GB_Amateur

My apology if this has already been posted. A WWII practice munition was found on a Santa Cruz beach: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/01/02/world-war-ii-practice-bomb-california-beach/72089969007/ The article claims it was "washed up". Does that make sense? Specifically where was it before the big winds arrived recently?

I blame the mint (and Congress) for the Zincolns but the public for the lack of large denomination coins. Growing up in the 60's and even into the 70's, half dollars were commonly received in change. We've had small format $1 coins (off and on) since 1979 yet the number I've gotten in change I could count on one hand (not hold in one hand, count, as in 1,2,3,4,5). Our fellow countrymen love quarters and paper $1 for the past 40 years. Fortunately we've avoided iron core coins in this country. There's enough iron in our detecting sites already....

Great find, CPT! I think that 10 below the Panda stands for 10 Yuan and for a 1986 date that means it contains 0.1 ozt of gold. If the bezel is gold alloy, then the gold content found goes up some more. Have you put it on a scale yet? Encouraging, understanding spouses are the best kind. 😉

Either I hope I misinterpret what you say, or hope you will reconsider. Although it's true that you've built a community here that is likely the most knowledgeable and helpful regarding metal detecting of any out there and as a result might be able to survive without your posts, the fact is that many of us look forward to you "clearing the air" on anything from the most basic question all the up to the very deep and detailed. Decades ago (1970's and early 80's) there was a TV commercial with the punchline "when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen." At this site, replacing 'E.F. Hutton' with 'Steve Herscbach' is the perfect analogy. Please don't let a few antagonistic encounters spoil the best commodity here.

Do you want specifically a holster with the 'TRX' embroidered on it? I'm pretty sure there are others out there that are the same size and shape, possibly made by the same manufacturer. In fact I think the Garrett Carrot uses the same one.

Early 19th Century USA silver coins don't come easily even East of the Mississippi, let alone West. Your California Gold Rush hypothesis makes a lot of sense, even though there was (AFAIK) a lot of bartering even then, including trading raw gold for day-to-day provisions. All three of your > 1 1/2 Century old finds are in excellent shape given they've been being worked on by weather and soil conditions for so long. Your unknown item looks a lot like a mid-20th century bottle opener although it looks overbuilt for that task, and if the age fits with the other two I highly doubt it since I don't think crown caps came into existence until much later. Certainly appears to be for some kind of task that involved leverage, but what? Probably for an everyday activity in a stable, barn, kitchen, saloon, or part of the buildings trade. Great finds!

That permission is quite the Christmas present that hopefully keeps on giving for a long time. The hexagonal tokens(?) show a variety of patina colors which is likely the result of the varying soil chemistry (e.g. acidity/pH). The mint designers seem to have had a blind spot in the 1910's, with all three of Buffalo/Indian nickel, Standing Liberty quarter, and Walking Liberty half being vulnerable to rather quick loss of date due to the dates not being recessed. For the SLQ there was a change made in 1925 to alleviate that problem but that was only partially successful. Thus finding specimens with even partial (readable) dates is tough throughout the 15 years of production, let alone full dates. As you likely know your 'Type 1' was only minted for 1916 and the first part of 1917. The change resulted from complaints due to the 'topless' depiction of lady liberty. Other changes were included, such as the number of stars on the shield and the easily recognized three stars added under the Eagle. Even the latter difference shows up on the well worn (dateless) coins. If yours had the 1916 date we'd be extremely excited. As it stands the combination of discoloration and scratches in addition to the relatively high mintage figure (only 11 of the 37 dates+mintmarks+type listed in the Redbook have higher mintages) likely renders yours a display piece, but still something to be appreciated. As Doc Bach points out, SLQ's seem to be particularly elusive to metal detectorists among small denomination silver 20th Century USA coins. I myself have yet to find one, even a dateless version.

The lower photo (your earlier find) does appear to be the more common Large Motto. I can't see enough detail on your recent find to distinguish. I'm assuming you looked at the PCGS page which shows both varieties in high resolution.

The unpopular 2 Cent piece was only minted for 10 years, that last one 1873 being only 600 proofs, not for circulation but rather for collectors. 43.5% were dated 1864 and 29.9% dated 1865. That leaves just 26.6% to be minted in the final 8 years. I don't recall anyone here showing one that wasn't dated either '64 or '65. Also pretty sure all the '64s that have been shown were the more common Large Motto. Except for the two double die varieties (in 1867 and 1872) and the 1873 proofs, the Small Motto 1864 is easily the most valuable of the series. (Hope you got one of those, F350. 😁)

Have you reported it on the site I linked? (Takes five reports to make the list.) I don't understand the pencil sized hole in a meteorite. It does make me wonder if it could be a piece of human created (now) space junk.

You didn't give your location. Back in Illinois? Here's another website which tracks bright meteors (Fireballs): https://fireball.imo.net/members/imo_view/browse_events Last Thursday early (predawn) was the max of the annual Geminid shower which is typically one of the two best in terms of number of meteors per hour. However, not all meteors are associated with showers so yours wasn't necessarily related. We luckily had a couple days of clear skies (and moonless nights!) here in Southern Indiana bracketing the peak. I was out for about 1.25 hours Thursday evening and saw a dozen or so in that time, but not fireballs. (Lucky you!)

This June was my 3rd year attending (what was likely the last ) Welcome to the Hunt Outing (WTHO) organized by the now departed icon of detecting, Monte Berry. Speaking of friends, I've made several in those three get-togethers. I arrived in one of the Northeast Nevada ghost towns late Tuesday after Memorial Day and spent the next four days camped out, detecting with friends, hoping for my first Seated coin. Joel from nearby Elko found two(!) but I got skunked. Last year I found a few (2 or 3) oldies but not this year, so far (I thought). After a much needed night in a hotel I drove to Sawtooth (named for a nearby 'peak') and found the spot I planned to detect. This was a particular place Steve H. had taken me the previous year (speaking of friends) where I also met and bonded with Condor Steve and Andrew (abenson). Steve H. had agreed to meet up there on Tuesday so I spent much of Monday scouting a couple ridges to the East of everyone's favorite camping spot. I did find several prospects (bulldozer piles) so someone at some point (early 1980's) thought those spots were worth checking out. Typically I keep my wallet with me at all times, in my pocket during the day and on the dashboard at night. Except for a few hundred in emergency cash which I hide in my vehicle, everything else (credit cards, driver's license, insurance cards, even a few blank checks 🤔) is in the wallet. As promised, Steve arrives Tuesday morning (with two Garrett Axioms, one a loner) and we spent the day detecting and the evening 'catching up'. Thanks to his loaning me an Axiom I did find one dink that day. Wednesday morning I check the dashboard for my wallet, without success. I look everywhere I can think I may have put it -- nada. I reach into my jeans' back pocket and get an uneasy feeling. There's a large hole, large enough for my fat wallet to pass through.... Steve was planning on leaving that morning but he stuck around a few extra hours to help me search. Problem is, as most of you know, tracing one's detecting steps isn't so easy as often there is no logical path -- zigging, zagging, up, down, back and forth with trips back to the vehicle for forgotten tools (that happens to me a lot), lunch, water bottle refills.... I also couldn't remember for sure when I last had my wallet -- it might have been the day I walked all over Hell's half acre just scouting. As you now know, neither Steve nor I was successful. He departed early afternoon and I, after a couple more hours searching, had a decision to make. Did I stay another night or head back to Winnemucca where I had a hotel reservation for the evening? If I stayed, would I even be allowed into a hotel without a photo ID? I decided to head out, driving East on County 49 which was in the process of being watered to minimize dust. Besides a fresh coat of (quickly dried) desert dirt my vehicle windshield also suffered a rock strike which eventually (few weeks later) required replacing, fortunately fully covered by insurance. So much for getting back to the Eastern Nevada ghost town. After a night's sleep (they did ask for ID but let me get by without it) I drove to Craig, CO where again the hotel wanted the cash badly enough to let me stay sans ID. From there I got back to my sister's place outside of Denver. Oasis! After canceling credit cards and a couple days R&R I headed home, with one final night in a fleabag motel where I was told the police often came around to see the photocopied photo ID's of the 'guests'.... I never drove (2000+ miles) so carefully in my life, being especially mindful of slower speed limits in towns. (I didn't take interstate highways most of the last 1500 miles.) Arriving home I began the task of getting replacements for all the important documents. Before departing the site, Steve and I speculated when someone would find my wallet. I said 'five years' but he, knowing the area much better, predicted it would likely be this prospecting season, no worse than the next one when it would be found. 'Friends' was Gerry's thread topic and Steve felt that the detecting community would be generous in returning everything, if still identifiable. So at the beginning of November I see a missed call on my phone, identified as being from Idaho. Then I get an email message from friend Jeff McClendon (via this site's messaging channel) saying Gerry is trying to contact me. It still didn't dawn on my that he was calling about the wallet (I'm a semi-regular customer, including having bought my ML Manticore from Gerry). When I call the first thing he asks is if I've left something out in the desert!! 🤣 He said one of his staff (they were there for one of Gerry's three day hands-on metal detecting for gold classes) had found it on the slope just West of where we typically camp. He said all $151 was still there and I told him to take his guys out for pizza and beer with it but he declined. Gerry is like that in case you haven't met him. You help friends out and he was doing just that, without compensation. In a week or so I get a package in the mail and except for some minor water damage was no worse for wear (it does rain in the summer in the NW Nevada desert -- just ask this year's Burning Man attendees, that site being 30 or so miles away as the crow flies). Finally back to Gerry's thread topic. Thanks to this site I've met (in person) several new friends. But I've also made 'pen pals' with others I've never had the privilege of coming in contact. Too many to mention, but I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about. Thanks to all of you, particularly Steve H. for making (and keeping) this site about sharing information and experiences, without the painful off-topic arguments that are rampant on most internet social/communicative locations. So what have I learned from this experience? From now on I will have a spare credit card in my stashed cash hiding spot, with photocopies of my DL and insurance cards. I probably will still stubbornly (try to) keep my wallet with me at all times, but now a bright orange one, kept in my *front* pocket.

Thanks for the headsup, Simon. I'll make a long "rest of the story" post later today or at worst, tomorrow.

I was detecting a curb strip with underground power lines buried in it. I don't remember what mode, but probably Park 1 multifrequency. When I lowered the RC from 5 to 4 I got a quite noticeable improvement in EMI noise, enough to allow me to detect (but still with a bit of EMI noise). However, Hardpack mentions considerable iron trash and that often means faster recovery speeds, so there may be a tradeoff. With the Eqx 800, when the EMI was unbearable in multifrequency (at least down to sens of 15), I found that 10 kHz, 15 kHz, and 20 kHz worked best, staying away from the extremes. So far the Manticore has been much quieter for me, but I've still not given it the anything close to the workouts the Eqx 800 got.

Ah, I see what you are talking about. The '8' (what I thought was a '3') digit is quite confusing, as is the hair braid (pseudo cap). I've been trying to tie the reverse of yours to that of the 1793 and was having trouble finding a good match; now I see why. The 1798 reverse you show is much better in sync with your find. These copper coins, especially the 100% copper ones (as all half and large cents were/are) with so much time in the ground can add material (loosely thrown into the corrosion category) which further increases the confusion. And then there is the lighting/shadows needed to bring out the detail photographically. That also can be misleading which is why numismatists (like geologists) really want to see a specimen in person. I was guilty of wishful thinking. I guess you didn't get to walk in the clouds after all. 😏 You'll just have to wait longer for your (true) rare coin find. (Lots of company there....)

Uh, hold the phone! You are going to be pleasantly surprised when you notice your error. Look at two things: 1) the last digit of the date; 2) that triangular shape attached to the rear of the head. I'll buy a nice 1798 and trade you for that one! Let me know when you get your feet back on the ground from floating in air after re-iding this. 😀

Finding a nearly 200 year old USA coin in that condition..., extremely rare for that to happen! Typically the environment (i.e. being in the ground) will have scratched, dinged, or discolored the coin (not to mention over-zealous post recovery cleaning...). Yours appears to be the 'Small 10 C.' version. (See the inset at right on the page I linked.) This is the most common of the varieties for this date in high condition although only the 'Curl Base 2' is well set apart in value. (If yours was that it would make headlines in Coin World and bring you in the range of six figures. 😀) Colonel Dan has conservatively stated the condition. I wouldn't go further than his since a true grading expert is needed to fine tune his conclusion. However, something that is typically undervalued is the 'strike' -- how much fine detail resulted when the coin was minted. For example, look at the stars on the obverse (side with the date). Those are sharp indicating this was a strong strike, probably from early in the die's lifetime. Ebay prices realized put this in the $200-$300 range if you were to sell it there. My guess is you want to keep it for the good memories.

When was the last time a detector was introduced that has a concentric coil, stock or optional?

Is that allowed? (Not that people never do things that are prohibited....)

Thanks for that clarification, Andrew, and I'm glad you found a solution. You certainly seemed to have earned it. Your experience is one more reminder (and I hope I have it etched in my brain now) that with these detectors that have so many adjustment options, it's vitally important to learn which ones are likely to matter and then fiddle with them at a new site to get things fine tuned. That's true whether an update has been installed or not. Apparently these software updates can effectively take one detector out of your hands and put another one there, even if cosmetically it's the same detector. But I do appreciate that Minelab (do all companies?) allow us to back out of an update and revert to the old software/detector. It certainly can be frustrating/exasperating for something that works to be seemingly taken away with no option to get back to the start. Reversability is always high on my pre-change checklist.

Another person who has shown (in videos) real effects, in his situation (emphasize ground conditions) the loss of depth performance with an update, is Andrew (abenson here). That is with the ML Manticore. Minelab even sent him a replacement control unit (or was it a full detector?) and that also showed the degraded performance with the update under certain conditions. I used to be suspicious that people were just fooling themselves (sidelight: if you really want to open your eyes, see the book Predictably Irrational which interestingly is now the basis of a weekly network TV drama on NBC TV here in the USA). I still think that is what's going on 90% of the time, but situations like Andrew's have enlightened me that this isn't always the case.

Here's Coiltek's page for this: https://coiltek.com.au/product/18-nox/ 1.05 kg (= 2.3 lb). Hmmm. Almost half the weight of the detector with this coil mounted is the coil, hanging about a meter away from the handle. That's a lot of torque for what is typically a fairly light, fairly well-balanced detector with stock 11" coil.

Those sound more like Deus-2 TID's for USA nickels. Manticore sweetspot TID for those is 26-27. (I assume that's what you meant, but are still struggling with changing 'languages' 🙂 I'll be interested in hearing how your Manticore responds when a nail in the hole along with a coin. I've barely begun experimenting with that situation, but so far it seems to do rather well. (Still preliminary conclusion, though.)

Always good to hear your reports, Jeff, whether evaluating a detector or finding goodies. One thing I suggest you play with -- turning down the sensitivity. I've found in my backyard test setup that 17 seems to be the sweetspot so far for a USA quarter in All-Terrain High. The target ID is tight there and turning the sens higher doesn't seem to improve the depth much (but rather costs in TID spread). Of course the ground conditions in particular have a huge effect so I would never say my settings are best for others. Lots of 'knobs' to adjust and I'm sure you'll give this new detector a thorough checkout eventually. Glad it's working out-of-the-box for you with basically stock settings. BTW, if you are seeing red numeral TID's then the new update is installed. The original software would have a red underline for ferrous content signals with the digital TID but the numerals themselves were dark gray, regardless of ferrous signal strength.

WM08 was exclusively for the Equinox 800 and 600. I'm assuming this WM09 still needs to be charged, just like the WM08. I'm one of many who hopes this module will work with the Manticore. It's probably going to cost us at least $100 (near the price of a top-of-the-line set of headphones) but although the ML105 headphones sound decent (unlike the ML80's that came with the Equinox), they suck at blocking out external noise. I want to use my SunRay Pro Golds in the cool/cold weather and my Sony earbuds in the hot weather, just like I've done for 5 years with the Equinox 800 paired with the WM08.