Joined a local club
WhiteTornado
Posts: 2,102 ✭✭✭
I decided to join a local metal detector club and attended my first meeting last night. This seems like an active club, there were about 40-50 people there, and the proceedings were fairly organized.
They start off by doing what is called a "mini hunt" for 30 minutes on the grounds next to the meeting location. This is a no-dig hunt and the club president simply seeds the grass by tossing about various coins and other items beforehand. I gave it a go and found 5 Wheaties, oldest being 1938. These were my first ever Wheaties, even if not dug up
. A couple of people found large washers with numbers on them. The numbers were drawn later at the beginning of the meeting, and each received their pick of prizes (last night's were both hats).
The club has been around since the early 1970s and one of the founding members still attends. He had some neat stories and advice for us new members. The president of a local coin club was invited to speak and he provided some basic information about coins and determining values. He also happens to be a full-time dealer along with his father. There was a lot of discussion centered around cleaning of coins that detectorists find. Since I collect coins, I knew a lot of this information, but it was still a good presentation. I could tell that many of the members don't have a lot of coin knowledge.
A board is displayed at the back of the room which shows members' recent finds and other members vote on their favorites. There were some neat items. Several old coins like large cents and seated dimes. One person found an Amish school bell, still in working order. A few Civil War era buttons were on display as well. Winners in each category received a small prize. One gentleman across from me received a date-worn Standing Liberty Quarter. No great value, but still neat to receive old silver. They also had a couple of raffles which help generate funds for the club. No luck for me in the 50-50 raffle I entered. They also raffled off an American Silver Eagle.
A local detector salesman was there and had some of his items on display. I spoke with him briefly, explained my lack of know-how with my detector, a Tesoro Cibola. He invited me to visit his shop sometime and get some tips, and perhaps try out some of the other machines as well. He did say that the Cibola is a well-liked machine and definitely has its following among hunters. Hearing that encouraged me to stick with this machine a bit longer.
They do hold club hunts but unfortunately will not be doing any in July or August. I believe this is in large part due to an ordinance at local parks where metal detecting is prohibited during those 2 months. They will hold their next hunt in September and I hope to join them on that outing.
All in all it was good to attend and I think being part of this club will be beneficial for me in the long term.
They start off by doing what is called a "mini hunt" for 30 minutes on the grounds next to the meeting location. This is a no-dig hunt and the club president simply seeds the grass by tossing about various coins and other items beforehand. I gave it a go and found 5 Wheaties, oldest being 1938. These were my first ever Wheaties, even if not dug up
. A couple of people found large washers with numbers on them. The numbers were drawn later at the beginning of the meeting, and each received their pick of prizes (last night's were both hats). The club has been around since the early 1970s and one of the founding members still attends. He had some neat stories and advice for us new members. The president of a local coin club was invited to speak and he provided some basic information about coins and determining values. He also happens to be a full-time dealer along with his father. There was a lot of discussion centered around cleaning of coins that detectorists find. Since I collect coins, I knew a lot of this information, but it was still a good presentation. I could tell that many of the members don't have a lot of coin knowledge.
A board is displayed at the back of the room which shows members' recent finds and other members vote on their favorites. There were some neat items. Several old coins like large cents and seated dimes. One person found an Amish school bell, still in working order. A few Civil War era buttons were on display as well. Winners in each category received a small prize. One gentleman across from me received a date-worn Standing Liberty Quarter. No great value, but still neat to receive old silver. They also had a couple of raffles which help generate funds for the club. No luck for me in the 50-50 raffle I entered. They also raffled off an American Silver Eagle.
A local detector salesman was there and had some of his items on display. I spoke with him briefly, explained my lack of know-how with my detector, a Tesoro Cibola. He invited me to visit his shop sometime and get some tips, and perhaps try out some of the other machines as well. He did say that the Cibola is a well-liked machine and definitely has its following among hunters. Hearing that encouraged me to stick with this machine a bit longer.
They do hold club hunts but unfortunately will not be doing any in July or August. I believe this is in large part due to an ordinance at local parks where metal detecting is prohibited during those 2 months. They will hold their next hunt in September and I hope to join them on that outing.
All in all it was good to attend and I think being part of this club will be beneficial for me in the long term.
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<< <i>That washer idea, with the numbers, and drawing them later in the meeting ... genius. My concern with club meetings is always "so we are here, now what?" but it sounds like they've got some creative programming. More posts please! >>
I wasn't sure what to expect from the first meeting, but they do seem to get good ideas going. We have another meeting in two weeks.
One of the other officers -- not the president -- is hosting a hunt on Sunday at a local park. This one is supposed to be for beginners and anyone needing tips at interpreting signals and fine-tuning their machine. They will have a small test garden ready and we are also allowed to hunt on our own for as long as we like. We're supposed to pack a lunch, so I guess we will be there for the better part of the day.