GB_Amateur

Most headphones' (including the Garrett MS2s) volume control only works one way -- to turn down the volume amplitude.

My collection isn't as vast as Chuck A.'s. and it appears we have some overlap. My favorite covers were ones done by artists. They really sparked my imagination. Although most (maybe all) of the treasure stories seem to get repeated -- some in magazines and some in books -- I wonder if there are any out there that haven't gotten the vast attention. I've been going through some of my early issues and picking up books listed there, used prices over the internet. Research, research, research.... I have posted images in the past of both covers and ads. It seems that the treasure magazine earliest issues (from the 1960's) were more likely to have the artistic covers and especially starting in the early 1970's they reverted to mostly photos. (Were they cutting costs or were artists just being eliminated because of being old-fashioned with modern, easy and inexpensive color photography taking over?) Here's one of the last artistic covers, this from 1976. Note the very top title article about Rommel's missing millions. Josh Gates had an episode on that in his popular Expedition Unknown series on Discovery Channel.

It's making more sense. I still don't understand why you emphasize the unavailability of the CORS vs. the availability(?) of the equivalent NEL coil. I (and many others) agree with your wish for a closed coil. The Minelab Equinox has only three available coils, all open. Many of us wished we could get Vanquish-like coils for the Eqx -- they are elliptical -- but even with those the only option is an open coil. An even bigger wish was for ML to make an intermediate size closed eliptical such as the 5"x10" 'gold' coil (18.75 kHz) for their X-Terra 705 that they proved they know how to make!! (No response after almost 3 years, as typical.) One solution (Steve H. illustrated it a couple years back for his Eqx 11" coil) is to attach a polycarbonate shield over the bottom of an open coil. He epoxied directly onto the coil itself but there is also the option of attaching it to the skidplate. This isn't as useful as a true closed coil because rubble can still collect on top of the coil housing and stay there until you dump it out. But it certainly improves swinging over rocks and protruding plant stems, etc. Unfortunately the aftermarket IB/VLF coil manufacturers only provide closed coils in the smaller sizes, AFAIK. Probably a weight issue?

Half of my detectors have no volume control. That's not to defend them or Garrett, just to say it seems to be a common malady. Fortunately in my case, for those detectors I use the Garrett Z-lynk ('wireless') tranmitter-receiver pair in front of my headphones. It has a built-in adjustable amplifier. I realize that doesn't solve your problem since you like to run your detector through its speaker, not headphones. (nonconformist! 😁)

These sentences have me confused, although maybe you were just lamenting. In response: 1) The superfly/butterfly is an open coil, so no advnatage/difference in that feature compared to the N/M 13x15. 2) The NEL superfly is available in US from at least one dealer, at least their website indicates such. Since the NEL and CORS coils are always the same (assuming same release) except for the name and label, it shouldn't matter which you get. 3) Serious_Detecting is an official CORS retailer in the USA, so either e-mailing or calling them should get you some info on the (upcoming) availability of the butterfly. As is often the case, I post this not specifically to help you but for others who read it and get confused. I suspect you (kac) know everything I just said.

For #2, do you change the direction of the search? Native gold detectorists (the smart ones, anyway 😁) use this ploy, sometimes to an extreme. For example if 1st pass they walk N-S, on 2nd pass they travel E-W. And if really wanting to be thorough they come back at 45 degrees (so NW-->SE or similar).

Nice quarter find! Silver dimes and Wheat pennies should go hand-in-hand for the most part. (Wheats stayed in circulation past the silver dimes by a few years, but they were getting scarcer to find in change as time went by, which is to be expected. So, for example, a park that was established in ~1975 should have an occasional Wheatie but unlikely any silver.) So in general I agree with Jeff -- Wheaties are an indicator of silver dimes. I have had a couple private home permissions that produced lots of Wheats and no silver dimes, but I attributed that to children playing with pennies (that parents handed to them, not dimes! ) Larger silver (quarters and halves) are a different story in my experience. Besides the obvious fewer having been minted and thus circulated (maybe a factor of 2 there between dimes and quarters -- I haven't delved deep into that yet), the fact that they are larger means they give stronger signals (for similar depth) and were easier for other detectorists to find. I found only my second silver quarter (pretty sure it was on edge) last month in my ~1000 hours of detecting. Compare that to 28 silver dimes over the same time period. I think part of the that is because quarters can be detected deeper (e.g. air test) but also that as coins get deeper you need to get the center of the coil over them to get a signal. (I think this effect is a bit more exaggerated for concentric coils but still true for DD's.) Very shallow targets can be picked up that are off the edge of a coil, for example. Thus coverage is critical for the deepest (and smallest) targets meaning it's more likely dimes have been missed compared to quarters. I suppose it's possible that people have cherry picked silver dimes over copper pennies and clad dimes. I think they TID a bit higher (on the Equinox anyway so I'm figuring other detectors, too) but it's a small effect and the orientation of the coin can wash it out. I would never try anything like that but not everyone has the same mindset when it comes to time spent digging undesirable targets.

You're really showing your age, Paul. My wife and I got lectured by our niece maybe 10 years ago using that old lingo, and that was after she put her eyes back in the socket. Those are 'flips' among younger generations. I'll let you Google Image 'thong' if you're not up on 21st Century terminology (and all the more reason to if you are 😏). OTOH, having read many of your posts, maybe this was part of your typical subtle, clever methods.... You've spent too much time hanging around with those feisty Meganesians.

Garrett Groundhog (15 kHz VLF/TR), which sat unused in my closet for 35 years, every once in a while whispering "don't you remember why you bought me? " If you open responses to more than just detectors, I credit Long John Latham (and especially his illustrators and authors) for his dual publications True Treasure and Treasure World. You've got to stimulate the brain first and they sure did that starting back in 1970 (the first issue I read was from then; they started publishing and distrubuting a couple years earlier).

Aren't all Minelab Equinoxes (except maybe pre-production units) made in Malaysia?

First thought -- electromagnetic interference (EMI). If you are inside a building there are multiple sources including internet routers and simply the AC powerlines in the walls. If that's the problem, it will lessen and maybe go away if you put some distance between yourself and buildings. (Even then you may pick up interference from overhead or undergroumd power lines, TV cable lines,... it's a long list.) Turning down the sensitivity/gain will also show improvement.

The title of the thread reminded me of Gary Drayton. He pronounces that alloy word a lot differently than I do (or have ever heard), and frankly his pronounciation is pretty gross with the mental images it creates. On every treasure/gold TV show there's at least one person (usually more) who tires me out with either nonesense -- Drayton -- or obnoxiousness (nice word -- many better ones) -- Parker Schnabel, anyone? (I heard Parker belongs to assaholics anonymous, but so far it's not producing the desired effect.) As far as the real topic, being able to recognize reproductions (or fakes) is an acquired skill. Often the context is a big clue. For example, I found a coin which looks like it came from Medieval Europe. I found it in a USA schoolyard.... "Clang, clang, clang!" (warning bell sounding loud and clear) There were other clues, too. Good sleuthing, kac.

You and I think alike, Geof. Before my initial post I looked in Charles Garrett's 1985 The Advanced Handbook on Modern Metal Detectors and there is an entire chapter there on searchcoils, but I could only find mono (for BFO's and PI's), coplanar, and coaxial.

If all they were doing was joking then I'm fine with it. But often a joke or 'kid' has some truth to or intent to it. A friend of mine thought she was doing me a favor by tossing pennies in the park where I detect. Honest mistake by someone who doesn't understand where the fun (for me) comes from. I let her know..., in a nice way, of course. Someone here told about a person who didn't like people metal detecting an historic (but public) site so that person strewed nails everwhere. Real nice...

So even the Feds admit how worthless of a coin it is. 38 years of this folly and they continue to crank them out as if people want them. We should have a Zincoln bashing (literally) party with sledge hammers.

I was thinking the other day about some of the best metal detectors of the analog age and early digital age. My memory shows concentric searchcoils, the Fisher CZ series being an example. What is the earliest commercial detector that had the commercial option of a DD coil? (As opposed to prototypes, experiements, garage builds, etc., although if you know of any of those it would also be interesting to read about.) Were there analog detectors (and if so, which ones) that worked with DD coils or did those not come around until digital circuitry took over?

I think defacing USA coins is illegal, too. If you're anything of a packrat (like I), you just have a jar (or jars) to toss the copper alloy cents into and wait until copper goes up enough to make it worthwhile to sell. Copper is a commodity, afterall and a jarfull makes a good doorstop, counterweight,.... Most silver alloy coins we find are also numismatically worthless but their bullion content is the consolation prize when we find them (and confirm the date+mintmark isn't a semi-key or better). I have a pocket of my detecting pouch for coins and jewelry. The other 'finds' pocket is for trash. The Zincolns go into the trash pocket to be sorted out later. IMO, that's where they belong, along with those people responsible for their continued minting.

Current copper spot price is $3.29/lb. 145 copper pennies in a lb at 95% purity, so about 152 uncirculated copper pennies together have a lb of copper content. Add a few more to account for wear and you're still around 2 cents worth of copper each. As with any alloy, there will be cost associated with separating the alloy components. It's illegal to melt them but that doesn't seem to concern some.... Zinc, OTOH, is currently around $1.25/lb and since zinc pennies are lighter it takes more of them to add up to a lb. Bottom line is that the bullion value of them is less than their face value. Toss in the fact that many we find have been partially eaten away by galvanic action and their worthlessness is even more apparent. (It's been pointed out here that the Federal Reserve is required to redeem them at 1 cent each even if degraded, so apparently even the eaten up ones still have face value.)

Yes, larger coils pick up more targets per swing, and are more likely to have both good (desired) and bad (trashy) targets in the field-of-view at the same time. As far as finding low trash sites, that's quite a tradeoff. I can hunt my back yard which wasn't used much (the only owners before us never had kids and AFAIK spent their time indoors) so my yard is pretty quiet. But if I go to a park or school (which is where the goodies have the best chance of being as far as accessible public sites) there is iron and aluminum trash aplenty. Are there quiet parts of these sites? Sometimes, but those are both trash quiet and good finds quiet. People didn't segregate the areas they threw trash and the areas they dropped coins and jewelry. Lost items occur where people spent their time, and a big part of that time was spent eating and drinking (with associated screw tops, poptops, aluminum foil,....) The really old sites around me previously had buildings which were razed but their nails were strewn everywhere -- thus the origin of the iron trash. It appears I'm in the minority on my suggestion of getting a simpler detector to start out. I'm just basing it on my experiences but maybe mine are the exceptions. Jeff's comments about newbies being less confused with a feature-packed new detector than many experienced users is quite interesting (and paradoxical).

I question whether or not the Minelab Equinox is a good first detector. Yes, it has canned settings so it doesn't need a lot of adjustments to be able to find metal. However, the 11" stock coil isn't as forgiving as small coils and we've seen plenty of people here (some even experienced with other detectors) question everything under the sun (bad settings, unit is a lemon,...) with this detector. I had been detecting for 3 years with multiple detectors before getting an 800 and it took me a long time to get comfortable with it. (I hardly go out without it now.) One of the things that's a must with any detector is reading and understanding the manual. The ML Eqx manual is the best I've ever seen, but that's because it covers about everything. I think back 5 years when I was getting back into detecting (after 35 year layoff) and recall all the terminology I was unfamiliar with. A simple to operate detector with a simple manual can be a helpful starting point. There are many good detectors out there for less experienced users. But you said your husband has an eye for Minelab so I suggest the Vanquish line. It has the same inner workings as the Equinox but has fewer things to be concerned with and the lower end models come with a medium sized coil. (You can get the top end model with two coils, one large and one small.) Another thing to keep in mind is that detecting is more than just the main detector. For most detecting you pretty much need a hand-held pinpointer ($100-$150), a good digging tool (~$40), a finds pouch (can be as simple as a nail apron, but there are advantages to multi pockets -- better ones are another ~$35). I can make a list 2-3 times this long of accessories I have. So getting a moderately priced detector and including a $200 gift card (or just cash) for the accessories makes a lot of sense to me. Finally, if he likes the Vanquish he can later step up to an Equinox and have the Vanquish as a backup (or even encourage you to get into the hobby and go detecting with him, swinging the Vanquish). Here's a link to Gerry McMullen's outlet site. (click here) He's not only a good guy with over 20 years experience helping others find the right detector, but he's patient and knows how to put himself in the shoes of the less experienced customer. Also he has integrity so you don't have to be concerned about him steering you towards something you don't need that makes him more money. In some ways he's old-fashioned -- likes to communicate face-to-face or over the phone. (Oh, and does he like to talk!) He may or may not agree with my recommendation but he sells both Vanquish and Equinox (and many others, Minelab and other manufacturers) so whatever direction you end up going he will be quite helpful.

No ring-and-beavertail pulltabs among your junk targets (but I see the Busch beer can lid had one). Only one nickel 5 cent piece. Did you hunt wide open for a while and then disc against the lower conductors (including nickel zone)? If I'm at a site that has been used more/less continuously over the years I want to see R&B pulltabs (last manufactured ~1975). For the modern tabs I'd be happy if I never saw another one. BTW, you should have pointed out that the top coin is a modern USA $1 coin. The Aussies and Kiwis think we don't have those, and I sometimes wonder myself....

Nice finds, Mike. You made the most of your limited time. What is a triangulated coil? Is it the stock (concentric) coil on the Fisher F44? (I didn't know that worked on the Tek 8500 -- I assume it was released for the F44 and then people tried it on the Greek Series and it worked well.)

The responses remind me of the party/parlor game called 'dictionary' (or 'fictionary'). Someone puts forth an esoteric word and all contestants write down a definition and turn them in. The person who chose the word reads the correct meaning and all the made up definitions (in random order) and each contestant must then vote on which definition s/he thinks is the true one. Klunker, this is what you get for kidding around so much on this site.

It was worse than that. My wife was ready to call 911 (asking them to make sure to bring a straight-jacket) when she saw me standing on my head in front of the computer. 🙃

Hugh, that was a low key title for such a great find. But now I see your ploy -- post is analagous to your experience: non-descript signal leads to monumental discovery! Do you think it was dropped at the same time as the other relics? I assume this is a Civil War site. Did soldiers actually carry gold coins? (Apparently some did.) Anyway, hope you bask in that aura (pun intended) for the rest of this otherwise trying year.