Detecting in Honduras

YumaMarc

Sr. Member
Dec 12, 2004
493
667
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Minelab Quattro
Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Now that the Policía Nacional has the security in the streets of Tegucigalpa under much better control, my hunting partner and I gave a local park a try. Few people here have ever seen a metal detector, and fewer know what it is for. NO ONE has seen one in actual operation, at least in our area, so we were constantly surrounded by a horde of kids, and a few adults, asking questions and wanting to help dig. Several police came by just to ask us about the detectors and how they work, but everyone was very friendly and we had no problems with anyone.

We found the ground simply bursting with modern coins, mostly worthless except to recycle. We pretty well cleaned them out in a couple days, then concentrated on the deeper signals. We found quite a number of older coins from the first half of the twentieth century, and lots of coins no longer in circulation. We found numerous coins from the '40s and '30s. This is an open field here, any ground you can get into is certainly unsearched. Here are a few photos of some of the things we came up with in a three-day hunt.

DSC_0007.jpg
A very old brooch or something. Gold-plated copper.

DSC_0009.jpg
Lots of fake diamonds and gold.

DSC_0011.jpg
Bullets are everywhere, from all time periods. The largest is 11.0 mm, the smallest 5.56 mm. Many look well used.

DSC_0019.jpg
Religious medallions are common. The middle one, Our Lady of Suyapa, is the patroness of Tegucigalpa.

DSC_0024.jpg
Foreign coins are common. Guatemala and Chile.

DSC_0026.jpg
Mexico, Costa Rica and El Salvador.

DSC_0032.jpg
A rather interesting little copper/bronze dog.

DSC_0034.jpg
Two quite old coins. Two Centavos from 1920 and One Centavo from 1911, both in bad need of cleaning.

DSC_0002.jpg
And we did find silver. A broken bracelet, a tiny bell, a small religious medallion (still very dirty), and some 20 and 50 Centavo coins from the days when Centavos were worth something.

DSC_0050.jpg
This is a token from 1910. I left it uncleaned because it has a Numista rarity rating of 97/100, and supposedly only 100 were ever made, all in 1910.

DSC_0052.jpg
The opposite side of the same token. I posted a description on the "Tokens" forum asking if anyone has any info on this, but not much response. Regardless, it's good "bragging rights" to have one of such rarity.
 

Upvote 0

BryanM362

Hero Member
Mar 22, 2013
870
426
Cincinnati, OH
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
E-Trac with Sun Ray probe, Garrett AT Pro, White's Classic SL, Garret Pro-pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Very interesting! What year did they quit making silver coins in Honduras? (Assuming they did)
 

JrMack

Full Member
Feb 16, 2014
227
179
steuben co. ny
Detector(s) used
bounty hunter, x-terra 305/505/705,discovery TF 900
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Nice finds! I stayed at Tegucigalpa in the early 1980's. only stayed there at night and by day flew around to different parts of the country.. Very beautiful there and all the people I met were friendly!! are there any legends of old treasure there?? Always wanted to go back! good luck
 

OP
OP
YumaMarc

YumaMarc

Sr. Member
Dec 12, 2004
493
667
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Minelab Quattro
Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
The 20th century silver coins of Honduras were the one Lempira, the last year of issue being 1937, the 20 and 50 Centavo coins, both having 1966 as their last year of issue, I believe. Anyway, the 1967 coins that I've found are all copper-nickel, then soon copper/bronze. All Centavo coins from 2008 on are brass-plated steel, and there are no one or two Centavo coins currently being minted. They are totally worthless for metal value, but the steel makes it easy to pick them out of a huge pile of dirt-covered coins with a magnet. These I just toss into the garbage without even washing off the crud.

EDIT: I forgot to add, the current 50 Centavo coins are nickel-plated steel, still worthless.
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
YumaMarc

YumaMarc

Sr. Member
Dec 12, 2004
493
667
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Minelab Quattro
Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Thank you very much, RustyGold. I do believe I have better skills at photography than treasure hunting. :laughing7:

EDIT: If security ware a bit better in the cities, this would be a detectorist's dream. Almost anywhere you could look, except maybe Roatán and the north coast, is completely untouched. Some of the really old parks hark back to Spanish days, but a few are like "Da Hood" on steroids, so I never go alone, and I always carry a .38 snubby with +P, or sometimes a .357 mag. So far I've had absolutely no cause to use them, thankfully.

Parks are amazingly low on trash, and in two years I've found maybe ten pulltabs. The most trash is modern coins, sometimes literally lying on top of the ground. Everyone assumes all are worthless and don't bother to pick them up, though some I've discovered are as old as 1930s.
 

Last edited:

Peyton Manning

Gold Member
Dec 19, 2012
14,518
18,626
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
MXT-PRO
Sandshark
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I suppose if you found Aztec gold you wouldn't tell us?
 

OP
OP
YumaMarc

YumaMarc

Sr. Member
Dec 12, 2004
493
667
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Minelab Quattro
Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Nice finds! I stayed at Tegucigalpa in the early 1980's. only stayed there at night and by day flew around to different parts of the country.. Very beautiful there and all the people I met were friendly!! are there any legends of old treasure there?? Always wanted to go back! good luck

I've never come into any actual treasure legends, but lots of history from the Spanish days give hints of valuables and caches being stashed around Trujillo and up the Olancho Valley. A lot of gold was found and "lost" before it got back to the king in Spain. Also a lot of rivalry between wannabe local Spanish rulers caused much chaos among the miners and local population, and there were no banks.

As in Mexico, stories abound about hidden valuables and loot during the Revolution from Spain in 1821, and the two decades of banditry following. The fighting between Morazán and his rivals for leadership of the Central American Republic led to hundreds of towns and villages being sacked and looted, and anyone with any valuables buried them in the ground. Some have been found by accident in modern times when constructing new houses, etc., but for certain there are lots of genuine treasures in the ground here...and NOBODY has searched seriously.

Even those with money to buy a metal detector here can't because no one sells them anywhere in the country. A hard search may find one on Roatán, but there are no official dealers. If I want to upgrade, I'll have to go to the US personally to do so. Even Kellyco will only ship detectors made by First Texas Instruments (Bounty Hunter, Pioneer, etc.) to Honduras. If I ever have need of a repair on my White's, Fisher or Minelab, I'm screwed.
 

slider66

Supporting Vendor
Supporting Vendor
Nov 14, 2013
1,481
1,987
Treasure Coast Of Florida
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Minelab CTX 3030
Garrett AT Pro
Minelab Excalibur 1000 with SEF 10x12 coil
3 Minelab Excalibur II 10 inch
Deus II
EQuinox 900
Manticore
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Very nice indeed. I lived in Tegucigalpa for 4 years in the early 90's. It was pretty wild there then. I love your photos. Wish I had a detector when I lived there.
 

OP
OP
YumaMarc

YumaMarc

Sr. Member
Dec 12, 2004
493
667
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Minelab Quattro
Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Very nice indeed. I lived in Tegucigalpa for 4 years in the early 90's. It was pretty wild there then. I love your photos. Wish I had a detector when I lived there.

Well, there is nearly an entire unsearched country here, when you get the chance to come down. I'd be happy to personally show you some likely spots.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top