Whats the most silver coins

[geodehunter]

Monte, Thank you so very much for the trip down memory lane. That is an awesome read!!! I actually started detecting in the early 80's. After some of my mentors passed away I eventually left the hobby also but the hobby never left me. Here it is 2011 and tommorow my DFX will be delievered. I am really looking foward to getting back out and we what treasures are still waiting for me to discover. Best of luck in 2012, Robbie

 

[david bull]

Monte, I started detecting in the late 70's when silver was fairly common and competition wasn't.Hunting clad just doesn't do it for me, so for the past few years I've turned my attention to relics and jewelry.A few years ago I would have scoffed at finding a minnie ball,but now if I find one I'll pound that area hard.I still run across a few sites that produce old silver(1865 seated half last summer) but they are far and few.Keeping it interesting is what it's all about for me.DBULL

 

[Monte]

Our more modern, high-tech detectors can sometimes be more frustrating that many of those former models we used.

Don't get too carried away with the DFX adjustments. Learn the factory preset performance first. Also, if you're only getting it with the 950 or 12" coil, I encourage you to get a 6

 

[Monte]

Monte, I started detecting in the late 70's when silver was fairly common and competition wasn't.

Yes, that was still part of the good old days, and while I did see a lot of competition building through the '70s, at least here in NW Oregon, it might have been because Bounty Hunter (Pacific Northwest Instruments), Compass and White's were all made here.

Typically, many would get started but not hang in there too ,long if they weren't making good finds or enough finds, so there's always been a good percentage of less-active or short-term hobbyists and many of them don't really master their detectors or the art of detecting. The same is true today. So, while the competition was there in those beginning years, and certainly they found good stuff, the avid detectorists who put in the time and also learned the 'How-To's" better had more success.

Hunting clad just doesn't do it for me, so for the past few years I've turned my attention to relics and jewelry. A few years ago I would have scoffed at finding a minnie ball, but now if I find one I'll pound that area hard.

Huge coin count recoveries early on had sufficient older coins, especially silver, to keep our interest up. A lot will depend upon where we are located and the amount of time we can devote to the hobby. I know that when I lived back home in Utah, there were plenty of local parks and schools, parking strips, vacant lots and other places to hunt, but I was much closer to old ghost towns, homesteads, stage stops, railroad depots and stops, and all sorts of early-era exciting sites to search so I spent more time there.

Living here in NW Oregon in the large Portland metro area limits my amount of drive time and hunting time to get off to similar older sites. Instead, I take advantage of the many, many parks and schools, always looking for renovation work where I often chance upon older coins. I am not too picky if the Seated Liberty and Barber dimes, quarters and halves come from city-sites. Not as long as they are coming my way.

When I get off to more isolated locations during a vacation I enjoy finding the more dated targets of interest. Military buttons and insignia, sheep ear tags, bullets and cartridge cases (or complete cartridges), and other nice finds. I will usually be searching for older coins (especially silver) and trade tokens.

I still run across a few sites that produce old silver (1865 seated half last summer) but they are far and few. Keeping it interesting is what it's all about for me.

Sadly thy are getting harder to find, and when we do, they don't surrender as many as we hope for.

There's always next year, and while I am setting a Coin Count Goal of 10,000 coins for 2012, my main intent is to seek out sites I am/we are researching right now.

Good luck next year,

Monte

 

[geodehunter]

Our more modern, high-tech detectors can sometimes be more frustrating that many of those former models we used.

Don't get too carried away with the DFX adjustments. Learn the factory preset performance first. Also, if you're only getting it with the 950 or 12" coil, I encourage you to get a 6

 

[oldcoon]

I have been at this since the late 1960s and, of course, have found my share of coins, silver and otherwise. Coins thought were not my thing back in the day. I was a Civil War relic hunter. Two friends and I had permission to hunt four different properties on the heights surrounding Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. During the war these sites served as campsites for the Harpers Ferry garrison. Our old Metrotech detectors hummed and screamed all day long. Civil War relic hunting was not yet that popular and at the time we had these properties pretty much to ourselves. Lead and brass are not silver coins, even relic hunters had their hay-day.

 

[Monte]

1.. Continue to enjoy this great sport.

2.. To spend as much time afield with my favorite hunting buddies.

3.. Maybe to meet, get to know, and add to my hunting buddy list.

4.. Achieve the goals I set for the year with regard to:
[size=small]a..[/size] New sites to hunt
[size=small]b..[/size] Flash-money Coin Count
[size=small]c..[/size] Increase my silver coin finds

Monte, I already planned on getting a 5.3 Eclipse for my DFX. I will have the patients to work with the detector. Now that I am retired I have nothing but time to devote learning my new machine. Thanks for all your help it's greatly appreciated.

I am sure you will enjoy the 5.3 Eclipse coil. It is smaller, at 6