GB_Amateur

OK, you've stumped me. What is a 'VGG'? Concerning your mystery item, does the back side look the same as the front? Phrunt's guess would make sense to me if the backside were basically flat or at least much less decorated. That still would leave me scratching my head why the central egg rotates. Regardless, a nice find.

A Geiger counter does nothing more more than indicate that ionizing radiation is present. The best it can discriminate is to differentiate the three common forms of natural terrestrial originated forms: alpha, beta, and gamma. But there are enough sources of these (although dominated by Uranium, Thorium, and Potassium) that just knowing you have an emitter doesn't tell you what you have. Further investigation/testing is required. Think of U & Th (and their daughters) as the iron and aluminum trash that annoys detectorists (particularly those using non-discriminating PI detectors), except its abundance ratio compared to other radioactive elements (desirable or otherwise) is many-fold worse. IMO, finding precious metals with a metal detector is orders of magnitude more likely to be successful than the lucky off-chance that some valuable (precious metal) mineral associated with a radioactive mineral can be picked up with Geiger counter. And because of the secondary testing that would be required with a Geiger counter, MDing is less expensive in addition.

You mean the Hunt brothers attempting to corner the market and control the price? That was 1979. I know, it seems like yesterday to me, too. Time flies when you're having fun. Wish I had kept up my detecting over the last 39 years, but "no time like the present." There are still plenty of precious metals out there. Let's get our share!

This article is interesting but in terms of value/pricing it is misleading. The reason is that precious metals are commodities and their prices fluctuate. For example, right now (will change tomorrow ?) gold has about 1.5 times the price of platinum. Even palladium is currently higher priced that platinum. A google search of "precious metals spot prices" will give the up-to-date values of the more well-known rare metals.

Good mnemonic I only learned recently: US quarter is 1 inch diamter; US half dollar is 1 1/4 inch in diameter. US dollar (the old format, so traditional silver dollars and Eisenhower dollars but not the Susan B. Anthonys nor the new bronze dollars) is 1 1/2 inch diameter.

This sounds good, but I think there might be a better clip than an alligator, for a) more intimate electrical contact, and b) better mechanical stability. I certainly like the direction you are going here. Please take some pics of the setup when you get it ready. A lot of people would like to take this route.

One thing you don't mention but is a constraint/consideration/requirement is mechanically securing the rogue battery pack inside the case. I've modified the standard pack (blue one which takes standard AA's) with leads to an external AA holder so I can up the voltage. (This wouldn't work for the new water-tight version but is just peachy for the standard TDI/SL.) I also have one of the RNB lithium packs which runs at 12V but has longer operating life between recharges. There's always a tradeoff when doing mods which void the warranty. Obviously it's up to each owner to make that decision.

As a Christmas present, a friend of mine asked around amongst many friends/acquaintances and received five positive replies for permission for me to search their properties. Last weekend I went to my 3rd (actually 3b since this is a property now owned by one of the original five, but a second property). I find it interesting to compare/contrast two of these properties which I'll call 3a and 3b. 3a) small (<1000 sq ft) home built about 1940 on a corner lot. Total property size ~0.1 acre. There is a detached garage, part of the yard is fenced off for farm animals, and although I had permission to search in with them (goats and chickens) I didn't do as thorough of a job searching their space as the rest, for obvious reasons. I was expecting good results but a 4 hour hunt only produced one old coin -- a late 1930's Wheat Cent. It's possible this site had been searched previously but I think it's less likely than a second theory -- whoever has lived there just didn't hang out much in the yard and/or didn't carry coins in places where they could be dropped. Regardless, I was disappointed to the sparsity of finds, but that just makes me hungrier for other sites and more excited when those produce. To my surprise and appreciation, that home owner told me she was in the process of buying a rental and said I was welcome to search it. Proceed to... 3b) similar size home and lot, but this time no farm animals, built ~1955. Assuming the 'old' coins I seek stopped being circulated by the early 1970's, this property only offers about 15 or so years to have accumulated these targets as opposed to twice as long with 3a. After my previous experience I wasn't expecting a windfall but still was hopeful. Last Sunday I was able to put in 3 hours of searching and covered a little more than half of the searchable ground. During the hunt I was finding a moderate number of coins, mostly copper Memorial cents, a few clad dimes and quarters and a couple Jefferson nickels. I was discriminating hard against Zincolns which might have been a mistake. Two of the copper cents I found (I think both were Wheats but not sure) hit 20-21 ID on my Equinox 800 (Park 1, 5 custom tones, ground balanced, recovery speed = 6, iron bias = 2, gain = 18). When I don't expect Indian Heads I tend to discriminate at 21/22 ID break. I don't like trying to clean coins in the field so although I knew I had some Wheaties I wasn't sure how many. Turns out 7 of the 21 pennies I recovered were Wheats. My standard procedure is to soak in just water for several hours and then use just my fingers (including fingernails) and a soft toothbrush to figure out date+mintmark. Soaking removes the loose grit (think 'abrasive' which is why I don't mess with coins in the field) and a fingernail is soft enough not to scratch the metal. As most of you experience, copper coins that have been in the ground a long time tend to build up a scale which doesn't come off easily. 95% of the time I have to scrape the date area with a fingernail. It's kind of a fun process because rather than seeing a date immediately there is a gradual revelation. For example: "looks like a 194x, no maybe 191x (scrape some more), OK 1942? or is that a 3 or 8? I'm seeing a mintmark but can't tell if 'D' or 'S'. Hope it's an 'S'...." Part of this process is driven by poor eyesight, even using magnifiers. That's exactly what happened with the coin shown below. It looked like a 1924 but there was too much scale to see a mintmark. As usual I hope for the best "please be a -D" but my dreams almost never reach fruition. However, this time, bonus!! Just as I had begged for, a -D (Denver mint) showed through. Of the >200 business strike Lincoln cents, the order of rarity (based upon mintage) is 1909-S VDB, 1931-S, 1914-D, 1909-S, 1924-D. I found the fifth scarecest Lincoln (not counting the rare and sometimes valuable 'error' coins such as the Double Dies and off-metal planchet errors nor 'proof' coins issued for collectors only). In the 1960's I searched bank rolls and pocket change religiously for my collection. I estimate over the years I looked at 25,000 or more Lincoln cents and not only did I never find a 1924-D, but no cents as valuable either. (Actually the value even today is quite modest. Given its wear, even if I can successfully clean off the scale it would only be worth about $15 on Ebay.) Since restarting metal detecting 3 years ago I've found just over 100 Wheaties. 1/100 beats 0/25,000 every day of the week.

I lean towards the latter -- fill covering older coins&relics. I'll go further and speculate that the fill occurred in the late 1950's based upon the date+MM you show. (Thanks for displaying the dates on the Wheaties.) Another great day for you Dan! Well done. Congrats to your buddy for getting the permission.

The fact (or perception, sometimes) that targets we find are biased by previous searching is a factor, and possibly the most significant one. But others are both the history of the ground itself (natural and human induced) as well as the *source* of the lost treasures. I've been searching a couple schools extesnsively this summer and can't help but speculate while I'm out there (hours of time where my brain is less than 100% occupied can do that ?) who/when/what led to the things I'm finding. 'Who' is mostly the children attending the school. 'When' is the time period of the school's attendance. 'What' is actually the items they were carrying and subsequently lost. Why are children carrying coins in the first place? One obvious answer is 'lunch money'. What did lunch cost when these coins were dropped? In general a lot less as we go back in time, possibly excepting subsidized lunches. Why is it harder to find silver halves and quarters? I think one reason is that lunch only cost a dime. Why would parents send their children to school with more money than needed to buy lunch? I don't even know if schools still use cash as a medium of exchange at lunchtime. Maybe students carry credit cards; maybe parents are billed or prepay. Pennies are the weird ones thanks to the brain dead decision that has been made by the US government. (Well, I guess on the scale of bad decisions this one has to be on the low end....) When many of us were growing up a penny meant something. Now people would rather toss them on the ground than have them weighing down their pockets and purses. I remember when 1 cent would buy a piece of bubblegum. What is the smallest price you can buy *anything* for today? I don't know but I'm guessing 10 cents. Takes ten of those annoying Stinkin' Zincolns to purchase the lowest price item in a store. The reason coins are located where we find them is a complicated evolution that is site specific. Lots of fun (for some of us) to speculate on but difficult to tie down with much certainty.

How true. I was planning on writing a review but after the first time through it I realized I wouldn't be able to do that fairly without a couple more readings. Your excellent writeup (and now many more hours using the Eqx) inspire me reread it now.

Great haul! You just never know what you'll find. If we hit a HR every time out it wouldn't be nearly as fun when we come across a site like this. Another beautiful Walker..., can hardly wait to find mine. Thanks for showing the dates on the Wheaties. A little fuzzy -- what is the far left one on row 2 and the far right on row 3? (I'm hoping 1933-D and 1931-S respectively. Think positive!)

Excellent finds! (Still haven't found a dated Buffalo.?) My IH's are green like yours, but only one has cleaned up that nicely. Did you do anything besides soak these? Can't wait to get my 6" coil. About how deep were those coins?

I'd take a silver half over a bag of modern quarters any day.

(Sinclair already mentioned to possibility of steel reinforcing.) If there is a concrete subfloor there could be magnetite or other magnetic / highly mineralized / iron oxide component to that. You didn't say if your detector was quiet when held still -- the tipoff to whether you're picking up EMI or not. I'm assuming the answer is "quiet when not in motion."

Welcome, Sasquatch! I assume (with a nick like that) you don't like to get your picture taken. ? You're on the right track. You might try digging some of the inconsistent signals to see what they are, even if that just emphasizes what you don't want to dig in the future. In my experience not all inconsistent signals are bad targets. Presumably you are running in "all metal" (horseshoe button toggle) since default discrimination eliminates ferrous signals. Why not pick a couple of those magnetic rocks off the driveway and see where they ID (if you haven't done that already)?

You guys are killing me, finding Walkers! I got a good 33 TID reading yesterday and optimistically said to myself "here's mine." Turned out to be a chunk of copper (not sure what it was used for). Keep up the successful hunting and report back more details (settings, depth) when you get a chance. But I too would be out there hunting instead of sitting here writing if the situation was reversed.

Wow! I vote for Steve H. to add this post to the compendium of Equinox tips. My favorite quote of all (but it was a difficult choice) is: IMO, target masking is still the bane of coin and relic hunting. The Equinox has made significant strides in the right direction, but the problem isn't solved yet. Keep working, detector engineers! I have to give my 'honorable mention' award to one more quote: Detectors are going to respond preferentially to the strongest target in the field of view. Sometimes that target is so strong that it masks desirable targets. This has been true since Adam and Eve started using metal detectors, and it's still true today even with these lightning fast recovery speeds. It's not just large iron and aluminum cans that are the culprits. Sometimes modern coins mask the older, deeper coins. I hate Zincolns but I recover them just in case they are hiding the stuff I really want.

https://www.minelab.com/__files/f/326548/4901-0249-1 Inst. Manual, EQUINOX 600 800 EN.pdf On page 52 there is a graphic similar to your EXCEPT for the Iron Bias it's only a factor of 2 (similar to the recovery speed conversion which you have shown correctly and is on page 51 of the manual) -- that is: 600 value 0 is equivalent to 800 value 0 600 value 1 is equivalent to 800 value 2 600 value 2 is equivalent to 800 value 4 600 value 3 is equivalent to 800 value 6 And yes, there is no higher Iron Bias setting on the 600 even though the 800 goes all the way up to 9. Good mnemonic: both Iron Bias scale and Recovery Speed Scale on the 600 is a factor of 0.5 times the equivalent value of the 800.

In the interest of full disclosure, historically those warranties have not been transferable. Recent models like the T2+ and F75+ are now covered after transfer, but I don't know about others. Having said that, most of the time you won't ever use the warranty. How many of you pay for an optional warranty when you buy a product at a big box store? If the discount from new to used is signifcant, on average you're better off going that route and skipping the warranty. But of course each person needs to make his/her own decision.

You've got to be impressed with young Tom's ability to explain things. How many years has he been at White's, 3 at max? He's gone from dog chasing detectors thrown into a lake to solo reporting on their latest product. Before he joined White's he was in Hollywood and didn't know which end of a detector was up. It's been said here before but I'll repeat: White's is fortunate to have him on the payroll.

From what I've read he's damn near there already.

A specific gravity test will separate aluminum from silver/lead and from platinum group metals quite easily. If done carefully it will separate lead from silver (and also from stainless steel, although I doubt this is SS). Aluminum is 2.7 to 3 (depending upon alloy), SS around 7-8, silver in the low 10's, lead in the low 11's, platinum group 18+ (which sets it apart from most metals, other than tungsten and gold which are also way up there). From the patina I doubt it's lead, although I can't rule that out. Lead is gray most of the time (or even white sometimes after a long exposure time). I agree with Steve that it's quite likely aluminum. I find quite a bit of melted aluminum in places I wouldn't expect it. (I also find a lot of melted lead and lead-tin solder, but as mentioned those tends to turn gray relatively quickly.) For your sake I do hope it's a precious metal, though.

I know you're talking about the White's MXT. What 14x10 coil do you refer? Is it a White's model or from one of the aftermarket manufacturers?

I have over 100 hours on my Eqx 800. In fact, since I got mine it's the only detector I've used. I certainly can't compare it to any of the Garrett AT VLF's since I've never used them. Here are some of my pluses and minuses: Pluses ergonomic/etc. -- rechargebale Li-ion battery, built in fast wireless system which can be used with both the provided headphones (pretty good themselves) and your favorite headphones/earbuds when combined with the WM-08 reciever module (provided). Good balance with 11 inch coil; just under 3 lb weight. (Can't comment on the other coil options since I don't have them, yet.) Features -- 10 (!) modes which are in many ways different detectors, two gold modes included. Adjustable tone frequencies, number of tones, tone volumes, tone breaks. Simultaneous multifrequency and choice of five single frequencies. Micro frequency adjustments ("noise cancel" to shift away from EMI frequencies). Choice of four ground balance options (default, manual, grab, tracking). Memory ('Profile') to make it easy to switch between two modes. Affordable (in my world). Capabilities -- excellent target separation which exhibits itself in unmasking prowess. Minuses The TID range is in places too compact, particularly around US nickels (which also is an issue for some European coins -- not from my experience but that of others as you can read on this site). The detector is quite susceptible to EMI in my town. I suspect our power lines just happen to transmit/leak stray fields that are close to the Eqx frequencies. Even with that problem I can always make adjustments (particularly lowering the gain and if necessary on rare occasions, going to single frequency) to use the detector at a performance level that allows me to find desirable targets at reasonable depths. Many other posters here don't seem to have as much EMI problems as I, which is why I've implicated the particular power transmission system where I live. Also, my experience with other detectors has me thinking when I get the 6 inch coil this problem will shrink considerably with its use. I could list some other minor inconveniences (as well as minor nicities), but all are livable withable so why nitpick? Note: I only dry land hunt so I haven't even mentioned the fact it is waterproof. I'm sure others will comment on that.