The oldest coin I have found is a 1797 cartwheel penny. My oldest silver coin find is an 1820 shilling. My rarest coin find/s would be a pair of groats (fourpences) dated 1843 and 1854. These were only circulated between 1836 and 1855.
Just bought a pinpointer and a pair of Lesche tools from Predator... now to make the buggers pay their way.
Well my first hunt of 2012 took place last week (only been on the one hunt this year so far - been too busy). But it was a good swing. I hit 3 parks in all over a few hours, good results : $52 in goldies, a few more bucks in moderns, a couple pennies, a shilling, a couple keys and a few medalion nick nacks. Mind you, I'm *very* familar with my own machine and can usually tell what's under the coil even by just the tone. Some things ring up the same as coins on the display, but sound slightly 'different' in the ears. Coins are usually a 'hard' sound and don't jump on the digital display, pulltabs can ring the same sort of numbers, but sound different. It means I can decide very quickly if it's really worth digging a target or not and it definitely cuts down on the crap I dig up. But the big number of goldies comes down to the fact one of my parks had only modern coins so I literally adjusted my detector to screen out everything that didn't ring up as a 1 or 2 dollar coin... it meant the hunt was much quicker and I was only stopping for 1 and 2 buck coins. Definitely one for me to go and hit again at a later time as it was a little busy when I went and I didn't want to disturb other park goers Still $50+ for my first 2012 hunt, it was a ripper hunt. A shame a lot of my hunts don't go this well... I've done 3 HOURS in one park before for 20 cents! :/
You won't be disappointed. I use both of mine every hunt and they're amazing. I'm very happy with mine. The pinpointer especially will speed up your hunts like you wouldn't believe - makes a very big difference.
Very very inspiring bud! I've even managed to show the missus photographic evidence now, and she agrees I'm not gonna be some nutcase with a detector... I'll be buying a decent Minelab when I get back from the UK in March... Betcha I end up going out for 50c one day this year
Nah, this will happen over a period of years. See, the downside to doing parks is that you can definitely clean them out if you sweep them often enough. The beach is more of a 'renewable' detecting location as it's always so populated and people lose stuff more frequently. Parks have a much slower accumulation rate and once I've gone through a place even just twice or three times, I generally have to move on and find a new hunting ground. There are some lucky detectorists who have found a place that just seems to have an endless supply of coins offering up - we affectionally call these parks a 'bottomless pit' and their locations are often a jealously guarded secret for the detectorist. I know of one bloke in QLD who has been searching the one park for a year now and has dug 600+ pre-deciminal silver coins and over 1000 coppers from a single park. Absolutely amazing. My best hunting ground so far has yielded about 30 pennies and 15 silvers, but it was a very small park and likely wasn't touched during the 70s and 80s when we had a large surge of urban detecting going on. I think my earliest find so far is a 1900 threepence.
Absolutely. Florins especially. Mind you, I know a couple blokes who've gone even better. Check this out... [youtube] Sends shivers down my spine every time I watch it... That's a QLD local
I went out with Eureka Moments last week! Had a great time, learnt alot about what to look for and how to use the detector etc. Such a great guy take the time to share his knowledge with a noob like me. He was kind enough to give me a couple nuggets after our trip!! What a stand up guy Detecting is alot of fun, whether you find something or not. Great opportunity to get out for a bush walk and enjoy our great country.
Here's a coin I found with a bit of a story behind it. It's a British Penny dated 1848. At first I thought the hole was drilled into it so someone could wear it as a necklace. Through some research I learned that it was an old custom for newleyweds to nail a coin on or over the front door of their home in order to bring good luck and prosperity to their marriage. I am sure this is the reason for the hole in the coin as I dug a nail that was sitting above the coin in the ground. Luckily I checked the hole I had dug for any other signals before I filled it in (handy hint for all budding prospectors). This was at the site of an old bush hut. This hobby can be rewarding in a lot of different ways.
I reckon we should have a 'What did you find today?' thread running on SS. I go out regularly for hunts and whilst I share the finds with like minded folks on specific detecting forums, I'm sure the people here would love to take a peek too. Or maybe even a Metal detecting sub forum on SS? Could kill two birds with one stone there... dig up the coins and then sell them on the for sale boards
Well strange you should say that Oz, I did find a few rings in the last year and wouldn't mind cashing those in to put towards a new detector. The 18k diamond ring should fetch a few pennies I think
It's an interesting philosophical proposition... those gold coins/nuggets etc you found don't just represent your time/labour... they represent the effort of all the other folks that went out that weekend into parks/beaches etc searching for stuff. There's something tantalising about finding guilt free 'stuff' that works in us on a genetic level. That's why kids love pirate treasure/easter egg hunts ...and me too
I would support a motion to create a thread called "Lucky finds" or similar that would include; metal detecting, garage sales, estate sales, live auctions (I picked up over a $1200 in junk US silver coins one day for $450 at a live auction in Texas!), or just finding stuff on the ground as you walk around.
This thread is quite possibly an impulse buyers worst nightmare. ... And trust me, impulse buying is my kinda thing!
