The beach erosion at San Diego beaches was great at some spots and at others, the waves merely dragged sterile high berm sand down onto the normal wet sand areas. I didn't score any gold during this storm , but pulled a nice silver ring with a diamond (which has the right sparkle to it - I think it's real) from below a 4 foot beach cut. The ring was black and purple when I pulled it, indicating it had been there for some time.
Also scored some other silver, including a cross with chain that was also purple/black on retrieval.
I bought an eTrac a week ago and have used it both at the beach and my old turf spots. I like the balance and weight of it, though I'm still getting the hang of pinpointing this thing. I hit a couple of spots that we've pounded with F75s and Explorers and managed to pick a couple of more keepers, including this Texas transit token from the ~ 1950s:
Also got a nice deep (10 inches, calibrated true depth) sash buckle from a spot where I pulled an 1899 Barber last year:
A 1910 wheatie was deep also, around 8 inches:
I also dug a deep wheatie that had a screw cap immediately above it. The wheatie called out loud and clear, though the ID was bouncy. Now I know why.
I'm also happy with a wheatie streak I've got going at a particular park, 40+ straight hunts with at least one wheatie.
No silver coinage recently, but I got this nice pendant from the turf:
and a running shoe, which didn't read as silver:
Then last night I hit my favorite spot, the Pumpkin Patch, which I've hunted over 50 times now. I found this HUGE medallion on the ground next to an excavated hole. It was pretty bent up when I found it and in the dark, thought it was trash. I'm convinced one of my hunting buddies dug this and left it there!
Although it has an 1830 date on it, it's obviously not that old. Some of the inscriptions include "Sodality of the B.V.M." (Blessed Virgin Mary), "Pray for those who have recourse to thee". It's a honker of a medallion for sure.
I'm liking the E-Trac on the beach, I can run a gold-only program if the beach is thick with recent coin drops, or run a quickmask and use Ferrous tones. Goes plenty deep and the ID is great on our clean beaches, but suffers a bit on our iron-rich beaches, like Torrey Pines, renowned as the toughest S.D. beach to hunt. The machine wants to ID everything as zinc here, until I back off on the sensitivity a bit. Happy digging everyone! - Jim
Also scored some other silver, including a cross with chain that was also purple/black on retrieval.
I bought an eTrac a week ago and have used it both at the beach and my old turf spots. I like the balance and weight of it, though I'm still getting the hang of pinpointing this thing. I hit a couple of spots that we've pounded with F75s and Explorers and managed to pick a couple of more keepers, including this Texas transit token from the ~ 1950s:
Also got a nice deep (10 inches, calibrated true depth) sash buckle from a spot where I pulled an 1899 Barber last year:
A 1910 wheatie was deep also, around 8 inches:
I also dug a deep wheatie that had a screw cap immediately above it. The wheatie called out loud and clear, though the ID was bouncy. Now I know why.
I'm also happy with a wheatie streak I've got going at a particular park, 40+ straight hunts with at least one wheatie.
No silver coinage recently, but I got this nice pendant from the turf:
and a running shoe, which didn't read as silver:
Then last night I hit my favorite spot, the Pumpkin Patch, which I've hunted over 50 times now. I found this HUGE medallion on the ground next to an excavated hole. It was pretty bent up when I found it and in the dark, thought it was trash. I'm convinced one of my hunting buddies dug this and left it there!
Although it has an 1830 date on it, it's obviously not that old. Some of the inscriptions include "Sodality of the B.V.M." (Blessed Virgin Mary), "Pray for those who have recourse to thee". It's a honker of a medallion for sure.
I'm liking the E-Trac on the beach, I can run a gold-only program if the beach is thick with recent coin drops, or run a quickmask and use Ferrous tones. Goes plenty deep and the ID is great on our clean beaches, but suffers a bit on our iron-rich beaches, like Torrey Pines, renowned as the toughest S.D. beach to hunt. The machine wants to ID everything as zinc here, until I back off on the sensitivity a bit. Happy digging everyone! - Jim