Mercury Dime Teaser

[Steve Herschbach]

OK, I promised myself I was not going to do this - start showing finds yet. It seems kind of mean. "Look what I found" when nobody can get their hands on an Equinox yet.

I also have a real problem discussing depth on coins in my area, as do a lot of people in the Western U.S. but also anywhere mineralization is very high. Despite all the talk of 10" plus dimes back east or wherever, I never see that kind of depths normally. The soil here is basically decomposed granitic rock and it is heavily laden with magnetite. Just drop a magnet and pick it up, and a big glob of magnetic soil comes up with it. A Gold Bug Pro/Tek G2 will get 6 out of seven bars on the Fe304 meter here.

People who have not experienced this type of soil may find it hard to imagine, but getting a dime past 6" here is very hard without using a PI. The dime signal tends to have the target id shift down until at about 6" it turns into a ferrous reading. You can detect it, but it sounds like a nail, and if you have ferrous rejected, you never hear it at all. The problem is not so much depth but accurate target id at depth, and this magnetite really interferes with detectors.

I moved to Reno just over 4 years ago, and have spent considerable time park detecting, mostly while testing various detectors one against the other. And the story never changes, no matter the machine. That 6" depth barrier keeps appearing. What that means is that when I say I hit a dime at 7" it is a "whoa, wow" kind of thing. The other issue is the parks have been pretty well detected, and so for the last four years I have made few silver coin finds with VLF detectors. The explanation locally is that the parks are just hunted out, though some experiments with PI detectors had me thinking that was not true. The coins are there in at least some places, but all the detectors over them so far were missing them. Not because they were super deep, but because they read as ferrous targets past that 6" mark.

Now I am not going to make crazy claims about the Equinox blowing past this barrier and doubling depth, but it is unlocking stuff by seemingly getting that "extra inch". I think there is more to it than that however. Equinox is not only getting that little bit better target id at depth, but also unlocks coins next to trash, so it is a double whammy.

What this leads to is repeated moments like just happened to me a couple hours ago. I went to this little park where I found a 1944 Mercury dime with the Equinox previously. The first silver I found in the park actually. I needed to check some things and figured it was a good spot for a test run.

So I fire the Equinox up, and in twenty feet I get a nice high tone, quite clear. An easy signal. I dig a plug and sure enough, at about 6" I see silver. And out pops a 1916 Mercury dime! It was worn but the date was clear. I did not want to rub it and so wrapped it and stuck it in my pocket to examine closely when I got home. The whole time I am wondering if it is one of "those" 1916 Mercury dimes, but for the life of me I could not remember which mint mark was the magic one.

So I swing 10 more feet, and another nice clear high tone. It ends up being a second Mercury dime at about 8"! - a1941 S Mercury.

OK, I hear everyone going "yeah, yeah, 6" or 8", big deal". That's the whole problem with talking depth with people around the country. All I can tell you is you just don't go to a local park here and walk thirty feet and dig two mercury dimes in a row in ten minutes. I in fact can't remember the last time I dug two mercury dimes in a row, it's been that long.

The thing is, I did nothing special. Sensitivity was 22 out of 25 and no magic settings. Just nice high tones, dig, coins. That simple. And decent signals at that.

That 1916? I washed it and put it under my 30X scope and the D I hoped for (I had checked the internet by now) turned out to be an S instead. A 1916 D in this condition might be worth around $1000 but the 1916 S, well, this is more like a $3 coin. But an exciting find all the same when it happened, that's for sure.

If this was all there was to it it honestly still would be no huge thing, but this kind of thing happens repeatedly and often with the Equinox. I got a really big tease today and I am offering this little tease for you all out there. I sure like this detector!

 

Note added 1/4/2018 - see the followup post at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/4973-2018-year-of-the-equinox/

[Skate]

That is a great day for any of us west coasters at least those I know of and hunt with. I too rarely get silver beyond 6" or so. I found a 1917d last year about 4" down. My heart went a flutter for a moment. I have an equinox on order and paid for. I just hope we get to use it sooner rather than later.

[Daniel Tn]

That sounds really promising!!  I recently did another couple of videos featuring some heavy hitting VLF machines in my soil and figure it will get a rise out of the fanboys of each machine.  I am hunting soil that does the same thing as your description of the 6 inch ferrous transition.  In fact, that's almost exactly the depth of the Civil War bullets I dig on video, and all 3 detectors give that iron hit on different bullets in the field.  A detector with a good all metal mode can get them but the ID still stays iron. You have to use your ears and gauge the signal by circling it to make a decision on digging or not. Pulse machines get them with no problem...but pulse machines are not practical everywhere you go.

 

So like you say...an added inch or 2 is HUGE for a VLF machine to accurately ID something in dirt like that.  People that have never experienced it just don't understand.  The worse machine out of my latest video was the CTX 3030.  But that same machine on a wet sand beach can accurately detect a dime down to the 11-12 inch mark.  My scoop is a 12" basket and in some cases, it took me 4 big scoops to get a coin out.  But in my dirt back home...5 inches was actually the transition point for it.

[Steve Herschbach]

I can't wait to see how the Equinox does for you Daniel. I think Minelab is well aware of where the CTX was weak and Equinox targets those weak areas. I sure was not having silver pop up with my CTX like I am with the Equinox which is why I no longer have the CTX. Even if performance were identical there is the 5.3 lbs versus 2.9 lb thing. At the end of the day it is working for me and the machine just clicks with me on multiple levels. I never did learn the fine details of the menu and options on the CTX. The Equinox is far more intuitive. I am not sure it ever has been mentioned but all the adjustments are "live" and changes in settings can be observed while swinging the coil.

I very much admit that I will be relieved at some point to not be the only person reporting. I have these nightmares where everyone gets an Equinox based at least partially on my posts and it bombs, and I end up looking like the biggest idiot in the world, or worse yet, some kind of mega-shill. Then I have to go into hiding on the internet and maybe move in case somebody wants to burn my house down! Kind of like performance anxiety except it is all about me really wanting the machine to perform as well for others as it does for me and worrying that for some crazy reason it won't. 

But that would mean ignoring what I keep seeing with my own eyes 

[Redneck]

Steve, Your job is to report honestly, then let the chips fall where they may.   And I believe you are honest.  

[Cabin Fever]

Sounds like there is possibly some hope that the Equinox MIGHT reopen sites. I was hoping for more depth from the next Minelab but maybe it will be its ability to unmask that is its secret bullet.  I should be able to tell pretty quickly if this is the case.  I know most of the old parks I hunt very well and there are 3 in particular that I have completely stoped hunting... A 6 hour hunt might produce one old coin.. Sometimes none.  These were parks that me and my friend pulled lots of very nice old coins, tokens and other goodies from.   My soil is also very tough and almost all single frequency detectors turn coins to ferrous signals at roughly 6+ inches. The difference between my soil and Steve and Daniels is that the CTX and E-Trac ARE able to reach 9 and occasionally 10” with bigger coils where the others can’t. My Friends V3i with big coil can get down there too, but not with the ID accuracy of the Minelabs.  We both will dig ANY non ferrous signal that is in the deep old coin zones...  

At this point I will actually just be happy if the Equinox is as good as FBS but in a faster, lighter package.. My tendons are messed up and the weight of the E-Trac is not helping.. 

Thanks for the peek into one of your Equinox hunts Steve..

Bryan

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

It worked.

Meaning I was teased. Lol

I have some 5 bars ground to try when I finally get one.

[Daniel Tn]

I don't envy you at all Steve! I've been in your position and know exactly how you feel. I had a small role with a couple of Whites detectors. You want to truly share something you think is exciting and as soon as you do, you have critics and hateful Richard Noggins ready to rip you apart like sharks.  I took it all to heart and still may or may not have some people at the top of my list for a butt kickin' if I ever meet them in person ;)   haha 

I am on the list for an Equinox. I notified my dealer the day they were announced. I'm ready for it for sure.  

[Steve Herschbach]

Thanks Daniel - that made me laugh! 

All I want a detector to do is two things. 1. Make more finds for me more easily. 2. Do it as ergonomically as possible. When I say ergonomics I mean visual and audio interface as much as physical design.

That is what the Equinox is doing for me. Just imagine swinging a FBS machine that is as fast as a DEUS in the trash if not faster. Yet when you are in the open, throttle it back to slow speeds for more depth. Best of both worlds.

There is more to it though. Multi-IQ is actually new and by that I mean different. There is something going on there with target id I have not figured out yet. I don't mean that in a bad way at all. This detector really talks to me. I guess I really don't care after all what everyone else ends up thinking about the Equinox. All I know it that is what I am swinging from now on! Well, that and a GPZ 

[steveg]

Steve,

Excellent posts, excellent information.  Impressive, what the Equinox is doing for you, in your soil.

My dirt must be VERY similar to Cabin Fever's.  In my dirt, most VLFs read a dime beyond 6" deep as iron, but in my case, like his, and UNLIKE yours and Daniel's, the Explorer/E-Trac/CTX can see a dime to 9" or 10" deep and ID it pretty accurately, with an 11" coil.  If the Equinox can do that, AND be the fast, very good unmasker I expect it to be, then I am going to be LOVING this machine...  :)  And the more I read of your posts, the more confident I am that it will do exactly this...

Steve