Large Cent drought has ended

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

Hello all,

I haven't found an LC for a couple of years. Last year was the first that I found neither seated or a Large Cent. (Did find a bunch of key dates; that helped) Seemed to be a disturbing trend that good hunting spots were drying up.

This year I've got three seated dimes. (And more barber dimes than mercs, which is a first.)

And yesterday popped out this:

[attachment 101147 2008-08-09.jpg]

There is a little village near here where I've done alot of history research. I met a guy that lives there that is also a history nut. Last year he bought a DFX. He has an old house and the yard is absolutely filled with nails.

I had previously and repeatedly with little success been explaining to him that you can't use much discrimination and not to rely to heavily on the Sinograph? (White's TID display) . Yesterday was able to demonstrate that with a show and tell that was worth a thousand words.

He had noticed that if he buried a silver quarter and put a nail on top could not get a signal. I pulled out my explorer and F-75 and had a go. I could get a signal sometimes depending on the angle I hit it at. With a concentric coil he couldn't at all. Then started detecting around the yard and marking spots where I was getting a hit and had him check with his DFX. Again the DD coils on my machines did much better than a concentric in trash. It was fun to switch between machines and check out signals without first digging.

One of the signals I first got with the F-75, checked with explorer and looked like a silver quarter. I probed with the periscope to verify it was not iron falsing and let him try. He was able to get a reading but it wasn't saying coin at all.

Started to dig and saw a big green crusty disk. Knew what is was immediately. 1853.

He had been detecting all morning so was a bit tired and we called it a day. I think he was perhaps a little disappointed in his machine.

I hit a few other spots but the mosquitos suggested that perhaps it would be better to wait until fall.

Last night I checked my collection. Already have that date, equally crusted up, so I think I'll give this one to him.

Question for DFX users. He had the stock concentric. I know there are DDs for the DFX. Any suggestions?

Chris

 

[dreamweaver43]

Chris,

Awesome coin!!

There are DD coils for the DFX, I think they are on the smaller side though. I won a DFX last year and ran it side-by-side my SE for several trips. The target ID on the DFX is probably better than the explorer in the top 4 to 5 inches, very accurate on coins, especially nickels which I struggle with on the explorer. Once you get deeper than that, target ID numbers (VDI) fall out of range to the point you would not think the target was a coin with the DFX, but hitting solid ID wise with the explorer. I couldn't get solid hits with the DFX on coins >6inches. I the trash, the DFX seem to lock in on the shallowest target, good or bad, and couldn't see thru like the explorer, just as you experienced. I was told that the problem with depth and the DFX was that after 6 inches the machine was being greatly influenced by ground mineralization, causing the VDI number to register lower than the target should read?

Now I'm sure that some of the DFX guys could run the machine 200 times better than me, since it can be adjusted upteen million ways. But if you friend is after deep coins or picking them off in the trash, my suggestion would be to sell/trade the DFX, and upgrade. I sold my on Ebay!!

Dream

 

[Hotcz70]

I'd like to pop a largie out. I found my first last year but it's nasty. It's still all mine though

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

n/t

 

[bazooka]

I've got more than 2 years experience with the DFX...maybe 800 hours. I have almost 70 on the SE and have only had it since may.

You're evaluation is correct in my opinion. The SE's DD coils give it a natural advantage in target separation but can still punch deep. The DFX has several DD coils available, but depth loss becomes an issue. So far, my deepest coin is still with the DFX though. It was a merc at 9" with the stock 9.5 coil and it was a very iffy signal. My deepest TARGET with the SE was just last week. It was an old WW1 medium-sized padlock that was as deep as the lesche is long + one inch. It was also an iffy signal. But so far my deepest coin with the SE hasn't been deeper than 7" if that. However, I really feel the potential is there.

I will admit as well that the first time out with the SE I got a bad headache from the tones. They are about an octave higher than the DFX. That really took some getting used to. In addition I had done alot of reading here prior to getting the SE so not long after I got it, I went to AM and ferrous tones. That was a big mistake although I'm sure some would disagree. I really hated this machine until about a month ago when I switched back to coin discrimination and conductive tones. Since then I've been doing much better at finding stuff and it's a much funner machine to use. My biggest problem is still the weight, but now that I'm digging more targets after switching back to stock discrimination and tones, it doesn't bother me as much. It has also provided me with my first two-silver day and first three silver-day (last week! ) which the DFX didn't do in over two years.

For old coins or hunting an old site, I'd have the SE hands down. The DFX is still my choice for the beach and if I did any jewelry hunting anywhere else because it's easier to swing for a longer period, and the discrimination has a much higher resolution than the SE which makes distinguishing between pulltabs and jewelry much more feasible, although still a challenge.

 

[silverfix]

n/t

 

[James N.D.]

It looks like it's in nice shape for how Old she is. Hope you keep making some nice finds buddy and as always, Good Luck and HH to you when you get back out detecting.

 

[Erik in NJ]

n/t

 

[Great Republic]

n/t