Our finds for today...

[TobyH]

My wife and I took the day off work and went metal detecting. Hey, one of the benefits of owning your own business! Included is a 1917 Half-Penny, 1920, 1948 and 1952 Pennies, and a 1942 sixpence. The cartridge casings are (thanks to my Cartridges of the World book)from a .577/450 Martini-Henry. After a little research, I have found out this was the caliber used by the British Commonwealth prior to the .303 British. Cool! Also found a SAR button (South Australian Railroad), a button with "WHS" (Willunga High School?) and a badge with "UHS - The Utmost for the Highest", which is from Unley High School. Oh, and a little over $10 in spending money.
Overall, a good day off work!
Cheers,
Toby

 

[ernied]

great finds

 

[BigCatDaddy]

Real nice assortment of loot. Thanx for the pic and a good rundown on the artifacts!! What kinda rigs are you and the missus using?

 

[grumpy]

TobyH
Top left coin can you tell me what that would be. I have a 20 cent piece from new zeland that looks like it from the best I can tell and we found it in a park in south,central colorado, sort of out of its area. Are you located where these are common or used?
Thanks
Grumpy

 

[TobyH]

That is an Australia 20 cent. They don't have quarters here. We still find lots of 1 and 2 cents, but they phased them out over 10 years ago (now they just round everything to the nearest .05). The 5 cent is about the size of a US dime (a bit bigger). The 10 cent, almost the size of a quarter. The 20 is almost as big as a US half. The 50 cent, which, unlike in the US, is quite commonly used, is a 12 sided coin and bigger, but not quite as big as a US silver dollar. We also have $1 and $2 coins - the $2 being the smaller of the two. They are aluminum-bronze, similar I think to the SAC dollar, and about twice as thick as the cupro-nickel coins (5,10,20&50).
It's quite common to carry $10 in change around in your pocket here.
The large pennys/halfpennys, etc, are from before Australia switched to the Decimal currency in 1966. Finding pre-decimal coins here is sorta like finding silver in the US - a bit of a pick-me-up.
The big penny in the top right corner looked like someone used it to unload some frustration - been hammered on a bit.
Anyway, the New Zealand 20 cent is the same size (just a different design on the reverse) and are seen occasionally here, although they're not worth quite as much. You can usually get away with spending them here. Much like a Canadian quarter would be seen in America.
Toby

 

[TobyH]

We were using our GTI2500s (and the Infinium a bit, too).
I had put my ProFormance coil on and thought I'd try it out. I had never really used it much and it took some getting used to. The pinpointing didn't seem as accurate as the standard coil and I found that target sizing was way off, but that may have been affected by soil conditions or something. To test it, I would drop a coin from my pocket and swing the coil over it, and it almost always showed as a "c" sized target - screw cap sized. Even with a tiny 5 cent coin. With that knowledege, digging every signal became a given. (I realize there are those that say you should always dig every target, but one of the reasons I use a 2500, is so it can tell me which ones to dig and which ones are a waste of time. I'm starting to wonder about that philosophy, and think maybe get the Ace 250 dusted off and just swing away with something nice and light and dig 'em all.) Bottom line - practice, practice, practice.
Actually, some of those coins were found with my Infinium, when we went to the beach for a couple of hours yesterday evening. I like to use the Infinium in areas where there isn't as much trash and definitely dig everything. The beaches here are pretty clean - a lot cleaner now, since the Infinium really blasts the headphones off your head when you swing over a bottle cap! Got a few of those!
All in all, a day of swinging a detector is better than work any day, in my book!
Toby

 

[grumpy]

TobyH
I take it your in Australia????????????? These darn computers are really wierd when it comes to connecting people all over the world at one time like it was nothing. Thanks for the info on the coins, I was real surprised to find the New Zealand in a playing field in Colorado, we get a few canada coins here but not much else.
Noticed you use a 2500 also, we have one and in Colorado where we are in the mountains it is so mineralized I usually only use a 5 by 10 coil unless were in a real refined park looking for just modern coins. I find here the thing sizes a size B at 1 inch real often and its a beer can at about 8 inches or deeper:: dig that a time or two and you almost want to pull your hair out.
Thanks again
Grumpy

 

[TobyH]

Grumpy,
Yes, we are in South Australia. We moved here about 8 months ago from Nashville, TN, so we've been metal detecting on both sides of the world!
I know what you mean about the misleading display sometimes. Been there, done that with the can at 8". It's very frustrating when you get to trusting it, and it goes and does something like that. They say the machine will never lie to you, but a few times after digging a huge hole that's a foot deep and 2 feet across, I would hold the coil level with the ground in the middle of the hole and it would say there's a coin-sized object 2" deep. GGGGGRRRRRR!!! There's nothing but air 8" all around the thing! I just shake my head and fill it back in and move on to the next one. Some might keep digging out of sheer curiosity, but not me. Hey, it's supposed to be fun, right?
Toby

 

[Uncle Willy]

Nice assorted haul bud.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

I wonder if that would have anything to do with the fact Garrett detectors are programmed to respond to American coins. You might email Mary at Garrett and ask her. maryp@garrett.com

Bill