Information on Karl Von Mueller...

[njnydigger]

Hey gang Keep hearing about Karl Von Mueller. Did a google search on him and read over a ton of stuff. Quite a man. Have a question though...

I'm interested in obtaining some of his books. They are all over online, but, are quite expensive. But, before I plunk down my dough, can any of you answer this...

Seems his writings are more in reference to finding buried treasure or placer gold or mining, etc. I'm just a detectorist. Would it even pay to pick up any of his stuff?? I'm pretty much a coin/jewelry/relic guy. Does he cover metal detecting at all, or, just looking for caches and such as the Lost Dutchman's Mine, etc?

I'm a HUGE fan of guys like Stout, Fedory, Sabich, etc. Does Von Mueller cover metal detecting and would purchasing some of his books be worth it

Thanks

 

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[Shortstack]

To KVM, a metal detector was a tool for finding caches, but he would go detecting in a school yard or around the yards of an old church or home as a means of relaxation. As a matter of fact, he was the person who INVENTED the word coinshooting. He wrote the book, Master Hunter Manual which is possibly the only "detector using" book in his library. After the detector field took off with lightweight machines that had discrimination circuits, etc. he still liked his M-Scope for reliable cache hunting. He designed a metal detector that was an excellent machine, and included the circuit diagram in one of his first printings of the THer Manual #6. Someone he knew took that circuit, and built machines for sale under his own name without giving credit to KVM. That's when he removed that circuit from later printings of the book. That other person was a well known name in the treasure hunting hobby and I think Karl sort of moved away from him after his design was "borrowed".

For books about in depth use of the metal detector, those other authors are the ones to read.

 

[njnydigger]

Thanks shortstack That's what I was thinking. I saw he DID have one book called "Coinshooting" or something to that effect. But still, most of his writings seem more geared to physical treasure hunting expeditions/searches versus metal detecting. So, think I'll save my money and pick up some other stuff.

Appreciate your thoughts

 

[Shortstack]

KVM's book on coinshooting was about sitting at your kitchen table and searching rolls of coins for "keepers" and he was adamant about keeping all pennies minted before 1982. He said that one day those pennies would be worth a lot more than face value. He sure had that right.

Two of his books that are really interesting are the Owl Hooters Manual #1 and #2. These deal with the ways people make their living while travelling around chasing their treasures. They can also be used to subliment income by anyone.

He also wrote the Forward to the book Merkivict's Money Machine. I KNOW I misspelled the man's name, but it's close.

 

[Tuberale]

Charles Dean Miller (aka Karl Von Mueller, Deek Gladson, and at least 24 other pseudonyms) was one of the earliest detector users in the United States that wasn't trying to find a lost land mine. (Yep, finding land mines were the first reason metal detectors were invented.)

As the detectors got more sensitive and more sophisticated, it became possible to find deeper and deeper objects with them. Suddenly the immense treasure of the lost coin became obtainable. Previous treasure hunters had used devices like metal probes, kind of like 5-foot-long knitting needles, to probe the ground for hidden caches and old bottle dumps.

But it quickly became apparent that those who could cover more ground and find more coins, jewelry, and even shipwrecks with metal detectors would be destined to find the biggest of the big-ticket treasures then known.

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

both THM-6 and THM-7 offer lists of places to go coinshooting and accounts of the early folks who traveled all over the country using their finds for gas money while they were cache hunting. It also recounted a west coast exploit and an east coast exploit where the object of the story worked the beaches from the southern tip of the country clear to the northern tip over a spring and summer and did really well. exanimo, siegfried schlagrule

 

[rockhound]

When I first started detecting back in 1978,most detectors had discrimination, and it was fairly common to find silver alnmost everywhere you went. Some old timers, who had been doing it from when the first detectors were made available for purchase, still used rods to determine an objects value. Some were so good with these probes that it was claimed they could read a newspaper underneath the ground with them. This was exaggeration of course, but some could tell almost with 100% accuracy what type of objet was detected. They had experimented with these probes years before discrimination came into being. I witnessed some these pioneeers metal detecting, and was always astonished to say the least, at their ability to use a probe to disriminate with. These abilities came about before the advent of metal detectors and was carried over into the metal detector explosion of the 60's and 70's. Reminising about the older times and infancy of this sport brings back a lot of fond memories.If you have never tried your hand a probing, it is fairly easy to do. Just bury something and try to feel the object by inserting into the ground slowly. You can buy a fabricated probe, or fashion one yourself grom a phillips screwdriver, The point shound be ground off and a stell ball bearing welded or epoxied to the end of the shaft. Or for a longer probe, such as the old timers used, you can purchase a brass rod (brazing rod), from a welding supply or farm supply store. Put a handle on this and cut to whatever length is desirable and convienent to carry. Be sure to round off the end or add a steel ball, because you wouldn't want to scratch a valuable coin. Good Luck..rockhound

 

[Shortstack]

Rockhound got it right. When I got my first "real" detector, it was a Whites Coinmaster TR4B. I got to where I could tell the difference between a rock, piece of glass, bottle cap, or coin. The sound of the tapping probe against the target told if it was a coin or not and if I could easily push the probe through the target, it was a bottle cap or other tin item. LOL I still have that old Coinmaster, sitting calmly in the closet.

I never tried the 5 foot probes although I enjoyed KVM's story of how he started that way up in Nebraska. I think he used the tail bolt from an old freight wagon and probed around the campgrounds near Ft. Kearney.

Shoot. Today, folks do flips if they find a single silver coin using their $1,200 machine.