Starting 2006 off right!

[TobyH]

Hey everyone...
I think I've posted on here before, but it's been a while. Anyway, my wife and I went to the local beach today and must have hit the lucky spot! There is an area of maybe 100 yards wide where the beach is very rocky. Not jagged, but loose rounded rocks from pea-sized to bowling ball-sized. Evidently, whenever the storms roll in, anything that washes up gets caught in these rocks and doesn't wash back in. That's the only explanation I have, because I know this beach gets detected and everything we found was less than 5 inches deep. Most less than 2 inches, with some lying on the surface.
So what did we find? These are all Australian except for the 1995 50Fils from United Arab Emirates.
Pre-decimal coins:
- Halfpenny - 1943(x2), 1951
- One Penny - 1924, 1934, 1951(x3), 1961
- threepence- 1912, 1944-s
- sixpence - 1910(x2), 1928
- shilling - 1954
- florin - 1926, 1947
Decimal coinage:
- 1c(x5), 2c(x5), 5c(x5), 10c(x3), 20c, and 50c.

Also - .925 silver toe ring, silver earing, 5" long lead battleship, 1" dia. old button, along with a few bottlecaps and lead sinkers, but not very much trash, really. I believe that's the most pre-decimal coinage I've ever found in one outing. I was using my Infinium and my wife was using one of our GTI-2500's. We were there about 4 hours, and we WILL be going back soon!
Wow, what a way to start off the new year!
Cheers!

 

[goldscavenger]

n/t

 

[TobyH]

Well, we went back out this evening for another couple hours and found a bit more. It was getting tougher due to the tide coming in. Tried one of our Ace 250's for a while (found a 1943 Florin right off the bat!), but was getting too many false/inconsistent signals, so went back to the Infinium. It doesn't tell me how big an object is, or how deep, but if it says there's something there, you can believe it.
Anyway, this evenings finds include:
Pre-Decimal:
- 2x 1950 pennies
- about 2/3 of a 1956 threepence (very thin, came up broken)
- 2x florins (1943 & 1944)
Decimal:
1c, 2x5c, 10c, 3x20c

Some type of little bow brooch/pin which used to have little stones (not gold or silver, just goldish colored cheap stuff)

For those who don't know - pre-1946 3pence/6pence/shillings/florins are 92.5% silver. Same coins 1946-1964 are 50% silver.
Cheers, again!

 

[TobyH]

Yeah, my son actually found that one. He wasn't even using a detector, it was just laying there! It's quite heavy (gee, is lead heavy? - duh) and has no markings of any kind, but still kinda cool. Have no idea how old something like that would be.
It was a beautiful day here in South Australia.
Life is good.

 

[Steve in PR]

n/t

 

[BEACH HUNTER]

n/t

 

[Gulf Hunter]

I have ever known to use an Infinium at a salt water beach. How do you like it? How does it work in the surf? Have the Mark II and love it. Great finds!

 

[TobyH]

Gulf Hunter,
It works great! I have heard stories of people having problems with them at the beach, but they must've had earlier versions without upgrades or maybe just got a dud. I bought mine used, but was told it has all the latest upgrades/mods.
I had the threshold and discrimination both as low as they would go and it stayed quiet whether in the water or over wet sand or dry sand, except over a target. Every signal was loud and clear and, since there is a bit of old iron there, bumping the disc up to max (iron check) helped me decide whether or not to dig. There wasn't much trash, so if it wasn't iron, I dug it. I'm still learning with it, since I've been using various VLF's (White's Coinmaster III, Garrett GTA-1000, GTI-2500, Ace 250) for the past 9 years, and this PI stuff is new to me. But really, it's no harder than starting out with the old Whites. I can't really say how deep it will go because all the targets I dug were 8" or less. Most, much less. That two-thirds piece of very thin silver threepence was about 5"-6" and rang up loud and sharp. Really no different than a silver florin (about the size of a Kennedy half) at 2". All I know is that I'm liking it more each time I use it. For regular coin hunting at the park or playground, I'll stick with the GTI-2500, but at the beach, the Infinium is my new friend!

 

[Gulf Hunter]

I would be extremely interested in your results as you become more familiar with the unit. Always looking for an upgrade and HATE to leave the Garrett Team.