Gold or silver...

[DFX-SE Gregg]

Ok this post finally has me asking the question... which would you rather find..

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,127227.0.html

The silver coins are fun but....on average worth a buck or two...a decent gold ring even in scrap maybe $60-$70 bucks...so what would you rather find in a year (this was one hunt)....10-20 gold rings or 500 to 1000 silver coins...I think a mix would be nice... I notice most on t-net find alot more of one or the other....wondering if our high silver guys are discriminating all the gold out seeing most do not post hardly any gold. But I am fascinated by the amount of gold rings some find...I ended year with 21 gold or silver rings...6 gold...15 silver...tons of junk rings...

I saw a guy on a forum goes by the name of Scully....seems to be right near the top...tons of gold...a nice mix of silver and I think had a picture with around 19,000 coins in it last year....also a ton of watches and jewelry..leading me to believe the beach hunters...really do find more.....

 

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[DFX-SE Gregg]

One other thing also noticed people with high end detectors notching anything below a dime...I did this in November...and cleared $100 in clad for month..but it became very predictable..dime...dime..quarter...quarter...dime... Kind of missed those surprises that make the hobby fun...

 

[seas1to2]

myself I am in it for the hobby so I like a nice mix,I have found so many plain gold wedding bands, I ,myself get more excited finding a nice silver ring with a cool design then I do with just another plain gold ring, but I really like the good gold with all the stones an designs the best.As far a finding more gold at the beach, the enviroment makes losing rings better an also the fast digging lets you did every target unlike a park with hard dirt or parks with a pound of trash every 5 feet.

 

[Ricardo_NY1]

I guess it's all about what the person wants to find Gregg. I've made it a point to find some gold next year.............but only for a profit to buy equipment. With that said, I could find a gold ring (I have) and go home feeling empty as far as the hunt. A nice silver coin, merc, etc makes my day. Just one is all it takes.

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

I guess it's all about what the person wants to find Gregg. I've made it a point to find some gold next year.............but only for a profit to buy equipment. With that said, I could find a gold ring (I have) and go home feeling empty as far as the hunt. A nice silver coin, merc, etc makes my day. Just one is all it takes.

Yes...I guess you are right...it must depend on each person hunting... Seeing gold seems much harder to find...I guess that is why some enjoy it more...also the value does not hurt... The silver coins are exciting too...but the ones I find are usually not in the type of condition or grade that would make it in my collection...

 

[Mirage]

Somewhat of a philosophical question to me. When I go hunting I like to come home with something worthwhile. Most of the spots I hunt there is a high probability that I will come home with at least one silver coin. I can go to a dozen different spots where I live looking for a silver or gold ring and chances are 9 out of 10 times I will come home with nothing but a little clad. I don't like coming home 2 out of 3 times without something decent let alone 9 of 10. I just loose hope too quickly. I try to talk Nate into going "ring" hunting but he wants nothing to do with it(most likely for the same reason as I).

 

[Green1]

i'm a coin freak first... but i don't disc out anything at all.. if it's there i wanna know what it is, even the pulltabs,, i use them as clues to the site..( older spots ) things will change this year , as i'm moving to a place that's 20 steps to the most happening beach south of boston, if i can start hittin gold, i'll be going for that instead of old coins,, i'll do old coins at least once a week though, it's in my blood....

 

[oldplacesnofinds]

Always coins. That is why I started this great hobby.

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

i'm a coin freak first... but i don't disc out anything at all.. if it's there i wanna know what it is, even the pulltabs,, i use them as clues to the site..( older spots ) things will change this year , as i'm moving to a place that's 20 steps to the most happening beach south of boston, if i can start hittin gold, i'll be going for that instead of old coins,, i'll do old coins at least once a week though, it's in my blood....

Good point...I am a little cheap when it comes to driving to spots and because I hunt in mornings after work also way to tired to drive 20 miles...but there are directly 10 parks in my path on way home...those were the ones I hit repeatly all last year. I will need to hit some fresh spots myself but hopefully these parks continue to produce. I just remember finding my first gold ring over 20 years ago...what a feeling! Back then the silver was easier to find and I remember finding the gold meant a lot more then the first silver. Also I guess if I found more silver coins it would be fun...but as I said the ones I find...except for one of the barbers from last year...were either common date or very worn...so I enjoy jewelry finds more...being a low conductor and having to pick it out from the trash or dig all the trash I guess makes the big difference...where as with silver a lot of people claim they know when it is silver....

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

Somewhat of a philosophical question to me. When I go hunting I like to come home with something worthwhile. Most of the spots I hunt there is a high probability that I will come home with at least one silver coin. I can go to a dozen different spots where I live looking for a silver or gold ring and chances are 9 out of 10 times I will come home with nothing but a little clad. I don't like coming home 2 out of 3 times without something decent let alone 9 of 10. I just loose hope too quickly. I try to talk Nate into going "ring" hunting but he wants nothing to do with it(most likely for the same reason as I).

I guess that is why some of us hunt alone..good point though...

 

[rmptr]

Greg, I'm sure you're right.

It's all about physics and probability.

As soon as the hand hits cold water the fingers shrink... off slides the ring in a splash.

Land activity?
Well, a pendant, medal, or earing can fly off in sport, but impact sports cause swelling of the hands.
It's darn near impossible to get a ring off after playing handball!

We have plenty joggers and fast-walkers around here... they tend to clench their fist or many tightly grip a small dumbbell in each hand. Pretty hard to lose a ring off a fist!

Congrats on your spectacular coin record!
Will you try for a ring record this year?
Seems like a great goal to me.

Ha! A Plunder Scully Contest...
Good hunting!

R M P T R

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

Greg, I'm sure you're right.

It's all about physics and probability.

As soon as the hand hits cold water the fingers shrink... off slides the ring in a splash.

Land activity?
Well, a pendant, medal, or earing can fly off in sport, but impact sports cause swelling of the hands.
It's darn near impossible to get a ring off after playing handball!

We have plenty joggers and fast-walkers around here... they tend to clench their fist or many tightly grip a small dumbbell in each hand. Pretty hard to lose a ring off a fist!

Congrats on your spectacular coin record!
Will you try for a ring record this year?
Seems like a great goal to me.

Ha! A Plunder Scully Contest...
Good hunting!

R M P T R

A ring record me no..I cannot do that! I only ended up with 21 quality rings...6 gold, 15 silver so not me... I will probably dig less coins...I will be discriminating out some of the zinc pennies...something the dfx easily allows to do...But I would like my dollar amount to go even higher...also would like to at least double my silver finds...I was happy with the gold and silver...had earrings, pendants, bracelets...so I cannot complain...I am just happy with whatever the earth gives me...but what I have decided to do is learn a little more about my detector. I am currently reading Jeff Foster's book digging deeper with the dfx... Also I am watching for a deal on a Minelab se...which my dfx has already started paying for after paying for itself...

Also I would look to those joggers still to lose rings...hands sweat...so i expect that is how they are losing rings by those paths... I found quite a few car keys right on the joggers paths in a few parks...so I am sure they are losing other stuff too! Good luck in 08...I am going to try to get my first hunt in Sunday or Monday...even if it is a short one...

 

[rebelLT]

Gregg. I like old stuff period. I guess I would have to classify myself as a silver coin hunter. I have started digging alot more of the low conductors now that I switched to a minelab. I find it's much better at digging nickels and I'm right on with the ID on those about 90 percent of the time. As for gold............I've never had much luck with it. I made it one of my goals to find 10 "good" gold rings this year. My hunting time is limited to say the least and pull tabs P!SS me off so I dont find many gold rings. I spent the last week digging about 200 pulltabs and beaver tails with only one gold piece and it was a pendant. I'm gonna stick with it though, at least until I met my goal. I guess I need to change my hunting spots to find gold rings. Your right about the value of the finds. With gold prices being what they are I could see that finding rings would be WAY more profitable than the common silver that I find. The SILVER coins are in my blood though

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

Gregg. I like old stuff period. I guess I would have to classify myself as a silver coin hunter. I have started digging alot more of the low conductors now that I switched to a minelab. I find it's much better at digging nickels and I'm right on with the ID on those about 90 percent of the time. As for gold............I've never had much luck with it. I made it one of my goals to find 10 "good" gold rings this year. My hunting time is limited to say the least and pull tabs P!SS me off so I dont find many gold rings. I spent the last week digging about 200 pulltabs and beaver tails with only one gold piece and it was a pendant. I'm gonna stick with it though, at least until I met my goal. I guess I need to change my hunting spots to find gold rings. Your right about the value of the finds. With gold prices being what they are I could see that finding rings would be WAY more profitable than the common silver that I find. The SILVER coins are in my blood though

Great reply and post...

 

[TheTreasureAddict]

GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver,

Wait, what were we talking about! EHEHHE! I love to see gold come out of the ground! It so beautiful and you usually got a story with every Gold you find because theyre so memorable! BUTT I do love cleaning silver and having it go from BLACK to a beautiful SILVER!

GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver,

Wait, what, OOO,

Crackbadger out!!!

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver,

Wait, what were we talking about! EHEHHE! I love to see gold come out of the ground! It so beautiful and you usually got a story with every Gold you find because theyre so memorable! BUTT I do love cleaning silver and having it go from BLACK to a beautiful SILVER!

GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver! GOLD! But I love silver,

Wait, what, OOO,

Crackbadger out!!!

Well said makes sense to me!

 

[Colonial KirkPA]

Gregg,

As you may know, I like the old coins. I mainly focus on the early American coppas, but also hope to find that Spanish wilver on my sites. It is such a thrill to be the 1st one to hold that coin in over 200 years.

I think it takes more time and patience to dig the gold items. I have the time and patience, but would rather not dig 5,000 pulltabs on my quest of one 10K ring.

That is what makes this hobby so great. There are many different items to hunt for. Keep doing what you are doing, Gregg! I wish you luck in 2008! Go pay for that SE now!

BDD...Kirk

 

[epi-hunter]

Hi Gregg... this is a good question, and one I've been asking myself lately.

It's really all about the old coins for me (silver or not), and I used to walk over the mid-tones because I didn't care about digging rings (and that probability thing that someone mentioned... rings in the turf are few and far between compared to pulltabs and trash). Since I got the SE I decided to dig all the mid-range tones... there are so many different mid-range tones I need to learn them all. And since doing that, I've found a couple of rings (and somewhere around twelve thousand pulltabs ). Still not the same as a coin, to me anyway, and a lot of work for the effort when I keep seeing posts from the water detecting guys who pull out a dozen or more gold rings on a good day...

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

Hi Gregg... this is a good question, and one I've been asking myself lately.

It's really all about the old coins for me (silver or not), and I used to walk over the mid-tones because I didn't care about digging rings (and that probability thing that someone mentioned... rings in the turf are few and far between compared to pulltabs and trash). Since I got the SE I decided to dig all the mid-range tones... there are so many different mid-range tones I need to learn them all. And since doing that, I've found a couple of rings (and somewhere around twelve thousand pulltabs ). Still not the same as a coin, to me anyway, and a lot of work for the effort when I keep seeing posts from the water detecting guys who pull out a dozen or more gold rings on a good day...

Yes you are right...the water guys are amazing! But for me pulling out a gold ring because they are hard to find makes it a challenge... Also they really help to buy more equipment... I decided when I got back in the hobby...everything will be paid for in finds... Makes me go out alot more than I used to. The quickest way to buy more is gold...especially with todays prices... Pulling out a Merc is fun but unless a key date...even 100 might not equal one nice sized gold ring find value wise that is of course unless a key date.....But my clad already paid for my dfx...this year the clad is paying for an se... Will be interesting to hunt with both...

 

[epi-hunter]

Yes you are right...the water guys are amazing! But for me pulling out a gold ring because they are hard to find makes it a challenge... Also they really help to buy more equipment... I decided when I got back in the hobby...everything will be paid for in finds... Makes me go out alot more than I used to. The quickest way to buy more is gold...especially with todays prices... Pulling out a Merc is fun but unless a key date...even 100 might not equal one nice sized gold ring find value wise that is of course unless a key date.....But my clad already paid for my dfx...this year the clad is paying for an se... Will be interesting to hunt with both...

Great point, and I'm starting to think along those lines lately too.... the challenge is what got me into this hobby neck-deep. Who wants to do things the easy way?

I will be really interested to hear what you think of the SE after using the DFX. Why did you decide on the SE? Are you going to switch over, or use both? I had an opportunity to pick up a DFX for a really good price a few weeks ago, and I almost took it but I passed it up because I have my hands full with the SE (you know your DFX way better than I know my SE at this point...). But I have been really tempted to try the DFX, because so many people love it and for the added challenge. But I need to master this SE first, I think. Whites and Minelabs are so different, and high end complicated machines from both might throw me off the deep end at this point