New To Metal Detecting...First Day...Minor Success

[OtlFrutiger]

Hi Folks,

I had my first metal detecting hunt today. Got a hold of an older detector and looked out in the yard a half hour before it got dark. I found 34¢! I know it's not anything big, but it was still pretty exciting for a first time out. Happy hunting!

 

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[zuludon]

you have allready jumped the first big one and the second one all so get out and hunt and get your coil over where good things are in the dirt. great start keep on swinging

 

[Terry Soloman]

Congratulations! You are on your way to Big Gold!

 

[Hawgwild]

Congrats on the finds...pretty no to MD myself and when I don't have time to run to a favored spot I play in the yard a little...found an old nickle today in about 20 minutes. Still fun to get a good signal and find something. Childrens playground areas in local parks have been good to me so for...

 

[TerryC]

You know you gotta say you're past the point of no return! TTC

 

[63bkpkr]

How did you decide to even try metal detecting? What was the impulse that started this 'Quest' of a lifetime as once started it is likely to continue till the end. All of us started somewhere and for me as a little kid in and around Detroit Michigan I was always finding money on the ground. At times it seemed like it was everywhere and this would have started around 1949 or 50 as a little kid. I dug my first Indian head penny planting an apple seed in my 'Granny's' backyard. I found my first twenty dollars, paper, coins and resellable tickets at Schwaben Park, most likely somewhere in Dearborn. The place was covered in deep wood chips so a lot of coins went straight down till they were out of sight. And this took place when times were not real good in the U.S. So yes lost money is every where. I built my first detector from plans in an electronics magazine, then I built a Heathkit detector and then made the big leap to a Whites 6000D Coinmaster. I was shy about being out in public detecting until I found my first Gold ring. I noticed the sidewalk outside the chamber of commerce in Redwood City CA was all torn up exposing the dirt that had been there since the sidewalk was put down. That is where I found the gold ring, I'm still trying to find the original owner of that ring (what is a good way to search for a Portugese person?). Also, what metal detector model/brand do you have? So keep swinging and the best of success to you.......63bkpkr

 

[OtlFrutiger]

Well, I guess I came to it in a roundabout sorta way. Back about a year ago, last December, while visiting the in-laws I got the treasure hunting fire lit right under me something awful. I always liked the idea of finding treasure when I was a kid but what I saw that night made it seem more possible. My mother-in-law decided to show us a stash of silver coins that her father had set aside for her back in the '50s. She pulled a big metal tin out of the attic and inside were rolls and rolls of Walkers, Franklins, Peace dollars, Morgans, Washingtons, Standing Liberties—the whole bit. Now granted at the time, I didn't know to call 'em that. I just thought they were some pretty cool, old looking coins. As I read the dates, and looked at the coins, I started to wonder about all of the stories behind these little pieces of history. Some were over a hundred years old, and I figured they were probably worth something. I started looking up the dates on my phone; doing the math and inventory, it wasn't long before her collection totaled over 10k in silver value. The whole experience kinda shocked me and made me jealous at the same time. Some of the websites I was looking at on my phone that night told me that the coins were 90% silver. This was also intriguing to me. This was actually like finding treasure. For the next couple of days, it was all I could think about. I found myself driving around to all the area banks and asking the tellers if they had any half-dollars or old coins. Well, as you can guess I got about a million "NOs", then finally one "Yes." A teller handed me a '64 Kennedy Half, and with my best poker face I gave her back two quarters. The scam had worked! I had gotten real silver money for next to nothing. I didn't know what it was called or what I was doing yet, but it turns out I was already a coin roll hunter. A few weeks later, I scraped together $500 bucks and started buying boxes of rolled coin. Then I started ordering, and so on, and so on. Now I go through about $5000 in coin every week. My wife first thought all of this was crazy, until I cracked the $2500 mark in silver a few weeks ago. I've never really gotten into watching t.v. too much but I do go sorta crazy with hobbies. I bought a Pioneer Bounty Hunter 101 a few days ago at a yard sale. It was an impulse buy ($20). As I read up on it, I've learned that it's not that great of a machine, but due to my collection, I was able to test it with a lot of different kinds of coins and settings before I took it out today. I'm definitely hooked. I like being outdoors and I love finding silver treasure, so I plan on keeping at it for a long time to come. I thought it was pretty neat finding the nickel today, the sound that it made. Because of the tests I did before going out, I knew that sound either meant gold or a nickel. It was thrilling.

 

[63bkpkr]

Otl,
Thank you that is quite a beginning story and I totally understand what you are talking about. I think all of us appreciate the value of some of the items we find and a silver coin is such a treat to locate as it sounds so good. I like your description of how you know what your detector is telling you, my old 6000 D was like that for me and a silver coin made it sing a sweet note.

Gold will find its way to your coil one of these days and that will cause a real thrill to run through you.
Best of success........63bkpkr