I've always used a stock coil. Do you see much benefits to the sniper coils, and others? There are a lot of iron-infested (nails) areas around here.
Silver is a bit slow this way too. I got out this weekend, but it was hotter than I'd like (80s), and the ground is still dry in most areas. Did pull two buffalo nickels from the same hole, but haven't even checked them yet.
<< <i>I've always used a stock coil. Do you see much benefits to the sniper coils, and others? >>
I am happy with both of my aftermarket coils, a 15" oversize coil and a 6" sniper coil. The oversize coil gives me more depth and got me four Mercury dimes this month. The sniper coil lets me find coins in trashy areas and up close to tree trunks.
I used my new sniper coil again today. I got a good signal at the base of a tree, so close that I couldn't have found it with a standard size coil. I dug in between the roots and right next to the trunk got a hit with my pinpointer. The pinpointer was going off on a little bundle of cloth. The cloth had a knot tied on the top of it, and I could feel at least two cents inside the cloth.
I only had two questions in my mind: 1) are these wheat cents or Indian head cents? and 2) is there a silver dime between the two cents? I untied the knot and removed the cloth only to find a second wrapping of cloth. I ripped open this second cloth to find a 1961 cent and 1967 cent. What a let down. I figured if someone went to the trouble of wrapping two cents, it would have been long ago when two cents at least had some buying power beyond bubble gum.
The only old coins I found today were a 1945-D wheat cent and a 1941 nickel.
I got serious today and put my oversize coil back on the machine. I dug up a 1935 Mercury dime and four wheat cents from 1935 to 1957. Honorable mention goes to a 1949 nickel, which is the first old coin I dug today. The Mercury dime was in extremely hard soil, only 4 or 5 inches deep. I have seen four other guys hunt this park and continue to be amazed that it produces anything.
congrats on the silver! What's your silver coin count for the year? Your wheat count must be getting up there too. I haven't been finding too much lately... will throw a thread together to show the few keepers
Yesterday I traveled almost 300 miles to hunt the house that my grandparents built in 1955 and lived in until 1976. I was sure the backyard would be full of silver because of all the old picnics and barbecues that I remember from childhood. Unfortunately, I couldn't find hardly anything beyond some shallow modern coins and junk. The best I could do was a 1947 nickel, probably dropped in recent years because it was less than an inch deep. I doubt that anyone has ever hunted this fenced yard and can only suppose that the silver has sunk very deep into the soft soil.
Sorry to hear things didn't pan out. But it was worth a shot to know. I've often wondered how much stuff is in the ground too deep for detecting, or near a piece of iron hiding its signal. Probably quite a bit
Today I went back to the park and found my first ever Buffalo nickel, a 1936. I also dug 1930 and 1938 wheat cents. I guess this park still isn't quite hunted out.
Congrats on your first buffalo! Tbey say no place is ever really hunted out...different detectors, different angles, frost, rain etc all keep things changing.
I went to the park today and found another Buffalo nickel. It was in the same area where I found the Mercury dimes and Liberty nickel last month. This Buffalo nickel was dateless, but, after applying some acid, a 1918 date became evident. I'd rather have the date than all of the patina.
I also found a silver ring and a broken Swiss army knife. I only detected for about 90 minutes until dark, but, wish I had started earlier. Something about the conditions today seemed to make signals easier to hear. For example, I dug a clad dime at over 10 inches deep with a nail in the hole without using headphones. My Koss headphones appear to be failing with only a month of use by the way.
Nice score on the Buff. That is a bummer regarding the Koss headphones. I have a pair of Gray Ghost with about 50-60 hours use in them, no issues so far.
Today was my worst day of metal detecting ever. I went to my favorite park for three hours and dug a grand total of two nickels plus a pocket full of junk.
I went back to the park today with my sniper coil. The best thing I found was a small silver ring, so small that it might even be a toe ring. I dug 17 nickels, probably the most I've ever dug in one day; but, none of them were old.
silver is silver. Got a pic of that ring? It's possible it's a child's ring too. I've seen a lot of toe rings that are adjustable. That's a lot of nickels. Were there high tone coins mixed in? Or do you think others have cherrypicked the others?
<< <i>That's a lot of nickels. Were there high tone coins mixed in? Or do you think others have cherrypicked the others? >>
I have cherry picked the high tones, lol. I originally pulled about $100 worth of quarters out of this park while ignoring nickel signals. Now there doesn't seem to be much left other than nickels. Any other denomination is usually a recent drop. A few rains will make the remaining deep silvers reveal themselves though. It's almost time to find myself another place to hunt, although this park is just down the street from my house and the convenient location makes it tough to abandon.
On Thursday I hunted a vacant lot that previously had a commercial building on it dating back several generations. The ground turned out to be very rocky and I couldn't find any old coins. I did make two interesting surface finds though, a high powered rifle bullet approximately 6.5mm or .270, and a U.S. Army achievement medal. The bullet doesn't appear to have rifling marks on it. We had a light snow yesterday; but, the weather should warm up by Monday and allow for a few more weeks of detecting.
The weather warmed up a little today, and I went to the park with my sniper coil. I found a 1941-S Mercury dime and a wheat cent.
The Mercury dime was an interesting signal. It sounded like a zincoln, 12-37. I dug it because it was in a small area where I had previously found several wheat cents. I dug a hole and flipped the plug upside down. My pinpointer indicated that there was something in the hole. After a little digging, I pulled a piece of can slaw out of the bottom of the hole. Can slaw doesn't normally signal 12-37; so, I checked it with my coil. The can slaw gave a low tone like a nickel, 12-11. This told me that something else should be in the hole. I checked the hole with the coil and got no signal; however, the plug gave me a strong 12-45 signal. The Mercury dime was only three inches deep in the plug. That piece of can slaw masked it and kept who knows how many other detectorists from bothering to dig it up.
I went back to the park again today with my sniper coil. I dug up a 1934 Mercury dime and two wheat cents. The Mercury dime was right next to some iron. The signal sounded completely like iron, except for a small blip of 12-46 coming through. I have passed over this exact spot in the past with my standard coil.
Yesterday I went to a new place where an acquaintance has dug up a number of Barber dimes and Indian cents. He dug up an 1876 Indian cent, and I dug up a 1909 wheat cent. The wheat cent is so crusty that I can't see if it has a mintmark; so, I'm soaking it in olive oil.
I went to the new place again today and dug up a 1917 Buffalo nickel. It doesn't look like a red dug nickel because I chemically cleaned it. Monday may be my last day of the year for metal detecting. According to weather reports, there will be snow on Tuesday and freezing temperatures for several days thereafter.
I went back to the new location again today and dug up a 1963-D dime. This is the first silver Roosevelt dime that I have dug in almost a full year. My friend dug up a very worn Canadian dime dated 1883 or 1886 while we were there.
The best cleaning method I have come up with so far is to soak nickels in Aluminum Jelly and then apply Nic-A-Date. The Aluminum Jelly soak removes all the crud and turns the coin from red to light pink. It usually takes about three soaks of at least twenty minutes each. Rub the coin with your fingers and rinse it off between soaks. When nothing more comes off after soaking, I then rub on some Nic-A-Date, and rinse it off immediately, in order to get the pink color to go away. The coin will end up some shade of dull gray.
I'm currently looking for a less harsh method than Nic-A-Date to remove the final stage of pink color. If you don't mind pink coins, you could skip this step entirely. Honestly, the details of the coin are easier to see when pink; but, I just can't stand the pink look. A salt and vinegar soak didn't remove any pink for me, although some people claim an overnight soak in vinegar based Worchester sauce does wonders for nickels. I've never tried Worchester sauce.
I believe the acid in Aluminum Jelly is also found in Coca Cola. I never buy Coke; but, am curious if a soak in soda would produce the same results.
I hunted the new location again today and found an interesting coin spill. In one hole were a 1903 Indian cent, a 1904 Indian cent, a 1909 Wheat cent, and a 1911 Wheat cent. These are the first Indian cents I've ever found. I love coin spills because they give a pretty good idea of when the coins were dropped, in this case probably over 100 years ago. They're all soaking in olive oil for the foreseeable future by the way.
I also found a 1911 nickel and four additional Wheat cents.
<< <i>I hunted the new location again today and found an interesting coin spill. In one hole were a 1903 Indian cent, a 1904 Indian cent, a 1909 Wheat cent, and a 1911 Wheat cent. These are the first Indian cents I've ever found. I love coin spills because they give a pretty good idea of when the coins were dropped, in this case probably over 100 years ago. They're all soaking in olive oil for the foreseeable future by the way.
I also found a 1911 nickel and four additional Wheat cents. >>
Good finds. Nothing like a pocket spill and in this case, one with very old coins.
I went out again today and found two more Indian cents, 1889 and 1891. These are the oldest U.S. coins that I have ever found, so far. I also dug up two Wheat cents, a bunch of handgun bullets, and a Peters cartridge case for a .38 S&W.
Incoming cold weather will probably make tomorrow the last day of hunting for the year.
I think my season may be over for this year. I went out for an hour today, and it was so cold that I decided it wasn't worth it. We'll have freezing temperatures every day for at least the next ten days.
We had an unexpected warm up into the high 40s over the weekend. I got out to the new place for a few hours on Saturday. I found a silver ring and a 1920 Wheat cent that looks like it was dropped when close to mint condition. The ground was partially frozen in some locations and completely frozen in others. I used my sniper coil and never dug deeper than four inches.
It's snowing hard right now; however, the weather report is predicting another brief warm up in about 10 days. If the ground isn't frozen and the rain isn't too bad, I'll go out again in December.
If it looks like a nice weather day and the ground has been frozen I go out to the front yard and if the screwdriver won't go down I just forget it for another day. Do you chop through the frozen ground until you get to soft dirt?
<< <i>Do you chop through the frozen ground until you get to soft dirt? >>
I have a pick ax, but, didn't need to use it. I was able to dig shallow plugs, maybe an inch or two deep, and then methodically dug out the dirt in small frozen chunks until reaching the target.
I do most of my detecting around sports fields, concession stands and schools. I would be asked to leave real quick if I was using a pick axe. Are you out in a field or non public place? When I'm detecting in some one room school field sites I do use a small shovel at times before the field is planted.
It turns out that my girlfriend's bank has a free coin counting machine. We went over there yesterday and got rid of $111.48 of dirty clad.
Today the weather warmed up and the ground wasn't frozen. We went to the new detecting site, but, didn't find anything old. The weather will be nice again tomorrow; so, we're planning to detect again. It will probably be the last detecting day of the year.
I keep predicting that it's the last detecting day of the year, and I keep getting proven wrong. Today there was no wind and temperatures were in the high 30s. The ground wasn't frozen and digging was easy. Unfortunately, all I could find was modern coins with a sniper coil at my favorite park today.
Comments
Silver is a bit slow this way too. I got out this weekend, but it was hotter than I'd like (80s), and the ground is still dry in most areas. Did pull two buffalo nickels from the same hole, but haven't even checked them yet.
<< <i>I've always used a stock coil. Do you see much benefits to the sniper coils, and others? >>
I am happy with both of my aftermarket coils, a 15" oversize coil and a 6" sniper coil. The oversize coil gives me more depth and got me four Mercury dimes this month. The sniper coil lets me find coins in trashy areas and up close to tree trunks.
I only had two questions in my mind: 1) are these wheat cents or Indian head cents? and 2) is there a silver dime between the two cents? I untied the knot and removed the cloth only to find a second wrapping of cloth. I ripped open this second cloth to find a 1961 cent and 1967 cent. What a let down. I figured if someone went to the trouble of wrapping two cents, it would have been long ago when two cents at least had some buying power beyond bubble gum.
The only old coins I found today were a 1945-D wheat cent and a 1941 nickel.
<< <i>congrats on the silver! What's your silver coin count for the year? >>
Nothing that would impress you, lol: 7 Mercury dimes, a 40% Kennedy half, and a damaged George VI Australian sixpence.
<< <i>Your wheat count must be getting up there too. >>
I don't keep a count of them, although I'm sure it's more than 50.
<< <i>I haven't been finding too much lately... will throw a thread together to show the few keepers >>
I'm sure you will continue to amaze us with your finds.
I also found a silver ring and a broken Swiss army knife. I only detected for about 90 minutes until dark, but, wish I had started earlier. Something about the conditions today seemed to make signals easier to hear. For example, I dug a clad dime at over 10 inches deep with a nail in the hole without using headphones. My Koss headphones appear to be failing with only a month of use by the way.
<< <i>Congrats on the gold! Got any pics to share? >>
It's rather gaudy for a religious ring.
<< <i>That's a lot of nickels. Were there high tone coins mixed in? Or do you think others have cherrypicked the others? >>
I have cherry picked the high tones, lol. I originally pulled about $100 worth of quarters out of this park while ignoring nickel signals. Now there doesn't seem to be much left other than nickels. Any other denomination is usually a recent drop. A few rains will make the remaining deep silvers reveal themselves though. It's almost time to find myself another place to hunt, although this park is just down the street from my house and the convenient location makes it tough to abandon.
<< <i>wow, $100?? I'm only up to $86 in change for the year. That's impressive! >>
I would trade you sites without hesitation. You find historic stuff instead of modern pocket change.
The Mercury dime was an interesting signal. It sounded like a zincoln, 12-37. I dug it because it was in a small area where I had previously found several wheat cents. I dug a hole and flipped the plug upside down. My pinpointer indicated that there was something in the hole. After a little digging, I pulled a piece of can slaw out of the bottom of the hole. Can slaw doesn't normally signal 12-37; so, I checked it with my coil. The can slaw gave a low tone like a nickel, 12-11. This told me that something else should be in the hole. I checked the hole with the coil and got no signal; however, the plug gave me a strong 12-45 signal. The Mercury dime was only three inches deep in the plug. That piece of can slaw masked it and kept who knows how many other detectorists from bothering to dig it up.
<< <i>What did you clean the buff with? >>
The best cleaning method I have come up with so far is to soak nickels in Aluminum Jelly and then apply Nic-A-Date. The Aluminum Jelly soak removes all the crud and turns the coin from red to light pink. It usually takes about three soaks of at least twenty minutes each. Rub the coin with your fingers and rinse it off between soaks. When nothing more comes off after soaking, I then rub on some Nic-A-Date, and rinse it off immediately, in order to get the pink color to go away. The coin will end up some shade of dull gray.
I'm currently looking for a less harsh method than Nic-A-Date to remove the final stage of pink color. If you don't mind pink coins, you could skip this step entirely. Honestly, the details of the coin are easier to see when pink; but, I just can't stand the pink look. A salt and vinegar soak didn't remove any pink for me, although some people claim an overnight soak in vinegar based Worchester sauce does wonders for nickels. I've never tried Worchester sauce.
I believe the acid in Aluminum Jelly is also found in Coca Cola. I never buy Coke; but, am curious if a soak in soda would produce the same results.
I also found a 1911 nickel and four additional Wheat cents.
<< <i>I hunted the new location again today and found an interesting coin spill. In one hole were a 1903 Indian cent, a 1904 Indian cent, a 1909 Wheat cent, and a 1911 Wheat cent. These are the first Indian cents I've ever found. I love coin spills because they give a pretty good idea of when the coins were dropped, in this case probably over 100 years ago. They're all soaking in olive oil for the foreseeable future by the way.
I also found a 1911 nickel and four additional Wheat cents. >>
Good finds. Nothing like a pocket spill and in this case, one with very old coins.
I got a pocket spill yesterday but it was 16 lincoln memorials and a canadian cent. Will take yours any day!
Incoming cold weather will probably make tomorrow the last day of hunting for the year.
It's snowing hard right now; however, the weather report is predicting another brief warm up in about 10 days. If the ground isn't frozen and the rain isn't too bad, I'll go out again in December.
Lafayette Grading Set
<< <i>Do you chop through the frozen ground until you get to soft dirt? >>
I have a pick ax, but, didn't need to use it. I was able to dig shallow plugs, maybe an inch or two deep, and then methodically dug out the dirt in small frozen chunks until reaching the target.
Lafayette Grading Set
Today the weather warmed up and the ground wasn't frozen. We went to the new detecting site, but, didn't find anything old. The weather will be nice again tomorrow; so, we're planning to detect again. It will probably be the last detecting day of the year.