Why dig all them Pennies.

[Sandman]

Seven Reasons to Dig PenniesI | Detecting365 Metal Detecting Magazine Ya gotta read this!

 

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[ARC]

Dig it all and you will never have to worry about missing a thing

 

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[TerryC]

Let us not all exaggerate. Everything plays a role in digging and not digging. Sound, numbers, repeatability, depth, location, soil, instinct, skill level, type of target wanted, etc. all play a part. If all I listened to was sound then I would hunt with a PI exclusively. I give ALOT of credit to the guys that use Tesoros, but then maybe all they do is coin shoot?

Mike, I agree with most of what you say but I can say, using a detector since the BFO days (early '70s), ALL the extras fall in line BEHIND sound and experience. Most of the old farts (like me) will agree. After a few years of INTENSE detecting, it will become evident that iron-copper-silver sounds ARE different. The circuitry on the high end machines make better use of the extras that the low ends cannot begin to achieve. In that respect, yes, displays can aid the user. I am passionate about my hobby! Does it show? TTC

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Mike, I agree with most of what you say but I can say, using a detector since the BFO days (early '70s), ALL the extras fall in line BEHIND sound and experience. Most of the old farts (like me) will agree. After a few years of INTENSE detecting, it will become evident that iron-copper-silver sounds ARE different. The circuitry on the high end machines make better use of the extras that the low ends cannot begin to achieve. In that respect, yes, displays can aid the user. I am passionate about my hobby! Does it show? TTC

Yes Sir, I agree. Unfortunately I have a bad case of gold fever. I don't care if it sounds good, bad, bounces or not, repeats, it's coming out. I am blessed with very old sites, anything deep(over 5") is good stuff. Beaches are a totally diff animal, if it repeats, again it's coming out. If I was in a trashy park(which I avoid) then I would dig high tones only, those are easy.

 

[TerryC]

Incidentally, Mike, a pi machine's circuitry is different than the TR machine. Without going too deep into why, the pi's sound only indicates a target.... not what kind. TTC

 

[MrMikeJackie]

I know the diff between a PI and a VLF, believe me. I just don't buy it when a person says they can tell a good target from a bad one using sound only. Just not possible. I prove it every day. How can you tell the diff using a machine that has let's say 3-4 tones? What about targets that are next to "trash". What is "trash" anyway? A piece of can slaw? Sounds great on every machine I've used. Those old "farts" you mention must have dug ALOT of trash. Thanks for that by the way, you cleaned all the surface junk and left all the deep silver for me and my fancy display machine. Just kidding , Mike

 

[Prairie Prowler]

Good topic all I can really say is there are alot of variables in signals & targets.. too many too elaborate on ..when I was a amatuer LOL coin hunter I once had a penny signal nothing more ...dug it up and it was a barber dime sandwiched between 2 old wheats..Ha You never know..

 

[TerryC]

I know the diff between a PI and a VLF, believe me. I just don't buy it when a person says they can tell a good target from a bad one using sound only. Just not possible. I prove it every day. How can you tell the diff using a machine that has let's say 3-4 tones? What about targets that are next to "trash". What is "trash" anyway? A piece of can slaw? Sounds great on every machine I've used. Those old "farts" you mention must have dug ALOT of trash. Thanks for that by the way, you cleaned all the surface junk and left all the deep silver for me and my fancy display machine. Just kidding , Mike

Mike, we are going over ground that has been hashed over many many times. I respect your position. All I will add is if I am picking up (and removing) trash, you can rest assured that my motive is the treasure underneath which I will also pick up. I am not in the best of health anymore (at 66) and slowing down. In my hey day, I have pulled silver out of areas that were declared cleaned out by others. If cleaning out the trash gets the silver, then determination and persistence will prevail along with the better machines. TTC

 

[Sandman]

I am 74 and ready to just lay on the ground pushing a coil ahead of me so I don't have to get up and down.
Each detector whether screen or not is composed of various parts. Due to this some parts behave differently than designed and don't act proper. Some slip through quality control if there is any. Some are more sensitive to different freq. and then again some detectors are lets say hot on nickels. A lot depends on the sound and display set up. Sound takes precedent over the display. Deeper items don't display accurately. So if you just wanna have fun picking up surface coins a display type is for you. To really understand this you have to read the ebook.

 

[George (MN)]

I just coinshoot parks & schools, so digging everything might do too much damage, to grass &/or me. I'm 64 & have bad back (scoliosis), and I may have MS. Our ground tends to be hard, often very dry. This is why I prefer visual ID. But visual ID that was wrong or too jumpy to mean anything almost made me leave the hobby, and got me to check out some no visual ID detectors. Then came the Garrett AT Pro. In my moderately mineralized & often dry soil, it has the best visual ID at depth that I've experienced. It got a correct ID on a dime with every pass, & the dime was 7" deep. I do not consider that a surface find.

But in defense of digging pennies, the copper memorials are worth 3 cents for copper value. Digging zinc readings in old areas, could be Indian Head pennies or some years of wheat pennies, as conductivity is close. My AT Pro in my soil gets dimes with 80-85 numbers & copper memorials with upper 70s-low 80s numbers, so I can tell the difference & could dig dimes while choosing to reject copper pennies, when detecting a newer place. So, I don't believe meters don't reduce junk finds & don't believe that using visual IDs results in surface finds only. 7" is a tie for deepest coin dug, & AT Pro still IDed correctly!

In defense of digging zinc IDs at newer places, the Treasure Hunters Code of Ethics says we should remove all trash! Best wishes.

 

[aa battery]

I need the exercise. The more I bend over, the more exercise I get. But..... could not talk the doctor into writing a metal detector prescription! TTC

darn

 

[Capt Nat]

It's 93 degrees with a cloudless sky, if the humidity was just a little higher we would drown, I just left the shady area I was working headed for another patch of shade. It could ring like a church bell and flash across the screen "pirates hidden treasure chest" and I still wouldn't dig it or even slow down till I get to the next patch of shade. Then I go back to digging pennies... Such is summer life in Florida

 

[Sandman]

It's 93 degrees with a cloudless sky, if the humidity was just a little higher we would drown, I just left the shady area I was working headed for another patch of shade. It could ring like a church bell and flash across the screen "pirates hidden treasure chest" and I still wouldn't dig it or even slow down till I get to the next patch of shade. Then I go back to digging pennies... Such is summer life in Florida

You can look forward to winter.

 

[luvsdux]

Several years back I read a reference to small gold items often IDing as zincs. I decided to quit passing up zincs for a while and several zincs later, one turned out to be a small, black hills gold ring. I hate the stinkin things, but dig most of them since then.
luvsdux

 

[Fletch88]

It's 93 degrees with a cloudless sky, if the humidity was just a little higher we would drown, I just left the shady area I was working headed for another patch of shade. It could ring like a church bell and flash across the screen "pirates hidden treasure chest" and I still wouldn't dig it or even slow down till I get to the next patch of shade. Then I go back to digging pennies... Such is summer life in Florida

I found a cool, shady spot in FL! Right next to a manatee!

 

[The Urban Prospector]

View attachment 1206503My detector lied to me!!!! It told me I had a zinc penny when in fact I had this.

And you didn't get a banner for this?

 

[The Urban Prospector]

I used to work with a bunch of "old timer" engineers while I was an architect. When AutoCAD came out and began to grow in popularity they bucked against it with all their might. They complained that it was too perfect and made it difficult to see errors. But I will tell you that after some time, the company owners actually had to sit the entire company down and explain that although change is hard for many to accept, we must look at the positives instead of dwell on the negatives such as AutoCAD being 300% faster than pencil pushing. Anyhow, the discussion here reminded me of that time and I thought I would share.

 

[Phantasman]

Displays shouldn't really be used to ID treasure. I use it more to ID junk. 95% of the time I can ID a pull tab, the bane of our industry. That doesn't mean I couldn't miss that 5% as something else. As you get older and can only dig so many holes, you try to qualify the signal best you can before the creaks and snaps start setting in.

Displays help teach newbies, and are good for some of us slow old timers that still see the fun factor more than the professionalism. Remember. Some of us don't hear that well either.

 

[TerryC]

I used to work with a bunch of "old timer" engineers while I was an architect. When AutoCAD came out and began to grow in popularity they bucked against it with all their might. They complained that it was too perfect and made it difficult to see errors. But I will tell you that after some time, the company owners actually had to sit the entire company down and explain that although change is hard for many to accept, we must look at the positives instead of dwell on the negatives such as AutoCAD being 300% faster than pencil pushing. Anyhow, the discussion here reminded me of that time and I thought I would share.

Urban, You are talking in parables..... or did I miss something? I would very much hope for a more clear explanation of your point. Tnx. TTC

 

[The Urban Prospector]

Parables
Like I mentioned above, the argument that you are a newb if you use vdi is just immature at best. Just like saying a pencil and T-square is "better" than the state of the art technology found in AutoCAD. What is the motivation of such comments? That would be my question.

Really it doesn't matter how the next guy detects. How another person does their business makes no difference to my business. On the contrary, wouldn't a person's "finds" better qualify their ability as opposed to how they go about finding them? Just my two zincolns....

 

[TerryC]

Parables
Like I mentioned above, the argument that you are a newb if you use vdi is just immature at best. Just like saying a pencil and T-square is "better" than the state of the art technology found in AutoCAD. What is the motivation of such comments? That would be my question.

Really it doesn't matter how the next guy detects. How another person does their business makes no difference to my business. On the contrary, wouldn't a person's "finds" better qualify their ability as opposed to how they go about finding them? Just my two zincolns....

I'm sorry if I offended. Not my intentions. My point was that, as Sandman said, displays "lie". I will go on to say that "depth display" is also in the category of "liars". I have never known a depth display to talk true unless silver at under 2 inches. Granted, some high end machines do a better circuitry job than the average tool. But most will not pay for the extras in high end. Displays are not going away, they sell machines. And.... sound is not perfect either. I wonder how many have missed a gold ring because the display showed pulltab or nickel? If I dig a popular OLD park (more than 60 years old) I go "no discrimination" and hit the gridded area HARD, removing ALL signals to glean the goodies that others missed because they relied on the display. TTC