I have a question about what metal detecting was like back in the early days

[tommyboy72]

Hi, I love reading all the different posts and looking at everyones finds. My question is this: I sometimes read a post and someone will mention that the site was untouched and produced like they did back in the seventies. This has me very curious, what was metal detecting like back in the early days? was there alot of metal detecting in the late sixties? or did it really start in the seventies? also, what was it like? what find of silver and such did you find on an average day? was it easy to come home with a morgan silver dollar, or even barber or walking liberty halves? and finally, what about the civil war guys? what kind of relics were being found? I have only been MD since August of 2008 when I bought my Prizm IV (I love it!!!) thanks and I hope this post gets some interesting responses from some of the senior members on here.

 

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[silverswede]

I first began detecting back in the early 60's with a Whites Goldmaster. It was a BFO (beat frequency Ocilator I think) I made a tone like a motor boat whentuned right then when the tone would speed up you where over some kind of metal. I dug rusty cans, nails. and the first pulltabs invented. The coins where I hunted were usually shallower than 3". I found a few Barbers and Standing liberties, but mercury dimes and Indianheads were quite common. Three dimes would buy a cold Bud at the tavern so on a hot day they never made it to the collection box. I don't feel many detectorists in the mountain states ever much more than scratched the surface, so to speak. The reason was the detectors could'nt handle minralization like modern ones. I sometimes return to a site now that I thought I had worked many years ago and will find much modern "clad" that has settled deep enough to have been beyond what would have been my limit in those early days. Say, Tommyboy check the archives back as far as you can, Especially Michigan Badgers' posts he really discussed this topic. When your first shiney Merc. pops out of the dirt one of us "Oldtimers" might have lost it.

 

[kane23]

Started detecting in 1968, there was silver everywhere,most of the barbers I found were dimes and quarters, I did find hundreds of walking liberty halves,thousands of silver coins, often 70 or 80 in a day.This was with a non-discriminating metal detector..The detectors did'nt really go deep until the Mid 70's good luck, Kane 23

 

[crazyjarhead]

Started detecting in 1968, there was silver everywhere,most of the barbers I found were dimes and quarters, I did find hundreds of walking liberty halves,thousands of silver coins, often 70 or 80 in a day.This was with a non-discriminating metal detector..The detectors did'nt really go deep until the Mid 70's good luck, Kane 23

40 years is enough time for the silver to slide another 2-3 inches in the ground I have an old radio shack detector that my father now has. Not worth a darn compared to modern tech.

 

[zaxfire69]

This looks to be from the early days. What do you guys think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWQXodS8oAY

 

[Slingshot]

I had a Fisher M-Scope BFO unit from 64 - 73?, it would barely pick up on a quarter at 4 inches with it's 15" ? loop, but there were target rich environments, so a dinosaur machine seemed magic. Then I got a Compass Judge II around 73, and started finding more coins and rings. In the early 70's there was still quite a bit of actual silver coinage in circulation, though it was being replaced by the newer clad coins. I actively collected Mercury dimes out of circulation in the late 60's, there were several in most dime rolls. The kid across the street had a complete Mercury collection from circulation, but his mom was a cashier at the local Milk Jug, and he got to look through all the coins that came into the store, and that would have been 66 - 67.
The early 80's were my best coin hunts, with a Teknetics 9000 B, I would often spend several hours on my knees digging coins in apartment yards around Atlanta, as there was no reason to stand back up the coins were so thick. Several dollars in silver face a day was the norm. I used to sell all my silver coins that I had dug once a month to a local coin dealer for 5x face, and a jeweler bought all my gold rings as scrap, I needed the money for my bills. That pretty well sums up "The Good Old Days" as I remember them.

 

[ringfinder]

Well I guess I'm a newbie in this post. I have only been hunting for 26 years, started back in 1983, with
a Fisher 1260. My neighbor and I ran a saw mill and we needed something to find the horseshoes in the
logs. So I bought the Fisher. I found bullets, horseshoes, wire, you name it, I even found a old pistol,
someone had thrown into a log. In the early days of my detecting days, I would go to a baseball diamond
that was used in 1917 and hunt all day long, come away with a large coffee cup full of all kinds of silver, barbers, seated coins, half dollars, lots of war nickels, V-nickels and buffalo nickels. What ever they had in that ball field must have cost a nickel to get in. LOL

I think in my town, I started on the south main street area and hunted just about every house on the street.
Back then, you would hunt someones yard and a neighbor would come out and say, you should hunt my yard, it's 100 yrs. old. So I just kept going down the street hunting.

There are still places to found like those early days. It just takes some leg work, lots of research at libraries and talking to old timers. My partner and I drove by this old one room school house and I asked my partner if he had ever stopped and asked the guy if he could hunt the property, he said no, so we had an hour to kill, so we stopped and asked the fellow. He said no one had ever hunted it and he had lived there 60 years. It was a one room school house, then a church, then a residence. We are still hunting that property. The first year we each took over 100 wheaties apiece out of the yard, not counting many, many silver coins. Also found Gold rings, watch parts, necklaces and other relics.

So you see, good places are around yet. You just have to do some research to find them.

Good Luck and HH,Ringfinder

 

[minton7]

my grandfather hunted in the early 70's here in SE ohio.... he hit mostly the lakes... wading in waist deep........ using his trusty White's coinmaster iv... he kept a joournal.. he was pulling 7-10 nice rings a day out of the lake....gold, silver, diamonds....... it is amazing to look over his finds.....he kept about 10K in rings..... he had sold alot of them to buy a riding mower and a new detector.... he thought all the coins etc had been found.... but once I got the XLT and started finding alot of old stuff, he got into it again... the best way for me to find cool old coins is to go back to the spots he hit then... he couldnt hit all we can hit today....... so I have found alot of old stuff his machine simply missed...... but the 60-70's were magical days im told......

Randy

 

[treasurefiend]

Great stuff guys!!!!

 

[deathhare]

This looks to be from the early days. What do you guys think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWQXodS8oAY

That was a cool video. thnx.

 

[NGE]

My Turn........ . Since my parents couldn't figure out how to help me burn up my excess energy, they bought me a Radio Shack BFO machine for my 10th. Birthday. It could go all the way down to 2 to 3 inches for most coins. Never found any jewelry with it, because the same sound for rings was the same for foil and real early foot shaped pulltabs. Then one day in 1971 I was looking through a Sears Catalog and spotted a White's coin master metal detector with the 4-DB coil for 129.95 . Yep I cashed some of my silver and wheats in to buy it. Huge improvement with the depth, now I could get stuff 4 to 5 inches deep. Got tired of digging every signal, so I sold it to my friend in 1973 for 75 bucks ( he still uses it) but it only goes about 3 to 4 inches anymore. And I bought me a Compass Judge 1. Used that for awhile, traded it up and bought Compass Judge 2, then bought Compass Relic Magnum 7. Then Fisher 1260-X, then Fisher CZ-5, Fisher 1265-X, 1266-X (which I still own) then I bought me a Minelab Explorer XS. The silver was common so I spent most of it in my youth, I.H.'s and Barbers were common finds and they were shallow I only kept silver that was worn thin or was bent, and in 1978 I cashed in $120.00 face value silver and got a check for $4800.00 and bought me a really nice 1971 Chevelle 396 SS. Yes, those were the days..... Thanks for the trip down memory lane

 

[MonkeyBoy]

Well.. since I was born in 1966 I can't really say much about the 60s, 70s or even the 80s!!! but... when we first got machines... around here there were still virgin camps... I have found memories of having my waist pouch so filled with bullets and other relics I would have to count off fence post and go dump it out!!! spoting relics on the ground BEFORE you hit them with your machine!!! I dug a field that had been turned.. and then we had rain for what seemed like months ( more like 3 days!!) I was hunting it.. with 10 lbs boots covered in mud... whe I spotted a eagle plate on a little 2 or 3 " high pillar of dirt... just sitting there as plain as day!!.. white 3 ringers against red clay is one thing.. but that eagle plate.. man.. coolest thing I ever saw... that was before I started taking a camera.. pre digitial.. the funniest thing?? I still ran my 5900 over it before I picked it up!!. I mentioned this same spot not long ago here.. when I got my 12" I went back out there and dug over 100 3 ringers...and there is still another field that is too over grown to hunt.. I think days think that are pretty much over.. or rare at a minimum.. but man.. it use to be great.. get permission for a spot anywhere around Leesburg, VA.. walk out in a field and beep.. beep.. beepp... bullets.. I was just thinking about that thi spast weekend.. when I hit a bunch of burnsides with a good mix of other bullets.. 30 some total over 4 days... heck..that would have been a BAD day back then... and it's not like I am one of those guys with 100s of plates either... but I do feel I was really lucky to start when I did... given all I have found.. heck.. last year was one of the best I have had ina long time... 5 plates mostly dumb luck and picket post but years ago.. I had field that produced twice that many!!! :-) and as I have mentioned before.. mostof them are full of million.. well. what use to to be million dollar homes...;-)

I remember being out with a group when one of the guys dug 8 large pennies.. 8!!! Man... I'd love to go back and hit those spots with a DFX back then!!!!

MB

 

[VOL1266-X]

Tommy, I did not get interested in hunting CW Relics until the mid 90s so I can't say what it was like earlier than that. I understand that a monkey with a broom could find relics back then However, I have been lucky enough to find a few virgin CW Sites and I can tell you what that feels like. I was like a kid picking up Easter Eggs!!! HH

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Here is a screencap from part two. I love the way that guy handles an unexploded ordinance!!!

 

[[email protected]]

No kidding! Lets take a couple wacks and see if we can find the fuse....KABOOM!!!
I started in 1987 and by then most of the obvious spots were cherry picked. I can only imagine what it was like in the old days. However, these conditions helped create a new breed of detectorist. I am the Leftover King!!!
I went into these "hunted out" parks and trained my ear for "iffy" signals and still pulled out handfuls of old coins and collectibles. Anyone could go to a virgin site and pull out all the silver dollars at 3 inches but think of all that was missed. Now we are better and have better equipment! Just look at that video, the way that guy was swinging that old dinosaur fast and he finally got a signal (which was very large) Can you imagine how many buttons, bullets, and coins he walked over! I'm sorry if I sound negative in any way. In 22 years I have always had the attitude "lets see what they missed" or I say out loud "how was that missed?" Hunted out. Oh yeah, bring it on!
Dave (the leftover king)

 

[time4me]

This is a picture of my brother and I (I'm the chubby one on the right) back in the 70's. Our dad had MS and was confined to a wheelchair (died when I was 10). Our neighbor across the street was probably in his late 40's, and one day he saw my brother and I out playing in the yard and called us over to show us his "treasure". He had been metal detecting for many years, and he had what at the time seemed to my brother and I a treasure horde that rivaled that of Ali Baba and the forty thieves. He had coins we've never seen before, and strings upon strings of gold and silver rings.

Well, as you can imagine, we were hooked. We convinced our mom to buy us the White's Coinmaster you see in the picture. My brother was always the swinger of the detector, and I was always the digger. We found some decent stuff in the years we spent detecting with our neighbor and by ourselves, but then my brother got a girlfriend and that was the end of our detecting together. I never went out by myself, and as Jr. High and High School consumed my life, I pretty much forgot about detecting. That is until about 12 years ago when I remembered how much fun I used to have detecting as a kid. I picked up a copy of Western & Eastern Treasures, and I was hooked once again. Only this time it stuck. Now I have 6 land detectors, and 2 water detectors, and I have been getting more and more passionate about the hobby each year that has gone by.

Anyways, I have my neighbor Mr. Warner to thank for my sickness, and also my mom for getting my brother and I pretty much anything we wanted bad enough (except for the snowmobile that I never got). Oh, and I guess I have my brother to thank as well, even though he did dump me like yesterday's news when he found his first girlfriend.

Awesome memories, and endless opportunities ahead... that is what I love about this hobby!

Happy Hunting,

Jim

 

[Brian in MA]

I started in 1975 with a Wilson Neumann Mark II (I think that was the model). I was only 10 years old when I started but I can remember my older brothers coming home with tons of silver coins every time they went out. It wasn't until the late 1970's that I really got into the serious hunting.

There were many spots that were just littered with silver. There were a couple of elementary schools that were so loaded that you literally crawled on the ground. There was no need to stand up. Beeps were everywhere!!!! Finding 25 silver coins per hunt was the norm. There were many 50+ silver days. I found that the elementary schools were the best for silver quarters as they were used to buy lunches. Finding the quarters wrapped in tin foil was common. This was done so the kids wouldn't lose them.

The entire decade of the 80's produced a ton of silver in my area and with each new machine more silver was found. I found 1,000's of silver coins including well over 100 seated coins, hundreds of Barbers, dozens of halves and 6 silver dollars and my one and only gold piece. My greedy brothers would sometimes actually pass over the silver dime and quarter readings so that they could cherry-pick the halves. They always had more silver face value but I always had more silver coins. Man, those were the days !!!

We too, took advantage of the sky-high price of silver back in the early 1980's. My brother bought a new Trans-Am and put a down deposit on a house with the money he got for cashing in his silver. (Though, a lot of that was from halves he got coin-rolling at local banks, which was also amazing back in those days. But, that is another story!!!).

The silver finds really dwindled in the 90's. Now, just finding a single merc or rossy is an accomplishment. This is why I have switched over to Colonial-era hunting. If I'm going to hunt all day and only find 1 silver coin I'd rather it be 200+ years old than 50 years old.

Even though the finds aren't nearly as plentiful as they were 30 years ago this hobby still remains the best there is !!!!! There is nothing better than forgetting life for a while and just swinging the coil....

Brian in MA

 

[allen]

my dad always found old silver and wheaties with the detector he had, but i couldnt tell you what type it was, i was like 3 or 4 years old...

 

[chirper97]

what was metal detecting like back in the early days?

Alkaline batteries were EXPENSIVE! My Garrett Deepseeker required 6 D Cells!

Re-chargeable batteries were a novelty in the late 70s.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

I started in 1987 and by then most of the obvious spots were cherry picked. I can only imagine what it was like in the old days. However, these conditions helped create a new breed of detectorist. I am the Leftover King!!!
I went into these "hunted out" parks and trained my ear for "iffy" signals and still pulled out handfuls of old coins and collectibles.

Dave (the leftover king)

I agree, Dave. The "new breed" of detectorist works slower and more methodically. New technology allows even entry level metal detectors to detect much deeper than machines made back in the 1970s. They may have found the Barbers, leaving behind the deeper silver that was beyond the range of most machines manufactured at the time.

Today's detectorist must also do a lot of research to find good sites. The internet was not around, so people only detected sites that they heard about through word of mouth. We are able to use the internet to find old property records, topo maps, and aerial photos of potential sites.

There are still many great sites out there, can be seen by reading the Today's Finds forum.

Research pays off big!!

Happy Hunting!
Neil