UT Dave

I'm a mostly park dirt jewelry and coin, old site relic hunter. The M-15 is the least used of the three Manticore coils for me. But, in the situations it is called for, it's pretty sweet. I use it mostly for parks that aren't too trashy. Easy turf contact swinging with great coverage. For me, in my dirt, I can't really say I've seen a depth increase over the M-11. Maybe, just a tiny bit, maybe. But the coverage is awesome. It pinpoints surprisingly well, which for me in a park setting is important too. Like I say, the least used of the three, for me. But, glad I have it when I want to use it. Recent three silver park hunt with the M-15. And it is also surprisingly sensitive to smaller bits. This is a tiny .25 gram 14k charm I found the next day after the three silvers, in the same park. - Dave

Somebody must have told my Wife that when she was very young and it has just stuck with her. - Dave

I'm not really doubting it's a legit Garrett video. Just also know an intern with little experience could have knocked out that video in a couple of hours. Easily. But I'm puzzled by the source. A youtube channel with only one video. And going by the numbers publicly visible, most of the views for that one video came from the link in this thread. Wouldn't guess an intentional leak. That would be handled in a way to generate far more blast radius. Puzzling. I was already curious to see whatever Garrett is coming out with and now I'm even more curious. So, effective? - Dave

That video effect is trivial to accomplish these days. Even by amateurs with hobby grade tools. That one isn't even done very carefully - the masking artifacts and haloing are easy to see. But I don't think it was meant to fool anyone either, it's obviously just an effect. That coil ain't really flying around anywhere . It is fun to speculate! - Dave

I just checked. And, indeed, not holes, but on one side two tiny protruding ferrous wire looking bits and on the exact opposite side some ferrous looking oxidation. A fishing weight could have wire cast in on one side. But no reason for both sides. I had no idea bale seals could be this big. But doing some googling around I see that is wrong. Many were this big. I think you may well be right. As of now, I'm thinking it is in fact a large bale seal. - Dave

Check weight crossed my mind too. If it weighed 8 oz instead of exactly 7 oz I'd be more inclined to think so. But, still, could be? This stuff is found pretty far from the lake. Repurposed materials hauled from the lake is possible. - Dave

I'm thinking maybe old newspapers. A horse track would have got some coverage. Possibly advertising too. As I'm sure you know, horse racing was a big dang deal back in the day and got lots of attention. - Dave

Could very well be. From the little reading I've done today on it, a real rose head would be just almost unrealistically early for the Salt Lake valley. It would be pre Mormon. Making it fur trapper or perhaps Spanish. Both, to me, exceedingly unlikely. But, not impossible? The cross hatch marks are definitely not random. I should try and get a high magnification picture. It's actually a quite intricate geometric pattern. And looks much finer and more well done with high magnification. I wish I had not gone so hard on it with the brass brush before taking a closer look. Pretty sure I wiped out some of the detail. - Dave

The spike and the lead were about 18" apart in the ground. Both about eight inches deep. At about six inches deep, the park sod topsoil ends and a hard red clay and coarse gravel layer occurs. It appears that clay/gravel layer is stopping the older stuff from getting too deep. Both the spike and lead were about two inches into the clay/gravel layer, so about eight inches total depth. Within an area about three square feet that includes these two, I also dug some tiny brass cogs. From a clock or watch is my guess. Also in that same three square feet but from shallower I dug about five pieces of clad and three or four pieces of aluminum trash. I was getting so many good and bad signals all together I decided to "clean out" that little spot and see what I could see. With the very wet weather and cold temps we've had lately, and this little spot the turf was spotty with a fair amount of bare dirt, I felt just fine going badger this morning. A week from now nobody will be able to tell anything was dug. I would not dig that spot like that in hot dry weather though - it is park turf. Albeit in a mostly un-trafficked and out of the main activity area. - Dave

This morning I went back to a spot I have found some 1920's era stuff mixed in with clad a couple of times before. Didn't find anything really remarkable or valuable today. But, definitely things that are interesting! Both of them have me puzzled. I'm the furthest thing from an authority on the identification here, but I'm pretty sure this is a rose head spike. When I pulled it out I couldn't help cueing Gary Drayton "that's an OLDIE MATE!" 🤣. Google gives me a date range on these that would make it almost doubtfully early for the Salt Lake Valley. So, would love more experienced opinions on my ID and the possible latest date. But the thing that spike is sitting on is even more weird. Thought it was a large fishing weight when I first dug it. Which, in itself, would be kind of bizarre, for where I found it. Not until I got it home and went at it perhaps a bit too aggressively with a brass wire brush, did I see some strangeness about it. It is lead. Weighs 7 oz on the dot. First of all, it's been hit with a shotgun blast. See the tiny craters and even a piece of very small birdshot still stuck in it? Weird enough to have been hit with shot. But I'm pretty well versed in shotgun patterns. Have spent many an hour at the pattern board testing predator loads. And that little shot pattern is strange. It's tiny shot. It's a tight pattern. It didn't hit very hard. Tiny shot disperses with distance and such a tight cluster on such a small targe is fairly unusual unless at very close range. But at very close range a bird shot load from a shotgun should have hit much harder. I suspect it was not a shotgun but a pistol loaded with "snake shot". At very close range. Just weird. And the other side. It's hard to see in this picture, but under strong light and high magnification, there is actually a very intricate pattern carved all across the face. And it even looks like possibly a relief feature around the edge that is no longer really discernable. There is some of that same edge feature showing on the other side where it's been shot, above too. The geometric pattern looks much more precise and well done under the strong light and high magnification. And that lighter area top left of center, is definitely carved or engraved or whatever it is too - I do believe there was a raised relief feature here. Just what in the world is the story with this chunk of lead! Doubt I'll ever know. But of course I'm keenly interested in any opinions any of you have about it! And the clad that was sprinkled above these. - Dave

To add to the coincidence... Same day, I found what I believe is the first toe ring I've ever found. And actually wasn't sure what it was until I saw this thread. Mine is only .925. But also found with the M8 on the same day. In park dirt. In snow country. I don't think toe rings are very common here . - Dave

I'm trying to get into nugget detecting this year too. I've been reading. And reading. I like to read, so I've just read and read. I'm signed up for Gerry's class in April, really looking forward to that. I've been watching @abenson videos and they have been very helpful. The biggest thing I have planned though, is just to get out and do it and try to find some as often as I can this year. My first trip this past weekend was a skunk. But, I figure, that's just part of paying my dues. I got in lots of coil on the ground time and dug a lot of bird shot and tiny fragments of bullet jacket and such. Got practice using the pick and scoop recovery method for tiny bits. I figure, I keep trying, it will eventually start to come together. - Dave

Thanks for the excellent summarization of your experience with the Manticore Jeff. Mine has been much the same. I've had mine for, 14-15 months or so now. While park hunting is not my favorite type of hunting, it's what is available on a daily basis. And I do like it, quite a lot. Just not as much as ghost town/coin relic hunting. But I can't hit a ghost town every day after work or any weekend morning . So I do a ton of "trashy park hunting". The Manticore has "opened up" to "coin" a tired cliche (or two!), so much productive clad and .925 hunting in spots I'd tried and give up with the Nox 800. EMI handling is a large part. But the immunity of the Manticore to bottle caps, to include the dreaded Corona cap, compared to the 800 is night and day. The 800 was very good at calling nickels from aluminum tabs, but the Manticore is on another level. And the Manticore just likes to "jump on to" a high conductor amongst aluminum trash. It's like a chicken on a Junebug amongst modern park trash when it gets over silver or a high conductor clad coin. Even with the stock 11" coil, it will just go from machine gun tabs to "locked on" to a higher conductor and not letting it go in a way that makes sniping good from trash just, "easier". My parks are poor in silver coin. Most are just too new to even have any. But they seem pretty decent in .925. My overall silver count with the Manticore is close to 30 silver coins and over 40 pieces of .925. Only four gold items though. I probably ought to dig more trash 😁. But speaking of trash. That's the most impressive part of the Manticore to me, over the 800, for so called trashy park hunting. I need to be selective in what I dig. In a park setting, I'm generally very selective. Very. And my trash ratio is just astonishingly small when I am that selective. The 800 was very good too, in this respect, but again, to me, the Manticore as at another level. Not long ago I dug over 100 coins in a park, in a super trashy area I'd previously started to avoid with the 800 - and only about 15 trash targets. But your finds, given the restrictive digging conditions and tools at your disposal, are a testament to skill! - Dave

We have a couple similar groups in my area of operations. One is pretty formal, on FB, so I've never been there, but know a lot of the members - Utah Offroad Recovery Team. The other is totally informal, just a loose collaboration of offroad guys that keep in touch. Those guys have driven close to 300 miles each way to rescue me. By bringing a trailer. Twice... And one of the times, stopped at my buddies house on the way home and welded in a complete repair so I could drive my Jeep the rest of the way home from there. The other time, I had to use my ham radio to make a contact that relayed a message and coordinates and the next day the calvary arrived in the complete middle of absolute nowhere with parts and a trailer, but turned out the parts weren't enough so it was good the trailer was there. Have dropped everything to reciprocate anytime I've been able. To include driving all night in a blizzard towing a car hauler. No such adventure spice this weekend. No gold either. And a lot of bad weather. But had a great time just the same. Roads went from dusty dry to mud to partially dry then to snow covered while I was out there. - Dave

For sure! The wind is my ancient enemy. Wind and mud. My two least favorite elements. Gotta go when I can go though. So I'm going! Hopefully I find my first speck of gold with the Manticore. Looking forward to it regardless of weather or finds though! - Dave

That's my fault. I'm headed out that way after work today for a long weekend. Stormbringer. That's me... - Dave

Awesome. Looks like it was a heckuva good time! - Dave

Rarely above 21, and then only 22. Most often 19-20. For me in my dirt, anything higher is counter productive. - Dave

I haven't found much gold with the Manticore yet. Three rings, and one small charm (today, in fact...). Just sounds round and clean is about all I can say. I thought all of the rings were going to be nickels. I thought the little charm today was going to be a small piece of junk jewelry at a steady 16. - Dave

I've only ever really run my Manticore in 1 Region All Tones. Since my Whites XLT, I've just always ran everything in all the tones it can give and like it that way. I can quite easily "hear" all common US clad without looking. Even nickels amongst pull tabs. I think it's just hours on the machine. It's certainly not my hearing ability. My hearing is very poor. Too much gunfire for too many years, too much loud music for too many years, too much loud equipment for too many years. I can't hear for crap... But I can "notice" clear round tones without looking on the Manticore and recognize the common clad signals. Especially zincs. I hear zincs in bad dreams. My least favorite sound I think. After a rod knock maybe. - Dave

Checking out historical maps and images are definitely on my to do list. And yes, the little coil is working great! Combined with the Manticore live ID in pinpoint (an underrated Manticore feature), it really excels at scrubbing good stuff out of heavy trash. - Dave

Excellent! I didn't find that in my searches. It's the right place - I found it in Salt Lake. And lines up in time with the padlock. Has to be a silver coin or two hiding in all that modern trash where those 1920s items were. Vegetation will be getting tall soon and make that little spot hard to hunt. But I'll definitely get back to it while I still can. And remember it for next year. It's only 15 minutes from home which is extra nice. - Dave

I actually like digging clad. So... Pigging out on a big clad haul is always fun for me. And, clad pig outs are getting fewer and farther between as the clad just kind of dries up for good it seems. Last Friday, I got out to a known clad sprinkle. It's super, super pop tab and bottle cap trashy, but the trash is also just littered with clad. I worked it over for awhile with the M8 and did pretty good on the clad. Got tired of digging so much and wandered off into a little wooded section, where it was if anything even more trashy and also sprinkled with clad. But, from about a foot apart, I pulled these two pretty oldies out. I don't see intact old pocket watches, like, ever. I've dug a lot of backs, and frames, and guts, and lids, but this is the first time I've dug one fully together. The token, I could tell was unusual, but not sure what it was. Found what it looked like when new online - poached these two pictures. Did not find any date for them, but if $10 off a used car was worth advertising, it has to be pretty old :D. About then, it went from sprinkling rain and wind to hard wind and hail and it was time to leave. It snowed heavy they next day, which was one week ago today. Snow is melted now one week later and I had a whole entire morning free. So I went back! And hit it with the Manticore and M8 again. And found another cool old relic. A Denver & Rio Grande Railroad padlock, which I was able to find online just now and looks likely from the 1920's. And pigged out on clad too! Over 100 coins, about half of them quarters. Snagged five nickels without a single pop tab. It was a good day. The weather is starting to break, will be able to get out to the ghost towns pretty soon! - Dave

Wowsa. Not many detectorists get to notch that one! - Dave

Killer recovery! Nicely done and well told. - Dave