Zincoln

That's a beaut NC.  One of my very favorite designs.  Never, ever gets old seeing a barber half dollar pop out!  You have me jealous w/ the O mint.  Seems about all we find on the left coast are S mints and occasional D or Phili.  I've been looking for my first O for 9 years.  24 chances with barbers/seated/trimes/Morgans...but still 'O'fer:-)

Zincoln

22 hours ago, NAGANT said:

Those small holes remind me of a early coleman stove/lantern pump, not that.  Small holes must have had been used to screw  or thru pin it to a shaft.  Maybe some kind of permanent match. 

I suspect you and Valens are both on to something.  It seems to have mounted on something like on the side of a pen or lighter.  It also either had a pin through it and mounted to something, or it had a 'bucket handle' of sorts like I've seen on some lighters that fit into the holes from the outside.  What is pretty clear is that it was fixed in place by the hoops and unable to be freed, other than rotation in place, which would have not been possible w/ a 'bucket handle', but could have it pinned to something else.

I was thinking about how it might have been attached like a fob to a chain as I've found some odd pieces here that ended up being adornments on men's watch chains.  Actually found pictures of some that I had no idea about.  Also thought about children's toys like a Top, for instance.  

Haven't had Antiques RS here in years to my knowledge, but may take it to an old antique store and see if anyone from the Greatest Gen has any idea.  

Strick,  that thing looks like quite a lunker in your hand.  Hard to imagine it's only 4+g.  Regardless, nice find and nice to have it adorned with a passel of diamonds!

Zincoln

5 hours ago, UtahRich said:

zincoln, with all these great saves, i have to say you would have been an awesome hockey goalie if you had played !

Congrats on another awesome find. And with an unapproved detector.  LOL.   👍

Thx Rich.  Yeah, amazing I find my way out of the park w/ that V3i, right:-)  Oh well, I'm a firm believer that mixing up detectors and coils exposes things that other combos miss...and I don't see any V3i's running around here, so maybe it's an advantage?

Well done on the jewelry this last month.  You've been on quite the tear!  Looking forward to seeing you something next Spring/Summer!

Brian

Andrew, 

In the video you ask about those annoying round zinc items that I find tend to show up in bunches near old bars.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words....Found in Northern Nevada.  Circa 1900+/-.   I'd noticed many had a hole in them and I'd speculated they were pried out of something, and one day i found this broken top of a bottle that beeped!  My guess is they had a factory operation/machine that pressed them into the neck to seat/seal them. 

I've still been told I'm wrong by one long time detector and forum owner...but will let you be the judge. 

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

It would probably help us if there was a picture with a reference coin.

Ask and you shall receive.

I've found some things that look similar in WW1 era kerosine trench lighters.  Nothing exact, but similar.

52 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Reminds me of a candle snuffer, but your piece appears to have been attached to something much bigger.  Besides, that would have to be a pretty small candle to work with this (1/4" ID) device.  (Is it really that small??)  Those two holes at the open end are important and figuring out what they were for would help....

 

Had a similar thought on the snuffer GB.....but measured it at 3/8" ID....way to small for anything like a snuffer that i'd be aware of....unless it was for some early lighter?

Those two holes could have held a pin and this portion may have pivoted on that pin...the knurled knobs remind me of pocket watch knobs....but then everything Victorian was dressed up in some way it seems.

51 minutes ago, abenson said:

Never did get acquainted with the White V3i, just seemed to complicated to setup correctly. Nice bunch of older coins, always a welcome site to see an IHP or Barber coin pop out of the dirt. 

Hello Andrew,

If you want to run it more or less out of the box, it's not much different than running a Deus.  Just focus in on several key adjustments and modify stock programs.  You seem to have than new D2 working well for you!  Seems you and I never made the same Northern Nevada outings in order to meet.  I run around w/ OregonGregg and UtahRich who frequent this site.  

If you want to get fancy, you can adjust all sorts of things....but to a large degree its not necessary.  Main thing is to match swing speeds and coil types to recovery speeds (effectively just like changing the Deus between 1 thru 5....just a lot more graduated on the V3i).  I don't think it's necessarily better than the Deus or the 800 in a GT like you hunt....but it can work virtually as well when set up right w/ a small coil (4x6 begin my preferred option).  You have an audio method to classify rusted tin, and I can do the same looking at the Spectragraph by seeing how the 3 frequencies respond.  Rarely wrong on tin ID.  Now, you might be successful w/ the Deus running the 9" coil in the GT debris field (you have, and i have), but running the V3i w/ the 10"DD or even 9" coil over the same ground won't impress.  Have to go way down in coil size to allow it to sift through the junk.  Those bigger combos just don't work out on the nail board test...but it works quite nicely with the 4x6 or even the 5.3 (6" concentric)...and using the salt/desert alkali setting seems to really true up the responses.    

Sure wouldn't go get a V3i now if you were new to it, given the other lighter and easier to operate models on the market....and it does eat batteries if you don't have the RNB battery that gives you about 16Hrs on a charge.  Keep fearing the one i have will fail on me soon w/ no replacement.  If anyone has one they want to part with for the White's machines....let me know!   

Not big enough to be a thimble JCR.  Couldn't get a finger in it.  The holes on opposite sides of the open end suggest that it was in some way attached to something else.  

Zincoln

3 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Both the 1912-S Cent and the 1899-S Quarter appear to be in nice shape.  Both scarce date+mm and exciting finds, IMO.  The other two coins shown seem to have some rim damage/deterioration, otherwise they would be competitive in condition.  (What's the date+mm on that second Lincoln?)

IMO, digging those iffy signals is why you got these goodies this time compared to previous hunts (by you and others).  Would a smaller coil on the V3i do even better?  I would think it won't have problems with those coin depths and it should see fewer nails.

Hey GB,

The second wheatie is a 24s with a little corrosion.  Agree the 12s was quite nice.  I run most of my copper through a  hot peroxide bath.  Really cleans them up, seems to harden the verdigris (as most come out green and soft), but does leave them a darker tone.  Either way, they are 'damaged' so nothing much lost.

I do use my smaller coils in many locations and out in the brush at this and other parks.  I've found this 10"DD to be an optimum size for depth of detection in our matrixed and mineralized soil here (8-9" best case...after that it more or less drops into iron unless its a large coin).  This park (finds in the maintained area of the park) are often 5" to infinity due to historical soil movement, and that's about max depth for 7"DD in this ground, and too deep for the 5.3 concentric or 4x6DD.  7" DD may have found this quarter. Wish we had some Midwest soil, but guess that's why we still have good targets at under 6".  I've hunted spots that I get better depth from the smaller coils, but sadly this location isn't one of them (at least unless I want to dig every iron signal I get, and I don't think I have that many years left).  

Zincoln

Thx Bill.  I know that a video on setup and interpretation of the responses would likely be helpful.   I don't have the discipline to spend time videoing and editing.   Get too caught up in just being a detectorist.  

You are so right on the settings.  I call the Deus a simplified version of the V3i.  Key settings are available in the Dues, just at a much coarser scale.  Adjusting filters for swing speed, response speed settings, SAT speeds, coil choice, # of target responses in a range, best data or correlation, etc, etc all can result in different results on the V3i....but it does take some time to effort to wrap one's head around the various settings and then to ensure one uses the key features in proper combination.  I think the 3 frequency visual output has been key to simplifying my ghost town hunting, and i really like what it tells me about deep targets when separating nails from likely good targets in parks and yards.  I use the Deus more now given how much lighter it is, but the V3i still shines in a number of applications that the Deus hasn't yet matched.  User or machine.....I'll leave that to the reader.  

Too bad they are now difficult to repair.  Losing pixels on one of my units and unlikely to get it repaired unless I find a dead or used unit i can harvest the display from (or it may be the gfx logic chip).  Given it only appears when backlight is on, believe its logic based and probably means a mainboard replacement.  

Well done Andrew...you've had quite a year!  Couldn't agree more...that fast program can really expose those well masked targets in ways most other machine's can't match.  I was surprised how effective it was at moderate depth running Fast.  

Zincoln

Good morning,

Hunting a Victorian era park and pulled this mid conductor.  My best guess is a pocket watch winder or cover for the winder?  Maybe an old cover for a inkwell pen? Has a bit of gilt left on it.  I've dug a tens of thousands of targets, but this is the first that looks like this.

For reference, it's about 3/4 of an inch long, 1/4 inch in diameter.

Zincoln

Chose to post this to illustrate what we all know, the masking effect is real.  Went to a park that is pretty well picked through.  It has been hit hard by every detector club and enthusiast in our area.  Last year I was able to pull a $5 gold coin that was masked by iron out in the brush, and yesterday I was able to pull 4 coins, one being a nice semi-key barber quarter in areas that I've detected no less than 20 times with my host of detectors, and I'm sure has seen thousands of swings over it.  It was only 4-5 inches down, but was surrounded by nails.

After getting a new to me 10"DD replacement coil for my V3i, which seems a little hotter than my previous coil, I headed out to see if I would be able to find something I've missed.  There are no 'dig me' signals to be found, just a rare bouncy or very iffy directional signal to dig.  Working in an old nail bed with small river rock down about 4-5 inches where trails were once graveled, I was near big old iron and a lot of nail signals.  First signal was messy, something I've never considered digging before, but it had a few inconsistent high beeps mixed in with plenty of iron in my Mixed audio program (iron in one ear, good tones in the other).  Opened the plug and had several responses from the pin pointer.  Picked one, loosened the soil a bit deeper expecting a nail, and removed a small scoop.  Out pops a VF 1899 S Barber Quarter on edge.  A bit surprised, but thrilled.  Then I recovered 3 nails in the hole making a nice little circle around it, none further than 3 inches away.  

In the next few minutes I'd repeat the same dig on a signal I'd generally pass on, and out popped a 1907 IHC and a 1912S wheat all at about 5 inches in the rock/dirt matrix.  and with iron nearby.  Could have covered these with a garbage can lid.  I'd dug 3 or 4 wheats before in the near vicinity, so I knew something might be here, but how on earth have they remained hidden this long with so many detectors passing over them, me included.  Thank you iron!

The hobby has gotten tough, but there are still good targets in those 'hunted out parks'.  While i like my Deus quite well in many applications, the V3i with it's sophisticated programmability (such as selecting how many signal responses in a particular range result in an audible and visible VDI response, and it's mixed mode audio ) allows me to eke out a few well masked targets and keep the hobby fun!

Back in the 80's, my hometown used to seed the beach with those small school sized milk cartons with .$50 pieces inside of them during the annual festival. They'd bury them in a corded off section of beach, and kids would be turned loose to dig for them. I'm sure not everything was dug up.  Over time, the paper would break down and leave the coin behind.  

Likely they did something similar, or had a 'sawdust pile' type dig in the sand where these were buried for retrieval of the kids.  

In later years our festival coordinators got smart and started putting denominations on the bottoms of the cartons to be redeemed, rather than burying money in the cartons.

I also came across the refences provided by Steve and others which is a wealth of information...and illustrates the actual rarity of finding meteorites.  

I'll have it run through a spectrometer at some point in the future and see if the elemental comp is aligned w/ those provided in the links.

I did try a refrigerator magnet and it is attracted (I wouldn't call it strong, but it sticks to my specimen).

Not getting my hopes up....but its an odd duck.

Thx again,
Zincoln

I understand GS.  Hard to get a really high res photo w/ my equipment.  Wish I had lapidary equip to be able to see the fine grain of the specimen.  You can easily pick the item up w/ my magnet - it's not going to fall off with an effort to shake it off, but it doesn't slam onto it like a flat bar of steel.  Suppose that could be the irregular shape and lack of a nice flat surface to flat surface interface.  Or maybe, the reason why it rings up as non-ferrous.  This is the first and only time i 'think' i might have a space rock:-)

The two things that have me scratching my head:

1. It simply is appears to irregular to be man made.  Even if it was the result of an explosion, it still has surfaces that don't add up.  Not a single surface is milled, cast or otherwise smooth.  

2. It doesn't ring up as ferrous on my detectors (White's and Deus).  Rings up just into the non-ferrous range (nickel....gold).  For those that detect these things, do you find that they ring up in the positive range vs. a pure iron signal if you have a composite meteorite (nickel-iron)?

Next time I get to my precious metals contact I'll have him run it through his spectral analysis machine.

Best to all and HH,

Zincoln

Skip - see if this does you any good.  It is hard.  I hit it w/ the bench grinder, then a Dremel w/ a fine grinding bit, and finally tried to polish it a bit....

Appreciate any insight

Those of you that go after meteorites will likely have a much better idea than i.  While out metal detecting old west Nevada in the mountain southwest of Caliente, I hit on this target.

It's shape is irregular, and it dose appear to have heat smoothing on the surface, particularly on leading edges.  It is magnetic (when tested on my rare earth magnet), but not as strong as say a steel bar.  Still clings right to the magnet.  When I took a file to the surface, i get a nice silver hue (iron nickel?).  Hits in the foil/nickel range on my detectors.  43g and the penny is for comparison - quite heavy for its size.  Has no appearance of slag or worked metal to me.  I find plenty of that along the old railroad sidings.  Picture 5 may be the clearest.

I do see that there are some meteor strikes North of LV, and not too far from where i was.  

Any other sure fire tests?   

18 hours ago, Old Line Paul said:

Wow! The tots in the Left Coast are a lot richer than they are around here!

I think a lot of the time its the parents....but different cultures tend to be more or less likely to wear precious metals to school.  I know i have several schools in particular that kick out more gold than most.  

GB - I dig everything non ferrous in order to ensure I pull gold.  I did find quite a few nickels, but not many in the 40's and 50's.  Nothing like a 39d or 50d.  Pulled close to $15 in clad.  

I agree on wheat pennies as i generally run 7:1 wheat to silver so this was a very good silver ratio.  Looking back, I only pulled a 13d and a 20 in terms of older wheats.  Seems that even though there was an active boarding school, the ranks were small until they built up the bigger dorms in the late 20s.  Then, they rebuilt in the 50s/60's, and pushed all the dirt around where the original dorms and admin buildings were.  I'm quite certain some goodies are a foot deep, and some under asphalt or existing buildings.  I hit the old ballfield which was nearby in years past and managed around 10 silvers also, with most being 40's and 50s.  I believe this is when the local store was at its peak.  

Our Oregon dirt really puts a stop to you after about 8-9 inches in terms of any valid VDIs, and beyond that items like dimes typically come in as iron.  Don't care what detector or coil you use (though i know the eTrac crowd has had some luck on slightly deeper targets in the parks).  Likely we are still registering them....but you'd dig countless nails to pull the occasional small silver.  I've always loved it when I've gone somewhere with sweet soil and you suddenly find items at 12 inches - whole different world.

I keep hoping for a Barber or IHC, but think after this many hours on the site my odds aren't real good.

Best,
Zincoln

1 hour ago, kac said:

Old skelleton key is cool. Like the building dome cut out on it. I found a snake ring just like the one you have that was plated zinc. Typical kiddie bling.

You able to track the owner down for the class ring?

I found the skeleton key to be kinda funny. It has Washington DC emblazed on it.  It's a modern momento.  I do find a few from the correct era, but not this one.   

Class ring is WIP.  The school not too far away that i expected it to belong to doesn't have anyone graduating that year that corresponds to the initials.  Meaning, it may be from somewhere else in the country.

Zincoln

7 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Great finds, how many hunts did it take to get all that?

Good luck on your next outing.

VL - the old school was 5 or 6 hunts....quite a few hours for the silver. Again, better than most any park up here and about as good as most yards I might access.  

The jewelry was all from one single day hunt at various schools.

ZIncoln

April was a fair month for me. I was able to get access to a private boarding school which operated from 1906 until 1988 and sat on 50 acres.  While it wouldn't have seen lots of commerce, and while jewelry wasn't part of the environment, I still had high hopes.  I know the student body was quite small until the 20s.  

In the end, I managed 5 silver dimes, 4 war nickels, a buff, and 20+ wheat pennies.  Also found quite a lot of clad (and very few zincolns - yeah!).  Lots of keys from the old dorms.  It was better than most locations I hunt, and I'm sure still has a few more out there.   It became clear that when new facilities were built in the 50s and 60s, lots of dirt was moved around an much of the original turf has been buried under a foot or more of fill.  You could easily tell original ground from the fill when cutting plugs.

At the start of May, I spent one entire day working tot lots in schools I'd ignored since the start of the pandemic.   Found several nice gold items, one of which I have hopes of returning.  Also found a small mountain of bling and clad.

I used a mix of my Deus with the 9" X35 coil and a derivation of the hot program, and my V3i with the 10" DD coil and my custom deep program at the old school.  The class ring was found with my MX Sport and 7"DD. 

It was a very wet April (and now May) out West.  Hoping to get some warmth soon!

Zincoln 

You know GM, with all the shooting they did on their mine site...you should be able to find plenty of spent cartridges and bullets.  Seems Sarge and team sprayed some lead and there are likely some concentrated areas.  Wasn't he shooting a 30-06 BAR?  Other fella had a Thompson if i recall.  Good chance they may have old military cartridge markings with year of mfg on the base.

If you get the book published, imagine sending along a spent bullet or cartridge case along with every book in say the first 100 or 500...or during signings.  I'm sure there have been a lot more rounds spent up there over the years, and no way to know with absolute certainty if what you found tied to the group...but it would be a rather fun way to promote the book and tie real history to it. 

Metal detectors would easily pick these out if you have a group up there, and they'd be rather shallow in general with the limited growth of plants up there.

Food for thought.....

Zincoln