Early Days Of Detecting

[Bowie]

Ive been thinking about this very subject for a long time. It causes me to ponder on a few thoughts Ive had.
My dad hunted back in the late 70s,early 80s and found very many silver coins and I tagged along and found a few myself but I wasnt into the hobby, just took time up with my dad, and now , I see it as he took up time with me. Hes gone now but it is good memories.
Ive permission to hunt some very old places but very seldom find silver. I use Whites machines,never had anything else and every now and then I run up on a silver quarter or dime and wheaties. But I go to the Minelab Explorer forums and those guys have me chomping at the bits for one of those machines. Guess I will always wonder if a different machine will make a difference on these places thats been hit. Im sure you guys wonder the same and I know these places I hunt have been hit.
Heck, I go to a very old small town close by and have permision to hunt any of the city property and some private. I will be tuned in,working my coil when someone walks up and starts a conversation,then tells me they have seen numerous MDers on that spot over the last 20 or so years,lol. I found a 1954 quarter on one of the lots. I just keep on trucking. But always wondering about those Minelab guys and what they talk about in the worked over spots.
Ive pretty much figured if you can research a old school,church or anything, everyone else can to and its been hit. Im looking for older homes now and seek permission to hit them but even some of those have been hit.
Im glad you guys shared with us, your stories of the days gone by. Im like you, I dont find much silver but Im gonna keep going.
Thanks again for your stories,
John

 

[Jesse W. McComas]

I started back in 1968 with a Metric 220-A, I still have this machine & it still works. I found tons of coins and relics every time I went out. Today I have a E-Trac and other top of the line machines to search. I still find a lot of coins and relics but they are deeper than 40 years ago. So, it all works out in the long run. I still have fun and Love to see silver or gold in the hole. This has been a life change for me. I was 15 years old in 1968. This hobby has changed my out look on life and I have never looked back. Now I look towards 2009 as a better year in detecting. HH...Jesse.

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[DMCguy]

There are still a few of us old timers swinging the coil. Most are gone now or have given up THing and decided to seek friendships on the various forums.

I'm nearly 61 and have been into treasure hunting since I was about 8 years old. I started by diving the local swinging hole and looking for rings on it's sandy bottom. I was very successful too! I still have the first silver ring I brought up.

I recall how excited I was to discover Ken White was offering metal detectors for coin hunters. Memories, memories!

I haven't read all the other posts here yet so I'll just comment on my experience in the hobby.

I think in some ways THing is better today than ever. The reason being that SOME detectors are far more advanced and have much greater depth. This is mostly due to advanced coil designs with greater diameter. But don't let anyone kid you--some of those early machines had very good depth. Some older BH's and Compass models matched or surpassed some costly models today. I write this cause some younger THers seem to think our early machines barely made it below the dust line. Check those early treasure magazines and you'll find pictures of guys using BFO units who dug hundreds of silver coins. But there's no doubt that some of our machines today are better.

The biggest difference today from the early days of THing is that today most are finding more valuable and unique finds. I see THers today posting rings and gold items we rarely saw in the 60's.

I could ramble on here forever but I'll end by repeating myself--it's better today than it's ever been. That is if one isn't lazy.

Michigan Badger



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[nad]

One quick question when did "Metal Locator" turn into "Metal Detector"?...When I first got my computer and found out about eBay, I punched in Metal locator and thought it odd there were no units for sale...Cordially Nad

 

[DMCguy]

Nad the term metal locator is very old but was still used some even on into the 60's. I'm not sure if we have any one drop-off date.

As you probably know, Fisher didn't actually make the first working metal detector as most people think. Actually the credit goes to R. W. Fox who was an English mining engineer (early 1800's).

Sorry, I don't have a date for you.

When I was young most people still called them "Geiger Counters."

Badger

 

[dont know nutin]

I wish I were around MDing in the 70s! I am brand new to this hobby and hope to learn it good and fast. I live in southern Wisconsin in a old small town started in 1880. There are lots of 100+ year old boarded up homes and farms within a 10 mile radius of my home. I live over 80 miles from any large town and there is no one in my town that uses a MD. A large store in the oldest part of my downtown burned down 3 months ago the building has been there from the 1800s The remains of this building have been removed and now the land there is completely open . My new Safari will be arriving tomorrow and I cant wait to look at these sights! I have already secured permission from 14 property owners to visit their property all are 4th generation families. I hope I will enjoy this hobby. I also own 90 acres of farm land here so I think I will be quite buisy this summer!. I hope I can get to understand the workings of the Safari.

 

[dont know nutin]

Heres a photo of the burned building in my town. The building was a bank in 1890 then a store untill it burned down. I wonder what I can find here?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Looks like classic text-book case of "old town urban demolition" site Hopefully they didn't scrape too deep though. I can see in the photo that's it's been bladed out, so hopefully they didn't take the critical strata with them.

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

dont know nutin that looks like a good site. Just be ready to dig up lots of nails and screws.
Hopefully they left some old coins also..

 

[tabdog]

[size=medium]I detected about 25 years ago.

I found lots of silver coins including a few silver dollars.

If I had known at tha time, there were many good places
at that time to hunt that do not exist anymore.

40 years ago, we could hunt in Civil War sites, even parks.

Never could figer out them BFO detectors. Used a friend's.

But my golden age of detectin started in October of 2007.

I have done much better than I did back then.

I have not found many silver coins at all sense then, but
for the first time in my life, I have been finding GOLD!!!!!

And something else, I have started finding relics. I just
love finding relics.

Was always too dumb to find them before.

But this forum changed everything.

So, maybe it is what Gray Ghost says it is.

Happy Huntin,

Tabdog[/size]

 

[JHM]

One thing that has changed a lot is the number of spots where hunting isn't allowed anymore and the finds are deeper. It's still fun to dig deep and pull out a piece of silver, It just doesn't happen as often as it used to. I wish I had started out hunting old house places years ago(1974) . They seem to hold the best finds for me and back then, if you saw a good spot, you could just get out of the car and start hunting if no signs were posted. That has really changed. I got ran off a schoolyard last year that I had hunted for 30 yrs. By the way to attitude of the police has really changed to.

 

[slingshot]

Tab, they ain't nuthin' to figgerin' em out.

 

[tabdog]

n/t

 

[slingshot]

n/t

Yeah, me too. You the one that got me back on 'em-I tested it on that gold chain and said, "hmmm" maybe I'll give those tot lots a try with it. Doggone thing's so uncomfortable after using the umax's.

 

[coinhog]

I forget the date but I remember buying my first detector from Kellyco, I recall paying about 250 bucks for it which was a lot of money back in the early 80;s,, when it arrved It was evident it was a used model,, I sent it back and got a new one, and soon was out detecting,, Man the silver that popped out of the ground,, Mercs,, Rosies, and a few walking libertys,, My best friend and hunting partner would just go driving around and hit up the old country schools, more silver, wheats,, IH;s, Vnickles, you just expected to find silver,, that Compass had a meter in it,, if it moved a tad to te right,, DIG,, my wife wanted to use it in our yard,, now I had hit my yard hard and ad one spot where the meter would peg,, (tin Can),, thats what I would think when i had that hit,, my wife went over that spot,, meter pegged,, she wanted it dug up,, I told her ,, Honey it has to be a can,, well dig it up anyway,, well,, I cut a plug and there in the bottom was a 1924 silver dollar,, I still havent lived tat day down
Hunted for a few years and along came a family,, and I drifted away,, but last year I borrowed a friends Whites XLT,, what aleap in technology, Coin ID,, Differnt programs you can plug in,, it was amazing, but I struggled to find silver,, last year I got exactly 4 silver coins,, but ws rewarded with 3 large cents and a few rings,, my wife and I would go out after work mostly,, and totals were well over 3000 coins, all new stuff.. Here in Pa,, its been a decent winter,, and actually had the chance to get out for a few days last week,, found 129 coins in three days,, hunting a old football practice field,, got a few Crosses and a St. Chris medallion,, guys practicing and gtting there medallions ripped off,, still havent found a class ring, who knows,, I might have passd some up, by not just trusting the reading on the machine,
The Silver is out there,, it has to be real deep,, but I think this year I;m going to just hunt some woods near the house,, I did it last year and got a Vnickle and two wheats,, gotta think,, who droped this stuff,, A old man cutting woods for the house,,the mind just wanders trying to think of the circumstances that would lead you to find three coins in the middle of the woods,, any way,, I love te HOBBY,, and i;m content bringing home 50 or 60 clad coins,, and if a silver one pops up,, just icing on the cake

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

Don't forget that silver has been out of production for almost five decades and hunted to extinction.
Like you say possibly sunk deeper also.
Last season I'm lucky to have found half a dozen.
Always good to find lots of clad anyways.

 

[omahamike]

I started when I was 14 in 1975 on Travis AFB and Vacaville in Northern Calif. I was very good at spending my summers riding my bike around with a detector and a big screw driver in one hand and steering the bike with my other hand while peddling furriously. I spend 4 summers and filled 3 mason jars full of silver and 1000's of wheat back pennies. I found dozens of Walking Liberty halves but very few Franklins and silver Kennedys which was great. I also found about 20 gold rings and of course sold and gave away those, who wanted those as a kid? I was into coins and still have all of them! The great thing was that I never ran into another person with a metal detector in all those years.

I then went to college in 1979 and gave up MD until about 4 years ago. How I wish I had continued! Finding a silver coin now is very difficult here in SoCalif but did find a nice 1919 Mercury after doing some research into sites here in my city, along with 4 buffalo nickels. Without doing that research into early sites around my area, I would still be pulling clad. So my suggestion is to get to the library and pull out the old maps!

Mike

 

[coinhog]

Got out today for about 3 hours,, found a total of 41 coins all clad,, not a wheat in the bunch,, and some coins were down 6 to 7 inches, how in the world does a coin get that deep in such a short time, if there is any silver there,, its going to take a backhoe to get at em,, I dont mind digging clad,, but come on,, a wheat once in a while sure would be nice,