Spanish pieces of eight

seascene

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I will be working an old spanish outpost long gone from late in the 18th century that has had subsequent early 20th century logging use. My target is pieces of eight that my research suggests might be there. I expect to hit lots of old iron trash from this abandoned logging camp and therefore do not want to hunt in "all" setting (Whites TDI Pro). Just wondering if Spanish gold pieces of eight could be targeted with a setting that would eliminate trash signals. Perhaps someone out there has a piece of eight and could suggest a setting on the TDI that might suit this purpose. thanks.....
 

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Mackaydon

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seascene,
Welcome to Treasure Net !!
Spanish Pieces of Eight are composed of over 90% silver; there is no gold in them.
Spanish gold coins of that day were called Escudos.
More than likely, if you find a Spanish coin, it will be a 1/2, 1 or 2 reales coin versus a Piece of Eight (8 reales).
Also, while you might find a "Spanish" coin, it will most likely be a coin minted in Mexico.
HH,
Don.........
 

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seascene

seascene

Jr. Member
Feb 14, 2015
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84
Sailboat coastal British Columbia
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Presently Anfibio Muliti. Sold my MXT sport, TDI pro and Macro Gold Racer Just got April 2023 Deus 2 and Cscope 4 Pi (England made)
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seascene,
Welcome to Treasure Net !!
Spanish Pieces of Eight are composed of over 90% silver; there is no gold in them.
Spanish gold coins of that day were called Escudos.
More than likely, if you find a Spanish coin, it will be a 1/2, 1 or 2 reales coin versus a Piece of Eight (8 reales).
Also, while you might find a "Spanish" coin, it will most likely be a coin minted in Mexico.
HH,
Don.........

... thanks Don and you are quite correct as Wikepedia states:

"The real de a ocho, also known as the Spanish dollar, the eight-real coin, or the piece of eight (Spanish peso de ocho), is a silver coin..."
 

Skippy SH13

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Feb 18, 2015
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I have one (1783 El Cazador wreck) ... it rings up silver dollar on my ACE350. Expected though, as it's over 90% silver.

Cheers!

Skippy

I will be working an old spanish outpost long gone from late in the 18th century that has had subsequent early 20th century logging use. My target is pieces of eight that my research suggests might be there. I expect to hit lots of old iron trash from this abandoned logging camp and therefore do not want to hunt in "all" setting (Whites TDI Pro). Just wondering if Spanish gold pieces of eight could be targeted with a setting that would eliminate trash signals. Perhaps someone out there has a piece of eight and could suggest a setting on the TDI that might suit this purpose. thanks.....
 

GatorBoy

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The small 1/2 and 1 reales usually register around a nickle 52-55 on an AT pro.
Please do yourself a favor and don't be stuck on just trying to find those dig every good signal especially those in the mid range old Spanish buttons,cufflinks and musket balls are awesome finds also.. If you start discriminating out a bunch of signals when there's iron scattered around masking other signals you're going to miss an awful lot of stuff just dig all the good tones... The nice smooth even and repeatable ones ... Use your brain to eliminate trash signals it's a way better processor than your machine believe it or not
 

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Iron Patch

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I assume you must be new to detecting because your question borders on unrealistic to impossible, leaning much closer to impossible. It would be like having 10,000 lottery tickets and giving them all back except for the ones that end 20. You were still against massive odds winning the 10 million when you had 10,000 tickets, but now with just the 20 ones you cut back your chances that much more.

All you can do is dig all non iron targets and see what happens.
 

Fletch88

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With the TDI you could set for high conductors. You will lose all low conductors but if it's silver your after that will work.
 

GatorBoy

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With the TDI you could set for high conductors. You will lose all low conductors but if it's silver your after that will work.

I was actually speaking from experience and no it's not as easy as just setting for high conductors small pieces of silver that have been in the ground or in the elements for hundreds of years are not nearly as conductive as nice clean pieces of silver.
And then you have mineralisation and other metals in the ground to contend with in a spot like he described.
This little booger for example read 52.. That's the low end of mid range

PART_1379168696198.jpeg
 

Fletch88

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GB, is that with a VLF in salt mineralization? I've hunted spots that were mineralized and many targets were being ID'd as iron due to mineralization. Bring a PI into the equation and things change a lot across the scale of conductivity. I was using a GPX when I witnessed this, but I know of people who use the TDI to pull higher conductors out of trash but you lose depth and all mid-low conductors when doing so.
 

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Fletch88

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Don't we all??? I have dreams about them sometimes.
 

GatorBoy

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Fletch....
I wasn't speaking of a P.I. machine.
Descrim. With a Pulse is very sketchy...at least to me it is
 

Fletch88

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Seascene, here is a video that shows how to set the TDI to do what you are trying to do. I have link on the TDI I can email you that is very good also.

 

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Fletch88

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Gatorboy, I am in no way proclaiming to be a TDI or any PI "expert" but I have been researching the TDI and the differences between the TDI, TDI-SL and TDI-PRO. I remembered reading about a s watching the above video to do what sea scene is trying to do. I think a good VLF would be my first choice unless it is highly mineralized ground, then a PI might shine in such an area.
 

GatorBoy

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No disrespect to anyone or the original poster but this topic is not realistic enough for me to go into any further.. I've been doing this for years and anyone who thinks they're going to grab the metal detector discriminate out everything other than Spanish silver coins and go find some just started I guarantee you that
 

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seascene

seascene

Jr. Member
Feb 14, 2015
87
84
Sailboat coastal British Columbia
Detector(s) used
Presently Anfibio Muliti. Sold my MXT sport, TDI pro and Macro Gold Racer Just got April 2023 Deus 2 and Cscope 4 Pi (England made)
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The small 1/2 and 1 reales usually register around a nickle 52-55 on an AT pro.
Please do yourself a favor and don't be stuck on just trying to find those dig every good signal especially those in the mid range old Spanish buttons,cufflinks and musket balls are awesome finds also.. If you start discriminating out a bunch of signals when there's iron scattered around masking other signals you're going to miss an awful lot of stuff just dig all the good tones... The nice smooth even and repeatable ones ... Use your brain to eliminate trash signals it's a way better processor than your machine believe it or not

All day... many tests... good advice... Thanks GB
 

GatorBoy

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My pleasure good luck I hope to see some finds
 

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