GB_Amateur

Jeff, I find your tables quite informative. I hope you don't mind that I reformatted them. I wish they had better resolution.

Pure aluminum has s.g. of 2.7 and most common Al alloys are between 2.7 and 3.0. I suspect the early posts here had it right. Aluminum is quite a diverse metal. Today we (detectorists, anyway) think lowly of it, but the reason it's so popular is because of all its positive properties. Here are just a few -- excellent electrical conductor (3rd best in elemental = pure form), fantastic reflector of visible light (probably #1, even better than silver), very high strength/weight ratio, resistant to typical environmental degradation (oxygen forms a protective coating, unlike iron), inexpensive, alloys are very easily machined and extruded. The list goes on. I for one have found pieces I was hoping were silver and I was disappointed when I figured out what they were.

So we turn $900 detectors (800 model) into more expensive units. I've been fiddling with mine lately as you may have read here, trying to make it more ergonomically friendly. But I remind myself that the reason I bought it and the reason it's still my go-to detector is because of what's inside. Sure, an Equinox 800 in a Teknetics T2 or Fisher F75 package would be the bee's knees (...hey, maybe I'll try that next... 😜) but we do what we can with what we got. Unfortunately we can't do anything (at least as individuals) with the weather, and that's my (and many of your) biggest hindrance at the moment.

Joe D. and Steve H. have covered the bases. The real key is access (which Joe talks about) and the amount of time you are willing to alot. You say you've covered 1.5 acres, which is already significant in my book for such a metal loaded site. I would start by looking for the most promising parts and cherry picking the best signals. If you have a preference for coins (and if you don't, let me know the location and I'll help out with that part 😁) then figure out the expected TID sweetspots for the coins (e.g. large cents, silver coins) of the era and concentrate on those. Try and figure out where people would have lost coins -- under the clothesline(s) has been very good to me. Path to the outhouse is another. Figure out where the shady spots would have been in the afternoon/evening. How about the best spot for a cookout/picnic/family get-together? (Sorry if I'm telling things you already know, but someone reading this won't.) If you find a good target, slow down (as Steve says) and hunt that area harder. If it's a loner you can move on, but often one find is closely accompanied by more because you've found a spot that was frequented. As you learn your detector through experience, you will be better able to mentally discriminate. "Dig it all" assumes you have the time & energy. In a site as you describe that would take me many thousands of hours. That advice applies to sites with less dense targets. Once you've cherry picked the best parts of the property you can go back and be more throrough on those, do greater coverage (i.e. hunt parts you skipped previously), loosen up your discrimination, etc. Oh, and you might find that what you thought were the most promising areas actually take a back seat to new places there. Keep in mind you will never get it all. Sounds like you've found a garden spot, at least when it comes to old relics. Enjoy the ride!

Mike, sounds like you got a jewel of a detector find. Can you tell the date of manufacture? I'm just wondering if this is one of the newest ones that they may have intentionally tuned this way instead of just a random hickup in their tuning procedure.

I recall these rules-of-thumb: a USA quarter is 1 inch in diameter. A half dollar is 1 1/4 inches in diameter, and silver dollar is 1 1/2 inches in diameter. A USA half dollar weighs 12.5 g so this is about the weight of a quarter and half combined. If you melted those two coins I think you would come up with something larger than 1 inch X 1/2 inch. If the quoted dimensions and weights are accurate, it seems the specimen in question is more dense than silver.... So it seems you have a piece of metal that is both a high conductor and has a high density. Hmmm. I don't know what metal would fit those conditions. I think this specimen deserves a specific gravity test. Done correctly that is much better than trying to compare a measured weight with approximate length&width&thickness dimensions. Addendum: The person who created the linked webpage downplays the importance of the attachment piece -- in his illustration/example he uses a paper clip. Particularly for a small item such as yours, I recommend something much finer. Sewing thread (especially the monofilament, plastic kind) would be way better than a paper clip. A very fine wire would be good, too. In addition, in your case you really need a scale which reads to at least down to 0.01 g. If your scale only reads to 0.1 g the loss of digits will result in large uncertainties in the calculations. So many metals (pure and alloys) have their specific gravities in the 8 to 11 range, often making it difficult to distinguish even with an accurate measurement of s.g. If you scale isn't sufficiently precise you can get uncertainties of many 10's of percent (e.g. a sample with actual s.g. of 8 could read 12, or vice versa) that the measurement is effectively meaningless.

To be quite honest (and I hope this doesn't sting, because I don't say it for that purpose) I don't think your coin is worth very much as I explain below. Let's consider who collects USA coins, and why. There are multiple answers, but the two things are connected. Some collect coins as an investment. Some collect for the beauty (they are pieces of art). Some collect for the challenge/fun of filling in a book with all known dates and mintmarks. Some collect to show off to their friends how wealthy and suave they are. The list goes on and on. In reality there is a wide spectrum, but let's concentrate on just 2 or 3 slices. The lower end (collect for fun and challenge) mostly do so by going through bank rolls of modern coins. The highest end are typically investors and/or the very wealthy. This group buys their coins, sometimes from dealers, sometimes at coin auctions. They almost always want either proof coins (those minted for collectors or for presentation to 'important' people such as government officials and never meant to see circulation) or uncirculated coins. The latter are a subset of the so-called 'business strikes' -- meant for commerce and thus for circulation. But some of the latter never actually make it into circulation as they are intercepted at the bank before they are ever unbagged or possibly they've been unbagged and rolled but otherwise not handled. These are understandably labeled 'uncirculated' but there are actually 11(!) grades of uncirculated, depending upon how much they were jostled at the mint and in their mint-sealed bags during transport. Most have heard the following cliche's but they are worth repeating. The three most important things in real estate are: location, location, location! The three most important things in coin collecting are: condition, condition, condition! So, do circulated coins have value? All coins made of precious metals have bullion value. But some of those and some non-precious metal coins have collector value, if they are scare/rare enough and if there is a demand among collectors. Some even are desirable among the investor/wealthy category of collectors, but they must be otherwise very difficult or impossible to find in uncirculated condition. I've oversimplified the classification of collectors. Some actually pay moderate amounts for their coins. In particular, those who try and fill a book with every date and mintmark will be willing to pay considerably for the higher ciruclated grades, and maybe even some of the lower grades. Here's an illustration of most of the grades for your type coin, the nickel 3-cent piece. Imagine yourself a collector: which grades would you prefer over the coin you actually found? (BTW, there are a couple even lower grades than shown: Poor-1 and Fair-2.) Finally there are one or two unofficial categories that cover damaged coins, known as 'culls' and 'fillers'. 'Culls' have a condition that is so bad they've been culled from the others. 'Fillers' mean they can be used to hold a spot in someone's book or collection until a better specimen can be found and/or afforded. So where do I think your coin fits? I can see that when it was dropped in the ground the grade was pretty high, based upon the lines you seen in the roman numeral III. The date looks pretty strong, too. However, the earth has not been good to it, and that is typical of cupro-nickel coins in general. There is certainly a bias in the coin collecting community against cleaned coins, but that's just reality. There is also potentially a bias against damaged coins. Both of these are at least partially related to beauty. If you're going to collect a coin, you like it to look nice (to your eye, in the very least!). Cleaned coins and damaged coins look different than those that haven't experienced these, and as such are perceived as less desirable. But (another cliche') "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Bottom line is that in my opinion you have a filler coin. It might clean up some, but I wouldn't bank on that. (How/when/why to clean coins is a very difficult and controversial subject and one I'm not even close to properly knowledgeable in.) IMO, sending your coin to a certification service and paying the ~$75 or so fee would not be a worthwhile investment. As I mentioned previously, from a treasure hunter's view you've made a fantastic find. The chances I'll ever find such a rare coin is miniscule. The number of detectorists on this site who have found a USA coin with this low a mintage can probably be counted on one hand, and maybe a hand showing no fingers. But rarity does not always translate to value, and I feel that is the case for your coin, even to an extreme.

Here's a poor man's (cheapskate's?) solution. Let me start with a bit of background. One of the moderately priced headphones that I've used and worked well for me are the White's Prostar. I got a little overzealous stretching those to fit over my head one time and the plastic band across the top broke. In my collection of headphones was a set of Jolly Roger's which had been a freebie bonus included by a retailer with a detector I had bought. I decided to canibalize those to repair the Prostars. Turns out a lot of the headphones share at least some mechanical components. Subsequenty I decided to then repair the Jolly Roger's I had canibalized and bought a set of inexpensive Garrett MS-2's but when I tried them I liked them so much better than the Jolly Roger's that I decided to use the MS-2's as is rather than canibalize them. The reason I tell you all this is to explain part of what is apparent in the photo. You can see the broken headband and where those broke off the yokes that the actual earpiece/speakers are mounted on. Also shown are the parts I've now removed from one of the earpieces -- a small speaker and the wire I removed that went from one earpiece to the other. (Not shown is the now removed plastic 'screen' that protects the speaker from being punctured.) I used a 1 1/2 inch hole saw to make two large holes in the disabled earpiece. Unfortunately the way I took the photo you can't see the second hole. I haven't reassembled these since I don't have an intact headband, but use your imagination. I could have done exactly the same thing with an intact set of headphones. What I now have (sans headband) when re-assembled is effectively a Rattler style headphone set, but with all mechanical pieces symmetric on my head instead of a headphone on one side and a spring & foam pad on the other. Now, you don't have to buy a $100 set of headpones (such as the Jolly Rogers I've butchered) to make such a modification. In my experience, one of the reasons to pay for a premium set is to get a secure fit to your head so that background noise is blocked out. If you're going to have one ear open to outside world you defeated the purpose/need of trying to eliminate as much background noise as possible. I was going to suggest buying a set of Garrett MS-2's ($35, or less with shipping included in the USA if you shop around) and modding them similar to above. (In my experience they have quite good sound quality, their biggest deficiency compared to my favorites -- Sunray Pro Golds -- is that they aren't as good at eliminating the background noise due to a looser fit.) However, 1) the (single) volume control is on the earpiece that doesn't have the connection cord, and 2) I see no wire between the two earpieces (typically a wire goes between the two over the headband) so I don't know if disabling the uncabled side can be done without impacting the performance of the remaining earpiece. Correction: there is a tiny wire that runs through the plastic yolks and headband, that is amazingly well hidden. So no electronic magic going on. However, there still is the issue with the volume control on the opposite side from where the detector cable is located. You can buy over-ear metal detector headphones for as little as $15 (pre-shipping) but I don't know the sound quality of any of those, so I can't make a recommendation.

I'm assuming you are referring to this one on the History Channel TV show "Pawn Stars". I'm surprised you got a decent buy there. Nice looking meteorite!

I recall (although I wasn't detecting then, so read this after it was chronicled) that when TDI's with dual field coils were initially used in Australia there were so many problems/complaints that White's made mono coils in the same housings ("Aussie Mono's" or "Oz" coils) specifically for the problem. I'd be surprised if the Beach Hunter operates differently than an equally outfitted TDI/SL -- that is with a 12" dual field coil and the conductivity switch set to 'all'. One difference worth noting is that the ~1.5 lb weight difference since the TDI-BH, being waterproof, has more armour to accomplish that. Gold has been found with TDI/SL's. If someone were in the market for a dry land PI primarily for searching for native gold then getting a Beach Hunter wouldn't make sense. OTOH, if someone who already owned a TDI-BH (presumably acquired to search beaches) and was going to do some occasional dry land nugget hunting, using a detector already in possession would seem to be a reasonable idea as opposed to running out and buying a PI detector specifically for that purpose.

In a private message, Tim (2Valen) recommended looking at the base more closely to see if I could find any manufacturer marks. (Thanks, Tim.) Wire brusing with a drill attachment didn't yield anything more. At this point I think it just falls in the broad "1850 to 1950" timeframe, probably made in a blacksmith shop. The fact it was found close to where I found a Civil War relic is likely an unrelated coincidence, other than it may have been dropped/lost by a member of the same family since this property was previously a 19th Century homestead occupied for decades (AFAIK) by members of the same family. I returned for another afternoon hunt but found only a few modern coins. I'm going to put this site back on the shelf. As mentioned, it's now a municipal park but unfortunately some of the most promising (although not particularly old) ground, near concession stands, is locked up most of the time, only open occasionally in the warmer months by arrangement. Even I wouldn't feel too comfortable detecting at those times with lots of peope around.... There should be more promising places for me to spend my time this year.

I've found quite a few tokens (mostly modern) that seem to hit that TID, or very close. My guess is that they are brass, similar to our modern USA dollar coins as opposed to bronze (our pre-1982 small cents) or pure copper (our 19th Century large cents). I'm quite suprised at the condition. Those look pretty old (first half of 20th Century?) although who knows when they were dropped/tossed in the ground. Nice finds.

I was thinking "hey, what??!!" Were you trying to play this deadpan and see what kind of reactions you got? Either that or you hadn't photoed your find and just went out on Google images a grabbed a 'random' one, not bothering to match the correct date. Glad someone woke up. 😁 Tim, I think you may have just found a Vanquish 540 (equivalent). Check eBay sold listings to get an idea of what people are willing to pay. I don't know what yours grades but it looks like the ground was very kind to it. Well done!

When you say "looked around the web", were you looking at prices realized or asked prices? Are you referring to the exact same coin (i.e. 1885 nickel 3 cent piece)? What were the grades quoted? IMO the best place to get realistic pricing is Ebay (for sold items only). Even Ebay has a fee, but it should be much less than an auction house. Here is an explanation of the costs (explicit and hidden) for grading of coins. My interpretation is that it will cost you about $75 at NGC.

Those (cupro-) nickel 3 cent pieces were apparently unpopular with the public, but the US Mint kept making them. Only the first six years (1865-70) and 1881 did they mint more than 1 million per year. From 1877-89 (last 13 years), with the exception of the above mentioned 1881, they never struck more than ~41,000. If that last digit really is a 5 (and not a 3) then it is the most sought after date for circulation specimens, as there were only 1000 'business strikes' (released for commerce) while 3790 were made in proof condition as presentation/collector pieces. (Even if that's a 3, the 1883 is rare as well.) Therein lies the rub. The business strikes are much more valuable than the proofs, but how would you be able to be certain that the coin you found isn't a proof that was at some point put into circulation (or just put in the ground...). Even with that kind of rarity it might be difficult to get much for it. A very rare find, no doubt! You may just have to be satisfied with knowing that.

Walmart is the USA's biggest discount department store chain. Interestingly (I hope) I relay the following. I was today at Bass Pro Shops, which is the biggest(?) hunting/fishing/camping/outdoor megastore in the US right now, along with its recent sister acquisition, Cabellas. Whenever I go by there (it's ~90 miles from my home, so not often), no matter what I'm after I take a look at their metal detectors. Here's what I saw today (in round numbers since I detest the '99' game), and I was surprised at their upgrading: Vanquish 340 @$200, Vanquish 540 Pro pack @ $500, All three of Garrett's top VLF's (ATMax, ATGold, ATPro) but don't remember the prices, Garrett's Ace 400 and Ace 300 (looked like competitively priced), Teknetics T2 Classic (green) @$500, A couple lower priced (near bottom of the line?) Teknetics models, ProPointer AT (aka "carrot") competitively priced, Garrett's hand digger, and some low priced Bounty Hunter accessories -- headphones and pinpointer. Probably to no one's surprise is that these were all on a 5 ft X 8 ft shelf, in a store the size of multiple football fields, with no indication that anyone there knows the least bit about metal detectors. Caveat Emptor. Can't help myself. You've reminded me of this frequent commercial on USA TV.

You're off to a fine start! Welcome to the website and 'club'. Here's a bit of info on the button from a different MD'ing site. From further Googling it appears these have been produced and reproduced multiple times -- honoring a 16th Century French king. Figuring out the age of yours could be a challenge, but fun, too. Being in Pennsylvania makes things more interesting, with the extra (including Colonial and Revolutionary War) history compared to many of us further west in the USA. I notice you found a thimble, or part of one. I've yet to find a thimble in my ~1000 hours of detecting. Pop tabs, though -- I've found my share of those. 😁

Just curious, Chase. How does a 1944 (well-worn) Mercury dime end up on a Civil War battlefield?

Found this yesterday while searching a site that previously produced a Civil War cartridge box plate. I don't remember the exact location of that previous find, but the pictured stirrup was found within 30 m of its location. (Hopefully I don't prejudice responses with this tidbit....) As mentioned previously when I posted that find, it's over 100 miles to the nearest CW battlefield. At that time I was pretty sure the box plate was a 'souvenir' drop from a homestead family member who had participated in the war. It is possible there were practice maneuvers at this location, although I haven't found any written evidence that supports such. All I know is that this site was previously a 19th Century homesite and I'm in what was previously a pasture. It's been a municipal park for 51 years so almost certainly dropped before that. The condition is pretty decent but I haven't found a manufacturers mark (and frankly don't know where to look for that). My guess is that this was made in a blacksmith shop and not a mass produced item, but I'm about that least knowledgeable person on this subject. Any help in identifying will be appreciated. Oh, this was a 3 1/2 hour hunt, hoping for some old coins. 7 cents (modern coinage) was all I got in the coin category, so the stirrup saved the day. It TID'ed in the upper teens on the Minelab Equinox.

Excellent year, and apparently you didn't show us all of it ("...some of the 2019 finds...") Could you give a bit more detail? Here is what I'wondering about: 1) What is the coin to the right of the two Walking Liberty halves? 2) What is the rightmost coin of the top row of silver Washington quarters? 3) Are those all Indian Head pennies to the left of the silver coins? 4) Anything you feel is worth mention? I see you highlighted two 1892 mintmarked Barber dimes. I point out that several of the -S mintmarked Barber dimes and some of the -O's are sub-million mintages (such as your 1892-S) and fall into the semi-key category, IMO. I on the other hand, have only found one, 1900-S, which happens to be 3rd highest mintage of the -S issues and only worth bullion content. As I've stated elsewhere, many of the -S mintmarked coins, particularly from the 19th Century, didn't make it far from the Western states so your 1892-S is a particularly scarce find in the Great/Central Plains states. Good fortune in 2020 -- I hope you'll be showing us some equally scarce goodies when it's over.

I'm still studying up on coin cleaning so I'll have to defer. But I think this is the kind of coin that needs care. Common (high mintage) coins -- it doesn't matter much what you do. Key and semi-key dates are where over-zealous cleaning can really affect value. I realize (since you said) that you aren't going to be cashing them in, but I like to compare to pieces of art -- they deserve to be handled carefully. I have the same issue with roofing nails. They are simply zinc coated ('galvanized') steel, and as you point out, the head is big enough to give a nice moderately high TID signal. I suspect the shank contributes, since vertical nails have given me good TID's in air tests in the past. I just live with them (i.e. dig 'em up) rather than to try and figure out if it's a roofing nail or an Indian Head penny or a piece of jewelry or....

I'm running out of adjectives for West Coast coin hunters' finds. Stupendous?? Thanks for the video. It's always fun to see the sincere reactions with good finds. You've downplayed the 1863-S dime, and given the competition this time I understand that. Interestingly the number minted is less than the 1865-S, although the values across the board are less for the 1863-S, so likely there were other occurrences that make the more recently minted one more valuable. And, yes, condition plays a huge part, but it looks to me that the 1863-S with the *proper* cleaning could turn out to be pretty decent. (BTW, I commend you for not rubbing your finds in the wild. You are in the minority.) So, do you think your friend Tom is going to change his mind about hunting that site now? And more importantly, will you welcome him back?😁 I agree with Steve H. about the combination of detector and detectorist leading to your success. I'm going a little deeper on that. You've hunted this site for 10 years with different detectors. Yes, the detectors have improved. But have they improved as much as you have? People tend to emphasize that sites get cleaned out of the trash along with their reduction of valuable finds, and then assign that cleanup with making it easier by unmasking more valuables. I agree with that, too. But look at all the trash you are still cleaning up, and you mentioned that you left some (especially the sheet metal) behind. I think your perseverance trumps all of these other factors. I look forward to your future expose's, even though this one will be difficult to exceed.

Welcome, Django! I see from this that the hunt is in mid-October. So you have about 8 months to tune up your detecting skills. Jeff mentioned that the CTX 3030 would not be good for a competition hunt, and I can see from their Facebook announcement that part of the entry fee includes one of these. You didn't mention a price limit if you choose to invest in a different detector. Most would interpret that to mean it's not a factor.... Both Chase and Jeff pointed you towards the Minelab recent entries (Vanquish and Equinox). In particular Chase specializes in battlefield relic hunting and both of these guys are quite experienced with multiple detectors, so the coincidence of their recommendations is meaningful. Internet prices are $369 for the 540 with large coil, $499 with large and small coils. The Eqx 600 is $649 and the Eqx 800 is $899. Each of those comes with just one coil -- the 11" diameter round DD. However, that is my go-to coil for general (coin & relic) hunting. I think the large 12"x15" for the Eqx is around $239. The biggest differences between these three detectors are the features/options. If you decide to take their advice and $899 doesn't scare you off then IMO go with the 800. That's what I have and I do use many of its options that aren't available on the other two. If you get an Equinox, in the short run you'll probably be best using one of the default modes so in that sense it's not much different than operating the Vanquish. That being said, it's easier to get yourself off-course (settings-wise) when you have options. Detectors really are a personal match. Finally I'm going to give a plug to Gerry McMullen (Gerry In Idaho is his site name here) if you decide to get any of these three. Call him and he'll give you even more details and recommendations. He's a multi-brand dealer and if he thinks a different detector is best for you I'm sure he'll point that out.

Nice finds! Seems weird for a clasp to be high quality gold and the remainder be plated/etc. I'm betting the crucifix is a precious metal. What is the white (silver?) coin above and slightly to the right of the East Africa coin? I gotta say you beach & water hunters have it a lot more difficult than we dry land park/school detectorists, in so many ways. But also seems like you get rewarded more significantly for your efforts.

So your wife's reading the forum now? 'Cause none of the rest of us are buying that, and come to think of it, I doubt she will, either.