GB_Amateur

Agree on both counts. Seems kind of strange that much of the coin is strong otherwise. 2 cent piece has the same composition as most pennies and I've not noticed such a debilitating effect there. You can tell from the condition (e.g. strength of word 'STATES' and also the detail on the lines of the shield) that this coin saw very little circulation before it was dropped. Probably dates the site to mid-1860's -- at or just after the end of the Civil War. Check the image here (upper right corner) which shows the difference between the small motto (much scarcer) and large motto varieties of the 1864. I don't know if it's going to make you feel better or worse if it ID's as the small motto.... https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1864-2c-small-motto-bn/3579

Great hunt; thanks for the video! The 1915-S Wheatie sunbaker (you said 13-S originally but it looked like a 15-S to my eye) was in pretty good shape, ignoring the discoloration. That's a very good find, IMO.

Can you take a picture of the remaining one (with something in the field to show scale) and post it here? From this description, the first thing I thought of was that you are discriminating out the signal from the earring. The horseshoe button on the lower left of the control module front panel toggles between discriminate and non-discriminate (wide open or "all-metal" in Minelab jargon). Where that discriminate level is set depends upon the mode you are searching in. I would use Park 2 mode. There is a large incomplete circle of small dark rectangles on the display that surrounds most of the display characters. If you are in discriminate the lowest (most counterclockwise) 10 or so will not show. When you toggle the horseshoe button those either come into view or disappear. Make sure they are in view. I'm not questioning what Steve has said. Even if what I describe actually leads to you getting a signal with the surviving earring, there will be many targets in your search field which will likely give this same signal. So I agree it's going to be a tough task.

Really beautiful pieces! How did you clean the gangue off the wire gold? How delicate (vulnerable) is that wire gold now? Can you give a bit more detail on what detectors found which pieces?

Now that's the ultimate jewelry discriminator!

I've read that too. The universe would be a whole lot easier to understand if all relationships were linear.... The fact that they aren't is why the mathematicians, engineers, and scientists get paid the big bucks. 😁

I think there are a lot of factors that affect TID, and the soil mineralization can be one of them. As to whether that affects all detectors I can't say. I ran into another detectectorist a few months ago while out hunting. He told me that the Minelab E-Trac had better target ID but that he could swing the Equinox much faster. The fact that he was using an Equinox 800 at the time indicated to me which he thought was more important. People vote with their actions.

Well, they did come out with the T2+ a couple years back, but I think that was just the Classic with Boost mode added. I see you're talking about an upgrade to the SE model. I notice you mean selectable multi-frequency (MF). Has First Texas ever made one of these? The CZ series was simultaneous MF but I think that's it from (now) El Paso. It is interesting that with Dave Johnson (CZ designer/engineer) and now Carl Moreland (White's V3i designer/engineer) they still haven't gotten into even selectable MF let alone simultaneous MF (exception being the long-in-the-tooth CZ). I'm sure they're working hard down there so if MF is not in the works then apparently 'corporate' has decided it's not worth it. I think these aftermarket coil manufacturers are a huge plus to the MD field. It really P's me O when manufacturers don't cooperate with them. (Apparently First Texas isn't in that camp, at least.) Your post makes me want to get a Shrew for my F75.

The White's VX3 is the less expensive sister of the V3i. It has fewer settings/options/graphics than the V3i but some people prefer that compared to the V3i's dizzying myriad of options and settings. The V3i comes with a DD coil; the VX3 with a concentric. Wireless headphones are (effectively) an $-add-on option for both. In many ways the VX3 is to the V3i what the Minelab 600 is to the 800. That's the executive summary. For more complete info see Steve's https://www.detectorprospector.com/metal-detector-database/

https://www.riogrande.com/product/midas-14k-yellow-bright-gold-plating-solution-acid-based/335053 "Solution contains 1 dwt. (1.56 grams) pure gold." $1550/ozt * 1 ozt/20dpt = $77.50 as of right now.

I could guess from your Avatar image that you have a Fisher F44/22/11. Could you give a bit more detail? What detector? How long have you had it? Did it always do this or just start recently?

It used to be! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea

I'm suspicious, but that's typical. 😁 Old ivory is usually yellowed from age, but I suppose if it were in salt water that could affect the color. (New ivory is illegal to own, as I'm sure most here know.) Here's a decent set of tests that might help: https://www.wikihow.com/Tell-Ivory-from-Bone

That's a decent price for the original model. (TDI Pro was the newer continuation of the "big box" models and it seems to be highly prized if Ebay prices realized are any indication.) The -SL and -SPP are lighter. Part of that is that they run on standard batteries, but as a result their voltage (and resulting sensitivity) is lower than the big box unless you DIY battery mod (see active thread). Someone else than I can better answer your question about overlap with GPX-4800. Yes, pretty sure mono coils that work on GPX's also work on all TDI's. However that's not true for all GPX compatible DD coils. Apparently it's a trial-and-error fit. That is a good buy based upon Ebay prices realized, assuming it's in full working order, with coil.

Add my name to the list who have missed his presence. Simon, please let him know we appreciate his posts (and instruction) and look forward to more. But if the pic you show is representative of his recent finds I suspect he's quite busy swinging his detector. Your weather is turning for the better (winter almost over)? Or are you like the Aussies and Arizonans who prefer to hunt in winter?

Here's a previous thread where Rick Kempf illustrates and discusses the torque problem of a straight shaft:

I recall your extensive tests from a couple years ago. I used MS-Excel to summarize your results. That thread is here: Your posts back then prompted to me to search for (and find, for a good price) a used Sadie. I've never regretted it for a second. Glad to finally get to say "thank you" and glad you're becoming more active in posting to this forum. Your input is invaluable.

Nice triple play! How deep were the coins?

I can't answer your question, but thanks for the story. Reminds me of pawn shops -- everything they have is worth an arm and a leg. Your stuff? Peanuts. Maybe you already mentioned this, but are their any (real) Native Americans you can communicate with? They might be up on this kind of thing.

Presumably the other two were North Carolina and Georgia, and this was prior to the gold rushes of the (far) West. California (i.e. the state we know today) was still part of Mexico. 😀

I understand your PoV, but why not provide both (female) connectors and let the user choose. FT did it (although not for every model detector). I guess by providing options, though, you don't make money selling $45 adapters.

Can you estimate the number hits per swing that were less than +9?

While we're pitchin' a bitch, I'm going to put in my 2 cents. I wasn't an electronics engineer/tech but my work involved using lots of their services. One thing I learned is that every non-soldered connection (and even some of them) can fail. The more you string together the more likely it is to experience a failure. Minelab has for quite a while (at least since the Gold Monster 1000 release, and I complained then) felt that going with the 3.5 mm jack system was preferred. Why?????? At that time (and still now with one recent exception, see below), the quality aftermarket headphones have the 1/4 inch male plug. So if that is your choice you have to use an adapter. That's an extra connection to fail. I can't say anything about Minelab's overpriced adapter but I've suffered from poor quality mating of connectors, even before the Equinox, with the Deteknix (renamed 'Quest' to hide the fact they got caught counterfeiting the Teknetics T2). First Texas had what I consider a good idea when they included both 3.5 mm and 1/4" female connectors on the Greek Series (Tek Omega, etc.) and Fisher/Tek Gold Bug family. The pure RF route (M80 wireless headphones of the Equinox, for example) does alleviate the multiple failure points, but your choice of headphones is limited. The WM-08 module (my preference) requires *2* connections for me to use my favorite aftermarket headphones. To be fair, when I go with my Sony corded earbuds (in the hot months) with 3.5 mm plug I'm down to one. Buy why not do like FT and give me both to choose from? This problem isn't unique to Minelab. I recently replaced my Deteknix T/R system (similar issue, but worse since it required 2 adapters meaning 4 connections!) with the Garrett Z-link (https://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_z-lynk_en.aspx) but even they could have done better. The detector-to-transmitter connection, which could be hardwired, actually has two adapters, one for the proprietary waterproof AT connection and one for the industry 'standard' (I wish) 1/4". They could have made two versions rather than requiring an adapter. And the receiver module with just the 1/4 inch female jack takes care of me but not those whose headphones have the 3/5 mm male, including some that Garrett themselves market(!). Recently Detector Pro (https://detectorpro.com/gray-ghost-gold-series-for-minelab-gold-monster/) released a new model headphone with 3.5 mm male plug. (According to their blurb, they also enhanced the output to improve picking up weak signals.) But that just means buying yet another set of headphones, and ones that may not fit my head and/or hearing.

Apologies if I'm barking up the wrong tree, but given the responses others have gotten from Minelab USA, are you sure you dialed the correct number? Did the answering machine recording acknowledge you had reached Minelab?

Could you give a little more explanation? Those appear to be 3.7V batteries. Is the circuit board some kind of voltage regulator (switching regulator) that steps up the voltage? And the switching circuit doesn't introduce EMI?