GB_Amateur

10 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

I found out the farmer who owns the property that it landed on is going to keep it, and I have asked if I could see if there are any more pieces of it in the area.

A local farmer found the rock when he went out to his wood barn and noticed a hole going through his roof.

He later found another hole in the ground almost 2 foot deep and uncovered the meteorite.

I looked at the rock and it had a hole in it about the size of a pencil all the way through it. It weighed around 11 pounds according to the farmer and it is some what smooth on one side.

I am hoping to be able to get a picture of it so everyone can see it.

Have you reported it on the site I linked?  (Takes five reports to make the list.)

I don't understand the pencil sized hole in a meteorite.  It does make me wonder if it could be a piece of human created (now) space junk.

5 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

It was around 3:30am when I went out for a smoke and heard a loud roar in the sky, as I turned to see what it was, there was a bright white light traveling from the North East towards the South West.

You didn't give your location.  Back in Illinois?

Here's another website which tracks bright meteors (Fireballs):  https://fireball.imo.net/members/imo_view/browse_events

Last Thursday early (predawn) was the max of the annual Geminid shower which is typically one of the two best in terms of number of meteors per hour.  However, not all meteors are associated with showers so yours wasn't necessarily related.  We luckily had a couple days of clear skies (and moonless nights!) here in Southern Indiana bracketing the peak.  I was out for about 1.25 hours Thursday evening and saw a dozen or so in that time, but not fireballs.  (Lucky you!)

This June was my 3rd year attending (what was likely the last ) Welcome to the Hunt Outing (WTHO) organized by the now departed icon of detecting, Monte Berry.  Speaking of friends, I've made several in those three get-togethers.  I arrived in one of the Northeast Nevada ghost towns late Tuesday after Memorial Day and spent the next four days camped out, detecting with friends, hoping for my first Seated coin.  Joel from nearby Elko found two(!) but I got skunked.  Last year I found a few (2 or 3) oldies but not this year, so far (I thought).  After a much needed night in a hotel I drove to Sawtooth (named for a nearby 'peak') and found the spot I planned to detect.  This was a particular place Steve H. had taken me the previous year (speaking of friends) where I also met and bonded with Condor Steve and Andrew (abenson).  Steve H. had agreed to meet up there on Tuesday so I spent much of Monday scouting a couple ridges to the East of everyone's favorite camping spot.  I did find several prospects (bulldozer piles) so someone at some point (early 1980's) thought those spots were worth checking out.

Typically I keep my wallet with me at all times, in my pocket during the day and on the dashboard at night.  Except for a few hundred in emergency cash which I hide in my vehicle, everything else (credit cards, driver's license, insurance cards, even a few blank checks 🤔) is in the wallet.  As promised, Steve arrives Tuesday morning (with two Garrett Axioms, one a loner) and we spent the day detecting and the evening 'catching up'.  Thanks to his loaning me an Axiom I did find one dink that day.  Wednesday morning I check the dashboard for my wallet, without success.  I look everywhere I can think I may have put it -- nada.  I reach into my jeans' back pocket and get an uneasy feeling.  There's a large hole, large enough for my fat wallet to pass through....

Steve was planning on leaving that morning but he stuck around a few extra hours to help me search.  Problem is, as most of you know, tracing one's detecting steps isn't so easy as often there is no logical path -- zigging, zagging, up, down, back and forth with trips back to the vehicle for forgotten tools (that happens to me a lot), lunch, water bottle refills....  I also couldn't remember for sure when I last had my wallet -- it might have been the day I walked all over Hell's half acre just scouting.  As you now know, neither Steve nor I was successful.  He departed early afternoon and I, after a couple more hours searching, had a decision to make.  Did I stay another night or head back to Winnemucca where I had a hotel reservation for the evening?  If I stayed, would I even be allowed into a hotel without a photo ID?  I decided to head out, driving East on County 49 which was in the process of being watered to minimize dust.  Besides a fresh coat of (quickly dried) desert dirt my vehicle windshield also suffered a rock strike which eventually (few weeks later) required replacing, fortunately fully covered by insurance.

So much for getting back to the Eastern Nevada ghost town.  After a night's sleep (they did ask for ID but let me get by without it) I drove to Craig, CO where again the hotel wanted the cash badly enough to let me stay sans ID.  From there I got back to my sister's place outside of Denver.  Oasis!  After canceling credit cards and a couple days R&R I headed home, with one final night in a fleabag motel where I was told the police often came around to see the photocopied photo ID's of the 'guests'....

I never drove (2000+ miles) so carefully in my life, being especially mindful of slower speed limits in towns.  (I didn't take interstate highways most of the last 1500 miles.)  Arriving home I began the task of getting replacements for all the important documents.

Before departing the site, Steve and I speculated when someone would find my wallet.  I said 'five years' but he, knowing the area much better, predicted it would likely be this prospecting season, no worse than the next one when it would be found.  'Friends' was Gerry's thread topic and Steve felt that the detecting community would be generous in returning everything, if still identifiable.

So at the beginning of November I see a missed call on my phone, identified as being from Idaho.  Then I get an email message from friend Jeff McClendon (via this site's messaging channel) saying Gerry is trying to contact me.  It still didn't dawn on my that he was calling about the wallet (I'm a semi-regular customer, including having bought my ML Manticore from Gerry).  When I call the first thing he asks is if I've left something out in the desert!!  🤣  He said one of his staff (they were there for one of Gerry's three day hands-on metal detecting for gold classes) had found it on the slope just West of where we typically camp.  He said all $151 was still there and I told him to take his guys out for pizza and beer with it but he declined.  Gerry is like that in case you haven't met him.  You help friends out and he was doing just that, without compensation.  In a week or so I get a package in the mail and except for some minor water damage was no worse for wear (it does rain in the summer in the NW Nevada desert -- just ask this year's Burning Man attendees, that site being 30 or so miles away as the crow flies).

Finally back to Gerry's thread topic.  Thanks to this site I've met (in person) several new friends.  But I've also made 'pen pals' with others I've never had the privilege of coming in contact.  Too many to mention, but I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about.  Thanks to all of you, particularly Steve H. for making (and keeping) this site about sharing information and experiences, without the painful off-topic arguments that are rampant on most internet social/communicative locations.

So what have I learned from this experience?  From now on I will have a spare credit card in my stashed cash hiding spot, with photocopies of my DL and insurance cards.  I probably will still stubbornly (try to) keep my wallet with me at all times, but now a bright orange one, kept in my *front* pocket.

Thanks for the headsup, Simon.  I'll make a long "rest of the story" post later today or at worst, tomorrow.

22 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

...you can try some Hail Marys like increasing recovery speed,...

14 hours ago, JCR said:

Chase mentioned Recovery speed adjustment to help with EMI. It will, but my experience with the Legend has been Lower settings help mitigate, not higher.

I was detecting a curb strip with underground power lines buried in it.  I don't remember what mode, but probably Park 1 multifrequency.  When I lowered the RC from 5 to 4 I got a quite noticeable improvement in EMI noise, enough to allow me to detect (but still with a bit of EMI noise).

However, Hardpack mentions considerable iron trash and that often means faster recovery speeds, so there may be a tradeoff.

With the Eqx 800, when the EMI was unbearable in multifrequency (at least down to sens of 15), I found that 10 kHz, 15 kHz, and 20 kHz worked best, staying away from the extremes.  So far the Manticore has been much quieter for me, but I've still not given it the anything close to the workouts the Eqx 800 got.

31 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

Thanks GB, but after reading that with even more than two syllables 🧐 I discovered the truth,...

Ah, I see what you are talking about.  The '8' (what I thought was a '3') digit is quite confusing, as is the hair braid (pseudo cap).  I've been trying to tie the reverse of yours to that of the 1793 and was having trouble finding a good match; now I see why.  The 1798 reverse you show is much better in sync with your find.

These copper coins, especially the 100% copper ones (as all half and large cents were/are) with so much time in the ground can add material (loosely thrown into the corrosion category) which further increases the confusion.  And then there is the lighting/shadows needed to bring out the detail photographically.  That also can be misleading which is why numismatists (like geologists) really want to see a specimen in person.

I was guilty of wishful thinking.  I guess you didn't get to walk in the clouds after all.  😏  You'll just have to wait longer for your (true) rare coin find.  (Lots of company there....)

19 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

I had to sidelight it to get the date to stand out, it's a 1798 Draped Bust Large cent.

Uh, hold the phone! 

You are going to be pleasantly surprised when you notice your error.  Look at two things:  1) the last digit of the date; 2) that triangular shape attached to the rear of the head.  I'll buy a nice 1798 and trade you for that one!  Let me know when you get your feet back on the ground from floating in air after re-iding this.  😀

Finding a nearly 200 year old USA coin in that condition..., extremely rare for that to happen!  Typically the environment (i.e. being in the ground) will have scratched, dinged, or discolored the coin (not to mention over-zealous post recovery cleaning...).

Yours appears to be the 'Small 10 C.' version.  (See the inset at right on the page I linked.)  This is the most common of the varieties for this date in high condition although only the 'Curl Base 2' is well set apart in value.  (If yours was that it would make headlines in Coin World and bring you in the range of six figures.  😀)

Colonel Dan has conservatively stated the condition.  I wouldn't go further than his since a true grading expert is needed to fine tune his conclusion.  However, something that is typically undervalued is the 'strike' -- how much fine detail resulted when the coin was minted.  For example, look at the stars on the obverse (side with the date).  Those are sharp indicating this was a strong strike, probably from early in the die's lifetime.

Ebay prices realized put this in the $200-$300 range if you were to sell it there.  My guess is you want to keep it for the good memories.

When was the last time a detector was introduced that has a concentric coil, stock or optional?

2 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Looks like a beta tester is reluctantly letting his go. /s

Is that allowed?  (Not that people never do things that are prohibited....)

1 hour ago, abenson said:

Chuck in the case of the Manticore, it simply came down to settings that worked on the previous software, wouldn't work on the new software. I now use the latest software with no issues, but it required me to make drastic setting changes to make it work in my soil. User error? Probably, but it does irritate me that these companies make changes to software without testing the results in multiple soil types to make sure it's going to work.

Thanks for that clarification, Andrew, and I'm glad you found a solution.  You certainly seemed to have earned it.  Your experience is one more reminder (and I hope I have it etched in my brain now) that with these detectors that have so many adjustment options, it's vitally important to learn which ones are likely to matter and then fiddle with them at a new site to get things fine tuned.  That's true whether an update has been installed or not.

Apparently these software updates can effectively take one detector out of your hands and put another one there, even if cosmetically it's the same detector.  But I do appreciate that Minelab (do all companies?) allow us to back out of an update and revert to the old software/detector.  It certainly can be frustrating/exasperating for something that works to be seemingly taken away with no option to get back to the start.  Reversability is always high on my pre-change checklist.

Another person who has shown (in videos) real effects, in his situation (emphasize ground conditions) the loss of depth performance with an update, is Andrew (abenson here).  That is with the ML Manticore.  Minelab even sent him a replacement control unit (or was it a full detector?) and that also showed the degraded performance with the update under certain conditions.

I used to be suspicious that people were just fooling themselves (sidelight:  if you really want to open your eyes, see the book Predictably Irrational which interestingly is now the basis of a weekly network TV drama on NBC TV here in the USA).  I still think that is what's going on 90% of the time, but situations like Andrew's have enlightened me that this isn't always the case.

Here's Coiltek's page for this:

https://coiltek.com.au/product/18-nox/

1.05 kg (= 2.3 lb).  Hmmm.  Almost half the weight of the detector with this coil mounted is the coil, hanging about a meter away from the handle.  That's a lot of torque for what is typically a fairly light, fairly well-balanced detector with stock 11" coil.

15 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Deeper nickels also have stayed in the 8 digit tone bin I set for them from 57 to 64.

Those sound more like Deus-2 TID's for USA nickels.  Manticore sweetspot TID for those is 26-27.  (I assume that's what you meant, but are still struggling with changing 'languages' 🙂

I'll be interested in hearing how your Manticore responds when a nail in the hole along with a coin.  I've barely begun experimenting with that situation, but so far it seems to do rather well.  (Still preliminary conclusion, though.)

Always good to hear your reports, Jeff, whether evaluating a detector or finding goodies.

One thing I suggest you play with -- turning down the sensitivity.  I've found in my backyard test setup that 17 seems to be the sweetspot so far for a USA quarter in All-Terrain High.  The target ID is tight there and turning the sens higher doesn't seem to improve the depth much (but rather costs in TID spread).  Of course the ground conditions in particular have a huge effect so I would never say my settings are best for others.  Lots of 'knobs' to adjust and I'm sure you'll give this new detector a thorough checkout eventually.  Glad it's working out-of-the-box for you with basically stock settings.

BTW, if you are seeing red numeral TID's then the new update is installed.  The original software would have a red underline for ferrous content signals with the digital TID but the numerals themselves were dark gray, regardless of ferrous signal strength.

On 10/18/2023 at 12:02 PM, jasong said:

I'm out of the loop, not even sure what the WM08 was for,...

WM08 was exclusively for the Equinox 800 and 600.

On 10/19/2023 at 1:42 PM, jasong said:

That's good if its for the Manticore, et all. Because I really want a speaker on whatever new gold detector they come out with, and no external modules because it's just one more thing to keep track of and have to charge...easier to do in town then on an ATV and backcountry.

I'm assuming this WM09 still needs to be charged, just like the WM08.

I'm one of many who hopes this module will work with the Manticore.  It's probably going to cost us at least $100 (near the price of a top-of-the-line set of headphones) but although the ML105 headphones sound decent (unlike the ML80's that came with the Equinox), they suck at blocking out external noise.  I want to use my SunRay Pro Golds in the cool/cold weather and my Sony earbuds in the hot weather, just like I've done for 5 years with the Equinox 800 paired with the WM08.

4 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

It’s probable neither (Bruce Candy nor Eric Foster) invented the basic first pulse induction circuit. George Payne possibly? Patent sleuths now have something to chase down… not going to bother myself.

Geotech folks have already done the legwork:

Note the 1972 date (and its submission 18 months earlier), inventors, all apparently with Western Electric (part of AT&T at that time).  However, also look at the references of earlier patents.  The 1963 one (which I couldn't find specifically) is mentioned in a 2010 patent submitted by John Earle of White's:

That sounds to me as if Barringer (as early as 1963) is describing the modern technique.  Also keep in mind that things can be documented well before patents, in scientific literature, so a deeper dive there could be even more revealing. 

Congrats on the Seated, Dave.  I'm still waiting for my first of any denomination.

There were two varieties of 1853 (plain = Philadelphia) quarters.  The early one (valuable due to low mintage) was less decorated.  The later one had an arrow on either side of the date, pointing away from it.  Also there were rays on the reverse emanating from the Eagle.

The reason for the change was a reduction in weight from 6.68 g to 6.22 g.

Yours is probably too worn to discern which type from its weight.  I would expect in the neighborhood of 15% weight loss (~ 1 g) which would push either one well below the lower weight.   The obverse is so worn I don't know if the arrows would have survived even if it had them.  Can you see any rays on the reverse?  (Can you post a picture of the reverse?)

The big bugapoo for the Minelab Vanquish series is the lack of adjustable ground balance.  With its (simultaneous) multifrequency operation it adjusts for the ground by comparing the background (i.e. non-target area) signals from two (possibly more) frequencies.  That works well to a point.  But in difficult ground?

You mention having land in Michigan which has native copper.  I assume it's in the Upper Peninsula (Keweenaw Peninsula?).  Here's a map that I found here which shows mines, etc. around Lake Superior:

I'm no geologist but with so many mines (many are iron mines?) I suspect having a detector which allows the user to ground balance is the way to go.  Fortunately the Minelab X-Terra Pro which has already been recommended by multiple responders does have user tuneable ground balance.

Nearly half troy ounce platinum ring -- hard to do better than that, but sounds like you earned it.

Some of you likely saw this Google ad (possibly even here):

A pound of mint state 95% copper Lincolns contains about 145 cents, so even with considerable wear you're getting well under 200 coins with this 'deal'.  At the current $3.56 copper spot a cent with not much wear contains about $0.023 worth of copper.   So I guess the price reflects the collector value -- over 15 times the bullion value?

Give me a break.

I recall years ago (and maybe something equivalent still goes on) that $50 bags (5000 cents) would sell for $60-$75 unsearched.  This was in the 1960's so well over half would likely be Wheats.  And even then I questioned what 'unsearched' meant.  So you were paying about 1.5 times face value, not 40 times face value, and (if you believed them) you had chances to find a scarce date.  What are the chances of finding a scarce date if you bought thirty 1 lb bags (about $50 face) from Macy's, for nearly 2 grand?

On a side note, I think it's still illegal to melt 95% copper cents, although who is really going to prosecute?  Bottom line: melt/bullion value is all that 99% of Wheat cents carry, if even that.

52 minutes ago, Chesroy said:

...Info I am getting over here from a few sources suggest that Minelab will provide a module in the future so thats great news as far as I am concerned.

I haven't heard that.  Care to elaborate (e.g. provide sources, etc.)?  I and a lot of other people hope you are right.  IMO the provided headphones (ML 105's) have decent sound but are poor at blocking out noise.  Furthermore, in hot weather a lot of us want to use earbuds.  In recent years we've been spoiled by wireless options from just about every manufacturer.  I prefer not to go back to being tethered to the detector, but "if I have to, I guess...."  (Red Green TV show quote)

I hope Gerry can fix you up with some Killer B's.

9 hours ago, Chesroy said:

Sorry if this has been discussed previously. I am hoping to get a general opinion on the Killer b wasp or Hornet headphones. I need dual volume control due to hearing loss in one ear. Will these work with the Equinox ? and eventually the Manticore ? How do they compare with the CTX version of the Sun ray pro gold headphones ? 

Living in Europe I will have to buy from the US so need good advice prior to pulling the trigger, thx 

Gerry McMullen ( @Gerry in Idaho ) sells those and is quite high on them.  If it doesn't cost much to phone him from Europe, you can call him and get all the details.  Or just private message him here.

As far as "eventually the Manticore", do you mean via cord (i.e. plugging directly into the unit) or via Minelab (proprietary) wireless?  Gerry can answer the first but no one but Minelab (and they're not talking 😠 ) knows what the future is with their wireless system.

On 10/2/2023 at 1:28 PM, abenson said:

That was #16 but I've since found other.

I try not to correct people's grammar/spelling here but this one is intriguing (possibly intentional?)  "other" is missing either the letters 'an' at the beginning, or the letter 's' at the end.  Either way I'm more than blown away b the magnitude of your accomplishments.

21 hours ago, abenson said:

This was trip number 2 in the Fall of last year. Still using the Equinox 800. Got it to more concentrations of finds. Highlight was an 1857 +dime and 1851 trime.

Both common dates but the dime sure is high grade.  The strike looks variable -- quite strong on the left and top; weak on the right.  Still a lot of detail there and a rare find in such condition.

The trime is the first year of mintage, which tends to be either feast (e.g. 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter) or famine for the collector/detectorist when it comes to intrinsic value.  As has often been the case with less-than-popular denominations, the first couple of years are the highest mintage, then they trail off and eventually the series gets canceled.

Regardless, both are bucket-listers for many of us (me in particular).  Andrew, thanks always for your reports and I look forward to more of your posts in this series.

17 hours ago, DSMITH said:

Is there anyone that still repairs whites detectors if needed...?

These people have been doing that at least as long as White's has been out-of-business:

https://www.centrevilleelectronics.net/