ironman200081
Active member
I have had the Manticore for just over a year now. My digging buddy, moreb, and I got them at the same time for the purpose of opening up all of our old sites that were no longer yielding any goodies for our CTXs. We have spent the last year exclusively hunting sites that we had gone over before with other machines including the CTX, the E-Trac, and the Fisher F-75. Not to mention everybody and their goofy cousin has also detected these sites. To say these sites have been pounded is an understatement.
We believe there were still lots of desirable targets to be found, but they were being masked by trash and iron. And boy were we right. We've spent the past year pulling many many silver coins and other desirable targets from these supposedly hunted out spots. Most of the silvers have been dimes with the occasional quarter, which makes sense because the smaller coins were more likely to be masked by the trash and iron that carpets these sites. While we had found many big silvers in our career with other machines, neither of us had pulled anything larger than a quarter with the Manticore.
Fast forward to Saturday. We met up and went out to a public spot that moreb has hunted for decades and I have been hunting since I got into the hobby 16 years ago. It is the trashiest place we know. All kinds of trash. Iron trash, aluminum trash, tin, another random metals probably carried here by aliens. The Manticore has helped us sniff out dozens more silvers from this spot over the past year.
Over the winter, they had moved some dirt around for some construction and placed the dirt in piles. We went out and hunted at that time, maybe 4 months ago, on a day so cold my nose hairs were freezing. On Saturday we saw that they had finally spread the piles back out. We fired up the machines and tried to strike it rich. Moreb got on the board first with a 1940s coin spill featuring a 1941 Mercury dime and two wheat pennies. I was having no luck except for modern coins, and a few 8-in deep memorial cents that I was sure were going to be silvers. The dirt was tough. There was trash in every coil swing, multiple trash signals even. Nails from 16 penny all the way down to horseshoe. It was a regular who's who of American nails.
After several hours, he comes up to me to show me the "half dollar" he found, which was a brass hose fitting that he said was showing 93 on the Manticore. I made the quip that I had never found a half dollar yet with the Manticore. We both laugh and went back to swinging. Not more than 5 minutes later, I hit a 92 signal just below the surface. I figure it's a giant piece of brass or maybe if I was really lucky, a silver quarter. I stuck my digging tool under the earth and popped out a 1904 Barber half dollar. I couldn't believe it. I called moreb over and told him I couldn't believe it.
Finding a good find will definitely reset your focus. We got back to scanning the ground with intensity and just a few feet from where I found the half, I got a 78 signal. It was also just below the surface. I popped it out expecting to find a wheat penny, but I was surprised to see the shining silver of an 1890 Seated dime.
I quickly mentioned to him that I have never found a gold coin or silver dollar with the Manticore yet either, hoping to speak those finds into existence. We didn't find anything else to brag about the rest of the day, but it was quite an experience. We couldn't believe that there was big silver still detectable in that public place. I am sure there are still other good finds waiting there under the iron carpet. I do know that I think the Manticore is the best tool available to try to find them.
We believe there were still lots of desirable targets to be found, but they were being masked by trash and iron. And boy were we right. We've spent the past year pulling many many silver coins and other desirable targets from these supposedly hunted out spots. Most of the silvers have been dimes with the occasional quarter, which makes sense because the smaller coins were more likely to be masked by the trash and iron that carpets these sites. While we had found many big silvers in our career with other machines, neither of us had pulled anything larger than a quarter with the Manticore.
Fast forward to Saturday. We met up and went out to a public spot that moreb has hunted for decades and I have been hunting since I got into the hobby 16 years ago. It is the trashiest place we know. All kinds of trash. Iron trash, aluminum trash, tin, another random metals probably carried here by aliens. The Manticore has helped us sniff out dozens more silvers from this spot over the past year.
Over the winter, they had moved some dirt around for some construction and placed the dirt in piles. We went out and hunted at that time, maybe 4 months ago, on a day so cold my nose hairs were freezing. On Saturday we saw that they had finally spread the piles back out. We fired up the machines and tried to strike it rich. Moreb got on the board first with a 1940s coin spill featuring a 1941 Mercury dime and two wheat pennies. I was having no luck except for modern coins, and a few 8-in deep memorial cents that I was sure were going to be silvers. The dirt was tough. There was trash in every coil swing, multiple trash signals even. Nails from 16 penny all the way down to horseshoe. It was a regular who's who of American nails.
After several hours, he comes up to me to show me the "half dollar" he found, which was a brass hose fitting that he said was showing 93 on the Manticore. I made the quip that I had never found a half dollar yet with the Manticore. We both laugh and went back to swinging. Not more than 5 minutes later, I hit a 92 signal just below the surface. I figure it's a giant piece of brass or maybe if I was really lucky, a silver quarter. I stuck my digging tool under the earth and popped out a 1904 Barber half dollar. I couldn't believe it. I called moreb over and told him I couldn't believe it.
Finding a good find will definitely reset your focus. We got back to scanning the ground with intensity and just a few feet from where I found the half, I got a 78 signal. It was also just below the surface. I popped it out expecting to find a wheat penny, but I was surprised to see the shining silver of an 1890 Seated dime.
I quickly mentioned to him that I have never found a gold coin or silver dollar with the Manticore yet either, hoping to speak those finds into existence. We didn't find anything else to brag about the rest of the day, but it was quite an experience. We couldn't believe that there was big silver still detectable in that public place. I am sure there are still other good finds waiting there under the iron carpet. I do know that I think the Manticore is the best tool available to try to find them.
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