Question About Detecting Back in the 60s, 70s, 80s

[BryanM362]

Question About Detecting Back in the 60's, 70's, 80's

I've heard that back when metal detectors first became availalbe to the hobbyists, that old coins, silver, gold, and jewelry was easy picking.

Can some of the folks that hunted back then share some of their experiences? Was it really that easy? Were the parks loaded?

Thanks!

 

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[lookindown]

There was no T NET to share your finds...chalk one up for the here and now.

 

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[BryanM362]

I had to open up a time capsule to shed some light on this subject. I got my first detector, an all-metal (no disc) BFO Jetco Huntmaster, in the spring of 1974. It was followed in 1975 by the Garrett Discriminator; another BFO, which had a fixed disc point somewhere between foil and nickels. I used the Garrett for most of the rest of the decade before getting out of the hobby for a while. Those old machines got very little depth on coins, maybe 2-3” at the most. When I first began hunting I put all my coin finds into a jar. By the time it was full, the novelty had kind of worn off and I just began spending my clad finds. The original jar remained untouched however, and I decided to open it up today to see exactly what my totals were. Here’s the result: Wheat Pennies- 146 Memorials - 414 Silver Dimes – 27 Clad Dimes - 76 Silver Quarters – 8 Clad quarters - 39 Nickles – 71 Even though clad coins had only been in circulation for nine years they still made up the majority of quarter and dime finds. Memorials vs wheats show a pretty similar ratio. I’m sure this is due to a good amount of the silver being out of reach of most of the machines back then. The majority of these coins were found in a small park down the street from where I lived. No doubt, the guys who hunted it in the late 1970’s and early 80’s with adjustable disc, manually ground balanced, VLF machines saw a much better ratio of silver to clad, especially with a good deal of clad having previously been removed from that spot. From posts that I've read, it does seem like those who hunted back in that late 70's early 80's time period seem to remember finding the most silver.

That is awesome! An actual time capsule example!

 

[roaddust66]

I knew people and heard stories of coin and civil war hunting in the late 60's. The Metrotech seemed to be the one I heard most mentioned around here in Chattanooga. As far as depth goes , they only picked up small items down 5 or 6 inches. But it was easy picking on the battlefields. Later in the mid to late 70's there were detectors that had serious depth but not much discriminate. Fisher ruled supreme here in the civil war sites. The Fisher 441 and up thru the Fisher 555D. Garretts were not common around here. Whites were the dominate coin machine and Fisher was the top civil war relic hunter. On up in the late 70's all of the companies did seem to get caught up with each other on performance. The Garrett Groundhog and Fisher 555D of the late 70's could find a bullet at 10 inches. Their disc was not very good so a lot of people hunted in all metal and dug every signal. It is no wonder that these days you go into a civil war camp and you hardly even hear a signal. They have been picked clean with hunters using the all metal mode. I am still peaved at Garrett because I saved hard earned money to buy a ADS Deepseeker only to find out a Fisher 555D would walk all over it. Then i had to buy another detector at a cost of almost $400 when I was only making about $250 a week. I still hold a grudge towards Garrett. I always felt they spent more on advertizing and less on engineering

 

[fyrffytr1]

Back when I started detecting in the 70s we would go to a construction site where the top soil had been removed and walk the site first to pick up the stuff laying on top of the ground. This was in Maryland and the town I lived in was either Union or Confederate occupied for the duration of the war. Civil war relics were a common find, bullets and buttons were almost as annoying as pull tabs today!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

....... Civil war relics were a common find, bullets and buttons were almost as annoying as pull tabs today!

I read a post from a New York city area hunter, who recollected that back in the 1970s, being amongst the first to work the larger (and or upscale) parks, like Central Park, Prospect park, etc... (at least with the first good discriminators, and/or first motion discriminators), that they actually "got tired of digging up IH's". They would get so many IH's, that they actually began to detest them. Because, of course, they preferred the barbers and seated silvers.

Doesn't your heart bleed with sympathy for those guys in those days ?

 

[tanz 82]

my grandfather started in the 70's in Marblehead mass. down on the beaches . He tells me stories of going at 3 or 4 in the morning so not to have gockers . he would detect by moonlite and flashlight . His favorite time to go out was right after a storm, he said there would be coins everywhere and the occasional ring or necklace . One story he told me was that he filled his pockets with coins mostly silver "since it was so close to 64" he went home to dump the coins cause he would walk there then went back to get more and there were a few people on the beach by that time . the people started following him and asking him questions about what he was doing so he went home.

 

[el padron]

El padron, the lost & found laws which you allude to, have not changed. They are the same back then (60s, 70s, & 80s) as they are now. In the 1960s, or '70s, if someone got wind that you found their "rolex watch", no, it was not "finders keepers" then. Nor is it now. There's always been an obligation to seek out the right-ful owner, and turn things in to the police depts. These laws were born out of wandering cattle laws of the 1800s. So nothing's changed.

Tom, technically you may very well be right, but there is no doubt that the scale, attitudes, perceptions, and actual level of enforcement has certainly changed a lot....
Whatever you found diving in the ocean before about 1970 was yours to keep.
Today it belongs to the country it originated from, the state you live in, or the country that last plundered it it,
Beaches or state parks were not concerned with metal detecting at all until about the early 80s.
Actually the laws have changed a lot......

 

[Mudflap]

I've been at it since 72 and do not find the larger coins anymore in the local parks. They are worked hard, but still find lots of goodies.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

....Whatever you found diving in the ocean before about 1970 was yours to keep.
Today it belongs to the country it originated from, the state you live in, or the country that last plundered it it,
......

I bet if you could go back in time, to 1970, and took that thing you "found diving" to enough bureaucrats from the country it originated from, that ....... yes, even then .... you'd have found someone to say "that belongs to us". The difference is, there wasn't enough people asking those type silly questions back then. The laws haven't changed. They're just more alert to apply to us those ancillary things. You know, like "collect" and "take" and "harvest" and "cultural heritage", etc.... all pre-date metal detectors. Right? So that you don't cut down the trees, harvest the beach sand for commercial usage, destroy the egyptian pyramaids, etc... Were they ever meant to apply to singular fumble finger losses ? Probably not. Could they apply? SURE, just keep asking long enough and hard enough, and sure, someone will eventually say "yes". Thus the laws haven't changed. Only application, interpretation, and enforcement.

 

[saltednuts]

yes the 70s were great used a garrett bfo machine did well now I use a fisher cz5 and do just as well some of my best finds were with a garrett gta 1000 and my fisher just ordered a fisher cz 21 hoping to do more beach hunting to get what others walked over.been detecting 40 + years slow steady coil low and listen and know your machine regardless of what kind it is good luck theres plenty left to find

 

[Bucketfreak317]

Wow this one brings back memories yet kind of lets me know I'm getting old,I had a detector in the late 70's that I'm sure was a whites I have no clue how I even swung the thing I was just a scrawny kid,in the early 80's I got another that was a 6000Di I believe made for Sears it to was a heavy monster I found a watch with this one that the case was solid gold a late Indian head lots of wheat's and at least one buffalo and the only two coins I have from that time in my life which are mercury dimes,and a lot of memorials and clad.
In fact I still have the whites Sears model today still in working condition don't ask why,but by 1984 I lost interest and pretty much left the hobby for twenty some years I can't say I found these targets to be easy pickings nor could I say I found a lot of old old silver and I don't recall digging anywhere as deep as I've dug lately with disappointing results I might add but its still early in the year where I live and I'm just getting back into detecting as well.

 

[EagleDown]

I read a post from a New York city area hunter, who recollected that back in the 1970s, being amongst the first to work the larger (and or upscale) parks, like Central Park, Prospect park, etc... (at least with the first good discriminators, and/or first motion discriminators), that they actually "got tired of digging up IH's". They would get so many IH's, that they actually began to detest them. Because, of course, they preferred the barbers and seated silvers.

Doesn't your heart bleed with sympathy for those guys in those days ?

I really feel sorry for them!! NOT!!! In about 1966, Santa brought me a Bounty Hunter, by way of my wife. 10am Christmas morning found me at an old beach on the bay side of Anna Maria Island in FL. In less than 50 yards of the narrow beach, I found a pocket full of silver coins. For some strange reason, no pennies. On the way back to my starting point, (closer to the water), I got a clean signal and dug about 4" deep in the wet sand, for an old babies SS ring with a pearl setting. It was so old, that about 3 layers of the pearl was worn off by the sand. (lol) A few feet further, I got a signal that more than paid for the Bounty Hunter AND the next 2 more expensive detectors that I bought. I had found an 18K ring with a 2ct emerald setting. WooHoo!!

On the way back to the car, I passed by a picnic table. I noticed that someone had been moving pine needles around like they were searching for something. I turned the Bounty Hunter back on and about a foot or so from where they were looking, I found another SS ring.

Incidentally, earlier, someone said that military mine detectors were not used to find coins. I'm sorry, but no disrespect intended, but they were wrong. I'm not sure, but I think his name was Wagner(?), was using a mine detector near Sebastion Inlet on the East coast of FL, when he found some old Spanish coins from the "Plate Fleet" that went down during a hurricane. This led to the discovery of one of the Spanish galleons being found off shore. I don't remember all of the details, but I think this ultimately led to the creation of Treasure Salvors and the recovery of the treasure of the Spanish Galleon Attocha. All history now.

But, as to your question of being easier.......a resounding YES!! I remember metal detecting the dirt/grass between the street and the side walk, around the court house in the heart of Bradenton. There were parking meters all the way around the block. I literally found pockets full of nickles around and near every parking meter. (lol)

I use to have a paint and body shop outside of town on E st. My wife stopped in one day and asked if she could take the B.H. outside and try it out. I was busy with paperwork, so told her to have fun. She came back in a few minutes later and asked "Honey, what kind of coin is this"? I took the dirty old thing from her hand, thinking it was an old steel washer. I stepped in the rest-room and rinsed it off and found myself staring at a turn of the century Barber half. Never did figure out where that came from. (lol)

Incidentally, what started me in on this thread was the poor, poor guys who were finding so many IH cents. I have a bag with about 1,500 wheaties in it that I've found over the years, but, I've never found an IH. Now that really sucks!! (lol)

 

[Tom_in_CA]

eagle-down, thanx for the nostalgic look back at your 1966 detecting introduction

As for the mine detectors, Wagner, etc.... I believe he only used the mine detector to find the location of the possible survivors/salvors camp on the beach. So only to lead him to larger items.

If he did use a mine detector for individual coins, then it wasn't a WWII mine detector. Supposedly one was experimented with during the Korean conflict, which was said to be able to get a quarter down to several inches. And by the Vietnam conflict, yes, those might have been sensitive enough for individual coins.

 

[EagleDown]

eagle-down, thanx for the nostalgic look back at your 1966 detecting introduction

As for the mine detectors, Wagner, etc.... I believe he only used the mine detector to find the location of the possible survivors/salvors camp on the beach. So only to lead him to larger items.

If he did use a mine detector for individual coins, then it wasn't a WWII mine detector. Supposedly one was experimented with during the Korean conflict, which was said to be able to get a quarter down to several inches. And by the Vietnam conflict, yes, those might have been sensitive enough for individual coins.

Tom, I can't argue the point, I wasn't there at the time. (lol) I only know what I read in the papers. Then again, I could be mistaken on the WW11 bit. I'm not sure that anything was said about the era of the mine detector, so I was probably just assuming. I don't imagine there's anyway to research back that far, so I don't guess it really matters one way or another now. (lol)

In any case, thanks for the correction on that part!

Eagle

 

[Mackaydon]

In the early 70s I lived in a beach rental in Marina Del Rey. Any evening, I could go out and MD till I found $1.00 in coin, then come in and eat.
And on very windy days, the coins would appear on the surface as the wind blew the top cover of sand away, leaving the coins to simply pick up.
Don....

 

[JunkShopFiddler]

I started with a Garrett MH7 in the early 80s. Went to an abandoned skate rink for my first hunt. Got right out of the car, put the coil on the ground and bing!... Standing Liberty quarter 2 inches down.