Anyone here got any examples of coin detecting pre-dating 1965? Here's one:

[Tom_in_CA]

I got into detecting at about 14-ish years old, in the mid 1970s. As a result of a Jr. High school chum letting me tag along . He had a Compass 77b, and we'd go to the school yards and dig change. On a good day, we'd get a few wheaties, perhaps a buffalo or merc, etc... I was hooked. Ran out and got my own, and have had the bug ever since. Pushing 40 yrs now

That jr. high school friend of mine had older brothers, who were 20 to 22-ish yrs. older than him & I. So when my friend and I were in Jr. High, this friend's older brothers had already settled down, gotten married, had kids, served in Vietnam, etc.. etc... Ie.: they were in the mid to late 30s, while this youngest brother of theirs was only 14-ish !

The oldest of the brothers related the following story: In about 1962 or '63, when he'd just graduated from high school, he was leafing through one of those "Old West" or "Arizona deserts" type magazines. In the classified ads in the back, he spotted a line ad that said "Find buried treasure". You were invited to send off to receive a catalog The guy mailed off his request, and soon, a Whites Co. catalog was in his mail-box. He looked through their various offerings, and decided on a giant box BFO machine. Mailed off his $150 or whatever. And was soon the proud owner of a metal detector.

Mind you, he'd never actually seen one in use. Had no idea how to operate it, barring the instructions that came with it. He put it together, tried it out, and .... it could actually find coins. Albeit to perhaps only 2 or 3" deep He read in the instructions the "suggested places to take it". The obvious: Beach, ghost towns, schools, parks, fairgrounds, etc..... He saw "...schools", and decided to try it out at the older elementary school in our town (blt. 1921).

Right off the bat, was finding coins. All silver (and wheaties) mind you, since this was still only about 1963, so silver was still in circulation. To his or anyone's knowledge, he was the first person in our town to swing one, be at the schools, etc.....

They didn't even know enough to use headphones aprons, listen for whispers, etc.... For some reason they thought "the louder the better" (and didn't catch on to the concept that older coins were deeper, till later, haha). So they ended up with a high percentage of quarters and halves, since, go figure, those present larger targets to hear, and things were virgin then.

They never actually had the presence of mind to try it out it more exotic places like ghost towns, urban demolition, etc... They might have tried briefly at exotic sites, but ... tended to favor easy school yards d/t less "junk". And while plying for current change in virgin md'ing times seems a shame, yet .... go figure. At this time a student worker's minimum wage might still have been less than $1 p/h in 1963 and '64. So for them to get a few quarters per hour, plus an occasional ring and stuff, was good money in those days I suppose

Anyone else got example stories of anyone hunting prior to 1965 ?

 

[trojdor]

I can't pre-date 1965, but while in first couple years of college in Chicago (in 1973 and 1974, when minimum wage was $1.60/hr and later $2.00/hr), I found I could make more by hunting the parks and playgrounds with my AH Pro than by working a job.
I'd pick out the newer clad for gas money for the VW (gas was also cheap then) and food (McD's had a special...small burger, drink and fries for 99 cents).

Then I'd save the silver and jewelry in a box, and try to clean up the dark/dirty clad enough to use later in the college's coin-op food dispensers.

It was a lot of fun back then...little to no 'competition'. I found countless silver literally on top of the ground.
'Worked' as hard as I needed to. But if I didn't get out, I went hungry...good lesson to learn early.


mike

 

[Tom_in_CA]

good story Mike. When I was in High school (graduated 1980), the minimum wage was 2.90 then 3.10. So I don't recall ever having the mindset that I could make more in change (clad) metal detecting, then working at fast food. Unless I'd been venturesome enough to have had the first TID detectors, and gone only-for-quarters. haha.

But what I DO recall, was when I was a senior in high school, and the silver melt value had reached such that we could get $1.50 then $2.00 for each silver dime scrap value! At that point I actually did the math on whether or not it was better to work a minimum wage job, or simply detect for silv er coins. But alas, college plans got in the way, and parents would have had a heart-attack thinking their son is goofing off playing instead of working or getting educated. And then of course the high prices of silver didn't last that long. But I do recall that fleeting thought , for a brief high school moment, that I was better off detecting, then working an after-school job