CZconnoisseur
Active member
Started the day thinking we were to hunt an old homesite but the rain just wouldn't quit. Got out to the old site and couldn't find the telltale chimney, so started to head back home in disgust since the rain was not in the forecast and felt cheated on my day off!!!
So decided to hit the old fairgrounds until the sun went down - this was around 2:00 - as soon as I got there the rain quit and I could finally get out and swing! This is the place of legendary trash levels, so my go-to program for here is Deus Fast in 8 kHz. I remembered that using this same program in 12 kHz had an affinity for small aluminum items, which this site has plenty of, so 8K seems a more logical choice for me.
Seemed like the hours spent sifting through the trashy sidewalk strips paid off - got a solid 92...not too strong, not too faint...and pulled my first-ever Barber dime from about 5" along with a nail which was actually touching the coin! Rescanned the area and 2 feet way I got a medium-strength midtone, and then pulled an aluminum screw cap from 6" down - go figure! Still getting fooled by bottlecaps at times, but these are getting to be less of a hassle - they have a chopped sound if they are less than 4" deep. Deeper than that it gets harder to distinguish, and if I had a control box it would be much easier! All in good time...
Found the FORD emblem around 4" down and figured it would be trash, did a little research and found that it fits a 1928-1931 Ford truck. Knew it had to be around that vintage since automobile emblems were made from pot-metal in the late 1940s to late 1970s, plastic after that; but prior to the pot-metal era they were mostly brass or bronze base metal with chrome and/or enamel inlays or plating.
Pressing on I came across a mid-to-high faint signal, but it repeated from all directions. Scooped out a 6" deep plug and found a 1895 Indian cent at the bottom of the hole! First Indian of the year! And to finish off the day I dug a repeatable mid-toned target, without looking at VDI which turned out to be a dateless Buffalo nickel - another first for the year! 2014 is off to a great start and I now have a "spot" to go hunt for old coins...the fairgrounds are old enough to have Seated coins, but according to old pictures and maps I'm expecting to find items from about 1885 onwards - now all I need is the weather to cooperate on my off-days!!!
So decided to hit the old fairgrounds until the sun went down - this was around 2:00 - as soon as I got there the rain quit and I could finally get out and swing! This is the place of legendary trash levels, so my go-to program for here is Deus Fast in 8 kHz. I remembered that using this same program in 12 kHz had an affinity for small aluminum items, which this site has plenty of, so 8K seems a more logical choice for me.
Seemed like the hours spent sifting through the trashy sidewalk strips paid off - got a solid 92...not too strong, not too faint...and pulled my first-ever Barber dime from about 5" along with a nail which was actually touching the coin! Rescanned the area and 2 feet way I got a medium-strength midtone, and then pulled an aluminum screw cap from 6" down - go figure! Still getting fooled by bottlecaps at times, but these are getting to be less of a hassle - they have a chopped sound if they are less than 4" deep. Deeper than that it gets harder to distinguish, and if I had a control box it would be much easier! All in good time...
Found the FORD emblem around 4" down and figured it would be trash, did a little research and found that it fits a 1928-1931 Ford truck. Knew it had to be around that vintage since automobile emblems were made from pot-metal in the late 1940s to late 1970s, plastic after that; but prior to the pot-metal era they were mostly brass or bronze base metal with chrome and/or enamel inlays or plating.
Pressing on I came across a mid-to-high faint signal, but it repeated from all directions. Scooped out a 6" deep plug and found a 1895 Indian cent at the bottom of the hole! First Indian of the year! And to finish off the day I dug a repeatable mid-toned target, without looking at VDI which turned out to be a dateless Buffalo nickel - another first for the year! 2014 is off to a great start and I now have a "spot" to go hunt for old coins...the fairgrounds are old enough to have Seated coins, but according to old pictures and maps I'm expecting to find items from about 1885 onwards - now all I need is the weather to cooperate on my off-days!!!