This Sovereign GT is still continuing to impress me....

[fwcrawford]

I stopped by an old homesite this afternoon with the Sovereign to search a little to see if I could turn up a couple of coins before calling it a day after hunting with my buddy most of the day.
I started searching the small sideyard since there was some shade and I could get out of the heat.
I found an Indian head cent here last year which surprised me since we had hunted this yard with many different machines over the last 3 years and it was not even deep.. OK I figured we just missed it somehow, but was still impressed to make this find with the Sovereign.
I had only been searching for about 10 minutes when I got a nice soft reading while swinging from one direction, but when checked at a 90 degree angle, all I got was a solid null.
Since I have experienced this at an old park and finding coins next to nails and other bits of iron, I decided to check it out.
I started digging and soon found a fragment of a nail.
I continued using my pinpointer pulling bits of nails out of the hole until I finally pulled out some dirt and saw a small disc in the pile.
I picked it up and discovered a 1916 Barber dime in very good condition!!
I rescanned the hole and only got a null so I refilled it and continued searching.
After a few minutes I thought about going back to the hole and continue to get the rest of the iron out to make sure there were no more coins in there.
After the hole did not give up any more signals, I scanned the area around it and discovered yet another signal reading up in the coin range,but only from one direction.
I dug a second plug about 8 inches from the first and started finding more nails and fragments.
I continued removing the nails until finally I got another coin.. another Barber dime dated 1914!!
This detector really amazed me on these two finds and although they were only around 5" deep, they continued to elude other detector used at this site.
I know that the experts have probably seen this many times and are not at all surprised at these results, but being somewhat new to the Sovereign, I am very impressed.
Keep in mind that I am using the Stock 10" coil and still it picked out these coins with all the nails nearby.
The two nails pictured came from the two holes, but there were about 4 or 5 fragments that I discarded while digging.
I did find one other coin at this site that turned out to be a clad dime, but it was also near a piece of iron and I had to pinpoint it in disc mode to keep the iron from pulling the signal.
This is one truely amazing detector to be able to still find coins at this site after so much searching has taken place here in the past.
Thanks for looking,
Felix

 

[Rick(ND)]

Way to go Felix, this is what the Sovereigns is all about.
I am sure you have read other reports from others too doing the same thing and find it hard to believe until it happens to you and then you can see what experience in the field can actually do for you.
You are learning well and i feel you will start seeing more coins such at this and i will say they are some really nice looking pair ladies you got there and sure hope to see you posting more just like those.

Good luck

Rick

 

[dfxone]

Felix, if that 1916 dime has a D mintmark that dime is worth plenty of money. I cannot tell from the photo what the mintmark is. Let us know if you hit the jackpot. The sovereign is a great detector. Good luck, GH, Don

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Felix,great job and finds.HH Ron

 

[fwcrawford]

Don,
This coin does not have the "D" mintmark and actually the coin book I have does not show a Denver mint for that year on
this coin. I think you are referring to the 1916D Mercury dime that is very valuable... this is a Barber dime that I found.
Thanks anyway,
Felix

 

[fwcrawford]

Rick,
Digging all of those wheat pennies at the old park during the last few months really helped me understand
the signals that the Sovereign were transmitting.
I never thought that there could be that many coins lying close to nails and other bits of iron until I started seeing
this while hunting the old park.
That is most likely why they are still there.
These two finds really impressed me about the Sovereigns capablilties if used correctly.
I hope to make more finds like these in the future at this site.
Thanks again for all your advice you gave me early on about the Sovereign.... you definately know you stuff!!!
Felix

 

[Critterhunter]

Great finds, and as I always argue...The Sovereign will see coins in iron that fast recovery machines can't even see.

 

[JimmyCT]

Hi Felix,

WOW! you have made me realize that I may have been passing up many goodies. You taught me something invaluable just now as I read your article. See, I did not completely understand how the iron mask works. I read about it in theory but never really "grasped" the concept until I read your letter. This was me yesterday in an old carnival fair ground (1893) when I heard a nice sweet signal ( a couple times actually) like you described but when I turned 90, it went to a solid null. Foolish me, passed it up as there was TONS of junk items. When I mean junk, I am hitting 8-10 signals in one small sweep- pure junk. I dug a lot of stuff up yesterday and mainly old metal bottlecaps, poptops, pulltabs, screws, the bottom part of old lightbulbs, (lots of them which baffles me) just massive amounts of metal bits of garbage littered throughout the ground. I had my stock 10" coil but I am going back with me 5" excelerator coil to help me out with this horrendous littered ground. Beautiful coins and thank you so much for sharing your success story of pulling silver through the iron! Good job Felix, You really need to "pat" yourself on the back.

"I had only been searching for about 10 minutes when I got a nice soft reading while swinging from one direction, but when checked at a 90 degree angle, all I got was a solid null."

I stopped by an old homesite this afternoon with the Sovereign to search a little to see if I could turn up a couple of coins before calling it a day after hunting with my buddy most of the day.
I started searching the small sideyard since there was some shade and I could get out of the heat.
I found an Indian head cent here last year which surprised me since we had hunted this yard with many different machines over the last 3 years and it was not even deep.. OK I figured we just missed it somehow, but was still impressed to make this find with the Sovereign.
I had only been searching for about 10 minutes when I got a nice soft reading while swinging from one direction, but when checked at a 90 degree angle, all I got was a solid null.
Since I have experienced this at an old park and finding coins next to nails and other bits of iron, I decided to check it out.
I started digging and soon found a fragment of a nail.
I continued using my pinpointer pulling bits of nails out of the hole until I finally pulled out some dirt and saw a small disc in the pile.
I picked it up and discovered a 1916 Barber dime in very good condition!!
I rescanned the hole and only got a null so I refilled it and continued searching.
After a few minutes I thought about going back to the hole and continue to get the rest of the iron out to make sure there were no more coins in there.
After the hole did not give up any more signals, I scanned the area around it and discovered yet another signal reading up in the coin range,but only from one direction.
I dug a second plug about 8 inches from the first and started finding more nails and fragments.
I continued removing the nails until finally I got another coin.. another Barber dime dated 1914!!
This detector really amazed me on these two finds and although they were only around 5" deep, they continued to elude other detector used at this site.
I know that the experts have probably seen this many times and are not at all surprised at these results, but being somewhat new to the Sovereign, I am very impressed.
Keep in mind that I am using the Stock 10" coil and still it picked out these coins with all the nails nearby.
The two nails pictured came from the two holes, but there were about 4 or 5 fragments that I discarded while digging.
I did find one other coin at this site that turned out to be a clad dime, but it was also near a piece of iron and I had to pinpoint it in disc mode to keep the iron from pulling the signal.
This is one truely amazing detector to be able to still find coins at this site after so much searching has taken place here in the past.
Thanks for looking,
Felix

 

[Critterhunter]

You guys may want to read this. Not just if you own a small coil but also in terms of what I found out about how masked coins act even using the stock 10" coil. I will ALWAYS dig coin signals that only respond one way. Also, PP mode is not a good way to test for iron because I've dug many coins that were deep or masked that will PP in two different spots.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1131053,page=1

 

[GunnarMN]

I am with you the soverign continues to impress mee as well , the farm i was hunting rarly was giving up non ferrouse targets but when i started using the GT i was getting all kinds of non iron stuff the coin you found is really in great shape that a NICE FIND

 

[fwcrawford]

I can't believe we simply missed these coins on previous hunts being they were so close together.
Either we didn't get a non ferrous signal or it was so jumbled up we simply dismissed it as junk or iron.
I had always told my buddy that I would like to invite someone in this site with an Explorer or a Sovereign
to see if they could turn up any additional finds that our detectors missed or for some reason could not detect such as depth,
but I didn't think much about coins being masked by iron.
Back then I simply figured that there couldn't be that many coins lying close to iron,but after getting a Sovereign and seeing this happen time and time again, now I believe that many of the coins I have found with this detector were masked and is the reason they are still there.
Most of them were not very deep,but due to the iron, other detectors could not seperate the signals.
I actually discovered this by accident one day at an old park that I believed still had some old coins left to be found.
I got a nice signal while swinging back and forth, but when I swung again from 90 degrees, all I got was a solid null.
The signal was so good the other direction that I decided to dig anyway and out of the ground comes a wheat penny and a large nail.
Since this discovery I have found countless coins lying next to iron that only gave a good signal one way and sometimes even that was a little iffy, but enough to get my attention.
By using this knowledge I found 100 wheat pennies at this park that only encompasses on city block.
This was done from about August last year until March this year and I found some silver coins in there as although nowhere near the amount as the pennies.
Heck last time I was there, I found 6 more wheat pennies which topped me at 100 and a 1962 Rosie dime.
I have given it a break for now until next fall and then I will be back searching with the Sovereign looking for some more goodies.

 

[fwcrawford]

What I have found in my very limited time with the Sovereign is that it can detect coins near iron, but sometimes it does have some difficulty so you have to really swing from a couple different directions and try to get the coil right over the good reading by barely moving it back and forth.
I have read this technique over an over on this forum and it is good to remember.
Before getting the Sovereign I didn't believe that there could be that many coins lying so close to iron to worry about, but this detector has changed my way of thinking after seeing this condition over and over during the past few months of hunting an old park nearby that has yielded 100 wheat pennies, some Indian head cents , and some silver coins.
This park has been heavily hunted in the past and only covers one city block, but there seem to still be some good coins in there yet. Last time I hunted there I found 6 wheat pennies and a 1962 dime over an area I have searched many times before.
This is the area where I accidently discovered what kind of signal can possibly indicate a coin next to iron and since gaining this knowledge, I have found many more coins in holes with nails and other bits of iron.
Most of these coins are not very deep so I believe the reason they are still there is that other detectors simply could not detect them with the iron nearby.
Now you have to slow down so you don't overrun the targets which is hard for some, but I don't seem to have a problem with this as long as I am seeing some results which I have seen enough of to convince me that this machine is very capable of finding targets missed in sites long forgotten as "hunted out".
The site where the two dimes were found yesterday has quite a bit of history to it and there should be some coins back into the 1700's there, but the oldest coin found there so far is an 1892 Barber dime.
In fact this site has given me a Barber dime from the first year of mint and yesterday I got the 1916 which was the last year they were minted.
As I stated in my other post, this site has been hunted very much with too many detectors to mention and still the Sovereign found these two in a matter of 20 minutes of searching.
I would start checking those signals even if they only read good on way since the Sovereign may indeed detect a non ferrous signal but if having difficulty seperating it from other directions.
You may get fooled by iron some,but once you discover what to listen for and see on the meter you will get more good targets as get fooled less.
I have gotten to the point now that if the meter reads up in the coins range at any time during the swing and rechecking the signal, I will dig that signal and more times than not a coin will come out of the hole.

Good luck and dig a few of those iffy signals!!!
Felix

 

[Rick(ND)]

This is where experiences comes into play. Many of those signals you get one way and turn 90 degrees and it will be a null is because it is iron and you get the signal off the edge of the iron object that sounds good. Some are also a good coin next to iron, but they will sound different and I have found that with experience you can get these also. First if it sound good and repeatable when swinging the coil over it, or if iffy try to turn a little and get it to come in the best you can. Now try to get the signal to the very tip of the coil and keep it there by going around that target on the very tip of the coil. if it nulls most of the way it is probably just iron false, but if it stays most of the way it is one you want to check out and will not be able to pinpoint in all metal as it will pull the signal where the bigger item is. You will have to dig where at the tip of the coil where you were able to keep the signal at around the target. Nothing is 100% and you do have to dig, but once you get to know the Sovereign Little more it all becomes much easier to do.

Rick

 

[JimmyCT]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for another great tip!

This is where experiences comes into play. Many of those signals you get one way and turn 90 degrees and it will be a null is because it is iron and you get the signal off the edge of the iron object that sounds good. Some are also a good coin next to iron, but they will sound different and I have found that with experience you can get these also. First if it sound good and repeatable when swinging the coil over it, or if iffy try to turn a little and get it to come in the best you can. Now try to get the signal to the very tip of the coil and keep it there by going around that target on the very tip of the coil. if it nulls most of the way it is probably just iron false, but if it stays most of the way it is one you want to check out and will not be able to pinpoint in all metal as it will pull the signal where the bigger item is. You will have to dig where at the tip of the coil where you were able to keep the signal at around the target. Nothing is 100% and you do have to dig, but once you get to know the Sovereign Little more it all becomes much easier to do.

Rick

 

[Critterhunter]

If you read my S-5/10" coils masking test thread you'll see I've found the same things. Also, the sound is often so good you'll know it must be a coin even if it falses from any other direction. I try to hunt sites at an odd angle like diagnol to objects because most people will parallel things like wood lines or sidewalks. This helps to reveal the coins left that will only show up that way.

The Sovereign IMHO will unmask coins in iron that even super fast machines won't. And recovery speed means nothing anyway so long as you slow down or wiggle the coil in the right spot.

 

[JimmyCT]

Hey Critterhunter,

I read up on your post - very interesting read and test(s) carried out. Sometimes that coin sound is so good I will dig and dig then when I go to check the hole and dirt pile, everything nulls out. At that point I will take another scoop or two out of the hole in case the coin did not get picked up (as I read that the GT does not like disturbed ground) Then it is a total mystery to me where the object is. Yes, I become frustrated and fill the hole and plug it. This is something I just need to work on. I like your idea of hunting sites on diagonal or offf beat angles. You are so right, some humans (such as myself) tend to scan everything in perfect rows, walk a woodline or sidewalk like you mention. Thanks for the tip on working odd angles I will have to keep that in mind as I am scanning. As I really think about this, what really comes to mind is this one section of the park I have been covering. Automatically, I started perfect rows North to South and when I finished, I turned and scanned East to West. lol wow, my family says I am too analytical now I see it lol My brother on the other hand, never follows any type of pattern, he is like a leaf blowing in the wind when metal detecting. Yet, he has found some good silver and copper finds. Never to late to change. I'll start today.

If you read my S-5/10" coils masking test thread you'll see I've found the same things. Also, the sound is often so good you'll know it must be a coin even if it falses from any other direction. I try to hunt sites at an odd angle like diagnol to objects because most people will parallel things like wood lines or sidewalks. This helps to reveal the coins left that will only show up that way.

The Sovereign IMHO will unmask coins in iron that even super fast machines won't. And recovery speed means nothing anyway so long as you slow down or wiggle the coil in the right spot.

 

[Neil]

Felix those coins are in super shape. Did you have to clean them much and also with the iron around, any stains from the iron that had to be removed from them?
All the barbers Ive found have an almost whitesh hue to them, dont seem to be as silverish as say a merc or newer silver.

Nice finds, continued success with your Sov!

 

[fwcrawford]

Neil,
All I did was to run water over them as I lighty removed the dirt with a toothbrush.
They actually came out of the ground looking like this which surprised me.
I see a slight stain on one of them on the back ( don't know if it shows in the photos ) which I did
not try to remove.
I figured they were good enough and didn't want to risk any damage.
I don't know if this stain was from the iron in the hole or something else.. looks more like a blemish than a stain.

 

[JHM]

Sometime when the signal disappears, it's an iron false. While digging the iron gets broken up and disappears. Check the target in pinpoint and see if it gets larger or appears to move . Iron gives a larger than normal footprint in pinpoint.