About myself

B

Bill W.

Guest
I justed want to say hello to everyone. I frequent many of the other forums on the net and only recently found out about this one... go figure. I live in Western Pennsylvania. I started out on a BH101. Two weeks later I bought a BH Land Ranger which served me well until I started hunting old sites. Then I bought a Minelab Explorer. I have owned various machines ever since but have kept my Explorer because it seems to suit me very well. I own the 5 & 15 inch coils for my Explorer. I also own a Fisher 3D with 8, 10.5 and 12.5 coils. I just bought a Nautilus IIB with 6, 10.5 and 15 inch coils. You can never own too many detectors... ;D I have some other machines in between but like the current arsenal very well. I have had the Explorer for 4+ years.

I mainly hunt old one room schools, old homes and foundations in the spring and fall. In the summer, when it's hard to detect those type of sites because of weeds, etc. I hunt parks and whatever else I can still find and hunt. I hunt mostly on the weekends but am an avid detectorist and rarely miss a weekend to get out and swing the coil. Last year I found 79 silver coins, 39 Indian Head pennies and various misc. coins like large cents, flying eagles, etc. My favorite coin was found in 2003 and was a 1786 Colonial Conneticut Copper. That year I found my second favorite coin and it was a 1906 Barber Half. Last year's favorite coin was a 1856 seated half dime found on January 1... ;D

Like I said, I am an avid detectorist and I hunt unless the ground is frozen... and that is saying something in PA! This week I was on vacation and hunted on Monday and found a 1876 seated dime, 1880 IH, some wheaties and some clad from a hunted hard park. It was an unusually warm day here at about 60 degrees on Monday. Yesterday I headed back to the same site and it was 26 degrees with the wind blowing.... brrr! But, the ground wasn't frozen.. :) I dug a 1923 Merc, 1888 IH, some wheaties, and some more clad. I have hunted the site that was mentioned on page 52 of the this months Western-Eastern magazine. I dug an 1876 seated quarter at this site plus various barber dimes and IHs... ;D I am not much of a clad person and don't keep track of any clad totals. Enough about me.

-Bill

PS I did NOT put the scratch on the seated dime... the camera makes it look ALOT worse! I can only see those scratches when I tilt the coin. Must be from being in the soil around rocks. It's one of the worst coins I have dug that shows those faint scratches. Maybe the age... who knows. HH!
 

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jeff of pa

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Nice Dime Bill & welcome. Hope you stick around & enjoy ..........;jeff
 

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mrmark55

Guest
Welcome to the fun Bill,
Nice dime. Boy the competition has really been heating up around here will all the good finds now that the weather has let up a little. I thought that I had found my first dollar today but it turned out to be a presidential commemorative coin instead.
Mr Mark
:-
 

lonewolfe

Gold Member
Feb 14, 2005
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Welcome Bill,

nice coin, keep em coming!

HH

Lonewolfe
 

nitro

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Dec 30, 2004
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Welcome to the forum Bill, you have had some very impressive finds. ?It is good to have you join us. ?Looking forward to seeing many more posts and pics from you. ?Happy Hunting. ?Joe
 

stoney56

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Oct 4, 2004
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Welcome Bill. I can tell you much prefer quality to quantity. Maybe you will be able to give us a few insights now and then cause no matter how long a person swings the coil we can still learn new tips. HH
 

Lowbatts

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Jul 1, 2003
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Elgin
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Nice set of detectors for sure! Ex II, Naut and 3D, I smell some serious detecting going around there! Welcome and keep us informed!
 

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minelabex1000

Guest
Bill W. said:
My favorite coin was found in 2003 and was a 1786 Colonial Conneticut Copper.?

WOW now this is a find! Did you keep the coin? How deep was it about?

That Explorer is a great machine. My choice now is the Excalibur 1000 for all my hunting.

Thanks for telling us about yourself.
 

OP
OP
B

Bill W.

Guest
WOW! What a welcome mat you guys put out! ;D I have noticed this is a very active forum. I am always looking for some tips as well as helping anyone that I can. I have alot of experience on the Explorer and am very versed in every aspect of it. Yes, I do prefer quality over quanity. The 1786 Copper was only about 4-5 inches deep. It is very well worn as many older coins are. I still have the coin. I'll have to look at see if I can find the image I shot. I found it on July 3, 2003... :) I was found in a field beside a 200+ year old stands. There was a one room school house that stood in the field where I was hunting. I did forget to say I am a believer in there's no one best machine... meaning no machine can find it all. All of the machines I have used have pros/cons... everyone. I have seen areas where my 3D seems to do better than my Explorer then there are areas it reversed. I haven't had too many hours on the Nautilus. It's a different beast that's for sure... it's something to play with. Thanks for the nice welcome!

-Bill
 

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minelabex1000

Guest
I can't get over the 1786 Copper. That is so cool!

I sure hope you can find that picture.

I almost won the bid on one on ebay but got blasted by someone who could afford to pay more. It was real and in good condition.

Did you know they have lots of 1786 fakes floating around on ebay? People even sand down large cents and try to restrike them. Someone recently paid like $550 (something like that) for a fake. Poor guy thought he got a bargin.

You should be thrilled that you know yours is the real McCoy.
 

Mona Lisa

Gold Member
Jan 13, 2005
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Welcome, Bill. It's good to hear from another PA member. You must be from southwestern PA, because where I live it didn't get to sixty degrees! I'm from NW PA. I'm just a newbie waiting for the snow to melt....reading and learning.
 

OP
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B

Bill W.

Guest
Haupin, I live right above Altoona.

minelabex1000,? my 1786 is very well worn...? :(? I did find an image of it.? It was taken outside so the contrast isn't that spetacular.? The image is at

http://www.pbase.com/bellwoodmder/image/40722194

So you know what you're looking at here is a direct link to one in good condition.

http://www.coinfacts.com/colonial_c...6_ct_coppers/1786_ct_copper_miller_4.01_G.htm

There are many different varieties even for the same year.? There's even a bust right and bust left... :)? How's that for variation within a year?? Here's another link...? it was very interesting to research this coin when I found it...? I didn't realize there were that many different versions of the same year of coin.

http://www.coinfacts.com/colonial_coins/connecticut_coppers/ConnecticutCoppers.htm

HH! and thank for the interest in the copper... :)

-Bill
 

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minelabex1000

Guest
I'd take one in that condition any day. Thanks for the picture and info.
 

JARMAN

Bronze Member
Jun 10, 2004
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;D ONE THINGS FOR SURE IS YOU HAVE LANDED ON THE BEST OF THE WEB,If you can learn it its here.lots of KNOW HOW AND A BOOK OF INFORMATION TO BE HAD WITH THE POSTERS.Welcome and look forward to your post and help.HH
 

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