RickUK

Thats a very nice and unusual find,those types of coin memorabilia had been pretty popular back in the 70s as we have a couple of them,they had been given to workers of big corporations to commemorate major milestones in the companies history like say 100 years that type of thing.

The couple that we have had been given by family and friends and stuck in draws or boxes,they also had US coinage i am assuming with the date that the company or institution key dates like say 100 years from 1875-1975 of course coins from the 1800s are hard to get in bulk,but you could buy rolls of these new coins and keep them nice an shiny by preserving them in that acrylic and it was the in thing at the time,did not cost alot too make and kept the coins like new,often made for paper weights that type of thing.

Once again well done on a unusual to see find these days.

8 minutes ago, Dances With Doves said:

I tried a sens. setting of 15 in pk2 and mult freq. on the 2  targets I just  tested and the chain gave a soft  hit  with   the right tone and id number.   The ring gave a soft sound with the right tone sound but with no id numbers at that sens. setting.

No two identical settings will provide the same results,the main time and targets that i guess i would use this type of combination and also targets would be slightly more biased towards coins and gold artifacts rather than small or micro jewellery.Gold hammered coins like celtic gold staters which the 1/4 staters are relatively small but not as small as say a gold ear stud or that size item.Also as i detect mainly farmland or inland in general gold jewellery ie chains etc are certainly harder to find than say on a beach location or swim hole,so the bias is more towards gold coinage both hammered which are the most desirable of targets rather than say a gold milled coin but of course coins are going too be slightly easier than say gold chains especially 'fine' gold chains.

It all depends on what you are aiming for target wise and anything that can slightly increase the odds in your favour must be better than say random chance,as we all hunt different targets the main denominator is of course 'gold' but hunting for gold nuggets in Aussie land or Arizona is vastly different to say other gold jewellery or gold coinage.

Certainly a very interesting topic that we can all learn from. 

That 6'' coil on the Nox is a deadly coil on small gold,my main setup items that i use when trying different settings are a small celtic gold 1/4 stater,a smallish chain with a broken clasp and a small gold earing.

These are my prime target size items that i would be after,we dont have gold nuggets,jewellery size items would be found down near a very old river ford crossing that has been used possibly going back 2000 years,during the hot summer months the local mums take the kids down and that is the small location that always provides fold rings,not other gold jewellery items as such not like a general beach just rings that have fallen off whilst in the cold water.

The highly desirable celtic gold staters and also hammered gold coins are also the main targets,the Nox with that small coil is my main machine for that,usually would run it in multi freq with slow and methodically swings of the small coil,have also been trying different sensitivity settings as well and even reducing the settings right down detuning the detector down to even 14-15 and if i am honest i think by doing this it slightly improves signal response as you are reducing the ground matrix.Of course this is just my personal opinion as most folks tend to crank up the sensitivity much higher and in some instances i find that by increasing or running hotter settings it can be counter productive.Many folks will probably disagree with me on this one but i use the settings that work best for me and my sites. 

I still own a original Silver Sabre11 with the plastic control box although the original alloy 'coffin box' was 'possibly' the best version,outstanding machines but alas very antiquated and although renown for really trashy site performance they are not used by many folks these days and this is the main reason that Tesoro died last year.

Cannot recall the last time i have seen anyone using a Tesoro dete3ctor that is in the UK that is,but wind the clock back 25-30 ie late 80s -early 90s these machines could be seen being used by many folks.Alas they ended up becoming doorstops or occasional use for trips down good old memory lane,hence mine possibly comes out once a year for that trip.

Interesting observation,small chains are notoriously hard to find with a detector,since we have been in lockdown mode for many months i have been testing various detector/coil and freq combinations on small gold items basically trying to increase the odds in my favour.The winning combination thus far that hits not only on small gold items and small gold coins like celtic 1/4 staters has been the Deus running hot with the elliptical coil running top of the shop 80khz,of course you wont get the depth of say running it in lower freq's but as most of my everyday finds are mainly in the top 6-8'' the elliptical coil is still my preferred coil of choice and can also run the sensitivity up high as well.

For pasture  use or backup detector then the Equinox still wins hands down,but still this combination although pretty deep still as yet has not take my everyday use crown off the Deus with that HF elliptical coil.

Of course not everyone would/will agree on using such a high freq but i use what suits me best and it also ticks the lightness box as well for me,on one of the roman sites that i have detected with a club for years this site is phenomenally high in mineral content and possibly the hardest site that i have detected that is when the TDI Pro with the 9x5 folded mono coil earns its keep.

A few years ago one of the cheapest VLF machines at the time that became one of the hottest desirable and you name a price detector was the T2 especially with the 5'' coil on,the T2 was so desirable for nugget hunting out in Africa and Sudan it was a case that the factory could not produce them quick enough,it eventually became a 'you name the price' gold detector of choice.

Although other more specific gold detectors have been produced,most i would think are slightly out of your budget,but i was just using the example of the T2 as what can be achieved with a low price machine.I could of sold mine for 4-5 times the price i paid for mine,it was that crazy,but one observation i have seen that is although i dont personally nugget hunt my T2 has found me more gold items and i mean alot more than all my other machine put together.

I have for the most part always used the 6'' coil on the Nox,main reason being the weght of the stock coil kills my accident damaged right wrist,but the 6'' works a treat but just this morning the stock 11'' coil has gone back on the detector.Although i found it not a real pleasure to use for long periods of time,i have started 'having' to use a full harness again even when using a small 5-6'' coil my wrist is that bad,but a harness makes it possible.

Also had the 15'' coil,great ground coverage but totally unusable for me due to the weight,so i exchanged it for a brand new Deus HF elliptical coil,the deal was certainly advantageous in my favour.

When we finally can get out again on club digs and certainly after harvest time then will give the stock coil another try,with the hot weather we are having at the moment the spade just bounces off the concrete soil conditions.

This is just my personal opinion that the Equinox is a terrific machine my Deus with the HF elliptical coil still is the one that i grab as i go out the door and currently Nox is my backup machine or when i am detecting on pasture sites.

I have never had any problems with my pinpointer in all the years that i have owned my DFX which is certainly over 16 years of crosstalking with the detector,but thats the big plus of using the DX-1 inline probe.Without doubt that best pinpointer that i have ever used.Only down side is that its tethered to just that one machine or a MXT or M6.

That is a massive blessing for folks here in the UK unless you are looking for spendables off the beach but as most folks are after jewellery more than anything then that is still not really a issue as such.Modern coinage here especially our very low denomination coins ie micky mouse money as i call it has other non desirable metals added so they either corrode very quickly or just basically confuse the detectors discrimination setup.

But as we have coinage going back 1000s of years in then although a possible short or even a long term shortage of modern coinage could happen it does not really worry us,we are moving towards a cashless society anyway and has been for a fair amount of time,all online transaction are cashless and this extends from Amazon/Ebay and every day groceries and almost everyday home/business use as well.As a result of the current pandemic most shops only have been taking cashless transactions,this is a trend that will continue and will in years to come will be the everyday norm.

So although its a current day coin shortage it will become almost zero in the the future and quicker than most folks think it will.

Times are changing,a interesting fact about one of our older coins ie a 1797 Georgian Cartwheel penny these coins are absolutely massive size wise and the weight of them was exactly 1oz the 2penny coin was even larger and weighed 2oz can you imagion the weight that must have been have some of those in your pockets,i would rather take the cashless card option like we are currently doing and will become the new norm.

Must admit i am also very surprised that they have lasted this long,i am not knocking the company as i still own 4 machines DFX,IDX Pro,Xlt and the TDI Pro,only 3 are used 2 occasionally ie xlt and TDI Pro and DFX the latter on was my main machine for well over e decade as it was in the 1st batch that came into the UK,still in very good condition not the deepest machine going but apart from my T2 its found me the widest selection of finds of all my detectors and trust me i still own about 25 detectors and about 50 coils.But the DFX with the Hotshot coil and also the 10x6 has been the deadliest combinations.

TDI Pro that is still the same condition as when it came off the production line,was slightly concerned about the battery packs after they stopped shipping them but was lucky to be able to buy a brand new one within a week or so of buying the TDI Pro,this detector is a for ever stayer.

Service up in the Scottish factory have been totally amazing in providing help,advice and also providing new parts free of charge both in or out of warranty,but i have never had any major problems that require a machine or a coil to be returned for faults.

Its a total shame that they have closed down across the pond,not sure what is happening with the UK factory as yet,but i hope it can be kept open.The main reason/s they closed is that although the detectors worked well and built like tanks,and all the comments are usually along the lines of they had one say 20-30 years ago and found some items,but folks dont want heavy tank like detectors nor do they want to keep them for decades.They built detector that they thought folks wanted and not what folks actually wanted and that is basically when the wheels started falling off,the VX3 or what ever the top of the range was is a technically marvel with that brilliant colour screen and more adjustments that setting up a flight to the moon,but folks dont want too spend so much time adjusting all the variables to get the best results out of it,hence why i never bought one but i did use one.

Th writing was on the wall from 7-8 years ago and they never had the technical boffins in recent years to pull a magical detector that folks had suggested some time back,and as they say the rest is history....,,.all this BS about china had a big downward affect on sales is just that BS.

Of course its terrible news and we hoped it would never happen but if the companies management had not buried the heads in the sand and listened then it could well of survived.

Some really nice finds,the top item looks like a barrel tap,yours looks like it its a screw type but the ones that we find here in the UK are usually 'hammered' into the wooden barrel,have found a few over the years and they do clean up nicely as well.Not of any value but after cleaning they make nice ornaments.

Really like the 'spur rowel' would that be military or country gentleman type spur ?? and roughly what date would that be.

Well done for getting your new DFX,must admit mine has been dusted down again for when the new season starts again here in the UK,never personally liked the stock 950 coil,although i have about 8 coils for the machine the only 2 that i have basically ever used is the 10x6 elliptical and also my favourite the Jimmy Sierra 12'' Hotshot coil as i find that is about the same weight as the stock coil but does go alot deeper.

Although it has dual freq most user that owned the DFX always preferred to run the Land1 settings which for the most part runs in single 15khz and just suits our targets better,i guess its basically running like a MXT,but thats the way that i have run it for nearly 17 years.

For some reason the DFX never caught on here in the UK in the same way as across the pond,in my mind the main feature about the DFX is the Signagraph,someone mention buying the Digging deeper book,i bought a copy years ago and although in theory its often seen as the DFX bible i found it the hardest operating book for a detector going.So it basically just sits in the bookshelf gathering dust,the one that i did find helpful is the one that was written by Jimmy Sierra and given away free by Whites when the DFX was the top machine in the lineup.

One thing i did do is invest in one of the RNB battery packs and have had that a fair few years it just keeps going and going as my original Whites rechargeable battery finally packed up and the RNB battery offers a longer battery life and was infact also cheaper than the Whites one.

I dont own a Orx but i do own and use a Deus infact 2 of them one with the LF coil and the other setup using my favourite combination the HF elliptical coil,also own and use a Equinox and between these 2 machines they cover about 95% of my detecting needs.The HP elliptical coil excels on my roman/saxon sites as some of these can be heavily contaminated by iron and other non desirables and target separation and quick recovery speed is what the XP machines excel at.

But the Equinox is king on pasture sites,still basically is my backup machine as yet it still has not taken the crown as my favourite detector from the Deus.

Very well done on getting the AQ,really look forward to reading your ongoing and honest review.

Bloody hell,that is a stunning find,that surely quality over quantity thats a very desirable blue lump of ice.....me likes that alot...well done on a stunning find.

@Gerry in Idaho

Gerry,thanks for your reply,as you can tell we dont in theory have such things as nuggets or gold in it natural form,but of course we do find some pretty decent gold items/object ie coinage and other highly desirable objects going back 1000s of years albeit not as far back as when gold was formed in the ground but the common denominator is still the old yellow stuff its just in a different format ?

Once again thanks Gerry for your reply and stay safe and well.

10 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

In Australia a specimen like that is often crushed and melted into an ingot. In the U.S. such specimens are far rarer, and this would command a premium over the gold value left as is or perhaps enhanced with acid treatment.

It's a stunner for sure - thanks for sharing Gerry!

Steve,as usual a terrific reply,thanks very much and i finally understand what its outcome will probably be.

That is outstanding and well done to the lucky finder,what would be the outcome of that find will it be crushed or what ever you guys do with it so that you gain access to the gold from the rock or is it worth more in its current state ie still intact in the rock ?? hope its not a stupid question but always wondered what the outcome would be.

Steve,will look forward to your review and hopefully not just on wet beaches but also general use  if that is your gameplan,do they ship these detectors to the UK or just mainly the US ?? as the ability to be used on sites littered with iron  does seem to be the main thing that is grabbing my attention,some of my sites are really iron infested roman sites.

Very tempting i must admit,will await your review.

A very nice find and very well done,i have swung a CTX but never owned one myself,struggling with the weight of a Equinox so not a chance in hell of swing a CTX on a all day session.Still not found any gold of any sort with the Equinox as yet,of course our gold here in the UK would also for the most part come in coinage or jewellery,have found other gold coins infact a reasonable amount over the years but these have all been with other brands of detectors mainly the T2 and DFX.

Once again well done on finding the ring.

2 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

That’s a real nice customization job Tom, well done!

This guy on eBay is selling Equinox ready S rod assemblies for a very decent price.

Steve,thats a great find,as its pretty close to us i may well buy one.

2 hours ago, Skullgolddiver said:

I'm fascinated by the "coilwork art"...

But basically there are two parts of the work in my mind.

The mechanical work, that I'm sure will not create me any problem and the technical work, to tune the coil to a specific balance of factors....Not to mention the control board where after the steps, further modifications are usually needed...

This is like chemistry, more than metal detecting for me...

So I decided to opt for a Coiltek Platypus Mono replacing the original coil.

I will only change the Minelab/White's type connector and mount a male/female waterproof combination which can give me the option to go back to the 12" original If I need...

Sounds like a decent gameplan,the main coil that i use on my TDI Pro is the Coiltek 14x9 Mono that works on the detector straight out the box and works exceptionally well,main reason that i use that coil is 2 fold it was 'dirt cheap' brand new and the main thing is that its as light as a feather because its foam filled but of course that will be no good for use in water as the coil would want to float like a fishing float ? .

Anyway i wish you good luck with your Coiltek conversion and look forward to see the finished job and your review on how it performs.

I use both the 8'' Mono and 14x10'' Mono SeaHunter coils on my original Crossbow Pulse that was designed and built by George Overton who is the co-owner with Carl of the Geotech forum,the main reason why i chose new SeaHunter coils was at the time Regton had a sale on in the UK and i bought both coils for peanuts,mentioned this to George as he designed and built the Crossbow detectors and all that was required was plug change and i assume just wok out which leads go to the various terminals on the plug and if i recall correctly he also put a inline resistor or something like that just inside the main board so that the SeaHunter coils work at the correct level.The 8'' Mono coil has never come off the original Crossbow since the new coil was added.I will mention that my Crossbow is 'not' a diving machine but of course the coil is and half way up the shaft.

Also George Overton worked out the wiring so that Minelab coil can also work with this detector,but never really needed to go down that route,i also have a 5.5'' Mono coil that was built designed and built by Sven from Canada this small mono coil was originally designed for the Mirage PI machines that he occasionally build but will also work on both my Mirage and my Crossbow.The smaller coil especially on the Mirage is a deadly combination on ultra small gold jewellery.

These days i just use smaller coils on my TDI Pro,i think i have a few 8'' coil cases laying around in my garage that i have never used,one day i may decide to build a smaller coil again,but i doubt it.

Just dusted off my DFX again,had mine 17-18 years it was one of the 1st batch into the UK,still has my favourite coil on at the moment the Jimmy Sierra 12'' Hotshot concentric coil on,its as light as a feather because its foam filled and getting rare to find these coils and also have a brand new one still in its box as a backup.Covers more ground and certainly deeper than the standard 950 coil.

As a result of the interest in the DFX being resurrected again by Steve,i plan on using mine again,always found a consistent flow of decent finds into my finds bag,but when i went over to using a Deus some years back and recently the Equinox i personally found that the finds rate reduce by a substantial amount.As a result of this observation both my DFX and original green T2 have been drafted back into everyday use again.

Interesting question and as it was asked i guess as a general gold hunting question and not just nugget hunting i will answer it as 'what' machine/s have found me the most gold but in a different format as we here in the UK dont in theory have gold nuggets,albeit some cane be found in remote parts of scotland and wales but its not the norm.

Over say the last 20 years although i have been detecting longer than that the 2 detectors that have stood out for me and found me more gold than all my other detectors put together and these are my original green T2 with my favourite coil/s the Nel Sharpshooter and the superb 5'' coil,2nd machine is the DFX with the 10x6 elliptical and the 12'' Hotshot coil.

Both these machines run in the 13-15khz freq so nothing special about that,but these 2 have account for gold coinage including cletic gold staters both full and 1/4 staters which are gold hammered coins,milled George111 full guineas and also Viccy Sovereigns both full and half ones.Both these machines have been consistent in finding gold.But some years back i bought the Deus and later on the Equinox both of these newer machines  as yet have 'not' found me any gold,hoping when we can get back out again that the Deus with the HF elliptical coil and running the higher freq will reverse the decline of gold finds in my case gold coinage.Will probably give till the end of this year with the Nox and Deus as main machine and if the decline has not reversed then my good old faithful T2 with the Sharpshooter coil will come out of retirement.

The one one machine that if i am honest i have high hopes for is the Deus with this HF elliptical coil,as it was originally designed for gold nugget hunting i could not see the real need for such a detector/coil combination here in the UK but after doing some long testing session on my desired gold items ie gold coins both small and large this combination does seem to stand out head and shoulders above all my other current machine and one that have been proven finders.

So for me the previous best machines have been the T2 and DFX and the current front runner that i have high hopes pinned on is the Deus and HF elliptical but the Equinox is not giving me high hopes that i had originally hoped for.