Still in E-Trac school. Went out to the oldest park around, which is in a neighboring town. As I said in another posting, I've been quite successful in this park, taking over $30 face value of silver coins, starting back in the mid-1980s. Good finds today are few and far between, so I knew it would be a great place to begin learning the ropes with the E-Trac. This is probably my 6th time out with this detector and although I feel like I'm starting to scratch the surface as far as understanding it, I know I have a long way to go. Each time after I go out, I come home and read a bit more in the manual, on-line and in Andy's book.
Well, today, as I said, I went back out. I was mainly using the Park Pattern I downloaded from this site. I was switching back and forth between that pattern and Quickmask. There's quite a bit of junk in the ground here, so when my ears got tired of listening to all of it in Quickmask, I'd go back to the Park Pattern. In that pattern, I started finding nickles, with the occasional zinc'er. I was amazed how quickly I was able to predict that another nickle was under the coil--it was spot-on. I did dig junk, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything.
My last target of the day was the best. Got a "hit' with the numbers 11-43. Ah Ha, says I...a dime or perhaps copper cent. I did a bit of probing with my long-handled screwdriver, but no solid contacts, so I got my trusty digger out and made a plug. There were lots of roots to contend with, but I got down about 6" and started looking around with my pinpointer. Another inch or so down gave me a solid tone...I dug some more and out popped this white disc. I knew immediately that it was a silver dime! Every silver coin I've found here has been badly corroded, I think because of the type of fertilizer they use on the grass. I couldn't tell what kind of dime it was or what its date is, but I knew it was silver. When I got home and cleaned it up, I found it is a Mercury Dime...I think the date is 1941-s, but that's even difficult to read. No matter; it's the first silver I've found in a long time and the very reason I decided I had to try the E-Trac.
My total for the day: 4 zincs, 7 Jefferson nickles and the ugly, but beautiful Merc!
Well, today, as I said, I went back out. I was mainly using the Park Pattern I downloaded from this site. I was switching back and forth between that pattern and Quickmask. There's quite a bit of junk in the ground here, so when my ears got tired of listening to all of it in Quickmask, I'd go back to the Park Pattern. In that pattern, I started finding nickles, with the occasional zinc'er. I was amazed how quickly I was able to predict that another nickle was under the coil--it was spot-on. I did dig junk, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything.
My last target of the day was the best. Got a "hit' with the numbers 11-43. Ah Ha, says I...a dime or perhaps copper cent. I did a bit of probing with my long-handled screwdriver, but no solid contacts, so I got my trusty digger out and made a plug. There were lots of roots to contend with, but I got down about 6" and started looking around with my pinpointer. Another inch or so down gave me a solid tone...I dug some more and out popped this white disc. I knew immediately that it was a silver dime! Every silver coin I've found here has been badly corroded, I think because of the type of fertilizer they use on the grass. I couldn't tell what kind of dime it was or what its date is, but I knew it was silver. When I got home and cleaned it up, I found it is a Mercury Dime...I think the date is 1941-s, but that's even difficult to read. No matter; it's the first silver I've found in a long time and the very reason I decided I had to try the E-Trac.
My total for the day: 4 zincs, 7 Jefferson nickles and the ugly, but beautiful Merc!
I am sure that some buffalo nickels out there!