F350Platinum

Very rare coin. 🤔 you really may have something there. Recommend PCGS? https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1849-5-moffat/10240 Be very careful about cleaning it anymore. 🙂

Welcome to the forum! There are a lot of very experienced and friendly people here. I also have a Garrett (Ace 400) and an Equinox 600. Started 7 months ago. I hacked around with Bounty Hunters and others a long time ago, but have the bug now that I am retired. I also prefer the Equinox to the Ace. I think it is the target interrogation capabilities the Equinox has. As was recommended to me, get Andy Sabisch's book on the Equinox to get some great insight on how to use it effectively. Clive Clynick also has quite a few books out for beginner to advanced. What sort of places do you hunt? Farms? Parks? Rivers or Beach? Post some photos of your finds!

So now the 600 is an even better deal! 😀

Other than the odd pocket drop of relatively modern coins, this field is nearly all early to mid 1700s to late 1800s. On the other side of the road nearly everything is 1900s. The road leads to a steamboat landing which shut down early to mid 1900s, as evidenced by the finds there. The fact that there are a few finds dating back to the mid to late 1600s indicates that it has always been an active spot! Just have to find out why. This area was settled very early, yet hasn't changed much.

Unfortunately not much. On further inspection it might have been silverplated, there is a little in the photo. It's definitely broken off something. At first I thought it was a zipper pull but now I dunno.

Did they just raise the price of the Equinox 800 and not the 600? 800 used to be ~$850, now it's $950. 600 was ~$650 when I bought it last year.

Did you notice the matching piece I found to the rightmost top row item? Once you clean it you will. Is the leftmost item a ring? Paradise just got bigger yesterday! Two more potential house sites. That octagonal button/cufflink is really fascinating. Think it is silver? I found this one early on. It's plated but pretty heavy.

I'm using these, sorry for the ridiculous link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07WGMT883?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title I also have the TROND headphones that others have recommended, but these have much greater fidelity and are quite a bit louder. Chase uses a similar product with the Equinox. Because of all the hunting that goes on around here, I am making a vain attempt to convince a bone conduction manufacturer or two to make apt-X Low Latency headphones so I can hear the environment as well. Like you I used only the speaker for quite a while. No one here to annoy! I was told by a Civil War detectorist who owns a shop I visit that I should always use headphones, he said that I'm missing faint signals that could be great finds. More important, so many military and civilian aircraft fly low over my area that sometimes I can't even hear the headphones. Had a couple of Blackhawks flying around yesterday, and some person doing aerial acrobatics. Just added 170+ more acres to the 300 or so I already have in a new permission, it has two more old house sites. This small one I've been hunting is beginning to dry up somewhat, I'll go back over it next year after they plow. They've been doing "no till" farming for years here, but I think that is going to change. I'm probably set for a long time!

Wow, that is a great place you're hunting! Incredible finds. Thanks for sharing!

Outstanding day! Can't wait to try my hand at a beach, it's coming soon. I'm also going to do some river hunting if I can get a permit. What sort of digger/scoop do you use?

Another day out in the farm. I am grid searching about 100 acres, only going about 36 feet at a time per day laterally. Every day doing this I have dug interesting relics. Today was no exception, this stuff is as old as America, in some cases older. I wish I could regale everyone with fabulous coin finds and gold, but I find very few coins here. Some are cool though, and again very old. I'm hoping I can piece together some kind of picture as to what was going on here, it will take some historical research. Usually button finds dominate the day. Today I found only one, a two-piece 1800s-ish round button with the shank still intact. It blasted in at a very loud and solid 23 on my Equinox. It is the third such button of it's kind I dug out here. From the top left: Shoe buckle, found in two different places. These are very rare to find in one piece on a farm. Some sort of pin with a hook on it, a spoon handle - weighs 7.1 grams (quite heavy for its size), and rings when dropped. It was a 25. No identifying marks. I don't think it's silver, but it is mildly magnetic. I test most everything with a really strong neodymium magnet. The small object was a very strong and solid 15, but it really doesn't have any identifying characteristics. Next is a leaf shaped piece of metal that decorated something, again mildly magnetic. 2 buckle fragments, one may be silverplated. Bottom row is a piece of non magnetic metal that is not lead but is very heavy, and what I believe is a modern black powder slug. All in all nothing really exciting, but it does make digging all the pull tabs, can slaw, shotgun shells, tacks and buckshot more tolerable. Unfortunately I can't notch anything out because I wouldn't find what I keep. It's going to rain for the next 3 days so that's it for a bit! Ya get a break. 😀

Poor coin has really bad Bronze Disease, cleaning is risky. I had to get out the microscope to get the date, and even then it's a maybe.

Yet another spring like day today. Started out relatively warm, about 48. I decided to do some scouting on land I haven't visited as yet so I will know where to go in the future. In particular I was looking for another house that was in one of the fields back in 1917. I think I found it. Found what looks like a drawer keyhole, and then an aluminum child's ring with no stone. It is very fragile and pretty mangled, but highly decorated. I visited three separate areas, two yielded coins. I dug the 1967 quarter and a 1937 wheat penny. Went way out in the field near the river and found an 1867 Indian head. It was very difficult to find the date but I did. In the area that had no coins I found one small colonial button, it appears to have a backstamp but it is unreadable. Not bad for just walking around at random, really coin shooting.

You're always welcome! It's good to have experienced company on a hunt. This place is so varied you never know what you'll find. Thankfully most times the ground is good (or totally clear of stuff), but what an Equinox symphony on that point! Going to go back there with a single frequency machine or two and some sharpshooting coils (thanks) and maybe do a shootout. I know the Equinox is a "grand piano" that can be used in single frequency and limited tones as well, but I'd rather use it for what I see it does best.

I wish that old "T" would fit in a display case 🤔 Might just make that hubcap my avatar. The truck is a payoff to myself for an illustrious career, I pull a 40 foot "toy hauler" with it. It's getting close to travel time, going to regale y'all with beach hunting stories at some point. They'll "button" up the farm in a few weeks and plan to plant corn. I'll still have some places to go out there, just not so choice. No such thing as a fallow field here!

Apparently crushed and buried. It's pretty flat!

Another fabulous weather day here. Started out at 32 degrees, ended up about 63. I had a forum member special guest who may or may not identify himself, but he did a lot better than me. We started out on an old un-hunted landing, visited a very trashy point nearby, and finished up back at the landing and in the farm. 8 hours for me! Total blast. I like hunting alone but it's nice to have an esteemed visitor. Top down in the photo: Ford hubcap (I think) but certainly a Ford part. What I believe to be the "rest" of this vehicle is in the woods nearby. This little cap was a surprising 32 on my Equinox. Edit: Definitely a model "T" hubcap. Not sure what the "w" means. 1917-21. Some sort of work animal tack, it's solid brass and rings like a tuning fork when dropped. Looks like it snapped off of a screw or bolt. Rein guide? Cool brass buckle, a 26, some sort of white metal object with some decoration, an unidentifiable whatzit that was a solid 15, another "river queen" Indian head penny, an 1888 Indian head (it was tough to get a date off that one - still might not be right), broken tombac, a "D" buckle from the extremely trashy point, and yet another thimble, this one mashed flat. We left the point because it was just insanely signal-rich, and nothing we tried could help that. Apparently hunters eat their lunch there and bury the trash. Hope this doesn't bore y'all to death. Don't think it will if the guest chimes in! One more day this week outside and then it's gonna rain for 4. Guess I'll have to get some work done around the house. Borrowed a new toy to play with, more later.

It has the look of some sort of projectile, maybe for a small crossbow or pistol. You could try a reverse image search on Google. I might do it later.

Thanks! They're the most plentiful object I find here, most are pre-1800. Coins are scarce, but usually interesting. Don't think many people here back then had two nickels to rub together, so that's why I never find two in one day! 😀

I've been using an Equinox 600 almost daily for three months now. I hunt in a farm, so I've been using mostly default Field 2 (relic settings) from one of Andy's contributors. The only thing I have changed lately is lowering recovery speed from 3 to 2, and changing FE/0 to F2/2. I generally run it kinda hot at 21 sensitivity and keep it in all metal all the time. I can tell when it's too hot because ground contours will cause low tone falsing. Due to the immensely variable targets I have in this field I cannot discriminate, so my head has to do all the work. At first I "dug it all", but now have got to the point that I know what is there for the most part. I can tell a nail or spike from a good target and aluminum is rarely a problem unless it gives me a solid signal. The only thing I always dig is buckshot and tacks because they have the same IDs as many of the buttons I find. Switching to FE/2 cut my iron trash in half as it seems to force iron lower. Of course YMMV, I do not have to ground balance here (or even noise cancel) unless it is right after it rains. Guess I'm lucky! As mentioned previously, someone else's settings are a building block, but experiences/fiddling still seem to be the best teacher.

Got up to 60 today, one of those insane days where it starts out cold (35) and a warm front comes through. Just coins and relics today, but some firsts. Of interest is the smallest button I have found yet, I have dug about 100 of them in the last 4 months in this field. It's only 3/8 inch! Third one from the left in the photo. Testament to the Equinox ability to find really small stuff, but the tiny thing next to the wheat penny came in at a strong 18, I have no idea what it is. 3 Tombacs, one is concave and one is the first cast one I have found. Wheat penny is a 1941. The large bullet is a .45-70 bullet probably fired from an 1873 Springfield "Trapdoor". At first I thought it was Civil war era, but it isn't. I found a .45-70 shell a while back. I think the item second from left top row is a Schrader valve wrench, I remember them when I was young. You could also use it as a valve stem cap. Small square nut made of copper and a watch crown. It was great to get out in some "decent" February weather!

Outstanding finds! Just curious, do you remember the ID for the seated and the gold coin? You have a great spot there.

Cold day today, only got up to about 36, but the wind died down enough to go out in the farm. Another great day! Usually I find buttons, but I'm moving more toward where an 1800s house was so I expect there to be a mix. There is a road that ran through the farm way before it was built so I will find 1700s items too. Today the ground was a bit frozen so I dialed recovery speed back to 2 from 3 (Equinox 600), and cranked the sensitivity up to 21. Not sure if this helped but the proof is in the finds I guess. I was only able to make four passes up and back, it's about 300 yards one way. Photo below illustrates the distance, my golf cart is by the road. I'm doing a grid search so it is very tedious but still a blast. Found a really small thimble, a piece of buckle, a very small button and two heavily corroded pennies, one a wheat penny with no discernable date (edit: if you zoom the penny it appears to be a 1919 ) and the other an 1865 Indian head. My grandkids gave me a digital microscope for my birthday, and the date stands out pretty clear! Yes, I found yet another Spanish (really Mexico mint) half Real. This one clearly shows the mint mark in the microscope, they were minted from 1772 to 1784, but I can't find a date. The first one I found was 1778. There are a few other identifying marks on it. And just as I thought I was done, in the last 20 feet I got a solid 16, and popped out the gold plated broach with 4 stones. The stones are yellowish under the microscope, and one appears to be chipped so I know they are not diamonds. They still sparkle though! There is a bit of gold plating in the back and a spot where the pin was attached.

Really like the buttons, congratulations on a rare find, and thanks for the historical account. I also like the gear you found, I've found 2 or 3 of them where I hunt. Lots of folks over time throwing clocks out the window I guess!

Today it's 35, with wind around 20 with gusts to 30. May go to a sheltered area to poke around a bit. Pretty brutal, but I've done it before. My headphones can be turned up loud. Here we have a lot of military aircraft flying around, from A-10s to Ospreys to F-15s. They are so loud I usually have to wait for them to go away. I wavered on #2 for a while but decided on #3. Edit: Yeah, went out today, and could only stand a couple hours even in the sheltered area, because the wind was blowing up in there. 😧 Tomorrow will be 37 with a light south wind, may go out in the field, and then hit the river late afternoon at low tide. Next week in the 50's!