Aussie dollar coins - the best

[OB1]

Since 1984 the Australian Mint has put 604 million $1 coins into circulation plus 514 million $2 coins (since 1988 ). The Australian $2 coin is small, easily lost and a great coin to find with my Quattro.
I have found over a thousand bucks worth in the last 4 months and my biggest problem has been cleaning them just enough to put them back into circulation. I clean them in a Lortone 3A rock tumbler with a bit of detergent and #80 grit; I find that the small rock tumbler will only take about $100 at a time and it is best not to tumble them for more than 10 hours (they come out too clean).
I don't dig all the lower denomination coins (sometimes I will dig a 50 cent piece for parking money) and don't bother with the gold rings (too close to crown seal bottle tops and pull tabs to waste time on).
My greatest wish is for our Government to start issuing $5 and $10 coins into circulation, then I would have no trouble filling up the car with petrol.

 

[OB1]

Australian "silver" coins (copper nickle) are a real mess after spending some time in the ground - they clean up ok.
Some pictures of before and after money laundering [attachment 95221 dirtycoins.jpg] [attachment 95222 afterclean.jpg]

 

[John (Australia)]

Hello OB1, That's a first post that will take some topping, I only find about $200 a year but I think my country town must be a lot smaller than where you hunt and I don't put in the time you would do I am guessing.
John

 

[nick hunter]

Hello !

I'm impressed at the way those coins clean well in the tumbler.That really is good work !Once had an ultrasonic cleaner : bleah ! uke: It means at least that you find high value coins.

What leads me to a question to our US friends here : how comes you guys do NOT find that many halves and dollars?? Are they scarce, or do people just save them and put them back into their bank accounts.

I live in Europe and don't bother cleaning the dirty coins. Our "new" Euro coins are of poor quality and get dirty very soon after they're lost, BUT we can bring them down to the bank and let them put into our accounts after they checked them all. That with no costs provided that the total weight of the coins does not exceed 12 KG.

Our best coins, and the small 1?2&5 eurocent are magnetic, which sometimes makes them difficult to find, as they behave like iron.

Except in the high season july and august months, I DO bother digging them all, just to be sure not to miss the jewelry and other valuables.

 

[OB1]

Hello John, I detect the best spots for 2-3 hours each Sunday morning (free parking). My most productive site is a large grassed area opposite a number of singles bars. I call it the groin exchange. Those young people really get careless with all those recreational substances and takeaway food in them. I have started to dig the lower conductivity targets and have discovered a few 9 carat wedding rings - I suspect a number of our young married folk slip off the wedding ring in the hope of "getting lucky".
During our school/church fete season (usually in spring) I visit the site while festivities are underway (sausage sizzle stall is good value) and return later to detect - saves a lot of time.
In neighbourhood parks (note for our US readers: Australians don't reserve local parks just for residents) I always get more money under the swings and never the roundabouts.
Attached is a photo of my little money maker: [attachment 95285 IMGP0391.jpg] Also a photo of some of the many many silver rings I have found:[attachment 95286 IMGP0457.jpg]

 

[brissietex]

Cool...I always wondered how the Aussie coins would come up if you tried to clean them in a tumbler. I detect the beaches here in Qld and the 'silver' Aussie coins always come up tarnished if they have spent anytime in the sand. The 'gold' Aussie coins are far more resistent except for the occassional greening of corrosion. I may need to invest in one of those tumblers to get rid of these jars of 50, 20, 10, and 5 cent pieces. Usually I sneak a few into the vending machines when I am thirsty...:>

btw, where did you purchase yours? Here in Australia or overseas?

cheers...Keith

 

[OB1]

I purchased the tumbler overseas many years ago but then bought a spare barrel and lots of grit from Aussie Sapphires in Glen Innes. These tumbers last for years and there are plenty of spare parts available.
Should also mention I do a "pre- soak" for a few days until I get about $100 worth. Loading the barrel up with too many coins makes it too heavy to rotate, so no more than one third full.
I still get a few 1 & 2 cent pieces which register close to $1 and $2 coins (especially in school yards). To me this is a good sign that the site has not been previously detected.
I am a bit slack when it comes to digging the deeper targets (I have got good at estimating depth using two different pinpoint coils) and only dig about 2.5 inches down. I like to recover the money quickly and move on to the next target.
Bye the way I saw a TV program about sheep shearing and those guys were only getting paid $2 per sheep. I can find and recover $2 a lot quicker and with less effort than sheep shearing. Then again I can not bend down from a standing position and touch the ground with my elbows.