I recently found a 3-cent piece underneath a rock near the foundation of a really old house on my father's property, and it got me seriously interested in a metal detector. I was just wondering from anyone's experience how worthwhile or fufilling this hobby is. The only people I have ever talked to about it are scam artists on ebay who claim they find "hoards" of stuff all the time. I'm a little skeptical about that.
My son and I go detecting from time to time. On vacation last week we did a substantial amount of searching at the beach. We've never found "hoards" of anything except pull tabs, but it's great fun and pretty good exercise. We found a fairly large number of coins [cents through quarters] and some small pieces of metal that appear to be parts off of boats, but nothing worth more than the face value of the coins. We are using a Discovery 3300 from Radio Shack and the performance seems pretty good to me [an unknowledgeable amateur]. It's fairly accurate at informing you about what is there before you dig, and seems to detect hits up to about 10 inches down. If you want to try out the hobby without spending a lot of money on a high quality/high priced detector, this seems to be a good first model to buy in my opinion. If you enjoy it, then it might be worthwhile to upgrade to a better model. I'm happy with what I have. To actually make money, the key is probably to carefully choose a site that was either occupied more than a century ago, or recently occupied by people wearing a lot of loose gold jewelry while drinking heavily The real fulfillment for me is being able to do this with my son.
I used to go metal detecting with my father when I was younger. He found some interesting stuff, including an 1838 apothecary weight, a 1920 chauffeur's license, gold & silver jewelry, a bunch of silver coinage (no gold though), including walking liberty quarters, franklin halves, mercury dimes, etc. When we moved down here to Texas (from Kansas), he found nothing. This place is dry, it seems.
One of these days I used to think that something was wrong with people who went metal detecting but I think that was part of the brain washing one grows up with when exposed to the New York media as a young child. Now I have had an itch to go detecting. I think that is sounds like fun to scout out an area's history and then decide where the best spot would be. I actually had a nice chat with someone who was detecting off Vanderbilt beach in Naples, Florida. I asked him if there was any Spanish Gold in these waters and he told me "no just rich man's gold" and he pointed to the Ritz Carlton overlooking the beach. He then told me that he had found two rolex's in the ten years that he was detecting and alot of 24 caret gold bracelets. Being more interested in coins, I decided that was not a good place to metal detect and when I do make the purchase of a detecter I will not waste my time looking for coins there. True story but written tongue in cheek.
But you could sell them and buy coins with the $$$!!...but if you started getting gold bracelets your wife might not let you sell them Speedy
My dad found a old sheild nickle from 1866 in AG condition on the ground before like 25 years ago though
Mine would. She would insist I sell the gold (I could keep one Rolex for myself) and buy her a tennis bracelet.
My best detecting trip was - We Went to San Diego, across from The Del Coranado Hotel. Years ago they dredged the channel for larger ships and everything was pumped on shore. We found lots of boat parts and many naval ordanace. some were still live. we removed the powder and made bells from them. I've detcted Antitum Battle field - Private farms - found large 1 cent pieces, mini balls. and a merrit badge for attendance, harness and rifel parts. Got bored detecting at the beaches, yes I found lots of coins some very old, watches, rings and some jewlry. I've detected old gold minning camps. Found old hand drills Levy buttons, coins, an a nasty wasp nest that sent me running and screaming with 86 stingers all over my body. I've shot for gold nuggets in CA gold country, and found a few. I loaned my friend my underwater hand held when he went to Isreal. at Masada he found many coins and spear heads and old Roman stuff at the Roman encampment by hiding it in a back pack and sitting on the ground. He just turned it on inside the pack and used it that way. Then he mailed his finds home as souviners. I use an old 1970 Whites hip mounted detector. I love it and will not up grade. I don't want to know what is there, a surprize is more than half the fun. There is more than coins and jewlery out there. Next winter I'm going to a old camp in the desert where the Indians had the pioneers fooled and had winch set up to winch their wagons up a clift. Of course the Indians owned the winch and charged them. A large wagon train took days to move so they camped below and above waiting for the others. sound like a good place to me for some interesting finds. Good Lord - I'm babbling like a red headed grand daughter (mine), but you asked a question dear to my heart. I've had many many hours of fun metal dectecting and hope to continue as long as I can walk. Ron F.
Sounds cool Ron. One of these days I'm going to order a detecter. There has been red tide down here for a month now so the itch can wait till the water cools off. What model in the medium price range would you suggest for in water usage and is there one that can be good for both land and sea.
