General questions about metal detecting sites
stevek
Posts: 29,009 ✭✭✭✭✭
My brother-in-law and I are both fellow collectors, and we were seriously discussing each buying a good metal detector and giving it a go. I actually bought one of those $19.95 metal detectors as a kid in the late 60's, I can't remember the name of it but it was advertised in almost every comic book...of course the dam thing hardly worked at all...I remember placing it up against a metal pipe and it barely would "beep" for that, let alone trying to find a coin buried in the sand.
We figure at the very least the "venture" would be good exercise and some "inexpensive" entertainment. But we of course would like to maximize our time and energy to hopefully find some good stuff.
The basic questions are...We notice a number of "country stores" on various small roads which look as though they've been out of business for many years. We figure there's gotta be some coins buried in that area. Of course we realize that we can't just go prospecting and digging on private property. I've read some threads here on how to ask for permission. Would it be expected to "pay for" the right to prospect on the property? Frankly, we wouldn't mind shelling out some cash, say $50 or so for the right to check out a private site, some of them look quite interesting, and...How would you go about finding the owner of the property to ask for permission?...Would the county planning commission or something such as that have a record of who owns the property?...Obviously neither one of us is skilled in real estate.
Anything else to add would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the help!
Steve
We figure at the very least the "venture" would be good exercise and some "inexpensive" entertainment. But we of course would like to maximize our time and energy to hopefully find some good stuff.
The basic questions are...We notice a number of "country stores" on various small roads which look as though they've been out of business for many years. We figure there's gotta be some coins buried in that area. Of course we realize that we can't just go prospecting and digging on private property. I've read some threads here on how to ask for permission. Would it be expected to "pay for" the right to prospect on the property? Frankly, we wouldn't mind shelling out some cash, say $50 or so for the right to check out a private site, some of them look quite interesting, and...How would you go about finding the owner of the property to ask for permission?...Would the county planning commission or something such as that have a record of who owns the property?...Obviously neither one of us is skilled in real estate.
Anything else to add would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the help!
Steve
0
Comments
Yes, working town/county records is a good start.. town historians and the library also are a big help. A couple of good sites to join are -
www.dfxonly.com and www.metaldetectingforum.com And you are already here...
I suggest doing some research before you dive in... asking questions on these forums can help a great deal and likely save you from making some 'start-up' errors.
There are permission forms, suggestions, advice etc on these forums as well. I have never heard of paying for the privilege, but I suppose it has been done... would be a last resort in my opinion.
Have fun... see you on the other forums... Cheers, RickO
<< <i>Hi Steve...
Yes, working town/county records is a good start.. town historians and the library also are a big help. A couple of good sites to join are -
www.dfxonly.com and www.metaldetectingforum.com And you are already here...
I suggest doing some research before you dive in... asking questions on these forums can help a great deal and likely save you from making some 'start-up' errors.
There are permission forms, suggestions, advice etc on these forums as well. I have never heard of paying for the privilege, but I suppose it has been done... would be a last resort in my opinion.
Have fun... see you on the other forums... Cheers, RickO >>
Thanks RickO. Our "train of thought" on paying for the privilege is perhaps certain sites might be "virgin" for metal detecting because the owner wouldn't give permission, but maybe a $50 or $100 bill would change their mind. I've driven by this one abandoned large "country store" for about 20 years, looks as though it was abandoned back in the 60's or so - it's got an old gas pump outside with the gas price of 20 something cents still legible on a badly rusted sign. I've never seen anyone metal detecting on it.
I don't really want to start spending $50 or $100 each time we go out, but certain sites such as this one might be an interesting situation of sorts to take a shot, and worth the money. Might be nothing there, who knows, but knowing that likely it has never been combed over sort of intrigues me.
And thanks for the website links - I will definitely check those out. Hopefully some day in the future I'll be posting my pics of some nice gold rings and silver coins that we found.
Steve
<< <i>Good luck Steve.... that site will surely yield some interesting finds. Will probably take a few visits to clean the 'trash'... but do not give up.. the good stuff will be there. Cheers, RickO >>
I'm still in the "infancy" stage of checking out the various metal detectors on the market. I wouldn't want to get one unless it was "good enough" to mostly sort out the trash from the good stuff, but perhaps none are that good within a "reasonable" price range. But from some of the threads here it seems as though a decent metal detector can be had in the $250 to $500 price range which might be about what we'd want to spend to start out....maybe a bit more.
I guess like all great treasure hunters (LOL) I imagine you've got to think outside the box a little bit in order to find some interesting sites. The "process" of reviewing old maps and records and say finding an interesting site seems fun and intriguing. Of course I fully understand that say if a penny was dropped in 1909, the odds of it being an S-VDB are still extremely slim. Just like today's change - it's not exactly loaded with rare coins waiting to be dropped but mostly of course common stuff.
True story - I guess around 1970 I found an Indian Head penny on a nearby property where I lived where they were building new houses - just random luck walking by finding the thing on the surface. I forget the date but I think it was 1883...and when it was dropped, it must have been like close to an AU coin - the "LIBERTY" was very sharp, with the corrosion of course. Big mistake - took it home and tried to clean it and immediately about 98% of the surface wore off. I had cleaned coins before as a kid, as most kids sometimes do, and thought this would clean fine with some copper dip and some light rubbing - obviously I was wrong. I wasn't upset because already being an avid coin collector, I knew the coin wasn't worth anything, but still I surely wished I hadn't tried to clean it and just left it as it was - I turned it from an interesting conversation piece into a round slug.
But at least I know the thrill of finding something like this and can understand the fun involved in some of the posts here.
Steve
You can get near top of the line for that $$$
Jerry