Hey Crazman, did you say you got TWO $2.50 gold coins?!

[Critterhunter]

I think I remember reading a passing mention from you in some thread about digging two $2.50 gold coins? If I heard you right then I've got a few questions for you...Where did you get them (state and type of site/age), how deep where they (wondering just how deep gold coins tend to sink due to being heavy gold), and what kind of audio signal did they give you (good, bad, whatever)? And most importantly, what VDI # do they read on your Sovereign. I would love to add them to my chart. I have those listed right now but that's from an old chart I found somewhere and many of the coins they listed that I tested myself did not read what they said, so that's why those coins I haven't tested are not in bold lettering in the chart to make that distinction. I'd trust your report on the numbers much more. I have yet to dig a gold coin but that's one of my missions in life. Interestingly enough, my most "why can't I find it!" wanted coin is a shield nickle. Dug a bunch of buffalos, Vs, and war nickles, but that stinking shield nickle just keeps eluding me.

Thanks for the input. With the VDI # from you I can start looking for at least those coins at some key sites more often. I'd also love to hear from anybody who has scanned a $1 and $5 gold coin so I can confirm or correct what I found from another chart on those and update mine. Thanks again.

 

[crazyman]

I have been fortunate to find 3 gold coins over the years. I'm surprised I haven't found more since I mainly hunt old lumber mill ghost towns and logging camp sites where the workers were often paid in gold. The last one I found was a 2 1/2 Indian a few years ago. It was a mill site hotel between 1872 and 1927 and is now a bed and breakfast. I did well there in old coins and relics when I first hunted it. About a year later I noticed they had taken off about 10-12 inches of dirt off the front yard to put in a parking area. I got permission again and the first signal I got about 3 ft. from the car read in the pull tab range at around 2 inches on my Whites 6000 and that was my last one. My other Indian was found in a logging camp site and also read as pull tab at 5 inches on my Whites. My first gold coin was a 5 dollar Coronet and was found again at a old lumber mill site that ran from the late 1850's to the early 1920's. It was turned into a Christian Conference grounds in the 1930's and all the original buildings from the 1800's are still used there. I cant tell you what it read because it was found in a dried up fire pond and part of a small pocket spill and the meter was bouncing around. As far as what they read on the Sovereign meter I can't say as I would have to collect them from family members as they were put into bezels and given as Christmas presents through the years.I also use the the old bar graph meter so I couldn't give you numerical ID's.

 

[crazyman]

The fire pond where I found the gold coin in the pocket spill was loaded with iron and trash and when I went over the pocket spill the depth of the coins and the mixture made the signal sound like a rejected large piece of trash. The audio on the Whites 6000 is not modulated and the deeper the target the more it sounds like junk or a discriminated piece of iron and with the meter bouncing around most people would have walked over it but I I knew this detector very well and could hear a slight difference and I saw on every other sweep from one direction the needle pause over the quarter icon briefly when bouncing and that ended up being from the higher conductive seated quarter in the mix. You have to know your detector when hunting in iron and trash and this is why I'm trying to understand exactly how the iron mask works and how or if it will help or not help between off and on for this type of hunting. Iron mask might help in one area but might be a hindrance in another.

 

[Critterhunter]

Thanks for the info. I really wish you had those coins laying around and a DigiSearch meter to report the VDI #s. Anybody able to do that? I want to update my chart and I don't trust the reported numbers on those from the old chart I pulled them from.