RickUK

That is a absolutely cracking find,a lovely George111,the patination on it is about as good as it gets,of course its your find and very well done but my advice is 'Do Not Clean It' you will kill the desirability that coin collects look for in such a coin. Over the years have seen some stunning/valuable and rare coins rendered worthless because someone has used cleaning agents like chemicals,abrasive and even electrolysis they may make them look clean and shiny but because they have done that have also rendered the item worth absolutely zero because of that one mistake. Leave it as it is,its a stunning example of G111,a reasonably hard coin to find even in the UK but i doubt that you will ever find another one with such amazing patina and that is what you can replicate over night but you can kill it by cleaning it in minutes.

Steve,i really do like reading these topics that you post,the images that you also add really complete the story so we can fully understand how these early classic detector and equipment was used.It all makes so much more sense when you can see the images as well. Bravo,another classic article.

Mike,that sums up my detecting path 100% as well,have been detecting for 'just a few years'.

I never ever rely on what a TID gives me,audio is king every time for me,gold coinage and gold items in general are never consistent this could be due to shape,size and one of the biggest reasons why its not wise too especially here in the UK is that the actual gold content and additives can vary by a massive amount particularly during times of turmoil. Fine gold items including 1/4 gold staters can go down near or into the iron range,exactly the same with our silver hammered coins as well,it was only when coinage started being minted into a uniform size and weight including silver coins as well from the late 1700s/early1800s that one i guess you could start relying on the possibility of using TID safely but we have had coinage and also a wide variety of gold items going back 2000 years prior to a reliable standard. This is just one reason why i never ever rely on what any TID reading the machines give,audio is not only far more reliable than a TID but is also far more reliable at slightly greater depth as well then of course one has the target audio threshold that is if you have set it up correctly.But the audio threshold of course can not distinguish between a good or a bad target it only gives you a general indication and those are often left in the ground by most folks but potentially those threshold audio signals could be the most desirable finds that most folks walk over and leave in the ground.

A nice hoard of hammered silver coins,cannot make out any dates of the hoard but anything like that is very nice......well done to the finder/s. Not all that deep either from the look of it,the centre of the hoard was very shallow and looks to be have been started to be scattered around by the plough.

I have 2 complete Deus units,one setup with the HF elliptical coil mainly running the Hot prog and the 2nd unit running the 9'' LF coil,the idea of having 2 was the LF would be a backup if i am away on say a long weekend detecting vacation.But alas after 7-8 years of using the Deus although the finds rate was stable it had a massive drop from my DFX and T2 days,so these 2 Deus setup have become mainly backup machines and also for use on some of my more trashier roman sites. The Nox that i have has also become a backup machine and pasture site which i feel it excels at and will earn its keep. But my original green T2 came out of retirement a few months back as did the DFX which i have owned from new and my finds rate surprise surprise has started rising again,sometimes the grass is not always greener on the other side.Is it a coincidence that my finds rate has risen again while using both my old faithful 2,i dont think so so nothing has changed in the context of selling or buying detector but what has changed is what has become my 2 everyday machines and what have become my backup ones.

I am using Win7 but FireFox although i dont have issues running the forum with any major issues,the new update is 'ok' i guess but if i am honest i much prefer the older version.

As i understand it and i cannot grasp why,but as we are all aware that Whites US is basically finished or may be reincarnated by another concern,but Whites UK up in Scotland as far as i can tell are still repairing all what was the current line up and i guess they still could carry some spares for older models but once they have exhausted what stock they have and for how long they can carry on no one has any idea.........so Scottish plant is still open.

I have just resurrected my DFX and the 10x6 coil again are it went into retirement after nearly 15 years of use as when i started using my Deus 8 years ago and Nox 15 months ago my finds rate dropped like a brick,they still have found me some nice finds dont get me wrong but not as consistent as say my DFX and my other all time favourite the original T2. I have 3 other Whites machines including a TDI Pro which if i am honest dont get used as much,the TDI Pro i would class as brand new i highly doubt that anyone could tell the difference from one that had just come off the production. So although they dont and i highly doubt that they will start up again the DFX is still one of my favourites and will be used with the T2 gain as the 2 main machines,and i suspect my finds rate will also rise up again.

I was also lucky that i was able to retire from mainstream work in my 30s as well,without doubt possibly the best decision i ever made.living the dream as they say.

Usually what i do is once i have roughly located the target ie the coil gives the signal i then do the 'draw back; method i gradually draw the coil back while its still beeping and when it stops 'its' usually right in front of the coil and almost all the time its bang on target.......possibly not 100% accurate.........other folks may do it differently but it works very well for me on all my machines. Pinpointers are just that for pinpointing the target for the quick final location,but dont dig straight down as you could damage a high value find,worth going to one side and digging so you dont risk damaging the find..........of course of you are a nugget hunter then that does not matter as these folks use a pick axe and i guess it does not matter if a find gets hit 🤣

As i basically run my T2 in AM mode all the time and this is my observation that the TID is much more stable as a result of using zero discrimination and the TID just seems to lock onto a target much better and for the most part stable and possibly at greater depth.......of course the deeper the target is the less reliable or infact in many cases the TID wont show because the larget is slightly deeper than the signal can trigger the TID circuit but the audio threshold still will indicate it......that is when you need to dig,of course it could well be rubbish but that way you wont miss any of the desirable decent targets. The rubbish rate will rise but the reward ratio of desirable targets also rises as well,this is why we usually find that newbies are told by experienced detetorists to dig all and they often find the hoards/artefacts that experienced detectorists would leave behind for being lazy. Turning out to be a very good topic.

Over the years i have built up a fair amount of detector and still own them all including Deusx2 and Nox etc but they still have not come close to what my faithful old original T2 has found me,infact its become my No1 everyday machine again.Never ever let me down and with the Sharpshooter coil has found me more gold coinage and silver hammered coins than all my other machines put together,the only other machine which comes close is the DFX which once again has found me the 2nd most gold coinage. I always make a mental note of what decent finds go in my finds pouch and its the T2 by a massive amount,its a funny old game this detecting lark when a simple to setup machine the T2 takes just seconds to fire up and be away detecting but machines like the Deus and Nox are not as capable in my mind........keep it simple works really well for me. The many other machines that i have these days mainly have specific uses like deep pasture hunts or very trashy roman sites but my T2 is my all time favourite.

Although i dont use them on a MXT i do use SEF 8x6 and SEF12x10 coil on my DFX which is basically the same machine as the MXT,how do i rate them i rate them pretty high have used them for many years with great success.I also use a SEF 12x10 and SEF 15x12 on my T2 which once again perform extremely well. Very reliable and especially the larger 15x12 coil is spot on pinpointing which is unusual for a larger coil,i also use the larger 18'' Detech coil on the DFX which although is not a SEF coil but i dont rate that one all that much,it is very deep on large orange size targets and above but the SEF range certainly get my vote.

I use the HF elliptical coil on my Deus and between 30khz and the highest khz setting i find its absolutely amazing on small silver cut halves and also small roman,works great on trashy sites as well.The 14khz works fine for general use but if i suspect a very early site with cut halves and cut 1/4 then the higher than 30khz just works a treat. The HF coil basically stays on my Deus almost all the time,although i carry the Nox with me as a backup machine its rarely used these days,i mainly use the Hot settings although it does fry my brain some what after a full days use,the XY screen is also very good. Possibly not the deepest setup going but as most finds here are in the top 8'' or so then i find i dont usually miss anything,if i suspect anything deeper on say pasture then the Nox or Nexus becomes the main weapon of choice.

Possibly a Nox with the 6'' coil and collapsible shaft which folds down ultra small enough for a backpack.

Some outstanding images and a great story,we have some very interesting river crossing (fords) here in the UK,have one local to me about 1/2 mile away it was one of the main through roads into our village for herds of animals and travellers in general.But the biggest part of this river crossing is the history goes back to at least roman times and possibly beyond. River crossing are/can be very interesting hunting grounds as the romans use to worship the water gods and throw votive offerings like coins and other items into the water at these crossing.Hence its good to use a detector like the Nox with a small coil and detect the area and have found some nice finds over the years,also about 250-300 years ago they built a small humpback bridge along the same location as the ford more for horse and carts,but over the years you can find some other interesting items like items from thefts over the last few hundred years folks have left the scene of the crime and they throw things like guns,safes and anything else that they dont want from these robberies. So detecting and also magnet fishing can also provide some great finds from these river crossings both modern and also much older going back to roman times.

You have not mentioned what sensitivity that you have been using,many times it can be such a simple thing as running the sens to high and just needs throttling back,try using sy 15 as a baseline starting point and then gradually walking it up till it becomes noisy again then back off till it runs stable again. On one location you may be able in the right situations run the Nox almost on full sensitivity but other sites reducing it down is the only way of taming it. Must admit on most of my permissions i can run my sensitivity up pretty high as i dont in general have problems with EMI only occasionally when i go under very high voltage powerlines and even then its just for a few seconds i get some form of EMI.Just glad i dont detect in any form of city environment and have constant problems from electrical equipment.

Outstanding result,had a few occasions when have found some decent finds albeit not nuggets within a very short time duration of starting detecting then absolutely zilch for the rest of the detecting session. Next time it happens and you find something within minutes get back in the car again and go back home again 🤣🙂 Well done on a nice piece of the old yellow stuff.

Very sad news to hear of Tim's passing R.I.P Tim

Never personally liked Garrett detectors,although the new Apex does look rather slick design wise,i never ever would buy a new detector model for a minimum of 12 months from launch as this i feel gives it plenty of time to see if anything major design wise or even software glitches start appearing. Of course one can not come to any conclusion from just watching just a couple of videos,but must admit i am glad that from i have initially seen this wont be one for my detecting arsenal.

That is a very interesting V3 machine that you have in that picture,has it been modified by yourself to work in a similar fashion as the Garrett attachment on the 2500 ?? or is it a setup that allows you to use one coil at a time but a quick change over while detecting.Gut feeling is that you have it setup in a similar fashion as the Garrett 'Eagle eye' depth multiplier.

George,many thanks for that information.

Looks like the Scottish Whites facility is still doing repairs and general support which is of course good news i guess for us folks here in the UK.

A terrific write up,i bought a 15'' coil but just found it not a pleasant experience using it due to the weight on my right wrist,so it had too go.Have been using the 6'' coil mainly during the stubble time after harvest.But the 11'' coil could well be going back on the detector. Currently running the latest version software although not seen a great amount of improvement yet,but as i use it more then that could well have been a good move. The Equinox although have had it for over 12-14 months i am basically having a love/hate relationship with it,wont part with it as some of my permissions require multi freq but its not the main everyday use detector as i had originally thought it would become.