Money (Dip) Needle info

History Digger · Oct 1, 2015

To all you experts here in our line of hobby.....Riddle me This:
Enclosed is a picture of a money needle I have acquired from a friend several years ago. The internet shows practically nothing other than 1 ad I found for a similar gizmo. It had a pointer in the shape of an arrow. Mine is two vials. Looks like one side contains gold the other some form of grey material. It has two glass chambers that can be loaded with I assume gold and silver??
As the story was told to me....the vials were loaded with gold and silver. You would go to your bank and borrow this to go locate and dig up your money....Take it back to the bank along with your land payment. During the depression people were using them to dig up other peoples buried savings and the bank confiscated the dip needles and done away with them?? Please help with information and how to make it work.

Charlie P. (NY) · Oct 1, 2015

Please help with information and how to make it work.

Think happy thoughts and sprinkle pixie dust over yourself.

As neither gold nor silver are magnetic it relies on magic. The concept does work for detecting fluctuation in the earth's magnetic fields; but not whether the culprit is any specific non-ferrous metal.

THE DIP NEEDLE AS A MAGNETOMETER

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/dowsing/36868-spanish-dip-needles-miner-s-compass.html

Magnetometer - Encyclopedia

BosnMate · Oct 1, 2015

When I was a kid I used to read all the treasure hunting magazines I could lay my hands on. I remember an ad for something like this in one of those magazines. At the time
I wrote if off as a hoax, kind of like map dowsing which was also the rage.

ARC · Oct 1, 2015

How cool... I want one.
Just to hang on the wall if nothing else.

Back-of-the-boat · Oct 1, 2015

Thought it was a torque wrench at first :laughing7:

.

sutphin · Oct 2, 2015

DANG FIRST FOR ME . AMAZING FINDS CROSS THIS SITE FROM TIME TO TIME .....

bigfoot1 · Oct 2, 2015

I'd love that as a wall hanger.To use effectively stand 3 feet from buried gold...then walk 3 feet towards gold. then dig said gold and go get your dipper from truck.next point the dipper at the unearthed gold.It will tell you right where you placed gold every time.

stefen · Oct 2, 2015

Map dowsin's too easy...its making it work on a blurry newspaper picture or a greasy napkin is the true test...

History Digger · Oct 4, 2015

Thanks for all the replies. If it's only a so said magnetometer why would there be two empty vials for loading? My friend bought this from a shop and the seller emptied the gold and silver out of the vials. My friend(67 yrs old) also stated his neighbor when he was a young boy had a needle like this. The man would walk through the woods with his gizmo, come back and then leave the house on trips for weeks at a time. After the trip the man would come home, head back out through the woods, stay gone several hours, return....then off on another trip. It's just interesting that there is limited info on the web and I've never seen another one like it in person.

bigfoot1 · Oct 4, 2015

go buy enuf gold and silver to fill it.what did the old timers know? then show us what happens.It reminds me of early health products...you know...the ones that were"amazing"

releventchair · Oct 4, 2015

History Digger said:
Thanks for all the replies. If it's only a so said magnetometer why would there be two empty vials for loading? My friend bought this from a shop and the seller emptied the gold and silver out of the vials. My friend(67 yrs old) also stated his neighbor when he was a young boy had a needle like this. The man would walk through the woods with his gizmo, come back and then leave the house on trips for weeks at a time. After the trip the man would come home, head back out through the woods, stay gone several hours, return....then off on another trip. It's just interesting that there is limited info on the web and I've never seen another one like it in person.

Others may have a better answer but the question of why it has two vials? You only use one with a sample of what you are trying to locate, I think.
Maybe they were preloaded ,one with silver and one with gold to interchange depending on what the one did or did not indicate. Just switch to the other to have a go at what it represented.

History Digger · Oct 7, 2015

releventchair said:
Others may have a better answer but the question of why it has two vials? You only use one with a sample of what you are trying to locate, I think.
Maybe they were preloaded ,one with silver and one with gold to interchange depending on what the one did or did not indicate. Just switch to the other to have a go at what it represented.

I have one vial about half full with silver I've melted down...However, filling the other vial with 14-24carat gold is really on the expensive side #notsoeasy. I will try separating the vials and see how it reacts.

Charlie P. (NY) · Oct 7, 2015

And what do you think putting either gold or silver in the vial might accomplish?

Especially relative to the weight of the steel the "instrument" is made out of. Or the glass of the vial. Put some cat litter in it and see if you can locate your cat's litterbox. Bet it doesn't help.

RobRieman · Oct 8, 2015

Charlie P. (NY) said:
And what do you think putting either gold or silver in the vial might accomplish?

Especially relative to the weight of the steel the "instrument" is made out of. Or the glass of the vial. Put some cat litter in it and see if you can locate your cat's litterbox. Bet it doesn't help.

At least it will be worth something when you fill the vials

History Digger · Oct 8, 2015

Give me a break

Charlie P. (NY) said:
And what do you think putting either gold or silver in the vial might accomplish?

Especially relative to the weight of the steel the "instrument" is made out of. Or the glass of the vial. Put some cat litter in it and see if you can locate your cat's litterbox. Bet it doesn't help.

Look, seriously I'm not sure how a lot of gizmos work..I have used a loaded dowsing rod before loaded with gold or silver(it was made of stainless steel) and it worked every time you went near a gold or silver target! I was excited about this particular section of the forum and I have been trying to research this dip needle for almost 3 years now. There was a man on eBay last year that had the same identical needle listed for $9,000. I tried contacting him but he never replied back. I certainly don't need to fill it with cat litter so you can have a laugh at my expense. Save your sarcastic comments for Facebook. Thanks

pfour2 · Mar 31, 2016

Money needle

Hey History Digger,
I happen to have an old money needle that I inherited from my Grandparents. I used to live in Tennessee where they lived and we used it quite often. Mine is a long rod with gold, silver and copper in the glass tube at the end of it . It has a copper coil on it close to the gold tube and also a place for a small light bulb and then a handle on it that you hold . If there is gold ,silver or copper around it will point to it up to a quarter of a mile. Sometimes it would have to be "tuned up" so they would take it to an electrician (actually he was a T.V. repairman ) . As close as I can figure out , I think he just degaussed the machine the same as they would a T.V. back then . This was in the sixties and early 70's. I have used it when it was working and it really pulled hard when there was gold around. I have a picture of it if I can figure out how to put the picture on here .

Tommy G · Apr 1, 2016

That is really interesting. When I Googled money needle, a previous TN string on the subject popped up. It had a thumb nail of a newspaper article citing folks using these to look for money. I'm going to hold on to the photo and share it with some old timers to see if I can get more info.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting/172183-money-needles-1930-detecting-devices.html

relic lover · Apr 1, 2016

I find this topic extremely interesting.

pfour2 · Apr 1, 2016

If you liked that picture of it , I will post a couple more close ups of the money needle . It is actually called a dowsing instrument , I think , . Last year I bought another dowsing instrument from a man in North Carolina . It was a little over 3k dollars. But it is supposed to be top of the line and the most sensitive instrument available now . It has a small chamber that you put a sample of whatever you want to find into and it will find it .
Back to the old money needle , It has a chamber to put 2 or 3 "D" size batteries into to power the coil and it also energizes the gold , silver and copper in the end of it. Hope you like the pics.