GB_Amateur

Good finds, especially the 1869 IH! That's a low mintage date worth a decent premium (depending upon condition, of course). PCGS has retail of $90 in G-4. (Retail price for professionally graded coin, not what someone will pay you. See Ebay for better middling value. Yours might beat G-4, I hope.)

Yep, it's too bad you couldn't have searched this site before they brought the house down, backfilled, and reworked the yard. I was lucky last year that I got into a site where the only thing backfilled was the house's footprint. We take what we can get, though. Four Wheat's are..., well..., better than four Zincolns. Did you check the dates+MM's? Good fortune at the CW site.

Nice finds! The condition of that Sterling ring makes me think your soil there in that park isn't very friendly to silver. One of the V-nickels looks to be in decent shape, as does one of the IH's. Hopefully these will all clean up to be presentable. Someone ought to write a book on that....

$100 @amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078X37JF9/?coliid=I3G8Y3M7I52QQP&colid=KT4N3YMOA948&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Old homesites (in my experience) tend to have a lot of iron trash. Park 1 has a high iron bias (2 out of max 3 on the 600) which will reduce iron falsing. I'm thinking this might be a good place to start. Regarding the wild card -- gain (sensitivity), there are a lot of advantages keeping this is in check, such as reduced EMI, ground response, and iron trash response. The stock default (20) is pretty high to begin with. I've done well finding old coins on gains of 17 and 19, as well as 20. Your site will usually lead to you how to set the gain. My advice is not to feel like you're leaving something behind if you have to turn it down below the factory default. This detector packs a lot of punch!

Are you able to cash in or convert those obsolete coins to modern Euros? IMO the 'score' really comes down to what you are looking for. Modern coins have their own nemeses, but so do collectible coins. (I see aluminum drink can lids in your junk bucket. Those fool me, too.) Jewelry and native gold -- ditto. The Eqx does seem to pack a lot of targets into the 12-13 region (nickels here in the US but apparently modern Euros over on your continent), but are there tricks to maximize the reward vs. the risk? Time will tell.

Don't know much about guns so can't help you there. After my post I thought about the possibility that it's a cane endcap. Imagine a manufacturer giving the customer choices on the final endcap. S/he (manufacturer) could make a (female) brass threaded ferrule that attaches to the wood's butt end and then have options for the finish cap. The recessed end of your part might have held a semi-precious gem but more likely an inexpensive glass insert. Just brainstorming....

Would you mind going into a bit more detail on your technique here? I'm confused as to the steps involved.

While we're wishing upon a star, I'll add mine -- make a neutral buyont closed coil. That solves both desert cobble and water searching with one accessory. The 5 inch stock coil on the Fisher Gold Bug is brilliantly designed to be just that. Of course as you increase the size, the weight must go up. But I wonder if a 5x9 in^2 or 5x10 in^2 closed eliptical could be made neutral buoyant and still reasonable in weight.

(I'll answer although you asked Chase -- hope he doesn't mind me butting it....) Yes. To save a profile you need to hold down the profile button for a few seconds. To recall (return to) the profile you only press and release. (There is an icon next to the profile button which shows when you are in the profile mode.) To leave profile you can either press and release the profile button or just press the mode button. I find the latter easier since all of the side buttons are less convenient than the front face buttons. Regarding the mystery item, I feel like I should know what it is but so far I've drawn a blank. Here are some clues (I think): the threads are short meaning it screwed into something as opposed to going through an unthreaded hole requiring a nut on the backside. The few number of threads (3) means it was screwed into a metal sheet or block, etc., not wood. As you noted, the front face is recessed so something was intended to be there and has since been lost or rotted away. My hunch is that it is not decorative but purely utilitarian. All of the above is just WAGging, though. Always fun to figure out these puzzles and hope you get farther than I have.

That 1 inch unknown piece is intersting. At first I thought it was threaded on the bottom but further viewing/contemplation makes me think otherwise. Would you mind verifying? That 1838-O seated dime is quite a find!! I can only dream of finding something so spectacular. You said it was a weak signal, both in multifreq and in pinpoint, but I didn't notice how deep you said it was.... You're obviously comfortable with Field 2. Me, not so much, but I'm a slow learner and Park 2 has been great for me so I'm reluctant to change horses in a successful stream. Keep up the good work!

How much time elapses between the "clear at first" and "then the constant chatter"? I've had problems with EMI at one of my sites and it takes the Eqx 2 or 3 seconds to change frequencies when I do a manual micro-frequency change. (Specifically I change frequency in the noise cancel mode and at first it sounds clean but then after a few seconds the chatter is back.) If that's what you are experiencing then it sounds normal. I, also, am not saying that what you are experiencing is definitely EMI compared to a faulty unit. Hope you get it straightened out yourself, but if not the reports of others is that Minelab (USA, anyway) is very responsive to getting these things corrected. One other thing -- many of us have noticed that manual (EMI) noise alleviation is often the solution when auto noise rejection is tried and fails. You have 19 channels to step through (and it is a 'local' setting meaning if you change modes you need to reset) but it really only takes about a minute to go through all of them for a single mode.

Nice rings; even that junk one is attractive. Always enjoy your posts, Skate. Stay positive with that next hip replacement. I look forward to viewing your future finds after you tell us how well it went!

May we add that quote to your tombstone, Steve? (So simple, but it absolutely deserves to be chiselled in for posterity.) Tom Dankowski opened my eyes to masking and the Equinox certainly appears to be challenging that problem front and center.

That's unfortunate. It's hard to say how much things have changed with the internet and the vitriol in government, etc., but I always wonder if this would have been much more rare 50 or 100 years ago. Your grandson is wise beyond his years. My rote conclusion is that I am (and hope I always remain) my strongest critic. If I'm comfortable that I haven't done anything wrong then it's not my problem, but rather that of the person who is hastling me. I strive to continue and improve my recovery techniques so that I leave the minimum scar possible. When the dry season arrives this year I'm headed to the gold bearing creeks instead of the parks and schools. But I'm comfortable with the fact that by removing trash (buried AND sitting on top of the ground in plain sight) that I've left my hunting sites in better condition than when I arrived. I challenge my critics to meet, let alone exceed that goal.

Let me make sure I understand. If you have someone you'd like to listen in (using headphones, not through the speaker) then give them the wireless headphones and tether yourself to the detector with wired headphones?

Great write-up, Lanny. Really makes us feel like we're there with you. Gotta get my passport renewed so I can make another trip up to your beautiful country. Canadians have always made me feel welcome when I've gotten the chance to visit. I'm overdue for another, this time with my detectors!

Yep, we've discussed this before. I wish I could get my hands on one that reads the same ID as a penny. If someone has one, see if you can get an x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrum run to see if the 'missing manganese' theory holds. I have a roll or two of warnicks in my safety deposit box. Next time I'm in it I'll bring those home and run air tests on all of them.

Nice pics! Good to hear the Fisher Gold Bug Pro is still producing. 19 kHz detectors are typically at a disadvantage finding gold because the spectrum of gold mass is (not surprisingly) peaked at small size and the higher operating frequencies (like your Makro Gold Racer) excel in that area. As far as your Rogers spoon (I assume it's the one shown in the photo), it's unlikely sterling for a couple reasons: 1) it doesn't say 'sterling' or '925', and 2) it appears to be a simple, pedestrian design. Typically sterling silverware was ornately designed since it was intended for special occasion use (except maybe by the wealthy who could do/spend whatever they wanted). Still a fun recovery, but your gold pickers and silver coins (and old coins with numismatic value) are where the $ equity lies. Obviously some good gold finds still available in Canada. Glad you've found one of those spots!

Sorry to hear that, Morris. Yes, when you get it early (before it moves to other organs) the treatment will have a much higher chance of being successful. Easy for me to say, not having been through what you are, but take advantage of the support & encouragement you will get from friends, family, others in the same boat, etc. Keep us posted as to your progress, both with the treatment and with any finds you make while out detecting. Amazing how getting your mind off something can actually help. We look forward to these reports and especially the one that tells us you are in remission.

Doing some sloppy arithmetic: 6.5 toz. ~ $9000 (premium for those larger chunks offsetting the <100% purity and smelting recovery costs?). 150 pieces (est.) ~ $60/piece. 100 holes dug for every piece of gold ~$0.60/dig. So much for there not being any gold left.... (But if someone doesn't reign you in, that will soon be true!)

Nice silver half dollar! Haven't seen any 'finds' posts from you lately, Tim, and was wondering if you found an new hobby. Halves are pretty rare finds for multiple reasons. First, there weren't that many made or circulated compared to quarters and dimes. Add the fact that because of their size they were more noticeable coming out of the pocket and then easier to spot sitting on top of the ground. Lastly, if you lost 50 cents back when a dollar was worth a lot more you might even make an effort to retrace your tracks looking for it. (I would have....) That silver quarter (another excellent find) would have been enough to make me happy. Way to go and keep up the posts.

You've really been vacuuming up the old coins. 1918 Walking Liberty Half? Nice! Can you estimate how many hours of hunting this latest set of photos represents? Obviously you have a very good site(s).

Yes, I agree that's got to be a good feeling. One of my many simple goals for each year is to have recovered more bronze pennies than Zincolns. 15 bronze for every Zincoln? Sounds like you caught a time machine back to the 1980's. Now get back out there before Cinderella's clock strikes midnight.

The reality is, when it comes to ergonomics the bar has been set pretty low. The Teknetics T2 & Fisher F75 have been on the pedestal many look up to, and their engineers definitely gave ergonomics considerable thought, but even they could be better. Rather than complain, though, there are some simple tweaks one can do to improve things. As an example, I saw someone complain about the loose arm cuff on the Eqx compared to the state-of-the-art adjustable width arm cuff of the T2/F75. I never noticed the issue with either my Gold Bug Pro or X-Terra 705 until I started using the F75. Then I noticed how, when I wasn't bundled up in sweaters and coats, that those detetctors moved around from side to side a lot when swinging. So.... I put some single sided adhesive weather strip foam tape in the cuff of my Gold Bug Pro to tighten up the fit. Not quite as good as the F75, but a lot better. The Equinox is a great detector but that doesn't mean it can't improve. To make matters worse it seems as though there has been a history of detector manufacturers not listening to their customers. And there is always a right way and a wrong way to express one's wishes for improvement. Still, I hope we don't get in the mode of putting detectors on pedestals that can't be heightened.