ace250 users/former users.. who have found pre-1920s coins

rdb7

Full Member
Apr 15, 2008
155
0
Detector(s) used
Ace250 w/ eXcelerator 10x14 DD coil
wondering on the ace250 what an old:

gold item
v-nickel
merc-dime
large cent


what register as on the display?

(may not hold true to mine with this new mega coil ... but i'm still wondering since i haven't been digging everything as of yet what i 'may' have walked over)

fwiw i want to dig everything ... but i only get 2-4 hours a week to hunt and am still slow on recovery (due to not bringing my pinpointer with so far lol)
 

oz_il

Full Member
Oct 6, 2008
114
0
Evergreen Park, IL
rdb7 said:
wondering on the ace250 what an old:

gold item
v-nickel
merc-dime
large cent


what register as on the display?
Gold ring = nickel/pull tab range
V-Nickel = nickel (heck they are the same composition of current nickels: Copper - 75%, Nickel - 25%)
Merc Dime = dime
Large cent = no idea ;-(

BTW, silver rings, medallions, etc can ring up anywhere from a dime to half dollar :0)
 

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rdb7

Full Member
Apr 15, 2008
155
0
Detector(s) used
Ace250 w/ eXcelerator 10x14 DD coil
thanks oz.. i hunt 2 areas that have history back to the 1800s.. just wondering was very very old stuff would show up as


'if' i find out on the large cent (unlikely lol) ... i'll let you know

thanks again!
 

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rdb7

Full Member
Apr 15, 2008
155
0
Detector(s) used
Ace250 w/ eXcelerator 10x14 DD coil
btw, is there 'any' stuff that should be 100% ignored on the ace? ie: iron ... or could a good find come from digging that?
 

oz_il

Full Member
Oct 6, 2008
114
0
Evergreen Park, IL
rdb7 said:
btw, is there 'any' stuff that should be 100% ignored on the ace? ie: iron ... or could a good find come from digging that?
I ignore the first 2? settings (lead and ??) unless I am in a tot lot, then everything goes.

If you have the place to yourself, try dimes and higher at first just to get some quick coins. Then slowly lower the discrim (cents, then nickels, then foil).

BTW, my first V nickel was found just 1'' down.
 

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rdb7

Full Member
Apr 15, 2008
155
0
Detector(s) used
Ace250 w/ eXcelerator 10x14 DD coil
i keep reading that real old real deep coins might not register as coins... so would ignoring the first 2 miss some of them or...?

'1" down' that's crazy... i've only hunted 2x so far so it's hard for me to fall back on real life experience .... so i'm constantly thinking i have to dig to china to find anything worthwhile lol :icon_jokercolor:
 

oz_il

Full Member
Oct 6, 2008
114
0
Evergreen Park, IL
rdb7 said:
i keep reading that real old real deep coins might not register as coins... so would ignoring the first 2 miss some of them or...?
Say what ??? I do have deep cents ring up as 'weak' quarters now and then. Both Mem's and Wheat Ears.
 

twistidd

Bronze Member
Nov 11, 2007
1,789
3
Chicago
Detector(s) used
White's Matrix M6 w/ Sun-Ray DX-1, 950 coil and 6x10 DD, Minelab Excalibur II, Garrett Ace 250, Garmin Etrex GPS
In general, the deeper the coin, the less accurate your detector's target ID is going to be. A quarter at 2 inches will always ring up as a quarter. A quarter at 9 inches might ring up as a dime or a penny, maybe not. This is why your question is best answered by your own experience. You said you've only hunted twice so far, give it some time and you'll figure it out. Just dig any signal you get, other than iron. If you dig every iron signal, you will find every peice of crap (nails, scraps, etc) dropped. Stick with coin mode on your Ace, or maybe jewelry mode (not much of a difference, other than the jewelry mode allows foil and pulltabs, I think).

You are more than welcome to come out with us if you'd like some in-person pointers. Kermit and I have both hunted with the Ace and have found silvers, wheats, etc.

If you find a large cent on your third time out, I will have to find out where you're hunting and steal your spot- I haven't gotten one of those yet in sixteen years of metal detecting! lol jk.

Good luck homey.................Joe
 

treasurefiend

Gold Member
Mar 17, 2008
7,445
93
Chicago IL
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Excal_II Minelab_Explorer_SE_Pro w/ SunRay pinpointer & Garrett_Ace250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I found an 18k ring on penny & 2 14k (1 ring & 1 earring) on nickel. :thumbsup:
 

Brett

Bronze Member
May 8, 2008
1,591
1
Montgomery, IL
Detector(s) used
Minelab E-TRAC w/Sunray X-1
My 14K thick wedding band rings up as the lower 1 cent icon. I found a 10K thinner gold ring in bay waters in Florida that rang up as a solid nickel. When I found that I was hoping it was really just going to be a nickel and not another pull tab ;) I found a thick silver ring that rang up as a loud dime/quarter. I also found my best coin with the ACE 250, an EF-40 1914p Barber Dime. It rang up as a dime, but it was only one or two inches down.

I've done some testing with the ACE in iron with some interesting results. Last year this was what I wrote:

iron_silver_test1.jpg
I got out my ACE 250, and put in coin mode. Sensitivity was jacked to the max. Don't underestimate a max sensitivity, my dad hunted with it maxed all the time. I usually set it half way up. Anyhoo, At 4" I was getting a dime signal every now and then... not repeatable enough.

I put the detector in All Metal mode, and the dime was easily repeatable at 4". 6" was acting like the Explorer SE Pro, but it was still ringing. 8" wasn't doing so great... oh well, the ACE doesn't really go that deep on dimes anyway. I didn't try the quarter or silver dollar with the Ace, but I bet it would have been like the Explorer SE Pro with dimes at 8".

My point in reposting this, is that it might not always be a good idea to discriminate out the lower two items on the ACE 250. If you are in heavy iron or an area where there are nails potentially right by old silver, it would be better to run in all metal. This might be hard to know if you don't constantly look at the screen or test sites out in all metal mode though.

HH!
 

Lowbatts

Gold Member
Jul 1, 2003
6,573
67
Elgin
Detector(s) used
Fishers 1235X-8" CZ-20/21-8" F-70-11"DD GC1023
Signal loss Brett! That and mixed medium holes. Mix a quarter and a nickel together, the target will not sound like either one or the other but somewhat more like junk. Very much like junk. Nickels mixed in with any coin drive that signal into weirdo land and usually result in a downward shift in the measured spectrum.

One key is to learn how to use pinpoint or all metal to determine target size/shape at depth's that are stretching your machine past the limit for accurate id. Best coils for this are concentric-wound round coils. They simply give a more accurate read at depth of a given target and it's approximate shape. The larger the coil however the less accurate when you go beyond the 9-10 inch coil. They simply add too much ground mineralization and co-located junk to the matrix as the emf is introduced and returned.

Had a faint repeatable low-foil/iron read once, the usual shallow gum wrapper bit I thought so I hit PP (Ouch!) and slowly lifted the coil and lowered it. Signal depth stayed consistent, shallow small junk will change more dramatically while doing this. Then detuning enough to isolate a good PP I figured it was a rounded, not elongated object so I dug the ten inches to get the two V's, on top of two barber quarters and a seated dime as well. I'm sure the quarters alone would have really rung clear if not for the nickels, but mixed with them, they provided an almost solid,faint junk target in appearance. Eh, go figure.
 

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rdb7

Full Member
Apr 15, 2008
155
0
Detector(s) used
Ace250 w/ eXcelerator 10x14 DD coil
Thanks to everyone... Very helpful. :)
 

SC_hunter

Bronze Member
Jan 16, 2007
2,410
160
South Carolina
Detector(s) used
Whites V3i,Whites XLT,Ace 250 and BH Tracker IV and Others.....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The one that I hate to dig but I dig it most time is the slot between the penny and dime. 9 times out of 10 it is a bottle/beer cap (usually a gold colored one). The only down side by not digging that signal is that is where I have hit 2 Indian Head Pennies. So, I dig most all sigs with the exception of the first 2 or maybe 3.
 

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