene told me they stopped making the marlex jets due to a high failure rate with the process but they should have either fixed the process or just charged more to make up for the failures. It was an incredible advance in the technology, and amazingly after all the years of use the inside of that jet never showed more than light scuffing. I think it was actually more durable than steel jets. This photo is first thing in the morning, breaking away all the ice that has formed around the dredge overnight.
    1 point
  20. Well I can say for sure the wireless headphones that come with the 800 model are the best I've found so far. I've been experimenting with different wireless brands of headphones and I've yet to find a single pair that comes close to the performance and minimal lag time compared to the stock phones. Amazing machine. Congrats Minelab. Minelab Bluetooth / Apt-X Low Latency Wireless Headphones for Equinox 3011-0370
    1 point
  21. So.....are we to assume perhaps that adjusting the recovery can be adjusting the filters....thus the GB? More/faster recovery looses depth seeing less minerals....like here our our GB reads somewhere around 17 on dry sand.
    1 point
  22. Tom, looking at your finds, you must have spent a fair amount of time on those 12-18 TID's. I also failed to notice the number of wheat cents in my vision being blinded by all the IHP's. That is some target rich ground you were hunting. Can't wait to see your next installment. Tim
    1 point
  23. My pair came today. FINALLY, a pair of waterproof headphones with volume loud enough I could hear. I had to turn the detector volume down a few digits and I was happy as a lark. Do NOT waste your money on those yellow Minelabs or the Gray Ghosts. Email Tony and get you a pair. I like the sound of them so well I will probably use them all the time on land as well.
    1 point
  24. The same -95 to +95 scale Whites has been using forever would be just fine by me. White’s is not going to tell you anything about upcoming product no matter how much you try Chuck. Of course they have new product in the works - everyone does. Hopefully they are working on it instead of cruising the Internet forums! ?
    1 point
  25. Wow that's a lot of IHPs !!! Nice token. Is the square aluminum looking piece also a token?
    1 point
  26. Hi Jim, Thanks, I appreciate the kind words. I like your Chinese cache coins, the one on the right is particularly unusual. I was able to ID some of these finds since I posted them thanks to Keith Southern, here's what he said: The thing your calling a hunting point is whats left of a trigger guard..it broke at the screw hole. Big brass piece with spring inside is back casing to pad lock. Cut coin looks like the ones we find in camp's where they were starting to make a replacement rowel for spur..can be found in varying degrees of completion..even seen spurs with coin rowels installed. Button seems to be 1820 period US Infantry Militia Uniform Button.Nice!!! I see you have an earring in first pic...Like the bird on it...Cool one!! The first site we checked that day was kind of a bust compared to it's sister camp that we detected a few weeks prior, that turned out to be really good. This new camp site was supposed to be larger, so I had disillusions of grandeur that it was going to have twice the finds, and that was not to be. Still we detected some old camps in the area we'd previously had success at, and were able to dig some history. I agree with you that while each hunt doesn't produce a rare coin or rare artifact, that each piece you dig tells a story, and in the process you get to touch some amazing history. What I enjoy, is after detecting these sites for many years, you're able to put together a display that tells a unique story. Few people appreciate that (such as my wife ), but the ones that do will generally really enjoy the finds and the history they portray. GL&HH, Cal
    1 point
  27. Nice finds for the month Tom. That is quite a haul on those IHP's!! Tim
    1 point
  28. Yes it is a cool idea, good video. I've been meaning to do road tear-outs in the past, but always seemed to talk myself out of them. I guess I was always concerned they were reworked before and had fill brought in etc. There might be an opportunity to do one this fall, this makes it seem doable.
    1 point
  29. The last time I was up there I took someone I knew I could out run . Another thing to remember is don’t shoot one with a small caliber pistol. If you do all you going to do is just piss him off more. Chuck
    1 point
  30. Id say with the target being silver wouldnt be much diff between the coils...... high conductor which the Nox does pretty well on even the tiny ones that drive us all nuts.... or should i say blind looking for.
    1 point
  31. Would love to test these coils out at some cleaned out spots where 14" and 19" Zed coils have cleaned up to the point of nothing left. The ground is some what hot and the gold is holding at depth, makes me wonder if the new coils might help.
    1 point
  32. ...Today in deep tests 3 Equinox coils on Park 2 I found that I changed very strongly the values of phases at Ground balance ,,, - it was shown to happen when changing recovery speed .., so I checked it-tested: program Park2, sens 20: ..recovery speed1 -number Gb-47, ..recovery speed4 .. number Gb-37, ..recovery speed 6 ..- number Gb-32, ..recovery speed 8.-number Gb-22 ... So I recommend to change the recovery speed,.. make a new Ground balance...
    1 point
  33. Looks like your buddy the "nox nut" is doing great with his new machine. Sad story, that his car AND his machine were stolen, but kudos to the dealer that hooked him up with a discount! Steve
    1 point
  34. Hi William… here in northeastern Ontario, we do most of our prospecting for native silver in the motion all-metal mode. There are occasional exceptions where excessive trash is encountered as described further below. Let’s take a look at how we operate this unit up here. The motion all-metal mode, that conveniently features a target ID, is deeperseeking and more sensitive to ground conditions and to small nuggets than are the discrimination modes. This mode is particularly effective for searching over rough, variable terrain where ‘low and slow’ scanning is necessarily dictated by such conditions, for example, poking the coil between and around boulders. We also prefer its comparatively unimpeded target-sizing ability to better assess what is happening beneath the searchcoil. When searching in the motion all-metal mode, use as much sensitivity as the ground conditions will permit while maintaining stable detector operation with a reasonably smooth threshold hum. Adjust the threshold as low as possible but still able to hear a faint mosquito-like hum. Many senior hobbyists have experienced hearing loss, therefore it is even more important to adjust the audio pitch to a level where you can most easily hear faint target signals. Set it appropriately and leave it alone. I use NuggetBuster headphones to help me hear weak target signals. The original F75 provides two features to ground balance the detector. The manual GB effectively does it all, including slight GB adjustments to offset neutral GB settings to perhaps enhance depth / sens to small nuggets or possibly to subdue various ground / hotrock effects. The ground balance procedures are described in the manual so we won’t go over it here. (a) The important thing to remember at all times, particularly when searching over tough ferromagnetic ground, is to ground balance to the same elevation above the ground that you will be scanning the coil. Otherwise over tough ground you will undoubtedly experience false signals. (b) If the ground mineralization prevents you from obtaining a ground balance, you must either switch to a smaller coil (DD coils are more effective at reducing the effect of tough ground) and / or reduce sensitivity. For nugget hunting you will likely be using a small sniper coil anyway, so reducing the sensitivity is the only remaining alternative to achieve a good ground balance. The alternative ground balance procedure is to use the autograb feature by pressing and holding the “trigger” forwards while bobbing the coil a few inches as described in the manual. It’s convenient, fast, and accurate. The autograb GB feature can also be used to supply additional information about a suspect target, but the technique described below benefits from using a concentric coil rather than a DD coil. Prior to disturbing the soil, pinpoint the target and do an autograb GB over it. Pump the coil four or five times but no more, and allow the software to function as designed. Note any movement on the ground balance scale readout. We find that positive signals from rusty iron, cobaltite, niccolite, and pyrrhotite generate significant GB reductions frequently shifting from typical search mode GB86 readouts right down into the GB40s. Positive diabase “hotrock” signals produce a relatively small GB reduction. But fortunately native silver samples free from either cobalt or nickeline contaminants will generate little or no downward movement to more conductive GB values. You will experience some questionable responses at times that will require some interpretation based on your knowledge about local minerals and field conditions. The GB information provided by this technique can be ignored if in doubt, or it can be used in conjunction with target ID and target-sizing to evaluate suspect signals. We practice this procedure to eliminate unnecessary digging in difficult rocky substrates. In a prospecting context, we utilize iron discrimination in areas where hotrocks or ferrous targets are excessive to the point where effective detecting is either inefficient or no longer enjoyable in the motion all-metal mode. We all encounter areas that are so inundated with blaring signals from small bits of iron trash such as tiny nails and tacks, non-descript shards, and interminable wire scraps that effective detecting in the motion all-metal mode is frustrating or next to impossible. In such conditions we use smaller coils to help with separating target signals, and we make good use of small iron discrimination or iron tones. Try adjusting to small iron discrimination levels initially as suggested above by Steve, give it a go and make any further adjustments according to what you can tolerate. This will depend on the amount of trash you’re willing to dig. Using iron tones or iron discrimination will result in overlooking deep non-ferrous targets that occasionally do target ID as iron. But it is a necessary compromise to at least enable us to enjoyably detect excessively trashy sites. Hotrock discrimination is somewhat different from small iron discrimination in northeastern Ontario. By and large we deal with non-conductive mafic hotrocks, diabase is usually the culprit that can produce either positive or negative signals just depending on circumstances, while conductive pyrrhotite hotrocks are mostly responsible for producing positive signals. There are other minor conductive nuisances, for example infrequent bornite and even more rare graphitic rocks. Pyrrhotite signal elimination is straightforward. Large samples may target ID into the low foil range, but most of it is eliminated with mid-to-upper iron range discrimination. This material in abundance renders entire sites unsuitable for detecting with either VLF or PI units. Discrimination settings do vary according to how each discrimination mode processes our non-conductive diabase “hotrock” signals. For example, all discrimination modes eliminate signals from negative diabase hotrocks at a zero discrimination setting. However while both the DE and PF modes require a discrimination setting of “1” to eliminate positive diabase signals, the higher gain JE discrimination mode requires a full iron discrimination setting of “15” to achieve the same result here. Hotrocks in your area may vary considerably from our experience. The only other suggestion that occurs to me at the moment is to equip your F75 with a small coil for gold nugget hunting. Small coils are far more sensitive to small nuggets than is the stock DD coil. There really is no comparison. The 6½-inch elliptical sniper concentric coil is superior in my estimate, although the 5” round DD is a very close performer over my ground. A further advantage to these small coils is that they permit using higher sensitivity settings in prospecting country because they obviously see much less ferromagnetic ground mineral than do the larger coils. I hope the foregoing will be of some use to you. There undoubtedly will be differences in the ground conditions, the hotrocks, and the trash levels in your areas. Good luck with everything William, and welcome to the forum!!! Jim.
    1 point
  35. I am pretty busy until Monday but will get back to you on this - promise! I will have to dig through my old photos and setup diagrams but I am sure I can help.
    1 point
  36. I found that nice specimen on a hillside that quite a bit of nice gold was found on. I was on a club claim and it had seen numerous detectors. After the first two summers the claim didn't give up much gold. Then the GPZ 7000 came out and I was right back to that claim. The area was covered with snow and was only able to hunt a small bit of it, but I did manage that specimen, It was the first of many nice pieces that were found with the ZED by many users. For more pictures of some of the gold from that hillside go to ICMJ'S Prospecting and Mining Journal Volume 83 Number 1 September 2013 page 60 and 61 Norm
    1 point
  37. Jim, I am posting another picture of Limonite after pyrite. I think it is my best specimen and one more of gold in quartz with crystals. The picture doesn't show the crystals very good, but they are all over it Norm
    1 point
  38. Reg should be a millionaire by now and that pic makes my mouth water. Thanks for sharing, the pic that is although I wouldn't mind a share in those nuggets. Actually started detecting just after 1989 when I beat Leukaemia and had gold fever ever since.
    1 point
  39. Glad you enjoyed them Mitchel. Good to see JP drop in as well. Reg is a living legend in detecting circles. Both the quantity and size of the gold he has found over the years is staggering, and his presence certainly pushes me to perform harder. He entrusted me to post his entire gold album on another forum, but that has now gone. What a pity we didn't post it here in the first place. In my time I've been fortunate enough to work with other pioneering Australian detector/prospectors as well, including friend Jim Stewart. There is a detecting bash being held this weekend at Jims Laanecoorie lakeside park in his memory, and I would urge all nearby detector devotees to attend. Detectors will be demonstrated (Including Howard with the QED) and The proceeds are donated to cancer research, which is what claimed Jims life after a courageous struggle. OK, I know!! off topic but just one more from Reg's album: 27 oz, 21.5 oz 2 X 9 oz, 14 oz, 7 oz, 3 oz. Sep/Oct 1989
    1 point
  40. Another question via email, with personal references removed. I prefer to answer these on the forum so everyone gets the benefit of the answer plus others can offer their opinions also. "I am new to metal detecting and, your site here has really helped me out. I have a couple questions that maybe you can help me out with. What are some of the geologic indicators that you look for to determining where to prospect for nuggets? I try to study some of the geology maps but I could use some further pinpointing. I have also been looking at the National map of Surficial Mineralogy. Using the aster and minsat7 maps what are some of the indicators that may point you to higher gold bearing ground? Any help would be deeply appreciated. Could you point me to some old places where you have found gold? I'm not asking to be shown active patches. Just areas that you feel are worked out. I just want to see what gold bearing ground looks like. This would help me to start to learn the commonalities and characteristics of gold bearing grounds. Still looking for that first nugget! Thanks again for any info you can provide." My method is much simpler than that. I basically look for gold where gold has been found before. Think of it like fishing. If you want to go catch salmon you have two options. You can go to where people have caught salmon before - pretty good odds here. Or you can go where nobody has ever caught a salmon before. Very poor odds! So call it prospecting using history to determine where gold has been found before, and then getting as close as I can to those places. History and proximity. Finally, I may then employ geology to narrow that search in a given area if it turns out the gold is confined to certain rock types. The first place I normally turn as a rough guide to any new location in the U.S. is: Principal Gold Producing Districts Of The United States USGS Professional Paper 610 by A. H. Koschmann and M. H. Bergendahl - A description of the geology, mining history, and production of the major gold-mining districts in 21 states. This 1968 publication obviously lacks the latest production figures but it still is a great overview to where an individual prospector can look for gold in the United States. It is a 283 page pdf download so be patient. Pay particular attention to the listed references in the extensive bibliography for doing further research. You can download this here and find many more useful free books on this website at the Metal Detecting & Prospecting Library Principal Gold Producing Districts of the United States So just for fun let's say I want to go look for gold in New Mexico. The section on New Mexico starts on page 200 and here is a quick summary of the opening paragraphs: "The gold-producing districts of New Mexico are distributed in a northeastward-trending mineral belt of variable width that extends diagonally across the State, from Hidalgo County in the southwest corner to Colfax County along the north-central border. From 1848 through 1965 New Mexico is credited with a gold production of about 2,267,000 ounces; however, several million dollars worth of placer gold was mined prior to 1848. Mining in New Mexico began long before discoveries were made in any of the other Western States (Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 17-19; Jones, 1904, p. 8-20). The copper deposits at Santa Rita were known and mined late in the 18th century, and placer gold mining began as early as 1828 in the Ortiz Mountains south of Santa Fe. In 1839 placer deposits were discovered farther south along the foot of the San Pedro Mountains. The earliest lode mining, except the work at Santa Rita, dates back to 1833 when a gold-quartz vein was worked in the Ortiz Mountains. In 1865 placers and, soon afterward, quartz lodes were found in the White Mountains in Lincoln County; in 1866 placer deposits were discovered at Elizabethtown in Colfax County, and silver-lead deposits were discovered in the Magdalena Range in Socorro County. In 1877 placers and gold-quartz veins were found at Hillsboro, and in 1878 phenomenally rich silver ore was found at Lake Valley in Sierra County. The mineral belt of New Mexico is in mountainous terrain that lies between the Colorado Plateau on the northwest and the Great Plains on the east. It is a zone of crustal disturbance in which the rocks were folded and faulted and intruded by stocks, dikes, and laccoliths of monzonitic rocks. Deposits of copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver occur locally throughout this belt. Some deposits of copper and gold are Precambrian in age, but most of the ore deposits are associated with Upper Cretaceous or Tertiary intrusive rocks. The gold placers were probably derived from the weathering of these deposits. In later Tertiary time lavas spread out over wide areas of the State, and fissures within these rocks were later mineralized. These fissure veins are rich in gold and silver, but in most places they are relatively poor in base metals. In New Mexico, 17 districts in 13 counties yielded more than 10,000 ounces of gold each through 1957 (fig.19). Figure 19 is a handy map showing us where you want to look in New Mexico and also where looking is probably a waste of time. Click for larger version Gold mining districts of New Mexico The map shows what the text said "The mineral belt of New Mexico is in mountainous terrain that lies between the Colorado Plateau on the northwest and the Great Plains on the east." Sticking to this area is going to be your best bet. Based just on this map I see two areas of general interest - the central northern area, and the southwestern corner of the state. The text mentions that placer deposits were discovered at Elizabethtown in Colfax County, and the map shows that as the Elizabethtown-Baldy mining district. Following along in the text we find this: "The placer deposits along Grouse and Humbug Gulches, tributaries of Moreno Creek, each yielded more than $1 million in placer gold and silver. Another $2 million worth of placer gold and silver was recovered from the valleys of Moreno and Willow Creeks (Anderson, 1957, p. 38-39), and some gold also came from the gravels along Ute Creek. Graton (in Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 93) estimated the placer production of the Elizabethtown-Baldy district prior to 1904 at $2.5 million, and C. W. Henderson (in U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1929, pt. 1, p. 7 40) estimated the production through 1929 at about $3 million (145,138 ounces). The total placer production through 1959 was about 146,980 ounces." The reference material from the passage above is in the back of the book and is where we can get real details. Google is our friend. This stuff used to take me lots of visits to libraries! Anderson, E. C., 1957, The metal resources of New Mexico and their economic features through 1954: New Mexico Bur. Mines and Mineral Resources Bull. 39, 183 p. Lindgren, Waldemar, Graton, L. C., and Gordon, C. H., 1910, The ore deposits of New Mexico: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 68, 361 p. Henderson, C. W., 1932, Gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in New Mexico: U.S. Bur. Mines, Mineral Resources U.S., 1929, pt. 1, p. 729-759. That is more than enough, but let's also Google placer gold new mexico Lots of great links there, but two jump out: Placer Gold Deposits of New Mexico 1972 USGS Bulletin 1348 by Maureen G. Johnson Placer Gold Deposits in New Mexico by Virginia T. McLemore, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources May 1994 Notice the source of the last one. Most states with much mining have a state agency involved that can be a good source of information and in this case it is the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources. That last one is a real gem and contains this passage: "All known placer deposits in New Mexico occur in late Tertiary to Recent rocks and occur as alluvial-fan deposits, bench or terrace gravel deposits, river bars, stream deposits (alluvial deposits), or as residual placers formed directly on top of lode deposits typically derived from Proterozoic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary source rocks (eluvial deposits). During fluvial events, large volumes of sediment containing free gold and other particles are transported and deposited in relatively poorly sorted alluvial and stream deposits. The gold is concentrated by gravity in incised stream valleys and alluvial fans in deeply weathered highlands. Most placer gold deposits in New Mexico are found in streams or arroyos that drain gold-bearing lode deposits, typically as quartz veins. The lode deposits range in age from Proterozoic to Laramide to mid-Tertiary (Oligocene-Miocene) (Table 2). There are some alluvial deposits distal from any obvious source terrains (Table 2). Eluvial deposits are common in many districts; some of the larger deposits are in the Jicarilla district." So now we have a lifetime of ideas on where to go and a basic idea of the geology. And an even better map! Click for larger version. Placer gold deposits in New Mexico Let's look for specific site information. 1. Go to http://westernmininghistory.com/mines 2. Click on New Mexico Mines 3. Click on Colfax County Mines 4. Click on Elizabethtown - Baldy District Here you will find basic site information, references, and a zoomable map with alternate satellite view. An alternate site... 1. Go to https://thediggings.com/usa 2. Click on Browse All States 3. Click on New Mexico 4. Click on Browse All Counties 5. Click on Colfax At this point note you can browse mining claim information or deposit information. Researching mining claims, land ownership, etc. is another topic but here is one source of mining claim location information. For now.... 6. Click on Browse All Deposits or Use The Interactive Map 7. Click on Elizabeth - Baldy A little more detail than the previous site, including this note "SOME FAIRLY COARSE NUGGETS IN WILLOW, UTE, SOUTH PONIL CREEKS, GROUSE AND HAMBURG GULCHES, MORENO RIVER" One more... 1. Go to https://www.mindat.org/loc-3366.html 2. Way down at bottom click on New Mexico 3. Way down at bottom click on Colfax County From here you can dig into all kinds of specific site information but the navigation is a real mess. Have fun! Historic claim staking activity can be a clue. You can get the Big Picture by looking at Mine Claim Activity on Federal Lands for the period 1976 through 2010 OK, that really should have answered your question. As far as places I have been, they are nearly all in Alaska and can be found here. Now, I did all the above from scratch with no real prior information on New Mexico in about 2 hours. You can do the same for any state. However, finding where the gold is really is the easy part. The hardest part by far is finding out who controls the land and getting proper permission for access. In Alaska everything is covered by thick ground cover, so opportunities for metal detecting are strictly at creek level, and nearly always claimed. The process there is simple - find out who owns the claims and get permission for access. In most of the western U.S. there is far less or no ground cover, and so getting in the vicinity of and searching around or near mining claims without being on them is a far more viable option than in Alaska. Or you can try and get permission to access the properties. You still need to be able to track down property locations and owners however. For private property I subscribe to and use OnXMaps for my PC, Google Earth, iPad, and iPhone. It quickly maps private property and gives you access to tax roll information about the owners. Tracking down mining claims is easy in the big picture and harder in the details. The Diggings referenced before has interactive claims maps. I subscribe to Minecache for their Google Earth overlay. However, the most comprehensive source with the deepest repository of Land Ownership information is Land Matters. They have online claim mapping with direct links to claims owner information. Note that all online sources have a lag time between the actual staking of a claim on the ground and when it reaches the online systems, if ever. I say if ever because some claims exist solely at the county or state levels and there is no good way to find them short of visiting local recorder's offices or eyeballs on the ground. Prior thread on finding claims information. Finally, I am not an expert geologist by any means. This is just how I go about it, but any tips, hints, advice, or information anyone is willing to share on this thread are very welcome!!
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  41. Fringe areas, that is areas just outside known producing areas, same geology, little rubbish but that is where it has been at for me for last 20 years. Takes some persistence, faith and patience to go weeks without a piece but when you hit it ..............Wow..............
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  42. Two fingers, maybe 14 words per minute tops. My speed and accuracy has really gotten screwed up typing with one finger on my phone or iPad combined with spell check doing a number on me at times. As slow as I am I have to slow down more. I tend to bang stuff out, post, and go back and edit later. Sloppy! Thanks for the kudos, the warm fuzzies make the effort worthwhile!
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  43. Hubee57 is a Laugh and a Digger!! Exciting but Scary Bush Gold Hunt Cheers, Ig
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  44. Started of with a quiet signal took a bit of digging to reach target Finaly got it out 1st bit followed by a deeper signal more signals And more signals being nuggety gold bearing quartz And more signals All the quartz is giving of signals and most is yet to be crushed waiting for a rainy day but at this stage its a case off still working out if return for effort will be worth it. Trouble with nuggety gold bearing quartz there can be a lot of digging before the next signal
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  45. This picture is of some of my brothers gold.. all found with the GPX5000 and the 14" elite coil he was going to head over to W.A the year he found all this gold. Seems his car had other idea's, it kept breaking down on him. Each time he would fix a problem... the car had another one. He couldn't win. So no W.A trip for him that year Car did him a huge favour, as he did very well that year in Victoria. the bigger piece almost weighed in at 20 ounces, (doesn't look it, sure is nice to feel the weight of it ) he dug down through 1 foot of an old timers mullock heap, then still had to dig down another foot into the hard compact dirt, said he nearly gave up, as the hole was hard digging, he couldn't dig anymore, with bleeding knuckles, buggered from shear digging.. he thought I have to find out what this is.. maybe a coke can or a big lump of rust! just as well he didn't give up hey? It could have turned out to one of those story's we read about. ("Big gold find, someone started to dig this hole, as the first foot and an half was filled back in! " ) he had a ball with that coil. Not all the gold came from the same area.
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  46. Just a few finds of mine and some combined finds of Glen's and mine to wet the appetite.
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  47. G'day All, thanks Mitchel for this great thread. I thought I would share this pic of my very first gold pour, a nice 1oz ingot.
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