Earliest Metal detector Ad.....

[pegleglooker]

hey gang,
I was wondering what is the oldest metal detector ad you have seen ?? I have 2 ads to show, the first is from the June 1953 Desert Magazine issue and shows what ads were like before " metal " detectors. The second is the following month ( July 1953 ) and shows the first ad that says " mineral detector " from White's and cost was $129.50. Anyone have anything else

PLL



June 1953


July 1953

 

[Jeff(or)]

Cool ads Pegleg!!!!

 

[Tank69]

very cool

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Pegleg, look closer at the text/wording, and I think you will see that neither of those were metal detectors, either in name (- or lack of name) or function. The first one is some sort of light that was purported to shine differently on different minerals, it appears. Nothing to do with metal detecting. And the Whites ad appears to be in their days before they made metal detectors. Prior to detectors, they were in the geigor-counter radiation fad, and this (which clearly says it's measuring radiation), appears to be just another such item.

I've got some brochures from the earlier 1950s for actual metal detectors, but not "ads" from magazines. I dunno where Fisher and other early pioneers advertised, but I haven't seen any metal detector ads that predate about 1955 or '56. In magazines like your desert lore and True West type genre, I believe that about '55 or '56 is when ads start to appear. Usually for 2-box type. And if they were standard type, they were vacuum tube, that I bet could scarcely get a coin an inch deep. But ironically, that made them ideal for caches, since their very nature passed up all those "pesky small coins and trash" Hence you hear of lots of caches being found by very primitive machines, because people were hitting ghost towns for the first time, with machines that couldn't find anything smaller than a jar-sized item

 

[pegleglooker]

Ok Tom,
I took another look and here what I found. The first ad is from August 1953, and although it doesn't say " metal detector ", it sure looks like one. The first ad that uses the term " metal detector " is September 1953, so here are your ads I hope you like them. I still would like to see other early detector ads from across the country. Here on the west coast, I would say that Sept 1953 is where we are..... Until someone shows something earlier ( I hope )...

PLL


Aug 1953


Sept 1953 ( check out the 3 ft coil ) LOL !!!!

 

[richm]

Here's an old one for you!!!!! This is from a Oct. 1934 "Modern Mechanix" Magizine..........Rich

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Good Morning: Pegger,I had one of those Gardners, a Fantastic machine even by today;s standards. It was the 180 model and had a very comfortable balance. It had push buttun tuning and discrimination, but required a more complex system to electronically balance it than most. However, once balanced, it was a joy to use and could be used almost anywere, including hi iron content ground, and beach areas.

The orig coil was as you have shown,. This later became a flat coil as shown in the following picture of my share the 8 Reales recovery from the 8 mule train. The Last model that I had, had a single turn, 3 ft. !/4 " aluminum coil, extremely light and a genuine joy to use all day long. Man, could you cover ground with the 3 ' ft coil, it also had a 3 1/2 " coil as well as the standard 7" one. it handled hot rocks easily. It easily recovered coins to below the 1 ft and caches down to 18 ft.as well.

It had push button retuning, and discrimination. It could handle iron rich ground and hot rocks, as well as Beaches easily. The main problem was that you had to go through a three knob tuning, not simply automatic as are today's detectors. and you could not work brushy or tall Grass areas for coins.

The orig, used vacuum tubes with the heavy batteries with limited life, the latest used transistors with only 2 "C" batteries

Personally, I would love to have another one

It cost over $900 dollars when most were running around $100.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[pegleglooker]

Hi richm,
I actually saw that ad online..... that was pretty cool. Thanks for posting it.

PLL

 

[lostcauses]

I have one of them M-12 mineral lights. Glad to know the era of it..

Ahh them old tube type metal detectors. Fun stuff from way back when.. An book in the 30s if it can be found shows how to make and use some. Will see if I can find a link to one.. High priced the last I looked.

Any one remember the old twin boxes?? The old BFO tube types..

Most I never used, but were fun to play with in the yard and so on..

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yup pegleg, those last 2 pix are definately metal detectors. And I love how that second ad claims to enable you to find individual coins (as opposed to large objects only, as most could only do at that time). Great nostalgic look back!

I have an entire box of 1950s/60s detector brochures, books, advertisements, manuals, etc..... from Bill Hayes (some may know that name). I have periodically scanned and posted contents of the box, and posted them on this forum:

http://members6.boardhost.com/classicdetector/index.html?1172512320

scroll back through my posts over the last year or two, and you will see some early machines, ads, brochures, etc... I tried to post the oldest and most interesting stuff of the box so far.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

You are correct TOM. I went to Phoenix, Az to buy one. He had a small, bare, room as the front office. When I entered he was reading a western Magazine with his feet up on an old desk. When I told him that I was interested in a metal detector and would like to ask him some questions, he merely grunted, and reached into a box on the floor next to him, picked up a booklet, perhaps 4 x 6 ", tossed it to me, and said "Read it" and went back to his reading. Sheehs, NO sales push or pep talk, just non commital

Oh well, he did have an excellent machine, but the first ones had same quality construction as all of the others, crudely finished and hand wired wirh descrete components, and tubes he later refined this to produce an excellent series of detectors. His last one was transistorized and used a FET as the heart of the circuit.

I still have the hand drawn diagram that he sent to me when I had a problem. Want a copy Tom?

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Carson Coin Master]

that was a lot of money for anything back in the early 50's

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

HI my friend Carson: yes it was, but it quickly paid off. The two box units (TR) in those days, simply could not handle the ground matrix. The standard BFO and TR coin machines were in trouble with the soil's matrix also, nor did they have the depth either.

If you were serious in making a living at it, you had no choice.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[pegleglooker]

Good Morning: Pegger,I had one of those Gardners, a Fantastic machine even by today;s standards. It was the 180 model and had a very comfortable balance. It had push buttun tuning and discrimination, but required a more complex system to electronically balance it than most. However, once balanced, it was a joy to use and could be used almost anywere, including hi iron content ground, and beach areas.

The orig coil was as you have shown,. This later became a flat coil as shown in the following picture of my share the 8 Reales recovery from the 8 mule train. The Last model that I had, had a single turn, 3 ft. !/4 " aluminum coil, extremely light and a genuine joy to use all day long. Man, could you cover ground with the 3 ' ft coil, it also had a 3 1/2 " coil as well as the standard 7" one. it handled hot rocks easily. It easily recovered coins to below the 1 ft and caches down to 18 ft.as well.

It had push button retuning, and discrimination. It could handle iron rich ground and hot rocks, as well as Beaches easily. The main problem was that you had to go through a three knob tuning, not simply automatic as are today's detectors. and you could not work brushy or tall Grass areas for coins.

The orig, used vacuum tubes with the heavy batteries with limited life, the latest used transistors with only 2 "C" batteries

Personally, I would love to have another one

It cost over $900 dollars when most were running around $100.

Don Jose de La Mancha

I would looooovvveeee to see a pix of one of these " lights ".....< hint hint >

PLL

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

HI Pegger mi buddy: If you are referring to the the detector, I no longer have it. A mules' hard hoof stomped it. No, the mule lived a long happy life after, but the intentions were there.

However, if you look at the pile of coins in post #6, you will see the same type of control box in back behind the gal's hands, the long connecting rod with the large meter, the coil was just as large as the wheel / coil in the picture, but was a single turn of a 3 ft. 1/4 - 3/8 th Aluminum tube with just a 3 turn loop of small wire in it.

The unit balanced perfectly about the middle of the handle with the Tinning button and the Large meter just in front of this balance position. See lower picture in post #4 of the Gardener "3 ft coil"

Incidentally, that is my S&W .357 on top of the coins, a necessary aux. treasure hunting equipment in those days.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[MonDak]

Here you go pegleg

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,34220.msg235018.html#msg235018

topic # 7

 

[pegleglooker]

Hello Mondak,
Thx for setting up the link, I thought it might be better to post the pix here so others can see though ... It's really just a glorified dowsing rod... very interesting.... I wonder what it's " power source " was

​

Thx
PLL