F350Platinum

Going south to an RV resort at the beach. Lots of detectorists go there so I don't expect to find much but I want to get my "feet wet" with the Equinox. When I come back I want to try my wet feet at river hunting. 😀 The farmers are going to dig a little more this year, they should turn up new stuff for next fall. They own a lot of other properties in my region, I hope they will let me hunt some of those as well.

Great stuff! You're in the Trime club now. 🙂

Finished up the farmhouse I started yesterday, I know I'm finished when there are nearly no signals in two+ passes. I will hack around a bit just to be certain. Today was padlock day, got two and a possible third. The brass lock marked Red Cross was found when I went to an area that was not fully covered on a hunch. It has a unique back, they call it a Maltese Cross but since this house was standing in the 1860s I think it might be something else. 🤔 Fairly common lock but none for sale recently. The other is a Slaymaker "Old Guard" with the shackle long since rusted away. Can't find any info on it. Giant piece of plumbing marked Wilson MFG Co. Looks like maybe a closet rod holder or maybe a sink trap? The rectangular object next to it appears to be part of a third lock, it is only half of it. Shield looking thing looks like it was attached to a rod, no clue. Interesting find is the large rimfire cartridge, looks to be over 40 caliber and has two opposing rim strikes. It is marked US. And last, 1935 wheat penny. Not an epic day but at least I found some stuff worth showing. It will be my last for a bit, farmers are putting down lime and fertilizer, and I am going to spend a few days getting my RV ready for a trip. Taking the Equinox (and my wife) to the shore! 😀

Ha, yeah, if you like Bronze Disease 😀 Not sure what to do to stop it. Wish it went the way of the Indian heads I've found, or a nice brown like the 1809 half penny I dug. 🙂

On the 600 I've turned recovery speed down to 2 for sites that don't have a lot of trash. Seems to give the machine more time to "read" everything and definitely get greater depth.

True. Could have been hammered after being shot or just badly drilled and filed. 🙂 Happy to have found it, it's the largest American coin I've found. I did find a half cent a long time ago.

Here's something about content I found, your post had me intrigued, perhaps they used rhodium or something to "jazz it up": Paramagnetic materials - have small, positive susceptibility to magnetic fields (having a slight attraction to magnets). Although a magnetic field slightly attracts these materials, the article does not retain the magnetic properties when the external magnetic field gets removed. Paramagnetic properties are a result of the presence of some unpaired electrons and from the realignment of the electron paths caused by the external magnetic field. Paramagnetic materials include palladium, platinum, rhodium, rhenium, ruthenium, magnesium, molybdenum, lithium, and tantalum.

I took the liberty of downloading your photo of the cross, and found them for sale on Etsy at one time, advertised as "Ethiopian Christian cross". They are no longer available but here we are. 🙂 First time reverse image search has ever nailed it for me... 🤔

That is a great coin! Usually you will find either holes or tooth marks in them 😀 I've never had one ID at anything over 22 with similar settings, yours might be better silver. I'd like to see a pic of the token you dug.

I'd say you're doing great with that coil but I understand your questioning whether you'd find small stuff with the 11". Gotta say in its defense that I've turned up really tiny stuff like shoe eyelets and other small circular bits. 😀 The farmhouses I've been working are extremely trashy, lots of nails and cans. I can imagine how long it would take to cover 2 acres gridding with the 6". 🙂

Nice Barber, GB. 🙂 I find a lot of odd metal like that, usually it's heavy so I know it's lead, that is what it looks like. 🤔 Found some odd stuff myself today, including a large green rock. I had a large piece of lead come up as a 22!

Had a lot of stuff to do this morning, it was 35 out anyway. By the time I got out to the field it was about 11, but had warmed up to the 50s. I set up a grid search of the last known farmhouse in my permission, it was dismantled about 1967. Few but me know it was there. Started out where I think the back of the house was, and turned up 3 buttons. Clothesline! Found the well, and near it dug the best find of the day! Good stuff today. In the photo from left to right: Some kind of wire/rope guide, thought it was a weight but it looks like it was on a post or something. It is hollow underneath. Small brass oval plate, no engraving. Unusual brass plug shaped object with a slot made from two holes, a leg to something, D buckle, and some sort of aluminum wheel, at first I thought it was a roof nail but the hub is threaded. Large tack or stud, drawer pull or broken bit piece, and a small copper washer. These washers annoy me, they are really small and come up a loud and solid 22 no matter how deep they are. I've found quite a few. Buckle fragment, and then a cloisonne pin, I think it was all white when new. It has a fine border and rings when dropped. Next the buttons. First one is a Great Seal button backmarked Scovill Waterbury. Second is a button mangled beyond ID. Last one is Baltimore City Police, backmarked Rosenfeld Bros. Baltimore. Last is the find of the day. 1816-1836 Matron Head large cent. Can't get a date but the bust is clear, at least what shows around the bullet hole 😵 High velocity rifle did this, probably a 30-30. A solid 28 on the Equinox, at first I thought it was a washer.

Definitely an axe head, The rock looks more like Chert. That was also used for making arrowheads. 🙂

Great job. Water is in the 40s here, might brave it soon. Of course I have to get a permit. 🙄

While that area may lack in quantity, it certainly excels in quality. Shame the 1833 half dime was used for some sort of target practice, in that shape it would be quite valuable. Beautiful buttons, fitting in their irony. 🙂 Hats off to you! Great finds.

I have yet to go to the county courthouse to get more info. Currently I'm using USGS maps that date back to 1917, and historicaerials.com which has aerial photos back to 1967. Luckily a lot of the houses that the '17 maps show (USGS noted locations of dwellings back then) weren't gone 50 years later. The county will have records of who owned much of this area back to the mid 1600s, and maybe more info about what I can't see from aerials. It will also give me an idea as to what was going on. A lot of what has helped is local word of mouth from families that have been here a long time.

It's one or the other. More likely you're right. My assumption was based on the thought that it was discarded.

What you have there is a mattock or "grub axe". The spike or hatchet end probably broke off.

Wow! I find stuff like that in the fields all the time. I call 'em "depantzers". Heavy if all ya got is a small trash bag on your belt. 😀 The below example ID'd the same as the small one. 🤔 Solid 15 on the Equinox. Cool relics tho. 🙂

Nah. Glad to see colonial artifacts. I'm in NE VA. 🙂 Chase has been using a Tarsacci here, really nice machine. Your finds just look so... familiar. Bet there are some backmarks on those buttons. Farmers are going to kick me out of the fields soon, going to have to hit the river, and some other waterfront.

Great finds! Haven't had a day like that in a while. You're not in my back yard are ya? 🤨 😀

I for one would look for the best deal on any particular detector, especially because buying all the other stuff you should have (pinpointer, digging tools, trash pouch, possibly a case) can cost you almost as much as a detector. I get by with an Ames spade in the farm for instance, but If I showed up at a public permission with that they would probably sound the alarm. There are specialty digging tools much better suited to the job! A pinpointer, while some would argue is not necessary, will save you a bit of time and most likely lead to a smaller hole. 😉 Plan to trash your backyard before going public. Support after the sale is important for many. I bought my first detector on Amazon, the second from a "local" detector shop who sells detectors at the same price. Nothing is really local, it's an hour and a half one way. 😀 The shop owner walked me through the machine, and offered to help train in the field. Be careful about buying discontinued products. BTW get ready to have more than one, you may get hooked yourself! 😈

Love that huge silver y'all find. So far none for me. 😀 It's just a guess but the marks on the sides look kinda uniform. Could it have been clamped or mounted in something? Are the marks equidistant around the coin? Certainly looks like it happened a long time ago, just glad it wasn't taco'ed by a plow. 🤔

Hi and welcome. About 7 months ago I went through the same quandary as you, but with a larger budget. I started with a Garrett Ace 400 in August, but by December I ended up getting an Equinox 600. Both are out of your budget, one twice and the other 3 times+. However there is good news. One detector stands out to me as a win on all fronts, it has much of the pluses of a Garrett and many of the Equinox... The Nokta Makro Simplex+. It runs around $250, is reasonably light if this is a youngster we are talking about. It is waterproof, cold weather resistant due to the Lithium battery, comes with many accessories if you catch a promotion, and would be far above a beginner detector if you're willing to invest the time in learning it by going through a lot of the material here and getting a book or two. You can use it literally anywhere with care. It even does ground balancing. I am currently hacking about with a loaner Simplex+, and while it makes me appreciate having bought the Equinox instead I find it does the job quite well. As to metal detecting in the snow, well... Maybe that is best left to folks from the upper parts of the country, and for rocks and clay I'm sure there are locals here who can answer that better than I as well. I dig in clay but mostly farm topsoil, and rarely run into rocks here. Farm and beach are the life for me! 😀 The Simplex+ isn't considered a "toy" by any stretch. There are many others that will find things for a lot less money, but not quite reach the standard you set. I really can't think of a better bang for the buck and I too looked at lots of detectors.

Hats of to you Cap'n. I have a rough time in 35 degree weather, 23 in 20 mph wind on the shore has to be brutal. I'm close enough to the river that humidity gets sticky. Fabulous finds, you earned 'em. 🏆