2008 Metal Detecting Totals from down under

StubbyMcNumbthumbs

Well, we had a pretty good year, just beat last year's totals in some areas and were a little behind in others, but for overall total (in current spendable coinage), we beat last year by $281.34!
I keep a fairly detailed account of each outing in an Excel spreadsheet (since 2005) and enjoy reading back to see where and when we had our really good days!
Here's the breakdown for 2008:

.01 - 329
.02 - 242
.05 - 438
.10 - 482
.20 - 425
.50 - 171
$1 - 438
$2 - 498

For those of you not familiar with Australian coinage, they got rid of the copper one & two cent coins in 1991, but we still find a bunch of 'em.
We also have a twenty cent coin vs. a quarter. Fifty cent coins are used quite commonly, unlike in the U.S. Also, we have $2 coins, which are actually smaller then the $1, and therefore easier to lose! Hehe, better for us!

In addition to the spending cash, we also sold some old pre-decimal silver coins that we had found, strictly as bullion, since few if any had any numismatic value. I sold a few different lots which totaled $317.85.

Speaking of pre-decimal coins, here are those totals: (includes UK coins minted on or before 1911)

Halfpenny - 33
Penny - 61 (These are the large pennies which were made up until 1964)
3p - 28
6p - 25
shilling - 18
florin - 7

Foreign coins (does not count UK coinage minted prior to 1911, since that would have been the proper legal tender coinage here, before Australian coinage). Total - 36

Gold rings - 4
.925 Silver Rings - 15

After selling off the silver and tallying up the totals, our actual cash intake was $2,037.57 for 2008!

For those interested, I was using a Mineab Explorer II and my wife was using her Garrett GTI2500.

Cheers, and Happy Hunting in 2009!
Stub

tesorocazador

Wow! That's amazing; I wish we had more people losing $1 coins. I've only found 1 Ike dollar, 2 Sac dollars and 3 SBA dollars. No silver dollars unless you count an 1836 8 real’s I found. I don't think Americans care for carrying change, one of my coworkers told me he's grandson throws away pennies that he gets in change. He said he did it once while they were shopping together and the grandfather made him pick them all back up. Anyway congradulations on the big haul!
el Tesoro Cazador

crispy

That is quite an impressive haul Stub. Many don't get that much after years of hunting let alone in one year. As T.C. stated, we don't get many dollar coins being lost in the states because nobody criculates them. The government refuses to discontinue the paper dollar, so people aren't forced to use the dollar coin and as a result choose not to.

Have fun spending that new found cash!



Crispy

kiyote

Wow, great total! Finding a $2 coin must make your day!

StubbyMcNumbthumbs

Yes, it's a real buzz finding those $2 coins. We search mainly parks and school grounds, and around the playground equipment, in the bark chips, the $1 and $2 coins just disappear when they fall in there. They are a golden color, about like the Sac Dollar, although smaller. The $1 is 25mm dia. and the $2 is a smaller 20.62mm. They are used very commonly as pocket change, since the smallest note here is a fiver.
Our biggest one-day total was at a local school grounds. Between the 2 of us, we found $79.27 in about 3 hours. That included 25x$2, 20x$1, 10x50cent, 13x20cent, 13x10cent, 6x5cent, 2x2cent & 3x1cent.

The 1 & 2 cent coins are 97% copper, 2.5%zinc, 0.5%tin. They sound great, sorta like old silver, but just different enough that I can usually bypass them. Just not worth the effort. Even still, a few sneak through.

The "gold" coins, as the $1 & $2 coins are commonly called, are made of 92%copper, 6%aluminum & 2%nickel. On the Explorer, they sound very distinctive and it's easy to pick them out in trashy areas, except aluminum bottle caps that have been flattened sound and read exactly the same, so I usually end up with a pouch full of those, too!

I find myself cherry-picking my signals, so I usually end up with more $1 & $2 than anything else.



Here's a day's total from 2007 - Over $103 in one day!
Notice, $95 in $1 and $2 "gold" coins. That was a good day!!

pocketpiececommems

Those are absoulutely great totals for a day and year. Are you two the only ones down there with metal detectors? Or do these kids just hate to carry change around with them?

Dockwalliper

Can you still cash in the 1 & 2 cent coins?

StubbyMcNumbthumbs

Yes, at the bank. We can't spend them anymore, but the banks will still accept them. Last year we took 2 jars of 1&2cent coins in and got a twenty dollar note back in exchange. Nice!
It is annoying to dig for 5 minutes on a deep "silver sounding" signal, only to finally pull out a tiny little copper worth one cent, when I could be swinging and finding $2 coins instead.

ColinCMR

great finds! Hope this year is even better!!

ricko

Amazing and outstanding totals... congratulations.. Cheers, RickO