Anyone here ever toy with a metal detector?

[Chad Sheets]

Curious to see who has that quest for burried treasure in them. My Uncle got me hooked on it at about 9 years old. I was always looking at the dates on coins and paper money trying to find something old. I have dug up all kinds of coins, some very early coins... my oldest is an 1803 1 cent. My oldest non american coin (you wont believe this one) is a Roman Empire coin from Augustus Ceasars time. Dont know how it ended up at an old school lot. Probably some kids show and tell family eirloom that got lost on the playground. Its fun to do. Mostly I dig up foil and pop can tops, but every once in a while you hit paydirt.



I have a Whites XLT. Its all digital high speed, low drag. Its good about distinguishing between trash and coin, but my curiosity always gets the best of me and I end up digging that pull tab just in case. I didnt go at all last year, and only a few times the year before that. I am going to try to break it out alot this year. I have some real old sites in mind. One is an old house that use to part of the undergroun railroad during the 1860's. Another is my friends home in the country built in 1827. I just talked him into buying one like mine, so now I will have someone to go with like i did with my Uncle so it should be a fun time this year.

 

[Sled Puller]

Chad,

I have wanted to buy one for years, but never do.





Any suggestions on what to buy/not to buy?



Gene

 

[gatoram]

I have a White's 6000 DiPro I've had for 10-11 years. Used it alot when I first got it but not much recently. It came from KellyCo which is a detector/treasure hunters outfitter. I have found many coins, several rings and pieces of jewelry on our beach. We live in an area of north Florida that has been occupied by native americans for about 4000 years which makes for some excellent surface hunts without the detector. The French sailed in here about 1562 with a lot of Spanish, English, rogue activity up to the early 1800's. I have found some coins, military buttons, etc. , and a lot of lead!



Sounds like you have some good prospects for hunts and someone else to go with. That should remotivate you. Good Luck!!

 

[Chad Sheets]

Florida... pieces of 8... Mel Fisher... Atocha... . FIRE THAT BEAST UP! I have always wanted to hit a beach after a BIG huricane went through. I took my XLT down to Key West on vacation. Did more hottie detecting than metal detecting. Should have got the detector out more. It would have been alot less trouble than it would have been trying to explain to the wife why I was showing so much intrest in the 17-20 year old girl class.

 

[Chad Sheets]

Oh yea, forgot. if you want one, do some research. I mean on the areas you want to hunt. If the prospects are good for something valuable to be in the ground, then get a good one. if you just want to toy around at the camp sites or ald school yard for fun, go low end.



They are like cars. The high end ones can be found used (never abused... not too many "kids" spend $1000 on "toys" and trash them) in new condition for half price. The lower end ones can be found used for about $200-$300. Not too much of the mid range $500 price. Whites is about the undisputed champ on them. My Whites Spectrum XLT was $1000 new. I got it for $450 used. My friend just got an XLT for $450 also. Garrett is another good one. Check out Kelly co.com (not sure on the actual address... something like that though. When you decide what you want, start calling around for used ones.



The XLT use to be the top of the line. Now Whites has one called DFX (dual frequency). Its an XLT which works on 3 and 15 MHz. I dont understand all that. But it has to do with things like gold responding real good to one of them (3 or 15) and regular coins work best on the other. They are $1000 new. Just came out so there will not be any in the used market for a while. People are taking these DFX's over sites they have hunted over and over swearing they were coin free now. The DFX's pulled out all kinds of coins that hundreds of other treasure hunters missed over the years.



One guy found 6 colonial cents in near perfect condition. Put one on ebay, it went for $2000! The guy has 5 more just like it! Its out there. Just need to do your homework and find out where the old places were. Some detectors get 3-5" down and some go as much as a foot down. Some even more! I dug a silver wach fob from 1902 at 11 inches. Thats my deepest yet I think. Its strange. One coin may be 50 years old and 4 inches down , and another can be 100 years old and only a couple inches down.

 

[WOWZY]

My 2nd cousin has been Civil War relic hunting for over 25years. Up until about 7 years ago, his "Unicorn" was an officers belt buckle. He'd found almost everything that could be found from the Civil War but that buckle seemed to illude him. He uses a "Bounty Hunter" metal detector.



One day he went to a site where old records had listed CS officers had been killed. He hunted the area for about 2 weeks and it payed off. He found his Unicorn! and it still had about 6 inches of the leather belt still on it. He later hunted the same area again and about 25 yds from where he'd found his officers buckle, he found another one and all the buttons from the uniform coat all laying in a straight line. I don't know what made it so special, but it was rectangle and had stars around the edges. He said that they were worth about $15k-$20k



I've seen most of the things that he's found and his collection is pretty amazing. He told me that he'd found over 40,000 bullets most of which he'd found 500-2000 at a time buried in one hole.



He used to virtually live in libraries and court houses, doing records research on possible hot spots. I remember back in the 80's he found out from old records that one of the CS trains derailed in a swamp not to far from our town. He and my uncle found 187 cannon balls, but didn't find much of anything else.



His latest trek for a few years has been hunting for Revolutionary War relics. He's found quite a few things, but not like when he was hunting Civil War relics.



I sometimes wish that I'd get into relic hunting myself, but I guess I just don't have the patience that it takes to do it.

 

[Chad Sheets]

Kick a$$! History! I love it! On the cover of one of the big treasure mags (Western/Eastern) last year or so they did a cover about a guy who found a belt buckle plate like you described. It was in Louisiana under or at the base of an OLD oak tree tangled in the roots, but still like new. They said less than a dozen were known to exist, and mentioned a price in line with what you said.



You can find fortune in everyday change. My coin book I got at the book store yesterday says a 1982 dime with no mint mark (factory screw up) is bringing $200 all day long. That's neat and all, but nothing beats the history stuff. To hold something in your hands that shaped our country is amazing. If things we find could talk. Very cool.

 

[WOWZY]

Hey Chad I was wondering if you could tell me what a coin of mine is worth.



It's a 1760 Austrian silver dollar with designs around the edge. It's about the size of the palm of my hand. It's not mint condition but is in excellent condition with no wear on it.



My Grandfather gave it to me when I was 10 years old.

 

[Champane Flight]

Whites

I have a Whites SpectrumXLT 900. I use it mostly for prospecting,but regularly take long walks along Santa Fe trail with it. Not to mention an old stagecoach road nearby. I have never found much,but still fun. What I have found out is that people have been throwing trash out the window for a long time...

 

[Chad Sheets]

I use to have a coin book for European coins. I will try to find it. I dont know if I still have it or not. I will see what I can fimd out.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I have heard good things about Minelab detectors also.