mrmastadon
Jr. Member
I'm a recent convert to the incredible world of metal detecting. Sometime in 2020, sitting around bored at home like so many of us, I decided to pull the trigger on a new toy and bought an Equinox 600. I read up as much as I could on the machine, watched any relevant Youtube videos I could find, and began following several of the online message boards. With every awesome find by my fellow detectorists, I grew more and more addicted myself. By the end of the year, it seemed I had done reasonably well: just over $100 in clad, one 14K wedding band, and a handful of post-1900 silver coins.
But the really old stuff was still eluding me. I continued to read and asked a few questions. Several members on this board chimed in with invaluable advice -- their generosity one of the many things I've appreciated so much about this hobby the more I've gotten into it. I started listening more to the machine, started digging some deeper and more questionable targets, started interrogating targets longer and from more angles. In the new year, I also decided to get serious about site selection. I pored over old maps, marked sites, did recon when I had a little time to spare. What they say is true: metal detecting is work, and the more energy you put into it, the more you are likely to get out.
Within the last two weeks, I'm thrilled to say that all the legwork and well over 1000 hours with the machine finally paid off. Poking around in park woods about 20 minutes from my house (with very little else in the way of signals) the detector suddenly went off with a *loud* 21-22. The pinpointer screamed at me. Surely a bottle cap... but you know, what the heck, let's see. Out of the ground came what certainly appeared to be a coin, though it was too obscured by caked-on dirt to confirm anything at the time. I brought it home and carefully cleaned it, and was finally rewarded with a really-nice looking 1865 two-cent piece -- my oldest coin!
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile. But today I went out again to a different spot, another site that appeared to be the general location of a old homesite. Lots of iron in the ground. A good omen, but a total PITA trying to sift through the constant machine-gun grunting of the detector. About 45 minutes in, I hit a really jumpy 28-34, four bars down. There was some grunt to it as well, but I could get a decent tone in two directions, so I dug. Large Cent! My first, and now certainly my oldest coin. It's pretty trashed from the soil and there's not a chance of getting a date off of it, but I'm delighted anyway.
Apologies for the long story, but I wanted to post it as an inspiration to any detectorists that might have recently gotten into the hobby and who might be feeling frustrated or feeling like everyone else finds the good stuff. The treasure is very much out there, perseverance truly pays off, and at the end of the day if you're enjoying a little exercise and being out the fresh air, that's all that matters.
Photos of the two coins are attached. And since it's my first one, I'm actually not sure which type of large cent this is... so people smarter than me, please chime in!
Happy hunting to all!
-Andrew
But the really old stuff was still eluding me. I continued to read and asked a few questions. Several members on this board chimed in with invaluable advice -- their generosity one of the many things I've appreciated so much about this hobby the more I've gotten into it. I started listening more to the machine, started digging some deeper and more questionable targets, started interrogating targets longer and from more angles. In the new year, I also decided to get serious about site selection. I pored over old maps, marked sites, did recon when I had a little time to spare. What they say is true: metal detecting is work, and the more energy you put into it, the more you are likely to get out.
Within the last two weeks, I'm thrilled to say that all the legwork and well over 1000 hours with the machine finally paid off. Poking around in park woods about 20 minutes from my house (with very little else in the way of signals) the detector suddenly went off with a *loud* 21-22. The pinpointer screamed at me. Surely a bottle cap... but you know, what the heck, let's see. Out of the ground came what certainly appeared to be a coin, though it was too obscured by caked-on dirt to confirm anything at the time. I brought it home and carefully cleaned it, and was finally rewarded with a really-nice looking 1865 two-cent piece -- my oldest coin!
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile. But today I went out again to a different spot, another site that appeared to be the general location of a old homesite. Lots of iron in the ground. A good omen, but a total PITA trying to sift through the constant machine-gun grunting of the detector. About 45 minutes in, I hit a really jumpy 28-34, four bars down. There was some grunt to it as well, but I could get a decent tone in two directions, so I dug. Large Cent! My first, and now certainly my oldest coin. It's pretty trashed from the soil and there's not a chance of getting a date off of it, but I'm delighted anyway.
Apologies for the long story, but I wanted to post it as an inspiration to any detectorists that might have recently gotten into the hobby and who might be feeling frustrated or feeling like everyone else finds the good stuff. The treasure is very much out there, perseverance truly pays off, and at the end of the day if you're enjoying a little exercise and being out the fresh air, that's all that matters.
Photos of the two coins are attached. And since it's my first one, I'm actually not sure which type of large cent this is... so people smarter than me, please chime in!
Happy hunting to all!
-Andrew
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