Air Tests on Silver Coins

[Silver Striker]

Ok, I have a question about silver coins. I did an air test, using a pure one-ounce silver bullion coin, a Morgan silver dollar, a silver Mercury dime and a regular clad Roosevelt dime. The detector seemed to know the difference and registered the silver bullion coin and the silver dollar as dollars and the silver dime as a dime. It also registered a regular clad dime, almost the same as the silver dime. How is this possible? Shouldn't the two different metal dimes register totally different, while the silver dollar and silver dime register about the same? Is the detector also determining the size of the coin/the amount of silver in it? It was very accurate in determining what denomination of coin that I was air testing, which is good, but I don't understand how it differentiates between different silver coins and why the two dimes rang out virtually the same. There's not all that much silver content in a Mercury dime though, so that could have something to do with it. Stumped, SS

 

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[gossunc]

I'll take a WAG...silver dime, clad dime...different resistance and inductance qualities and different phase shift signatures but nevertheless unique phase shift signatures. Clad dime and silver dime signature ranges are stored aboard your MD and both signatures will indicate dime. It's all in the software dude! That's my theory at least!

Goose

 

[Silver Striker]

I see, Goose. All that software and yet it still can't tell the difference between a pull tab and a gold ring? lol That's what they say anyway. I aim to test that theory though. My discrimination setting has lots of notches, which can be added or removed, so I might be able to notch out the pulltabs, while keeping gold notched in, if I tweek it just right. I might have to give up nickels in the process though. First I need to see where pulltabs ring out at, before making such bold statements. I'm sure I'll have plenty of samples on which to figure that out though. lol Thanks for the reply, SS

 

[Sandman]

This is going to be a big mistake to notch out pull tabs and still hope it will "Bing" on gold rings.. There are many different types of pull tabs and all with different conductivities. Stick in the ground matrix, moisture of the ground, frequencies, gain, and a few more and you are going to miss some gold rings, not to mention white gold and Platinum. Air tests can not give a true reading........ The Technology is not here for this yet.

But it's always fun trying.

Sandman

 

[Silver Striker]

Yeah, I didn't even consider white gold. I bet that rings a little higher on the scale than 14K gold, since it also contains silver (or so I've heard). I didn't think platinum even existed in this country though. I never see platinum jewelry for sale anywhere. Thanks for keeping me in check again, Sandman. I may be a little too optimistic, whereas you are realistic. What did you mean by the following comment though? "Stick in the ground matrix, moisture of the ground, frequencies, gain, and a few more .................... ". SS

 

[Stainless Steet Rat]

He is saying you get a better signal in the ground vs an air test most of the time. The damp ground can conduct the MD signal better sometimes and the coin will leech a bit of metal around it to give a better signal. It is how I found a 1917 dime at 7 inches in damp ground with a MD that won't air test and detect that dime. It was also bouncing on the target ID from zinc penny to copper penney at that depth. I was guessing it was a wheatie when I was digging for it. On my machine 10k-14k rings read just like pulltabs, 18k will bounce from iron to pulltab.

 

[Silver Striker]

I see. Well, thanks for clarifying that, SSR. Any advice on discrimination settings (target ID notches to accept and reject) on beach mode, depth/sensitivity, frequency or surface elimination settings would be appreciated (Garrett GMH CX3 on wet salt beach sand). I'm probably going to start out in beach mode, adding in a couple of notches to the pre-set on the lower end of the spectrum, to make sure that I don't miss any gold. I'm also going to start out with the depth/sensitivity set on 5 and then try to find the best setting (as high as possible without giving me false signals). Not sure where to set my frequency and surface elimination yet, but hopefully I'll figure it out with trial and error. I'm going to practice on dry beach sand first, before attacking the lane though. Since I'm a complete MD virgin, I wouldn't even recognize a false signal yet. I guess if I beeps a lot and I don't find anything ...................... lol SS