Geologyhound
Well-known member
My family got me the 11 x 13 coil as a joint birthday/Christmas gift. Today was the first chance I’ve had to get out and use it. I started at a local beach just to experiment with the pinpointing in an easy to dig environment. I have heard the pinpointing on the 11 x 13 can be a little less precise. I didn’t find much at the beach other than a handful of lead weights, a few modern dimes, and a number of zinc pennies. But at least I was finding targets.
I then moved on to an old school. This was pretty densely overgrown with no trace of the original structure, and I spent about half the time extricating myself from thorn bushes. However, my very first target after leaving the road was a clean signal in the copper penny range. Sure enough, about 4 inches down was a 1946D. I had had some doubts that I would find much here given the overgrowth. But, this was a proof of concept for me. About 15 minutes later I had another clean tone and about 3 inches down my pinpointer indicated the target was in a wad of clay I had a loosened. I separated the wad, and saw a shiny silver edge - an 1897 Barber dime! The only 1800s coins I have found outside of seeded hunts have been pennies. So this is my oldest dime!
I also found the face plate for an Ingraham Biltmore luminous watch. I’m wondering if that’s radium…. In addition, I found the back plate for a Gruen Swiss watch.
I’m not sure what the silvery “clip” like thing is. I’m thinking it did not used to be bent over like that. I was wondering if the other silvery item was an earring. My wife doesn’t think so. My son is wondering if it is the endcap for a pocket knife. There’s no hallmark on it, and it is lightweight, so I’m thinking it’s aluminum.
in hindsight I probably should’ve used the 9 inch coil with all the underbrush. But all in all, I’d say it was a good first day for my 11 x 13!
I then moved on to an old school. This was pretty densely overgrown with no trace of the original structure, and I spent about half the time extricating myself from thorn bushes. However, my very first target after leaving the road was a clean signal in the copper penny range. Sure enough, about 4 inches down was a 1946D. I had had some doubts that I would find much here given the overgrowth. But, this was a proof of concept for me. About 15 minutes later I had another clean tone and about 3 inches down my pinpointer indicated the target was in a wad of clay I had a loosened. I separated the wad, and saw a shiny silver edge - an 1897 Barber dime! The only 1800s coins I have found outside of seeded hunts have been pennies. So this is my oldest dime!
I also found the face plate for an Ingraham Biltmore luminous watch. I’m wondering if that’s radium…. In addition, I found the back plate for a Gruen Swiss watch.
I’m not sure what the silvery “clip” like thing is. I’m thinking it did not used to be bent over like that. I was wondering if the other silvery item was an earring. My wife doesn’t think so. My son is wondering if it is the endcap for a pocket knife. There’s no hallmark on it, and it is lightweight, so I’m thinking it’s aluminum.
in hindsight I probably should’ve used the 9 inch coil with all the underbrush. But all in all, I’d say it was a good first day for my 11 x 13!
And…you hadn’t found everything in there yet! I’m getting another this winter, thought my first was a bit heavy so I traded for the 11x11”. All 3 coils work really well, but the biggest goes the deepest and “deep” is something I want!
