I could use some help

[mikesand]

A friend's Father passed away last year and she has slowly been going through all of his belongings. She has come across a C&G wildcat detector. I know the company is defunct and the Gifford's went on to form Tesoro but that is all of the info I could find on the unit. Any thoughts or advice about the detector and if I should make her an offer on it if it still works would be appreciated.
HH
mikesand

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

That's circa late 1970s. Should you "make an offer", as in ......... to use the machine? Or as a collectible? On either front, it has little value. For detecting, it's a dinasour. For vintage collectible, it's not old enough. Oh sure, it would still "find things" (if targets were prolific enough), but you would be left in the dust in competitive environments, compared to today's machines.

 

[njnydigger]

Just my opinion, I'd pick it up if it's not more than $30 or $40 dollars. Why? Well, just by you thinking about purchasing it, it shows an interest in the hobby. A seed. By using the machine (if you buy it), it will give you a taste of what the hobby entails. Research, manual labor and patience. Oh yeah, no pay too

As mentioned, the machine IS a dinosaur. However, it'll still do the job. Even on a basic level. You'll still find "stuff". Whatever that may be. Then, after a few months, if the "bug" hasn't waned, you can always upgrade to something a bit more modern and capable. However, if you see that the hobby ISN'T for you, you've saved yourself at least a couple hundred bucks that a new detector would've cost you.

IMHO, this is the way to go. Soooooooo many people buy machines and get frustrated or don't find that "pot o' gold" and wind up selling them and leaving the pursuit after awhile.

If the price is right, pick it up and get out there. Then decide if this game is for you or not

 

[mikesand]

Really Tom, i should just tell my friend to toss it in the trash cause its not worth anything and a piece of $h!t. Just thought if I could get it and it worked it would be neat to try out a machine that our grandfathers of detectin' would've used.
nynj--I already have a detector and would buy this as something to have fun with, maybe a back-up of a relic, or something new(old)/different to try out. Sorry guys guess my goal was to try and find out what the machine WAS capapble of in its heyday, not what it isn't against a Whites $1200 machine. I obviously posted in the wrong forum.
HH
mikesand

 

[U.K. Brian]

To a collector who likes to have an example of the different detector working principle types you have something a little special. Its an off-resonance machine. There was one produced by C-Scope in England, a few by A.H.Pro and the Heathkit Cointrack GD-1190.

Their advantage was that they gave anomaly free discrimination. The drawback was lack of depth.

I have seen a coil sold for $80 this year and people advertising for the original handbook.

If it works or not its still got value to a collector. The price you should pay should be small even if working because the coil could pack up after a week then you would be hunting the classifieds for months searching for another. Coils were the week point. In fact C-Scope recalled and replaced their version with a VLF based machine because the major coil componant kept failing on the O.R. model.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Mikesand, this is an ok forum to post the question. Re-read your initial post. You did not make any qualifier, as you now have. Ie.: "just to see what our grandfathers used", verses "will it work, should I buy it", etc.... 2 different questions.

There was nothing there to indicate that you forbade comparing it to more modern machines, as a way to know "is it worth it". Thus, comparing to what's available now, ........ one would think ...... would be a wise way to answer? Sorry the answer was not to your liking.

 

[George (MN)]

I remember the C&G detectors from back when I started detecting. Seems their depth on coins was limited to about 2", at least around here. Their claim to fame was that you could drag a pulltab across the coil & not hear it.

I'm definitely not telling you if you should buy it or what you should pay if you do, that has to be your decision. HH, George (MN)

 

[mikesand]

Thanks Brian & George for your thoughts and info. Think I'll take it for a test run.
HH
mikesand