Scored Some Oldies at Golden Gate Park...

Captn SE

Silver Member
Apr 1, 2007
2,774
13
Southern CA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE; X-1 Target Probe; Pro Coil, 6x8 SEF, Coiltek Platypus Elliptical, Sunray X8, Expl. 1050 coils
Hello Everyone,

I got a chance to drive up to Golden Gate Park in SF, CA and hunt with many Northern Cal. MD'ers on the Kinzli CA Detecting forum. We hunted the infamous Big Rec area of the park. It consists of two baseball diamonds adjacent to each other, with one big outfield. The sheer # of MD'ers out there swinging Explorers was amazing. Probably close to $30000 dollars worth of detecting machines on that field last Wed. What a sight to see!! There were lots of look-e-loos everywhere wondering what the heck we were all doing out there. One person came up to me and asked if we all worked for the park. I said "no we are looking for old coins". He said "Oh, I see", and just walked away. I would have showed him my finds, but I guess he wasn't interested.

I think everyone had a great time whether they found something or not. I think many gained a much better understanding of the ability to find oldies at a very stingy hunting area, not by swinging their coils and hearing all kinds of noises, but by meticulously watching the ones who were making good finds. In fact, I think everyone learned a little something to place in their detecting diaries . Or maybe some learned never to come back to Big Rec again. I will admit, it was challenging finding the real deepies out in the middle of the field.

The first pic is my totals from Big Rec. I hunted there for 3.5 hrs on Monday, a half-day on Tues, and about 8 hrs on Wed.

Totals:
2 Washingtons (’45,’52)
8 Mercs (’17, ’20,’23,’39,’41,’43(2),’44)
3 Rosies (’48,’49,’53) Believe it or not, but the ’49 Rosie is my first out of 265 silver coins this year so far…
2 Buffalo Nickels (no-dates)
12 Wheaties.
One nice Scoville Mfg. Co. Waterbury button which dates between 1852-1860.

The other pic is from other finds from Golden Gate Park and Alamo Square. I found a 1912 barber dime at 4” , a 1919 Canadian Large Cent (my first), and a nice .925 ring with red rubies all around it.

My trip/stay here was very enjoyable. I came home with plenty of that “hard-to-come-by” San Franciscan silver, and met a lot of great folks who get just as much enjoyment out of the hobby as I do.

The pics of the field of Big Rec show just a few of the MD'ers out there that day. It was hard to get them all in the pic at once. They were spread out everywhere in that field.

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan
 

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Upvote 0

M-Squared

Sr. Member
Mar 4, 2007
424
0
Long Beach, California
Detector(s) used
White's Eagle Spectrum XLT & Bullseye II Probe
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Way to represent us So Cal MD'ers, especially the ones from LB. Saw the thread on Kinzli's.

PS: I've cleared out all of the clad at Rec Park in LB for you to find the silver deepies...

PPS: Sorry I left the pull tabs...

Congrats on your finds....

HH from MM
 

shootist

Hero Member
Aug 5, 2006
759
36
The hills of central Kentucky
Detector(s) used
Explorer 2
Wow really great hunting,love seeing all the silver and that large cent is a sweetie. I was curious was it only Explorer users or were there just a large number of Explorers there? Was there a lot of trash so you had to use the small coils or were most of the folks using the great big coils?...Shoot
 

OP
OP
Captn SE

Captn SE

Silver Member
Apr 1, 2007
2,774
13
Southern CA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE; X-1 Target Probe; Pro Coil, 6x8 SEF, Coiltek Platypus Elliptical, Sunray X8, Expl. 1050 coils
shootist said:
Wow really great hunting,love seeing all the silver and that large cent is a sweetie. I was curious was it only Explorer users or were there just a large number of Explorers there? Was there a lot of trash so you had to use the small coils or were most of the folks using the great big coils?...Shoot

Thanks, MM. So you've been detecting Rec. Park in LB, huh?? I've pulled so many oldies out of that park. Some 36 silver coins and hundreds of wheats. Everytime I go back, I find some oldies. Found my first IH from there last month. It's getting real thin there now. Thanks for cleaning the clad out of there for me. ;)

Hey, Shoot. The hunt was open to any of the CA Kinzli forum members. All machines were welcomed, but I think here in CA, lots of md'ers have realized to give themselves the best chance at finding the real deepies at a very hunted area with lots of deep iron, the only way to go is the Explorer. There was very little trash out in the field area. It had been cleaned out in the past, but the soil there is highly mineralized with lots of deep iron clumps/nails left over from the tents they put up after the 1906 earthquake. San Franciscans whose homes were destroyed during that earthquake lived in tents for weeks in that field of Golden Gate Park. The iron is remnants of the structures that they broke down afterward. I think the most used coil was the stock SE/Explorer 2 coil (10.5"). I was using Coiltek's Playtypus Elliptical (11" x 8.5"), and doing well with it.

Dan
 

LuisTH

Full Member
May 9, 2007
214
2
Detector(s) used
Whites DFX series with 9" coil and 18" coil.
Very cool finds, congrats man.
 

Mirage

Silver Member
Sep 16, 2005
3,718
38
Cleveland, OH
Great finds. Love the mercs and the barber. Canadian LC is cool too. ;D

Thin? If that is thin I would hate to see what you call fat. The parks here in Cleveland still have some silver,wheats, etc. But you can hunt for 4 hours and get a couple coins. That is what you call thin.

So did most of the people at least find one silver?

Bob
 

OP
OP
Captn SE

Captn SE

Silver Member
Apr 1, 2007
2,774
13
Southern CA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE; X-1 Target Probe; Pro Coil, 6x8 SEF, Coiltek Platypus Elliptical, Sunray X8, Expl. 1050 coils
Bob,

I'd say only one-third of the md'ers out there found a silver coin. Many got skunked. The Big Rec area of Golden Gate Park has been pounded to death over the years by md'ers. All the coins in the flats are 7+" in heavy iron. They are tough finds. It is a very challenging place. But lots of fun. If you find one coin out in the flats, you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Many detectors were used that day by one gentleman testing different models. The only one that seemed to perform well out there was the explorer.

Dan

Mirage said:
Great finds. Love the mercs and the barber. Canadian LC is cool too. ;D

Thin? If that is thin I would hate to see what you call fat. The parks here in Cleveland still have some silver,wheats, etc. But you can hunt for 4 hours and get a couple coins. That is what you call thin.

So did most of the people at least find one silver?

Bob
 

Mirage

Silver Member
Sep 16, 2005
3,718
38
Cleveland, OH
Hey Dan, thanks for the additional info. I know I find more satisfaction out of finding good stuff at sites like this.

One more question - For this site did you push your sensitivity up toward the max or just use a modest setting? I find that for the deep stuff in iron if I push up the sensitivity too much(beyond 24) I get more masking and do not necessarily improve my finds.

Bob
 

T

TreasureTales

Guest
The 1912 Barber dime looks like it's in great condition. WTG on all the silver thus far in the year. Hope you'll post more pix and post often here on TreasureNet. Lots of Californians here on TNet, too, ya know?!!
 

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