Tom_in_CA

You mean that sissy "cal cobra" feller ? C'mon El, you know that I will spank him at every turn, right ? 😏 But seriously now, you would know of this site. And there's been an 800 there, one time, already. In the hands of Greg P. He and I were close , in target count, when we went there a few months ago. He might have had 10 or 12 targets. The close-ness of the count wasn't really too fair, since this is my site, and I'm more familiar with it. Versus this was his first time there. But I can concede that the 800 would beat the explorer in an iron-riddled zone, all-other-things being equal. But after this maiden voyage with the Deus, and after hunting with these 800 guys in other iron -ridden zones, I'm tempted to think that this will have an edge over the 800. JMHO. We shall see.

Hey guys, I'm gonna geek out on this debriefing report 🙂 A couple of friends were down in my area of CA @ early November to do some beach hunting. At the conclusion of their stay, one was kind enough to loan me his Deus for a few weeks. Which I will ship back to him when done. Over the years I've heard how this is supposed to be the "cat's meow" in nail/iron-riddled sites. But never had my hands on one personally. I've always just reached for my Tesoro Bandito in such situations. Which, as you know, is wimpy on depth, has no TID, etc. Then a fellow I know gave me an hour's tutorial over the phone from Virginia a few days ago. Walked me through all the settings, pros/cons, etc.... Last night I was able to take it on a maiden test voyage to a certain adobe site. An "adobe site" in CA, is our version of what the east coast guys would probably call a "cellar hole" site. This site was the adobe home of a Mexican land grant recipient. Granted in the early 1830s. Although the dude might already have homesteaded the place earlier. This is just his formal grant date. And since this was on the road between 2 mission era towns, it was a stopping spot in those days. Ie.: hospitality to travelers, did trading, etc.... Today is nothing but a faint rectangle outline of adobe melt in a hilly cow pasture area. After the gold rush and statehood, this was one of a myriad of the 800-ish land grants in CA, that just got taken over by the incoming settlers. Either via bought out, or legal maneuvers , etc.... And apparently by the 1860s, was abandoned. The *newest* coin we ever found there, was an 1860s IH. When we first researched it in about 1995, it was SO thick with targets, that we literally went into park mindset. Eg.: going high disc, avoiding iron-ridden patches, and not bothering to dig anything that didn't ring the bells of Notre Dame. Just so many targets to choose from. I filled a box with 10 or 20 lbs with green copper, endless cool doohickeys (mankiller balls, gun parts, endless henry shells, lantern parts, buttons, etc....). All told we've pulled about 20 to 25 period coins from here. Many reales, many early seateds, etc.... And perhaps 15 phoenix buttons. By the early 2000s, all the "easy gimmees" were picked off. Leaving only the thicker iron zones to get more stuff. Because go figure, when we started in 1995-ish, it was machines like XLT, 6000 Di pro, Whites Eagle, and Fisher CZ6. None of which are known for ability in heavy iron. Then eventually using creative arsenals to see through the iron, we got to where even the iron zone was getting stingy. So today, the site is nothing more than a test zone. For testing machines for their iron-see-through ability. Such that .... even if you only got some more camp lead or copper snippets you KNOW that your machine or method you're testing is competitive. Ie.: a sport-unto-itself JUST to eek some more conductors from there (even if they're not turning out to be coins ). Thus this was the perfect test site for the Deus . Started with the "basic" (#1) pre-set program, and modified from there. Assume the basic pre-sets, unless listed here : 1) Disc : negative 1 2) Full tones 3) sens : 90 4) Frequency : 17.6 5) Iron volume : 1 6) Reactivity : 4 7) Target volume 5 8) Audio overload : 0 9) GB (ground balance): 85 10) contrast : 10 The results were astounding : 16 conductive targets. See the pix. And as you can see, several of them *could* have been coins. I especially like the lock-dust cover. That was deep ! Of course , since I'm just learning, I got fooled by cast-iron. There is a different sound, but nagging doubts sent me to dig a few "just to be sure". More than I would have been fooled by the explorer, yet more conductive targets that the Explorer would have found last night. And the ratio actually wasn't that punishing. Like if I got 16 conductors, I don't think I got more than 5 or 6 iron . And for several of those conductors, there was utterly no doubt. So theoretically I could have been more picky, and dug zero iron. But it's a trade off , since some targets could be fighting masking. Hope y'all enjoyed the report. Looks like I'll be looking to buy one of these, as soon as this loaner period is over 🙂

Huh ? What is "it" ? There's nothing there. Kind of reminds me of the show where they are traveling around the globe in search of various lake monster creatures. Kind of like the Loch Ness monster, yet the various lore from various lakes around the planet. They scuba and sonar and all sorts of expensive equipment to "find the monster" . They interview locals who relate the stories they heard as kids. They interview others who claim to have seen the creature, etc... In one scene, the scientist dudes are explaining this expensive sonar (or whatever ) equipment, and finish by saying : "If it's down there, we will find it ! It can not evade this detection equipment !". Next scenes they are scuba diving and exploring the lake bottom at length. Musing how the creature "must have gone into one of these holes/caves" (as they point to crevices and overhangs and hole-openings in the rock bottom). They surface, as the show ends, saying "some day we will crack this riddle and find the lake monster fish". To which I had to laugh, remembering that just 10 minutes earlier in the script, they'd been saying that their equipment would have all that's necessary to prove or disprove the myth. Huh ? 😵 Then wouldn't their lack-of-finding it prove that it's not there ? Huh ? WTF ?

Yup. But amazingly people continue to think there's a treasure there. And a "mystery", blah blah. There's utterly no mystery or treasure at all. All the supposed "clues" can be chalked up to more plausible benign innocuous explanations. The only reason this sillyness goes on for so long (and attracts so many believers), is because of the subconscious human psychology that surrounds treasure. No one wants to be "laughed at all the way to the bank", so we hold out hope, and don't apply logical scrutiny . Oak Island is nothing than silly embellished legend. And the coin and nail found there (and "uncanny shapes and random junk in the ground) could be found ANY place on earth.

Haha, yup. And then all ya need to do is draw in all sorts of local history of the local area . Ie.: Any explorers who (gasp) came by the area. Then throw in some Knights templar and freemason suggestions. Then add a few cliff-hangers before commercials, and PRESTO, then you can't deny there's a billion dollars there (or the holy grail, blah blah). It will be undeniable by the time you're done. The fact that it's never found only ADDS to the assurance that it's assuredly there. Just a little more to the right. A little more to the left. A little deeper, etc.... At no point is it not assuredly there. Eh ? I'm convinced that I can spin a similar story about a treasure in my backyard in Monterey, CA . After all , the Spanish were plying our coast in the mid 1700's. And mysterious lights have been seen coming and going. And the Carmel mission and Monterey pueblo were not far away. And no doubt they were "filthy rich". And there's mysterious uncanny shapes (treasure markers) in my back yard. Eg.: The square paver stones for my backyard path. And the rectangular fence planks, blah blah. All of which are certainly "clues". And if I detect long enough, I'm sure to find a nail. No doubt another clue to the Spanish treasure that is certainly in my backyard. Right ? 🤣

Yes, and those mates should be calling you "sir" and "studmuffin" by now ! 3 within a year is amazing. That's like a golfer hitting a hole in one @ 3 times in a single year ! Congratz !

Stunningly beautiful ! How many gold coins total do you have now ?

If you have found a spot on the dry sand of a So. CA beach, where you can reach back to silver (assuming you can go insanely deep), then that means you must have a dry-sand zone that is above all past erosion events. Ie.: Dry sand that hasn't seen salt water since 1964. The army corps of engineers made a bunch of So. CA jetties back in the 1940s/50s, and '60s. Which acted as "groins" that captured lots of sand, and made for enormous beaches (since sand no longer "migrates"). And so there are some So. CA beach zones where, back up against the cliffs, the sand has now remained unchanged since the 1940s/50s/60s. Granted: The silver isn't going to be terribly old, and granted, it will be terribly deep. But I know of some guys who made sport of hunting these zones , with super-high-powered nugget machines (where you can get a dime to 1.5 ft. deep) and found enough silver to keep it interesting.

good sleuthing work phrunt. Yes, the cache coins with 4 characters (versus 2 characters only) on the one side, are the "newer" ones. If they have only 2 characters on that side, they are 1600s or earlier, I think. The only other thing I would add is that : Don't let dates like from the mid 1700s get you excited, for these cache coins. Because apparently they were stored in barrels over in China for centuries, and not taken out till it was time to emigrate overseas, centuries later. So the dates on these coins can range all the way back to the 1500s and 1600s, that are found here in CA/west coast. Yet have utterly nothing to do with the date of when circulated/lost.

Sweet ! And in excellent shape too.

Wow, that's in great shape. Congratz on your first 2-center !

Jeff, If you want to get rich real quick, there's a simple solution : 1) Bottle up whatever potion it is, that allows a wife or girlfriend to get hooked on md'ing 2) Advertise it on md'ing forums for $1000 per pill or bottle. 3) Guaranteed you will have lines a long as a football field lined up to buy !

Wow ! Congratz on your 3rd gold coin ! An md'r attains immediate "stud-muffin" status with only one gold coin. 🤣 But you've gone and done 3 of them ! Nice job !

Bingo. This is so-true. Because today's md'ing is entirely about coins, relics, jewelry and nuggets. Eh ? The odd-ball occasion when we're looking for caches (specifically and only) is typically only when there's some reason to specifically suspect one. Eg.: a story passed down to a family member, etc.... Or perhaps someone chasing some of the "legend" class stuff (which is usually only ghost story bologna). Thus yes: It would be rare that we would need to reach for it. That's the reason I've never invested in one so far. And as for me asking you to post your "other" cache stories : I had a brain fart and thought I was addressing Allen, who had earlier alluded to a few more tallies 🙂

GB, I always groan and wince when I read someone offering this advice. It always seems to work exactly like you describe it: Someone comes on to an md'ing forum , and explains they are looking for a cache (whether imagined ghost story, or a real one). And asks: What's the deepest balls-to-the-walls detector, to find this super deep cache ? And sure enough, someone(s) will suggest, just like you got, to go get something like a TDI or a Minelab nugget pulse machine, blah blah. And the rationale is that, yes, those type machines can undoubtedly get a toaster oven sized object to 5 ft. with ease, eh ? BUT THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS !! Because so too are they picking up every cotton-picking little piece of ^@#$ as well. Right ? To which the advocate will tell you to simply ignore the small stuff (or "be a hero and dig everything"). Imagine the poor cache-hunter's plight when he shows up at the junk-riddled farm-yard or burned down house site, with a high-powered pulse nugget machine or beach pulse. Doh ! So, if caches are truly someone's goal (and they don't want to be bothered by individual pesky singular coins), then a 2-box machine is the way to go. You simply don't hear that stuff. No second-guessing signals all day long. No digging a bunch "just to be sure". Anyhow, let's hear some of your commissioned silver cache stories !

Allen, please share your other commissioned hunt stories. Even if only silver. I've done a few other commissioned posse hunts as well, for silver coins, and will add mine in after yours . Eg.: "Next of kin " who remember family rumors, blah blah. And before the house is sold, figure "we might as well search for it before the ranch is sold", etc.... Now as fun as those are, my bucket-lister is still to find a "wild cache". But you know the drill, with our modern wizz-bang discriminators : We are probably all passing those "durned hubcaps". Versus the old days, of BFO and early all-metal-TRs, where : they were p*ss-poor on individual coins, yet could find soda can and hubcap signals *just fine*. So therefore, ironically, more caches were probably found (albeit by accident) back in the early days of md'ing (mid 1960s to mid 1970s), than today. Because today, we effortlessly pass that "large junk". But in yesteryear, those larger beeps were perhaps all you were able to get (unless it were a coin 3" deep or shallower). I distinctly recall, with my first Whites 66TR, (which is a circa early 1970s all metal TR), that I ended up with more silver washingtons from the school yards, than I did merc. dimes. A ratio which is not logical. But in retrospect, I realize that the silver quarters gave more of a larger signal, than the smaller dimes. So too is the logic, on a larger scale, for those pioneers who were the first to take detectors out to cellar holes, ghost towns, etc... : They simply dug any beep they heard.

Hey there GB, good to hear from you. As for your question of : "Would I have spent as much time if I'd known the challenges", the answer is the same any of us would give : We hunt for the love of the challenge. Just like a golfer's hole-in-one : The more difficult it is, THE MORE WE LOVE THE TASK ! haha Naturally , NO ONE likes it when they don't find that cache or make the hole-in-one. So if you ask the golfer: " Do you wish you'd never played the game ? ", is a mixed rigged type question. And actually, even if I'd known the limitations (that, since the coins weren't touching, that they didn't present the "cigar box sized signal" I had in mind), I still would have tried. Because although they don't represent a singular mass signal, yet, like a coin-spill, they *still* have a bigger signal than a singular coin at 2 ft. As much as I wouldn't have wanted to come away defeated, I love any excuse to get out and hunt. As do we all 🙂 The TM-808 doesn't get lunch box sized items any deeper than standard detectors, IMHO. BUT THE BENEFIT is this : It simply doesn't see small pesky items. Like singular coins, aluminum shrapnel, gopher wire, etc..... It only sees bigger objects. Approx soda can or index card sized, etc.... and bigger. About the absolute smallest it can see, is a silver dollar sized object. And only if the TM 808 is very finely tuned, and the silver dollar is held "just right". But realistically: soda can sized and larger. So it therefore becomes the perfect discriminator to pass smaller stuff. And you're not left to be endlessly "second guessing" all the smaller signals . Which give you nagging doubts that they might be bigger stuff that's simply deep, thus giving a small signal. With a standard machine, you end up digging a bunch of those "just to make sure". But with the TM-808, you effortlessly pass all that stuff. Other than that, the depth is surprisingly not that different. As fr the depth of the gopher wire: I don't recall. Seems that it was underground, unseen. But just in the vicinity of the rootballs around various individual plants . It was actually easy to discern even with the standard machine. And then merely a matter of trying to discern the signal strength (since that's a weak iron signal) versus anything else trying to "bleed through". But still a nuisance, as you can imagine.

Allen's great story of the commissioned search for that family's cache, reminded me of one I'll add here : There is a local dealer here, who has a rental model they rent out (an old 5000D series 1) . A person had rented it, but brought it back the next day having failed to find what they were looking for. They just didn't have the expertise, and were running into common junk where they were trying , etc.... They asked the dealer if he knew of any hobbyists, with more experience, that could help. The dealer referred them to me. I got the call , and asked what he was trying to find. He explained that about 10 yrs. earlier, he was going through a divorce and some hard times. He didn't want his coin collection to be subject to any split terms , so he had boxed it all up, put it into a plastic sealed tupperware tray. He took it to a buddy's house and explained that he needed to hide this "till the heat was off", and asked if he could bury it in his friend's yard. The friend agreed, and the two of them went to this guy's back yard (nearly an acre in size) and buried it. They made mental note of which bush it was near, and paced off the # of steps from a nearby fence, so that they'd have place-markers. Years and years went by. During that time, the homeowner did a lot of garden work in his back yard. Planting new shrubs, moving others, etc.... He also updated his fence. Finally, about 10 yrs. later, the friend came back to get the buried coins. But lo & behold, every bush seemed to look alike. And the fence post they had made mental note of, was no longer the same fence post arrangements. So the two men just started digging random holes in the area that they best recollected from that time 10 yrs. earlier when they'd buried it. To no avail. So they rented the detector. But were in for a rude awakening : The homeowner had installed gopher wire (like chicken-screen substance) around all the tomato plants and such. They got a few typical garbage signals from the yard (aluminum, etc...), but simply didn't know what they were doing. By this time, there were now holes all over the yard. I asked the guy how many coins, and what type he had buried. He described it as 50 or 70-ish gold coins, all together in a cigar-box sized tupperware container. And said he recalled that they buried it no-more than 2 ft. deep. My immediate thought was that this should be child's play. But after a few hours hunting with my standard detector, I was coming up empty handed ! Unbeknown to me, was that all the coins, even though in single container, were all individually in plastic sleeves. Ie.: not touching each other. Therefore, in the same fashion as a necklace, the detector will tend to see them as individual objects, not as a composite whole. The next day I came back, armed with a borrowed TM 808 2-box machine. After another hour or so, I finally got a weak beep. So weak that I almost figured it couldn't be the target (because I was still expecting a lunch-box sized signal). But this was it ! Once we got it out of the ground, and opened it to look at the coins, it was then that I realized why such an amount of coins, at only 2 ft. deep, was difficult : Because since they're not touching, it's not seen as one big signal. It's a more difficult signal, when they're not a continuous singular piece of metal. And the plastic container, of course, wasn't giving any signal. Wish I could say it had hundreds of gold coins like Allen's, but .... oh well 🙂

Love it ! A commissioned posse hunt ! Love those md'r saves the day repatriation stories. thanx for bringing us along. And you very much deserved that tip/reward. Because even though the hunt might not have taken too long, yet you had all sorts of time under your belt , over the years, become proficient with your gear. You can't put a price on skill and know-how.

Love the dug-pix next to the pix of the un-dug. Great sleuthing work and great history !

Good job as usual !

To your recollection, what was the depth on a coin-sized target that that Metrotech was capable of ? And did you do parks and schools turf in those days ? Or strictly relicky pursuits ? (eg. : CW, cellar holes, etc...) ? I've heard of some other early hobbyists in the states in and around VA that also started in the 1960s with Metrotech. But it seems they were primarily CW type pursuits, not turf or yards in regular coin-hunting. So do-tell: What type sites were you hunting in 1969 ?

thanx for bringing us along once again. Great narration that captures the passion. Great scenery. Are you sure the watch is gold, rather than just gold plated ?

coin-master 4. What a trip down memory lane.

I absolutely love the on-location field photos of mother nature's erosion. Thanx ! And please send some of that erosion to CA, doh !