Conference luner::metal_detecting

    Well, all I have of significance to regards to finds is what I have not
    done.
    
    One of my MD goals is to detect at least once in each month of the
    year.  Here in Wisconsin that is a challenge.  My last outing was
    during a warm spell close to Christmas.  We have had real winter since
    then.
    
    My #2 son and I brought the clads can in about that time, and I had
    about $38.  This is down from my previous averages of ~$50.  With two
    boys now into sports and activities, and outings with Dad on the
    Goldwing, MDing will be a little slower in next couple years.
    
    I still have not had anyone look at my find of an 1820 capped bust
    dime.  It has a wedge cut out, and has been stamped with an asterisk
    type design.  I doubt either adds to it's value.
    
    Part-time-MD-notes-reader Steve

	
	I'm still alive... though this conference has been pretty dead
	lately.  Still no finds for 1997 yet. 

	I haven't even cleaned off the caked mud off the XLT from 1996 yet.

	Hoping to soon though.  Maybe this weekend.

	Anyone else been out in 1997?

	jim

    I've been out 3 times in the last couple of months. Two outings were
    dry, and the third, WOULD have been pretty fruitful if the ground
    hadn't still been frozen. Many good signals, no jackhammer.
    
    I did, however, manage to find a silver plated crucifix (sp?) on a
    muddy road out in Ashburnham. It had Italy stamped on the back. Doesn't
    look particularly old, but it's "something".
    
    Really looking forward to getting out and being able to "dig"
    something. This "re-freeze" has been a real bummer.
    
    Steve

    Went out to my old standby playground Sunday. Thought I was going to
    have a good couple of hours to hunt till my cell phone rang with my
    wife on the other end saying the dinner reservation she told me was at
    3 was in fact at 2. So, I ended up with about an hours hunting time.
    
    I picked up 2 quarters, a nickel, 3 dimes and 4 pennies. All modern.
    Havn't even had a chance to clean them yet as we had to leave as soon
    as I got home. Still, it was nice to see the XLT working so well. I
    was getting unmistakable broken signals on iron junk and it was locking
    right on to the coins. There was never a doubt what I was digging. I
    also dug the "inbetween" signals and came up with a piece of brass that
    I can't identify as yet. By inbetween signals, I mean strong signals
    that are giving me nice tall bars but the icon/vdi numbers are
    indicating various things.
    
    The piece of brass is difficult to describe but it reminds me of the
    metal piece on a pair of suspenders that's used for adjustments. You
    know, the piece you'd flip up, adjust the length, and then lock the
    piece back down again. It's shaped just like that piece would be and
    has teeth on one edge but there's no way for it to attach to anything.
    The words "solid brass" are stamped on one side. I'll have to look at
    it more closely when it's cleaned up.
    
    Anyway, it was fun while it lasted and now we have to put up with thie
    )^%&(^$)& snow.

    Got out for about 3 hours Sunday back at the playground. Picked up
    where I left off a couple of Saturday's ago. Found another pocket full
    of fairly modern coins, plus 2 items yet to be identified.
    
    All in all, I dug up 10 pennies, 5 nickels, and 2 dimes. All mid 60's
    or later. Some of the pennies were all chewed up undoubtedly meeting an
    untimely demise with the field mower.
    
    I did so some experimenting with DC Phase and would HIGHLY recommend
    anyone that has this option to use it during pinpointing mode. Also
    take advantage of ratcheted pinpointing if you have that. Ratcheted
    pinpointing will increase your pinpointing abilities greatly. Once you
    pinpoint the first time, release and re-squeeze the trigger and
    pinpoint again. When you do this, you are narrowing the coil field and
    getting a more accurate pinpoint.
    
    DC Phase was EXTREAMLY useful. Just turn it on and detect as usual.
    When you pinpoint, take note of the number in the upper right hand
    corner of the display. I found it to be much more accurate than the VDI
    number. On several occasions, when getting a good positive VDI
    response, the DC Phase number was negative. Every single time I dug one
    of these, the DC Phase number was correct and the object was junk. On 
    the other hand, when I would get strong "junk" signals, the DC Phase 
    number would be positive when pinpointing. I picked up two nickels 
    this way that originally were junk readings or borderline junk
    readings.
    
    One of the unidentified objects is either a charm, or some sort of
    medal worn on a chain. It's worn almost smooth on one side, and the
    other isn't much better. You can barely make out the outlines of what
    appears to be a candle (but could be absolutely anything) with writing
    around the edges of the object. The only lettering that can be made out
    are the words "Queen of" to the top right of the "candle". The other
    side was a picture of whomever the "queen" was and there is just a bump
    in the center of the "charm" that used to be a face. I can't tell what
    kind of metal it's made out of. Being so smooth, it cleaned up easily
    and has a nice brown/rust colored patina. There "was" some green on it
    so I suspect it may be copper.
    
    The other object appears to be some sort of seal. The main body is
    rectangular with rounded corners. Maybe 3/4 or an inch long and a half
    inch wide. This part is made of lead. On the bottom of this object,
    there is another perfectly round piece of metal that has been inserted
    into the lead. It's badly rusted and I can't tell what type of metal it
    is. You can clearly see that this "button" has a "post" on the back
    which was inserted into the lead and then cut. Can't even begin to tell
    if there is any kind of writing on this "button" as it's rusted so
    badly. The surface is all bubbly if you know what I mean.
    
    So, that's it for this weekend. At least now that the weather has
    broken (hopefully) and the clocks have been set ahead, there will be
    time to start getting out after work.

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Thanks,

Jim

Nice find Jay !  I saw it too.

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Note 42.0                    2nd Time out this Year                    2 replies
SALEM::MCCULLOCH                                     18 lines  28-APR-1997 10:09
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      Joe f. and I were out yesterday for only the 2nd time this year
    thanks to the frost.  We had been detecting only about half an hour
    when I got a rather broken signal at 8 or 9 inches.  The signal was
    in the 55 - 65 rangein 1 direction and 50 - 55 in the other.  I set
    to digging and pulled out a nice 6" deep plug, I waived the White's
    over the hole again and the signal was a strong 65 at 9 inches.  I
    continued digging and finally recovered a small object that read HALF
    DIME on the back, I turned it over and brushed the dirt aside to read
    the date 1845.  The half dime is in VF-20 condition and survived it's
    time in the ground very well.  
    
    In all we found 105 coins in 3 hours, Joe found a silver dime and a
    buffalo nickel.  I found the half dime, a silver roosie and a silver
    washington quarter.  Not a bad outing for our 2nd time out.
    
    Regards,
    
    Jay

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Note 42.1                    2nd Time out this Year                       1 of 2
SALEM::INTERSTATE                                    10 lines  28-APR-1997 17:46
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    As much as i hate to,I'll have to admit that the half dime Jay found
    has got to be the nicest find either of us have had in quite some
    time...the condition the half dime is in is extraordinary,if i had'nt 
    seen him dig it i'd have sworn it was bought in a coin shop..(Jay not
    that i dont trust ya or nuthin..haha )..but in your note you forgot to
    mention some of the other "good junk" we found like the old Boy Scout
    medal from New Mexico...that strange "ski for free" token...the old but
    still legible lipstick container (it says "Maries" on it)...the many
    wheaties...that old dog tag from Indiana...the 2 sterling rings and
    that weird "coin of elijah".......Joe

	

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Note 42.2                    2nd Time out this Year                       2 of 2
SNAX::SMITH "I FEEL THE NEED"                        11 lines  29-APR-1997 13:25
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    I would have moved this reply to the 1997 finds note but don't have the
    priv's so maybe Jim will take care of it.
    
    Nice find.......I havn't been that lucky so far. A couple of questions.
    What type of detectors are you guys using and (without giving anything
    away) where in the world are you hunting that you can come up with 105
    coins in 3 hours. I hunt a nearby park that's been used by hundreds of
    people for 40 years and feel good if I come away with 10/15 coins in a
    couple of hours.
    
    Steve

Well, for the 2nd time this month, Dennis Balboni and I got out for a few 
hours on a Sunday morning.  

Two Sundays ago, we were scouting a potential detecting spot after some 
research, but the ground was too wet near the river and there was too much 
storm damage to do any detecting at this spot.  We ended up at a field 
behind a Town Hall that last year had been bulldozed for a drainage project.

This building was once a school, built in 1908.

Last fall, I found a few silver dimes and an Indian Head cent there and a 
fellow club member found a beautiful Barber dime in XF-AU condition.  

Two weeks ago, when Dennis and I returned, he found a Barber dime, but I 
found no silver that day.  The huge mountain of soil that had been bulldozed
last year, was now re-spread across the field and was very wet and muddy.
I found a few glass marbles on the surface that had been exposed by the 
heavy machinery.  I also founf a tiny statuette of Jesus and the Sacred 
Heart, about 1" tall and very heavy.  It was marked GERMANY on the bottom.
I did find another Indian Head cent and some wheaties and modern clad.

This week, I turned the tables on Dennis.  It was my turn for Barber Silver.
The field had been re-graded and smooth even more since two weeks ago, and 
we were hoping that more stuf had been brought closer to the surface.
I found an 1893S dime in GOOD condition, my first pre-1900 Barber dime.
I also found a silver War Nickel 1945P and another Indian Head, a few 
Wheaties, and a musketball.  I was hoping to eyeball a few more marbles 
exposed by the rain, but no luck.  I did find a horseshoe half exposed 
though.

Jim_still_looking_for_first_gold_coin

   Didn't get out this weekend (too much yard work to catch up on) but did a 
   couple of Sundays ago.  I went to the 'old faithful' private school where 
   I can almost always come away with silver from this spot.

   I started detecting in front of the gymnasium building and found a lot of
   clad dimes and quarters.  I then started to meander toward the area in front
   of the school building near the swings.

   I got a 1952 Rosie dime, then a 1919S Merc dime in only AG condition. Not
   sure of the last two digits, but it appears to be a 1919, but the 'S' is
   real clear.  I found a STERLING ring under a Rhododendron bush. It is 
   a wide band with a design on it.  Also, found a 1964 silver Washington
   quarter before I left.

   Got a junk metal religious medal and an old tube of lipstick.  An
   interesting relic item is a pewter or pot metal button or pin, about the
   diameter of a quarter and large letters spelling out ILCO.

   Don't remember the exact totals, but here's an estimate:

   2 silver dimes    (Merc & Rosie)
   1   "    quarter  (Washington)
   1   "    ring
   6   clad quarters
   17  clad dimes
   2   Jeff nickels
   35 (ish) cents, mixed wheats and memorials
  

    Got out for about an hour yesterday inbetween the rain drops at my old
    standby field. Tried some new settings on the XLT which seemed to work
    pretty well. Finds were minimal, but I was more interested in how the
    new set up would work.
    
    2 clad dimes
    1 modern penny
    3 wheaties 1941,44, 46
    1 large gromet probably from a circus tent when the circus came to town
      years ago.
    2 canadian pennies. 1932, 1938. These were interesting as they had the
      typical maple leaf and ONE CENT on one side, but George the V and
      George the VI on the other. Actually, on the 1932 it read
      "GEORGIVS V DEI GRA REX ET IND:IMP". On the 1938 it reads
      "GEORGIVS VI D: G: REX ET IND:IMP" 
    
    Anyone got a Canadian coin book???