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I recently been invited to hunt this colonial farm. After digging about thirty modern bullets. I found this 1823 Spanish 8 Reale. Still cant believe someone actually lost this coin. Never imagined I would find one.

Camping on the gold fields at Tibooburra Somehow the search for yellow was a secondary pursuit.

One of the best things about metal detecting is the places it can take you.... Alaska Arizona Australia California England Hawaii Nevada

A few photos from West Australia, north of Meekathara. The gold is about the only time I have hit a patch A few bush flies ,after all the rain. Cheers

Okay, figured it out. Some of the country I like to roll around in. - Dave

Abandoned cabin made entirely of dinosaur bones, near the site which would become the first place to really bring fossils into the public mainstream in the 1800's. It has fallen into disrepair and it appears someone is digging it up and trying to move it somewhere else now. Looks like they might have tried and failed and now its sorta sitting there semi-askew with a big hole under it. A lot of Wyoming is semi abandoned relics of the past. This is an old abandoned uranium mining company town, the whole town was for sale for $200k when I was a kid. By the 90's it was a true modern ghost town, empty of people but still with paved streets/sidewalks, a big school, restaurants/bars, post office, houses, stores, etc. A lot of people my age are in Wyoming because our dads originally came to work at these now abandoned sorts of places, old mining and oil towns. Some people are back there now. An artist bought the old gas station to live in, he sells pottery and apparently now also soup.

Companies like Fisher that still make analog models originally designed decades ago (Gold Bug 2 in 1995) face issues as analog components go out of manufacture. Literally obsolete technology. So a little know fact is all these old units have continual component changes made as parts supplies change from on outfit to another. Eventually a certain part simply cannot be had any longer, and a more serious design change is forced to occur, or in worst case scenario, the product must be discontinued. For a very long time the Gold Bug 2 was a bread and butter model for me as a dealer in Alaska. I owned the first one in Alaska and sold piles of them as it was perfect for the generally low mineral small gold situation in Southcentral Alaska. As an old timer I still have great appreciation for the machine. But the fact is my old dealership no longer even stocks it. Why? No interest. People look at newer models like the Gold Monster that is practically fully automatic and more or less waterproof, and they want and buy those newer models. For people like me manual ground balance comes naturally and I actually prefer it. But trust me, most people can't actually do it well and it was my main problem/complaint from customers the Gold Bug 2 - false signals and holes dug where no target exists due to being out of ground balance. Newbies get frustrated very fast with it, and so again, new models with ground grab or ground tracking eliminate this issue, not just for the buyer, but for the dealer who has to answer to the complaining customer. I still think the Gold Bug 2 represents one of the best detector designs ever created, a true classic, and one that can really perform in the right hands. But it does not sell well any more for the reasons I have mentioned and the days are numbered before it is eventually discontinued.

Found this little treasure at an over hunted park. Marked 18k, tested just less. Local MD club has had numerous hunts on this particular patch. We need a new pinpointer that will detect to 10" now!

first pic, an old miners cabin,1930? San Domingo. back in the late 90s i was on a quad and had to take shelter in it during a hail storm. fire place worked nice. 2nd a rich little rivulet that had a nice bit of gold next to that tree. 3rd a too hard to get to wash that had a lot of small bits in it. 4th is the small hill i think spit out the 6.4 gram specimen i found recently. work in progress. heads down you Arizona boys. snakes are up and moving. i saw my first rattler last Sunday.

I only found 4 pieces of gold last Summer. Their pale yellow color indicates they have high silver content. As silver rapidly dissolves out of gold, these pieces may have come from up on the nearby ridge. Looking at Google Earth I see what looks like 3 small intrusions with some diggings close by. I'll take a close look this Spring.

A beautiful little spot to detect. A nice piece of gold was pulled from bedrock in about a foot of water. (Just below the tree on the left hand side) The best part was to share the day with a good mate and video the gold reveal.

Wow, I’m loving the response guys..... some beautiful shots of your parts of the world, thank you for sharing. The view from my campsite on the mighty Murray River......morning and evening light.

Cool little find. A key ring medallion from the Telephone Pioneers of America. "From the very first, the Pioneer symbol was a double triangle around the words “Telephone Pioneers of America,” and, in the center, the Bell system’s traditional bell. Appearing on the bell is number 174,465, the United States patent number given to the Bell’s fundamental principle of the electric speaking telephone. In 1912, two other numbers appeared on the symbol, flanking the lower corner of the bell. The date 1875 commemorates the experiment of June 2, when Bell verified the theory of the electrical transmission of speech; the second date, 1911, the organization of the Telephone Pioneers of America."

“A museum in Maine is offering $25,000 for the remains of a space rock that streaked across the sky last week before landing near the border between the United States and Canada. Darryl Pitt, head of the meteorite division at the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum, said he was keen to study any fragments of the meteorite, which could contain valuable information about the solar system. The $25,000 reward is for the first meteorite piece found that weighs 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) or more. However, he said the museum would be willing to pay for any specimen “irrespective of its size.”“ Full story with map to start your hunt! https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/americas/meteorite-maine-museum-reward-scn/index.html

The 12x7 has been getting a bit of a run over the past couple of weeks. It continues to impress as a well behaved coil that responds quietly to most conditions. As with all of the coils that currently run on the 6, wet ground cover or damp mineralised soil can be a bit of a pain when running the machine flat out but this really comes down to the price that you pay for sensitivity. Hot rocks love this coil when running in normal but a quick button press into difficult usually provides the answer that you are after. If the signal disappears a hot rock is usually the culprit. Anything else is worth further investigation. One thing I have noticed about this coil compared to the Coiltek 10x5 is that the broader signal heard on the 12x7 has a bit more tonal variation than the Coiltek. Steel, lead and gold are a bit easier to pick with the Nuggetfinder but both coils can trick you consistently. Junk signals that give a harsh scream can end up being gold and silky smooth, mellow tones can result in a small piece of rust. You really do have to dig everything. Had a pleasant morning out late last week and was pleased to come home with some small pieces from heavily worked country. This coil is very good in tight areas and works well in all positions. The larger piece was detected in a vertical wall and gave a good, clean signal.

This was a gold and copper mine close to home, and a big roo keeping an eye on me.

I can't put any up of exact locations I'm doing the prospecting not to reveal where I am going which is a shame but a few photos going to places along the way to my missions. I have to take this road to get to every spot. If only I could show the actual prospecting locations, they are generally very nice spots but these give you an idea of the area.

Here's my playgrounds.... High mtn lake and snow pic same mtn 5 miles from the shack.... Kinda neat to see everybody's areas!

Early spring out in the Colorado Desert, CA. Out looking in the sand for opalite, and nearby for jasper, agate and petrified fossil and wood pebbles left behind by the Colorado river in its ancient exposed channels. Some of our goldfields are in places that generally look like this in the Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree, Randsburg, and Barstow, CA.

I was able to get out a couple times this weekend to a local soccer complex. I stayed on the sidelines and in the shaded areas. I took the Deus II with the 11" on Saturday and was able to find 121 coins in 3 hours. There were 29 quarters and 29 dimes along with mostly pennies. I have hit this place many times before with the Equinox 800, so I was a bit surprised by the number of high conductors that sounded through the machine gun sounds of bottle caps and pull tabs. I ran the fast program with a few changes. The black ring that came from behind tall netting that stops balls from going into the water, is stainless. The pendant was right in front of a team bench; there were many targets under the coil, but the 72 ID was unwaivering. The other ring is aluminum. Today, I took the Equinox out for old times sake with the 15" coil. I wanted to cover some ground and focus on numbers between 5-12. The gold helmet, the second one I have found (the first was also at this park by the basketball area), rang up a steady 8. I was in Park 1 with the horseshoe engaged and 7 recovery speed.

The beach I went to and focused on today is the one where the dock and concrete ship got destroyed by the recent storm. The removal of the dock allowed for alot more stuff to flow in and thus many things have been found near where the dock was. I thought I was too late for all the good finds, but apparently new stuff keeps getting washed in, and the backhoes are still around shifting the sands alot during the weekdays. They prevent people from going into the area while they're working, but when they leave it's pretty much virgin hunting grounds; first come first serve. I managed to time it and get back to the site before the construction crew left and pretty much cleared the beach of most of the goodies. Mostly clad, but some silver as well! 3 silver dimes at least, a crucifix and a grad tassel charm from 1959. Really cool and old stuff. I'll be heading back soon enough as it's been dry lately at all the other beaches.

I am like a child on Christmas day hehehe, I already have my deus 2, in the end I bought the 28cm 11" coil, the weight seems good to me, and since where I usually detect is open field I see it better for my area, thank you everyone for clarifying my doubts, and that this post can help users who are in the same situation as me, if they have doubts about deus 1 or 2, Thank you all very much for helping me and now with all the illusion of launching it in the field this Saturday, what a win hehehe

I could use up all my likes on a thread like this ..and you can't give doubles . But this way I can . Double Oh My's on all posts !

Well everyone that wanted the manticore got tired of waiting so they bought the equinox and figured once the manticore became available then sell one to buy the other.

Beach detecting at sunset can also be quite relaxing

Still a little early for them in most of the places I roam. But, they are pretty common later in the year. https://youtu.be/oyRFgQDC8cU - Dave

Mark... the explanation is very simple.....With multi-frequency, the total *TX of the detector is divided into 2-3 frequencies that use the multi-frequency program....and thus the TX is divided in this way... thus the overall Signal/noise EMI coefficient is reduced multi-frequency program,, Add to that a greater possibility of interference with one of the 2-3 frequencies used in a given multi-frequency program.. and we immediately have a significantly higher probability that a multi-frequency program can be more often affected by EMI.. One frequency of the tor uses all the detector's TX concentrated into 1 frequency... in such a situation it can provide an advantage in a better signal/noise Emi distance... and it is also easier to choose 1F undisturbed working frequency of the detector....,..which will be work stably....as a group of 2-3 frequencies used by Multifrequency... In order to have an overview of how Emi affects the given detector....if you have your own test field....you can try to set the detector to the most affected frequency... and try the detector in a deep test,,,to see if the given detector can affect visible EMI or Silent Emi,,, For example, in my test, I set the detector to the most disturbed EMI..IN 16.4 khz..... graphic scan Emi helped me to select the most disturbed frequency in this case 16.4 khz...!!!So that it works as unstable as possible at a sensitivity of 90....!!! .....Then I reduced the sensitivity of the detector from 90 to a stable sensitivity of 55... so it was also a test for EMI silence...and I tested the detector set up like this on my 3 deep targets... on my Test field "4X4"... As you can see, the detector was able to detect deep targets at a disturbed frequency when it was set to a fairly low sensitivity... 55 out of 99 max... The large 15" coil, which has excellent deep detection properties even at the low sensitivity of the detector at 55, also contributed to someone... another result of this test is also the knowledge that even a large coil can work effectively in EMI,,,if you sufficiently reduce the sensitivity of the detector to an acceptable level.... ...the detector range results agree with previous depth tests of various coils on this test field... Picture:The value is the minimum sensitivity value for each of the tested coils needed to reliably detect 3 deep targets on my test field... :

I ran through my photo library and remembered this day! This Chinese Camp was just above the creek they pounded. This day I only found one nugget, some coins and a Silver Chain. I know nothing about the age of the chain. Over the years the little creek and bench gave up a handful of ounces they left for us and hundreds of coins. I’m sure to this day there is more to find!

Some Interesting Finds From Last Fall And The Long Wet Winter. Pictured Above And Below Is A Very Delicate And Translucent Obsidian Curved Knife Blade. Below Is Another Blade Much More Stout And Serrated Notice How Some Of The Artifacts Take On An Almost Chameleon Effect. Below After A Wash. Next A Very Large Blade. Below Are Bird Point (So Called) And A Very Small Micro Blade (Scalpel) The Next One Is One Of My Favorite Forms.I've Found A Handful Through The Years. The Final Piece Is A Real Crier A Damaged Bird Adornment Or Charm Carved From Slate. Thanks For Looking.

Since there are many members here from different countries and points of the compass, I thought it may be interesting to start a pictorial thread. Show us favourite pics of the countryside you pass through or hunt in for gold and relics. I will kick it off with these from country South Australia. The Flinders Ranges.

Steve: I live in Phoenix area, 75, retired and bored. Decided to get out and learn something that is enjoyable, challenging, outdoors with plenty of exercise. With at least a 1000 steps a day. Searching for gold nuggets has always been a bucket list event. Researched gold detectors and wanted to achieve better odds of detecting in areas in Arizona that have been prospected over and over again. Research, limited by my knowledge, led me to the new Garrett Axiom and found that you are the best advocate of testing and tweaking this new detector and have read a lot of your post while doing my research. Minelab seems to be superior with the 7000 I felt the Axiom was my choice and less expensive than the 6000, plus offered more advance features. I decided on the Axiom and bought the package with 11x7 mono and 13x11 DD and added the 16x14 DD. The 16x14DD in the event I can visit the Mojave desert. Plan to learn how to detect using the 13x11 DD. Not doing this to make a living. But would like to find what others may have passed over due to the limitations of their detectors. Just want the exercise, be able to enjoy seeing parts of the state that everyone misses out on. Looking forward to this venture but going to start by learning how this detector works. Joined a local prospecting club to access areas where I can legally detect and meet others that have detected for a while. Plus plan to detect more often than others that can only go on weekends. Also, not really interested in dredging or panning. Just joined Detectorprospector as a new member and will continue to monitor your research and others who have also bought the Axiom. Really appreciate your insight as you and others with updates about your findings, also. Wish me luck.

So far this Easter holiday my ring recovery service is doing well.. As I mentioned before I don't charge anything for my efforts and people pay what they think its worth.. Sometimes people contact me on my Facebook page or otherwise they see their items there.. I was rewarded $100 for the phone, $50 for the car key and $50 for the ring with Roman numbers.. Whilst I was hunting for people's stuff I also found a few other bits of jewellery and $32 in coins.. I love school holidays!

It really depends on many things like time spent in the field, experience, quality of the location(s), limiting physical conditions, weather, and how serious one takes the hobby? The man found gold and obviously had some fun, that's probably what 99% of us "hobby" guys are after? Simple math: 9.5g @ approx $65/gram is $617.50 minus 20% if you sell is still $494..... One well known member here told me he went 6yrs before 1st nugg, My first ever trip out for gold I popped a 2.3g nugg then 2nd day out another 2.3g nugg. First thought was "there's nothing to this, I'm gonna be RICH!" Things went south after those first 2 days...lol Main thing is... he didn't get skunked and had fun and came home with some nice nuggies!!!!! JMO's

It came up as a 93. It was only about 5"but it was on edge. It was the only signal I got over 90 in the 2 hrs I was in that field. I started to head out to the entrance of the field to wait for the others. We were going to move to another field. We had only dug a few flat buttons and a ton of modern bullets. When I got the signal I thought it was most likely a can. The entrance to the fields tend to be trashy close to the road. To be honest I dug it because I was waiting for them to catch up. And it was the only VDI above 90. Even when I first had it in my hand it was so big I didn't think coin. I said to one of the other diggers I think I got a token or something. I wiped the dirt and saw the HIs and top of the pillar and said holy crap. I was so lucky I didnt destroy it with my Lesche shovel. I dug the plug quickly thinking probably trash. I wont ever do that again.

Not to bash anyone but these "gee, I'm seeing a lot of a certain detector for sale" posts show up every time a new detector comes out. These sales mean nothing. Lots of guys buy new detectors, try them and then sell them right away. These are the same guys that squeeze chocolates in a box to see what is in them and then put them back.

That is a cracking photo ☝️ Well done 👍🏻

Great photos, as an ex West Australian I know about the flies after rain, before rain, during rain, no rain..... For me the desert areas are much better without the rain. Great after rain, but it's dried, especially in late winter for the wild flowers. Pretty ordinary when it's wet, nothing sticks like that red dirt when it gets wet !

Three of the four pieces look well traveled, perhaps from an ancient river channel or bench deposit long since pushed way up.

Mr. O.M.C.1; I have analyzed the nuggets and the weight shown in your photo, used an actuary algorithm, multiplied the result by Pi times radius squared and determined that searching for and finding those nuggets has added 1.385 years to your life. Therefore congratulations are in order.

Cant go past my favourite road sign in Western Australia.

Not too bad for many find nothing for their summer swinging for nuggets. Metal detecting is by far the most challenging method for finding gold. Every year it becomes more difficult.

I checked this little used park 5 minutes from my house and was surprised to find silver. I'll have to explore it a little more.

If you are not going to submerge the control pod, then a used Equinox 800 cannot be beat! You will have enough money to buy every coil size you want from the savings!

There have been numerous threads posted on this subject by experienced detectorists. I always read such posts with great interest as many of my best sites are in some pretty hot red iron ore dirt. About 15 months ago, in an effort to learn and be more successful, I built a test bed using the same mineralized red dirt I hunt in. This test bed has been very educational and helpful. In addition to learning how each of my detectors perform, and how setting adjustments effect that performance, I have noted something unexpected that stood out that can prove to be useful. That is the Ground response signal. It is well known that at a certain depth, coin size targets start to blend into the ground. The coin goes from a good signal & TID, to an iffy signal & poor TID, to gone. The higher the mineralization the more rapid this happens. The ground has swallowed up the coin. What I noticed in my testing is that the coin is still detected, it just reports as a ground signal. Using the Legend, with Disc A you can hear this response. On the swallowed coin it is a good, repeatable report with a solid center & good strength. The TID is a solid 1 and the depth meter will fill. The response from actual ground noise is much weaker and has no center, may or may not give a TID and doesn't show on the depth meter. Having a good Ground Balance is best but this still shows itself running GB at 0. TID 1 must be accepted not notched out. I suppose this behavior is similar to the old way of hunting in All Metal and listening for the Threshold to null over a deep target, just a mirror image. Perhaps like using reverse discrimination on an early TR detector or running a reverse pattern on something like the Etrac. Irregardless, it seems to work consistently and well. The Tarsacci MDT 8000, Vista X and Anfibio Multi using the EUD function also will report these types of masked targets but they do it differently than the SMF Legend and not as distinctly. The next thing I did was to take advantage of the Legend's adjustability and make a special 6 Tone pattern in Field mode M1. I set the first Tone Break at 1 & gave it a nice noticeable high tone with decent volume. The second tone bin runs 2-7 with my normal low ferrous tone & volume. The other bins are set for higher targets. This set up may be possible using other detectors also. Using this pattern, the coin that is swallowed up by the ground gives a good alert & the TID is a solid 1. You can still monitor the actual ground noise, nails still report as iron and other targets give their respective tones. It works well even on trashy sites. In my test bed, the Legend will give a good response on targets at 6,8 & even 10 inches using the 6X9.5 LG24 coil which is surprising. I have only used this special pattern in the field for a few hours. It seems to hold good promise. I did learn that a deep nail will still give the tell tale double hit down the barrel. Also that less that coin size targets give a noticeable weaker response, so the proportional modulated audio works well. There is still more to learn here and time in the field will tell. I think this has good potential to find deeper coins that are masked by the ground and thought others might be interested and want to try it in their mineralized soils also.

That guy selling worthless claims is headed for a blanket party ,,, or worse ! 🥸 Oh AYUH GM ! You are describing a series and it seems you are already into it 3 stories ! 🖖 I think you might even have enough for a Boxed Set ! "Gold: Tales of Tailings (I didn't copyright that, or copyright search . It's yours if it clears the search ....)

Yes, I was scuba detecting.. 😄 I got lost underwater (again) and came up to have a look where I was.. My breath holding ability sucks.. ☹️