GB_Amateur

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_standards Britannia silver has a millesimal fineness of at least 958. The alloy is 95.84% pure silver and 4.16 per cent copper or other metals. The Britannia standard was developed in Britain in 1697 to help prevent British sterling silver coins from being melted to make silver plate. It was obligatory in Britain between 1697 and 1720, when the sterling silver standard was restored. It became an optional standard thereafter. That's my guess.

Do you mean 'all metal'? Of the five Jeffies I can see 3 dates: 1962, 1961, 1940(?). If the Buffie, Warnick, and two Wheaties didn't already tip us off, I can see you are in a site with old coins. Hope they clean up. I suspect you'll be going back again. ?

As a proponent of detectorprospector.com, you won't be disappointed with that aspect. ?

Congrats on digging an Equinox TID = 17 target. In a modern setting I'd bet dollars to donuts (ha, ha -- a donut costs almost a dollar today, unlike when this phrase was coined) that you were digging can slaw. I wonder if the tone quality tipped you off. At any rate, IMO it's a small 'price' to pay digging a relatively shallow target (expending about 60 seconds) on the chance that it's a keeper. Sterling is always a worthwhile find in my book, and at that weight you've got $15+ of silver. Thanks for posting.

Welcome Zemetrius! I think the Gold Prospectors Assoc. of America (GPAA) has a show in LV every other year, in the spring. If you haven't been to that (or even if you have), I think you will learn a lot. The lectures (Saturday only?) are great and the vendors are typically knowledgeable and do demos. Ask a lot of questions. There are so many types of gold recovery equipment and you'll see pretty much all of it (hobbyist level apparatuses, that is) at a GPAA show. Also, if you get to the Phoenix area (probably more than a day round trip from you, though?) make sure to stop by A&B Prospecting in Mesa. (I think they have a satellite store in Prescott, but I've never been to it.) Tons of prospecting and gold recovery equipment there.

Dan, does this mean you accept +9 and above and (mentally) reject anything below that? Or do you give yourself the option of digging sometimes when less than +9? Just curious -- I've never hunted a US Civil War site. That coat button in particular is a beaut. Again, don't know much about CW relics but I have a feeling this is fairly rare.

Welcome, Pimento! Nice to see you appreciate the antiques. ? And there are quite a few of us here who like to tinker with our detectors. You fit right in. Share some pics of your finds. Your part of the world has in-ground history over 10 times as old as ours, as I'm sure you know. Even your 'new' stuff excites many of us.

Quite a site you've found, and nice work on the recoveries. Do you have the 6" coil? I'm curious if that will help find a few more between the iron background. Does the Standing Liberty 25 centpiece have a date? How about the Buffies? Get back there ASAP!

The Teknetics Patriot (same as Fisher F70) is still on the market at $400, its introductory price for almost two years now. This is an excellent coin and relic detector that has an all metal mode so can find natural gold (not the smallest gold since it operates at 13 kHz). It comes with the F70/F75's top coil -- the 7" X 11" DD. For those who have a budget that maxes out below $500, IMO it's got to be in the running if not the best choice. It has the best ergonomics in the business which should be a factor, particularly for the older detectorists among us. (I have an F75 -- its sister detector.)

Yeh, it's kinda surprising Minelab made the screen protector with its button hints cover the detector logo. Once you've had enough experience stepping through the menu (and recognizing the menu item pictograms) you can replace the screen protector with one that doesn't have the menu labels. I did just that, actually using laptop/tablet screen protector which has a more diffuse finish and thus less reflection than the supplied ones. Still nice of them to include those, though.

Got a tip from a friend on some BLM land that has produced gold in the past. I spent 4 1/2 days (30 hours of detecting) while camping out there. Weather was quite good -- only rained intermittantly for part of one day; typical temps were 70's F daytime and 40's F nighttime. Got lucky to have had recent rains which brought out the flowers: I always try and learn as much as I can while MD'ing, regardless of the site/location and intended finds. I was hunting with the Minelab Equinox 800 with 6 inch coil in Gold 1 mode, White's Prostar headphones coupled to the WM08 wireless receiver. It was nice to get away from the EMI I typically deal with at home (coin hunting). However, the hot rocks more than made up for that! At the start of each day I adjusted my settings, taking advantage of what I had used previously but also trying to keep an open mind as to what would run the quietest. Over the 4+ days I tried gains (sensitivites) between 16 and 23, ran all metal or disked out just {-9,-8, -7}, notched in only {-2,-1,0,1,2}, tried all recovery speeds in {4,5,6,7}. I Ground Grabbed most of the time but did try tracking, which didn't seem to make any improvement at this particular site. The ground phase was locally pretty stable, only varying by about 1 or 2 typically. Regardless of settings there was always at least of bit of noise from hot rocks to put up with. Surprisingly sometimes the hot rocks ID'ed at 12. As if the Equinox needed one more object to read that value.... The biggest false signal I had to deal with was wet ground. This wasn't surface moisture but rather at about 2 inches and deeper. The ID's read right in the small gold range {+1,+2} and sounded pretty clean, although they weren't quite a sharp as the real thing. However, for me anyway, close enough to not ignore. Pictured below is my 'haul'. I actually found one more piece but lost it somehow in the process of putting it into the collection bottle. One more lesson learned. Bottom line is that I quadrupled my lifetime count but still haven't made it to my first gram. All read +1 TID and all were within 2 inches of the surface. One was in the grass, lying on the surface of the ground. I'm certainly appreciative of the lead I got to this location. Wish I didn't live 2400 miles away from it.

It would take me a couple dozen hunts to dig that many pulltabs from my parks! I hope they are quick to recover. As usual it pains me to see that gray patina on your silver coins, but the IH, OTOH, looks better than my 'dry land' dug ones. Wish it were a '77 or late 60's.

Is that grains or grams?

Maybe in a few centuries, but you're safe until then. ? Thanks for posting your settings, too. Is that larger button silver? Very nice looking after you cleaned it.

From the video it looks like they just abandoned the place with all parts and equipment sitting there as if the Andromeda Strain had moved through. I would think there will be an auction of the contents with proceeds going to creditors. Someone is going to get a bargain on the parts, but turning that into a repair business is unlikely to be much of a money maker unless they already are doing such.

Welcome, 31-c! Much of metal detecting is making good judgements based upon what is known and what can be reasonably determined. In regards to where you can search, one approach is to assume you need permission anywhere you hunt and then contact officials for permission. I don't like this option for the simple reason that on public property, caretakers often don't know and possilbly will take the safe route of answering 'no'. Always ask permission on private property. What I do is web searching. For example, most city parks have websites. If they don't say anything about metal detecting then (IMO) it is safe to assume it is OK. Similarly with public schools. Only on one occasion have I been approached (by school security guards) and although they said we couldn't hunt, they were very unantagonistic and even polite. We just said "OK, we though ti was allowed..." and then departed without issue. On dozens of occasions I've been seen by officials and they either ignore me or smile and greet in a friendy manner. National Parks are off limits. State Parks and State Forests vary by state (and even park). Look at theiry websites. BLM land and National Forests are under the 1979 Antiquities Act. My simple interpretation of that is that keeping coin finds is OK, regardless of age, but relics over 100 years old need to be left where found. This is a non-lawyer view. Others have different approaches and they should reply, too. If you happen to have a local metal detecting club, join and get advice from experienced members. Also learn respectful recovery techniques. If a passersby notices you are carefully restoring the sod/soil/ground to its original conditions s/he will be relieved and unoffended. The main thing is to be polite and respectful if someone in authority approaches you. Even if you are in violation, most will give you a 'pass' as long as you heed that advice. If you get testy, all bets are off. Good fortune in your future hunting, and please post photos of your finds.

I'd say! I did notice a faint -S mintmark on the reverse. About 1 million minted but the condition makes this one worth in the hundreds of dollars. Well done (again), Norm! Way to challenge that "hunted out" qualification we hear so often.

Interesting. Looks like a substitute for a standard six-sided die. The lettering is quite primitive and it has nice patina. I'm wondering if it is a one-of-a-kind artisan made piece for some kind of game set. Do you know the metallic composition? Magnetic? What TID did it ring up at?

Yes, yes, yes. This is not merely an issue with the Minelab Equinox but many other detectors. Fisher did this years ago with some of their detectors (but not all). This idea that you need a flaky(!) adapter to be able to use 1/4 inch plug headphones with the latest detectors is total &#*)$@) !!!! Ditto the idea that Wifi, Wistream, etc. are the rage and "who needs old technology?" My first, second, third, and fourth best options for my Eqx 800 are all 3rd party headphones and 3 out of 4 have 1/4 inch plugs. Metal detector companies are great at building metal detectors, but to take the attitude that "one size fits all" in regards to headphones? I do give Minelab credit for giving us the WM08 option, though. That is my exclusive path these days. Anyone want to trade their WM08 for my ML80's?? ? On another topic that fits this thread: is there a reason we can't have multiple saved (profile) options? Isn't this just done with RAM? (stepping down from my soapbox now....)

In 1861 the two existing U.S. Dragoon regiments were re-designated as the 1st and 2nd Cavalry. This reorganization did not affect their role or equipment, although the traditional orange uniform braiding of the dragoons was replaced by the standard yellow of the Cavalry branch. This marked the official end of dragoons in the U.S. Army, although certain modern units trace their origins back to the historic dragoon regiments. (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragoon) Based upon this my conclusion is that your 'D' button is from prior to the Civil War, but I'm far, far from an expert on the subject. Really great finds!

Sounds like you may have shot your entire budget but if there is anything left over you may want to look at aftermarket coils from NEL/CORS.

Did you consider contacting Harry Ridgeway? His e-mail address can be found here: http://www.relicman.com/ About halfway down the page under the heading "Authentication and Analysis" which you should definitely read! Sounds like he enjoys helping people identify finds. One interest thing I notice on your piece -- the inclusion of 'CONN'. That likely dates the pieces manufacture in a certain range. Great find, BTW!

A couple points on two of the options: 1) I modified Steve's method -- polycarbonate sheet but attached with 100% silicone (caulk). The idea was for the attaching to be reversible. It's starting to come delaminated. 2) Why not have two coil covers -- one modified (with epoxy) and one stock? 3) I tried 0.020 inch thick polyethylene (construction grade moisture barrier) to cover the magnet on my pick. Didn't even hold up for one gold hunt. The shrink wrap plastic is probably tougher but I doubt it will hold up for long. Think about the tape that Coiltek and Nuggetfinder use around the edge of the coils. It's super tough but it wears out, and it doesn't take as rough of a ride typically as the bottom of the coil.

Got out to my (lately) best producing site for 2 1/2 hours last week -- a permission which I still have only covered less than half the area. I thought I had hit the garden spots initially but that has turned out not to be the case. One of the reasons I wasn't high on my current spot is that it had been backfilled with gravel. When? I don't know but based upon aerial photos I was thinking in the 1960's. I've been pulling up keepers the last half dozen times and in that time I've only covered an area about four swings wide by 30 m long. "Low and slow" is paying off. The area is moderatly trashy with both iron (mostly nails and screws) and aluminum (all kinds, especially foil but some square tabs and the always present can slaw). I was running the Eqx 800 in Park 1, ground balanced, custom 5 tones, gain of 22 (high for me since I usually suffer from EMI in my town), recovery = 4, and iron bias = 0. For iffy targets I had programmed the profile channel with Park 2, 50 tones, recovery speed = 6, iron bias = 0. I can't seem to get my brain to hunt in 50 tones, but using that to verify good/bad targets works pretty well. If I get repeatable tones and TID's which match the 5-tone signals then I dig. Sometimes I get completely different TID's in 50 tones, other times I can't lock on a tight tone range from any direction. When I've dug those they are some kind of iron. Ok, back to the hunt. I mentioned above the gravel backfill, which is in the neighborhood of 2-3 inches in thickness. There is a soil (sod) layer above that which varies in depth from about 2 to 5 inches. When I get down to gravel and haven't recovered I start to feel more positive. Most of my good finds in this area have either been at the top of the gravel layer, in the gravel layer, or below it. Recovery is a bit tricky since it's not so easy to dig in gravel. (BTW, this is true rounded river gravel, not sharp limestone chunks which some people call 'gravel' and which is even more difficult to dig in.) I was using the standard Lesche hand tool (well, my toothless modded one) which does pretty well in gravel and stone. The key is to hand pinpoint (TRX great for that), keep the blade away from the find and try to leverage it out with soil/gravel as an insulating buffer. I do this when in regular soft ground as well but it's even more critical in gravel or stone. I always have a plastic scoop to remove the loose ground (hopefully also containing the target). The dime hit in the penny/dime zone. I'm not one of those detectorists who can tell the difference betweeen copper penny, clad dime, and silver dime. All, under the right conditions, will ring up anywere in the 24-29 TID range for me, and I've even seen pennies hit 30 (but not staying there). Interestingly I didn't find a single Wheat penny on this hunt, but I've found quite a few in this area. Both nickels rang up where nickels typically do -- 12-13 with possible slides to 11 and/or 14. The Buffie in particular was not a clean 12-13 but good enough! The deeper the coin, the more likely it will be bothered by nearby iron. And, no, I still haven't found a Warnick with a high TID. So far I can't tell them from regular nickels (nor some evil size&shape aluminum). This one is in the best condition of any Warnick I've found. Unfortunately it's overexposed in the picture. 1942-P. The Merc is a 1937 plain. The Buffie is 1936-D. None of these is scarce but I'm always glad to get silver and Buffies with dates.

Nice garage mod, mh! The White's TRX gives the user the option of one 9V or two AA's. I've always gone the AA route. I haven't measured the run time but it's multiple hunts (where my typical hunt is ~3.5 hrs). WAG is >25 hours. The 9V should have gone out with the transistor radio. Come to think of it, I still have one of those.?