Gold coins & jewelry verses aluminium, tin foil, pull tabs etc...

[habanerojefe]

Hey everyone,

I been metal detecting with my Garrett Gold pro for a few months and I'm starting to get frustrated over my inability to distinguish the difference between gold and junk. The silver and copper coins and jewelry are easy to identify. But I find myself digging up way too much junk trying to locate anything gold. I've done tests with all kinds of foil, caps and pull tabs trying to understand if the reading is any different from gold jewelry and coins. but IMO, that's just not going to happen for me. Am I to just bare with it and keep digging in hopes of scoring or is there a trick or method I could pick up to help? Thanks for any help you can send my way.

Hab.

 

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[scotter1]

keep digging,theres no way to tell but dig

 

[Loco-Digger]

I swing the F75LTD and in 3 years i dug 4 gold rings and a pocket watch. They all had one thing in common, all the gold I ever dug had solid target IDs. I'm a coin shooter at heart, but do appreciate a cool relic and some bling. I don't check every mid tone target, especially not the jumpy ones. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[Argentium]

Most people report solid signals ,with consistent readings on a vertical and horizontal coil sweep for gold finds . I think you do have to dig a fair bit of can slaw , pull tabs , bottle caps , foil ,and nickels - if you want to find gold .

 

[habanerojefe]

keep digging,theres no way to tell but dig

That's what I was fearing. Junky properties have been giving me a headache. No pain no gain I guess. Thanks.

Hab.

 

[habanerojefe]

During my tests some of the foil read identically to the gold rings I tested - especially the 10K - nice and stable. There was other junk that read more unstably. Those hits, i will gladly pass on in the future, because I haven't found anything worthwhile digging up a reading that bounced up and down from the 30's to 80's. I bought a samson shovel last week. That has made all the difference in the world! Thanks for your tip.

Hab.

 

[insontis]

That's what I was fearing. Junky properties have been giving me a headache. No pain no gain I guess. Thanks.

Hab.

Pretty much what everyone has said. Need to dig that junk to get to the gold. Maybe less junky properties would ease some of your headache though.

 

[sprailroad]

Well, here's what I've found. Gold rings? pull tabs, nickels, can slaw, all so close. The numerical readings can vary because of say the angle of the item, (flat, tilted, ect.) The size of each item can also make a difference, and with pull tabs the type can throw you off, and then throw can slaw into the mix as well. Let's not forget the lead sinkers as well. If I stuck with ONLY solid signals, I would be missing a lot. It just seems to be the nature of the beast. Also at times a good target and a trash target are SO close together that the signal is "iffy" at best, and of course the foil as well. Point is I guess, is to perhaps get use to pull tabs etc., each one I dig, (and there have been MANY), I tell myself, Well, it COULD have been a ring, you're doing nothing wrong, the time WILL come when you will have a most pleasant surprise. One example, while detecting a vacant overgrown lot, got a "solid" pull tab signal, skipped it, I hit that same spot two more times during the course of my hunt, skipped them. On the way back to my truck, hit that SAME spot again, thought OK, one more pull tab for the day, dug it, and found four Chinese Cash Coins together! Go figure. Again, you're doing OK, not one of these guys and gals on this forum who find really good items, has not dug tons of trash. Trash area's? Small coil, cleaner area's? Larger coil. Comes down to "patience" and tired body parts, (i.e. "legs") something we have learned and know of. Hang in there "habanerojefe", we all understand what you're saying. There are many almost new detectors out there for sale, because some aren't finding all the "good stuff" right away without much effort. The rest of us? It's just a hobby we love doing, and for many years for a lot of us. If you're not finding trash, you're not finding treasure.

 

[dirtlooter]

sprailroad said it all, even sporadic signals can turn out to be a great find. there are just so many variables. But, we all dig junk and some areas are junkier than others. Every form of valuable has a multitude of trash that sounds or hits the same signal. if it weren't so, every body that has a detector would have found gold coins, silver coins and jewelry. Some of us are more willing to dig or wade thru the trash to find the gold etc. than others. locations also make a difference such as swimming beaches parks etc. That is also why so many people buy a detector and after using it for a while, end up selling it or it's in the closet. persistence eventually pays off. sure some get very lucky and find something quickly but it takes a lot of holes to find something good for 99 percent of us. go to a school and it is pull tabs and pull rings, foil, can slaw, pencil erasers and junk jewelry by the handful but hidden within it is clad and even gold and silver. every piece of valuable is hard earned. so for most of us, it is a great hobby, not a way to make a living

 

[against the wind]

I used the AT PRO for a few years. On land and in water. The numbers varied as did the karat of gold.
14 kt gave me 63 and 65 while 18 kt came in at 51.
Common sense tells us that you will increase your chances of finding gold in areas that have had heavy concentrations of human traffic over long periods of time. Old parks that have been popular for a century or more will increase the chances of recovering older coins and jewelry. My success at finding gold is increased by searching chest deep salt water at low tide with my Excalibur.

 

[pjdentry]

I think forums like this can create a perception issue that someone just wanders around and finds great stuff with a metal detector without a lot of effort. Most people only report finding great stuff, not the times that they've been skunked or just found $.13 worth of clad for two hours effort.

I mostly garage sale hunt, but for every good garage sale that I find something decent, I visit 10 that are just crap. But you gotta hit those other 10 on the off chance, just like digging all of those stupid junk signals.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

1) yes: Aluminum and alloyed gold, on a size-per-size basis, share the same conductive properties. Sorry to say.

2) But the "trick" to finding more gold is NOT to "dig all low conductors till your arms fall off". Instead, the "trick" is: Location location location. Swim beaches are best (and easier digging in sand too). If you MUST choose turf to hunt in, pick more carefully: Avoid parks/turf where eating/picnicking occurs. Because anywhere people eat and drink, it's automatic that foil and tabs are bound to be introduced. And especially bad is BBQ pit eating/zones picnic-table zones camp-fire type zones. Because, go figure: molten nuggets (for when people throw aluminum cans on fire) will drive you bananas .

So instead, if you MUST choose turf: pick turf that's athletic frolicking (soccer, etc...) WITH NO *normal* eating/drinking usage. Your junk ratio should drop way down. But best yet: Swim beaches, mud wrestle pits, ski slope lift lines, sand volleyball courts, etc....

 

[habanerojefe]

Thanks for all of your insights and experiences with metal detecting. I will try to be more selective in my locations moving forward with my hobby. I am patient with the signals because I just can't seem to leave a signal be! I just didn't know if there were any techniques or anything else I was missing. I'm glad I have my Samson shovel and my Garrett pinpointer. Just hope my back holds up!
Thanks again for all of your input!

Hab.

 

[Xraywolf]

Should have known going in, you'll dig 1,000 pulltabs before digging any gold. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
A certain % of people who try MD wash out because their expectations were too high, and thats for the better.

They have much the same characteristics, they always ring up in the same range. Barring some sensor breakthrough, nothing much to be done about it.

Only places where rings occasionally exceed pulltabs is out in the water, which has its own set of challenges and letdowns.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Should have known going in, you'll dig 1,000 pulltabs before digging any gold....

Really ? I have dug 7 gold rings in a day's hunt , with zero pulltabs and zero aluminum. The trick ? Location location location. It was after storm erosion on the beach, where mother nature removes all the light stuff. Leaving only heavy stuff (sinkers, coins, keys, etc... ) Even zinc was gone, since that's a lighter weight coin).

Yes not every one is near the ocean beaches . Nor be there on *perfect* erosion days. But you can still pick inland lake swim beaches, or types of turf which aren't going to have as nasty ratios as 1k to 1.

 

[Xraywolf]

Really ? I have dug 7 gold rings in a day's hunt , with zero pulltabs and zero aluminum. The trick ? Location location location. It was after storm erosion on the beach, where mother nature removes all the light stuff. Leaving only heavy stuff (sinkers, coins, keys, etc... ) Even zinc was gone, since that's a lighter weight coin).

Yes not every one is near the ocean beaches . Nor be there on *perfect* erosion days. But you can still pick inland lake swim beaches, or types of turf which aren't going to have as nasty ratios as 1k to 1.

Thats extreme, and I already made the caveat about beaches.
I have also combed beaches where I have found neither pulltabs or rings - Bottom line here is to keep expectations grounded in reality, and the reality is, in this hobby you will dig far more trash targets than good.

 

[CASPER-2]

Ive dug over 1000 pieces of gold jewelry - been in this hobby since 1975 - age 12
I cant tell you how many sounded like junk - but its a lot
cant tell you how many were found at spots guys hammered and said were cleaned out - but its a lot
I got a lot from spots where guys crank their discrimination and miss it - I can tell you that
I started out hunting my first 10 yrs with non discrim. land machine
and hunt in all metal 95% of the time now --- if you dig it all - hopefully you will get it all
its good piece of mind to try and remove everything - then hopefully you wont wonder if you left anything
good behind - especially at spots close to home and you will hit a lot

 

[Deft Tones]

I've air tested so many rings and other jewelry after hours at a jewelry store. I've only dug a few dozen gold rings out of trashy parks, not thousands.

I've dug 5gallon buckets full of ring pulls and tabs. Out of every ring I have ever passed under my coil only one hits almost exactly like a ring pull. Never saw a gold ring hit just like a square tab yet. I don't get to concerned with those narrow range junk targets - they are predictable. Can slaw and foil are more unpredictable...focus on those.

What I've done in the past is tightly notch the most common two items of trash and work the rest of the signals. After enough working the site over (hopefully you'll know if it's worth doing by then) you can open the notch back up and hunt nothing but tabs without distractions from foil, coins, and screw caps.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I've air tested so many rings and other jewelry after hours at a jewelry store. I've only dug a few dozen gold rings out of trashy parks, not thousands.

I've dug 5gallon buckets full of ring pulls and tabs. ....

which is exactly why: If someone's objective is "gold rings", then why oh why oh why are they going to junky blighted parks ? I do go them in my love of deep silver and copper. But I confess to skipping shallow low conductors. Does that mean I'll "miss a gold ring" ? SURE ! But in my 40+ yrs. of this, I've decided that if/when gold rings are my objective, I'll simply go to the beach. And/or wait for winter-storm erosion season here

I do operate in "dig all except iron" mentality in relicky sites. Ghost towns, stage stops, ruins, cellar holes, sidewalk tearouts, old-town urban demolition, etc... And I have to say: Gold rings are an extreme rarity. EVEN THOUGH DIGGING ALL. But the same can not be said of being in the oh-so-right beach conditions

 

[pepperj]

Decided decades ago that I would have to dig hundreds of pieces of foil/tabs/and other pieces of trash to get the piece of gold. No it wasn't going to happen being lazy and not into the bling factor of this hobby I went for the coinage side. If a piece was found than it was a good day, and blind luck. 45+ yrs into this obsession I'm more focused on digging homesteads in fields/bush than trying the city park for a coin or piece of jewelry. Not that they don't give up the riches it's a numbers game, dig enough crap a good one comes along.
Example you dig park junk alum.tabs/foil, out in the fields I dig iron and going back to the truck numerous times in a few hours to empty the iron out because of the weight starts to dig into the shoulder/neck.
Remember this simple thing if was easy it would have been done, that's detecting 101.
I have been asked many times is there a machine that will tell me what's down there, because I had one and the only thing I dug up was bottle caps and junk? I show them the pile of iron trash, and the few keepers from a hunt as a worn token/LC, flat button, buckle. I tell them this machine is worth $2000+ and this is the results from the past few hunts-it's all part of the game-it beeps you dig-sometimes luck shines on your efforts. There's no magic machine that tells you different.
But dig a million holes and when the coil goes over something that sounds really sweet, there's that gut feeling of it's going to be a good one, when its dug up and it's the nice keeper you'll think that you have it all mastered.