Discriminating against Roman coins

[999jackdaw]

I bought my Tesoro Vaquero 12 months ago and have been well pleased with it. My colleague and I have searched a local field which should be a prime Roman site but I haven't found any Roman coins on it as yet. I bought a couple of small Roman coins off e-bay and did a control experiment with them. I was surprised to find that the small coins are ignored below the level of pull tabs! I reckon that I could have discriminated out some small Roman coins thinking that they were aluminium etc. Has anyone ales noticed this? (I live in England by the way).

 

[Hightone]

Most coin machines are set up for the conductivity of US coins. The mark on the DISC knob, or the ID on a LCD readout is set for size and conductivity at the factory. Roman coins (especially hammered coins) tend to be somewhat different in sizes. The best way to help ID these type coins is to scan a few, see where they start giving you a tone while decreasing the DISC knob from the max point, and mark that area on the machine to give a reference point. Then set your DISC just below that mark to make sure you are hearing the target.

 

[DavHut]

Most Brits us the Tesoro machines at the IRON preset, with the SENS up near or just into the boost range and some level of SuperTuning going on. This latter one can vary, depending on the conditions.

They use these settings to defeat what they call the dreaded "iron clutter." They claim this is the biggest nuisance they face - the Romans loved iron and used a lot of it for everything from weapons to construction. At those settings the small iron bits, "chirpies and cracklers" (more British terms), are DISC'd out, while the larger iron relics are still retained. Everything else is announced.

This is good, of course. Think you are distraught over missing a few little Roman coppers? Imagine how bad you'd feel if you were to miss a Roman gold coin, which will only pop in around nickle range.

Also, they suggest that you ensure your GB'ing is spot on. It seems that on many ancient Roman sites, the decomposed iron and other minerals common to such sites can have your GB shifting about if you arent mindful of it.

 

[Les in the UK]

When your on a Roman site you need to set your disc to knock out iron nails and then dig every thing or you will miss out on some great finds, you could even be missing out on some nice Celtic coins as the Romans built homes and traded on celtic sites.
If you have a lot of iron in the ground try to use the line that's above the iron mark on the detector and if you find that there is not that much iron in the ground (your not digging much iron) use the line below the iron mark on the detectors Discrimination.
I have found many roman coins and Celtic coins next to iron on this setting.
Some roman grots that i have found on a real bad site thats full of iron, for every 20 roman grots you find you find one nice Roman coin.
All the best Les in the UK

 

[margiop]

[quote Les in the UK]....
All the best Les in the UK[/quote]

Hi Les, which MD do you use ?
In your opinion, which is the best metal for these sites ?
Here in Italy many people use the Goldmaxx and the Gmaxx.

 

[Les in the UK]

I use the Lobo Super Traq as my main detector but that's only because it's been good to me over the years.
I have owned most of the Tesoro range of detectors and i have found that the silver sabre plus, silver unimax, Hawkeye and the Cibola - Vaqeuro Lobo st all work well on Roman sites (i did not like the Tejon on my roman fields as it finds more iron than what i want to dig)
The Hawkeye and Cibola have both done well on my roman fields and both get more depth than the silver sabre - silver unimax detectors but i personaly like the Lobo st.
I also think that all 3 detectors give you about the same depth.
two saxon coins that date back to 700AD one was found with the Cibola and the other was found with the Lobo st

 

[Dino - UK]

...then you can disc out the grots and just dig the good Roman coins.
Click to enlarge.

 

[Les in the UK]

Nice coins Dino, i went out yesterday mate and had a couple of roman coins and a few Celtic. I had a real nice Celtic bronze and a friend found the the only Celtic gold of the day, i will post pictures when i get some photos done.
I keep thinking about the Shadow mate, as i got to detect with a guy who was detecting with one and he did do better than what i did on the day so i just might have to get my self one.
(just to try it out like)
all the best les