I just bought a Whites Coinmaster IV ;)

[Minrelica]

I just bought a White's Coinmaster IV

I went to a little festival in Wisconsin 2 weekends ago and on Saturday there was a little flea market in the local park. I never pass up a flea market, especially if it's in a little town. My girlfriend and I got somewhat trapped for a few minutes talking to an interesting woman who was also selling some interesting items. Okay, maybe trapped is a little harsh but it was the first table we looked at and I wanted to cover some ground. After about 10 minutes of chatting it up, I looked behind me and saw a big ole' vintage metal detector and I instantly wanted it! It was a White's Coinmaster IV and looked to be in great shape. She was asking $10 and I paid it gladly. I basically bought it to mount to my wall just for looks because I like the design and well, it's very cool! Kinda looks like an old ammunition box mounted to a metal pole

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

Re: I just bought a White's Coinmaster IV

Thanx for the nostalgic pictures. I had a 66TR (circa late 1960s/very early '70s) that looked sort of like that, except with more knobs. I'm going to guess that yours is right before the introduction of the GEB supreme, which was in 1974. So that would put yours in the early '70s, in the all-metal TR days.

A dinasour by today's standards. As far as collectible value, Whites sold a LOT of machines in those years, so there's no shortage of old Whites showing up on the market (flea markets, ebay, garage sales, craigslist, etc...). The real collectible ones, would be one from the 1950s that are standard (vs the 2-box type), for vintage collector buffs.

The depth on yours, in good ground, might be 4" on a coin (5 or 6" if you really strained for whispers in good ground). One thing yours might excell at, if it still works, is that ... even though all-metal TR had no discrimination, they did null over small iron (individual nails, for instance). And would, in fact, see through nails without masking, to some degree. So they actually made good ghost town machines, when depth wasn't an issue. While the machine would reject 4 or 5 nails sitting in a pile, yet it would get a signal if a coin were under the nails (unlike most machines today which would mask) The advantages ended there though: The depth was poor, they were a bear to keep balanced, they failed in bad minerals, they lacked all other forms of disc, larger iron bled through, etc...

 

[Saturna]

Re: I just bought a White's Coinmaster IV

It's a good thing I don't have the room for stuff like this, otherwise I'd have a whole wall displaying these neat old machines.

 

[Minrelica]

Re: I just bought a White's Coinmaster IV

Thanx for the nostalgic pictures. I had a 66TR (circa late 1960s/very early '70s) that looked sort of like that, except with more knobs. I'm going to guess that yours is right before the introduction of the GEB supreme, which was in 1974. So that would put yours in the early '70s, in the all-metal TR days.

A dinasour by today's standards. As far as collectible value, Whites sold a LOT of machines in those years, so there's no shortage of old Whites showing up on the market (flea markets, ebay, garage sales, craigslist, etc...). The real collectible ones, would be one from the 1950s that are standard (vs the 2-box type), for vintage collector buffs.

The depth on yours, in good ground, might be 4" on a coin (5 or 6" if you really strained for whispers in good ground). One thing yours might excell at, if it still works, is that ... even though all-metal TR had no discrimination, they did null over small iron (individual nails, for instance). And would, in fact, see through nails without masking, to some degree. So they actually made good ghost town machines, when depth wasn't an issue. While the machine would reject 4 or 5 nails sitting in a pile, yet it would get a signal if a coin were under the nails (unlike most machines today which would mask) The advantages ended there though: The depth was poor, they were a bear to keep balanced, they failed in bad minerals, they lacked all other forms of disc, larger iron bled through, etc...

Thanks for the great post and info Tom! I doubt that I'll ever test it out but it does look very clean as in nobody let batteries corrode in the box. I think that the woman's husband said that he actually tested it out but that's doubtful and didn't sway my decision to buy it one way or the other. I just think it looks cool because of the color, the fact that it's all metal and also the size, knobs etc.

I'm glad you like the photos.

Thanks again - WIT

 

[Minrelica]

Re: I just bought a White's Coinmaster IV

It's a good thing I don't have the room for stuff like this, otherwise I'd have a whole wall displaying these neat old machines.

Room? Who has room?

Hell, my place is packed with "stuff" but there's ALWAYS room for something that I really need to have. I can always make room for the new-old stuff and sell off some older-old stuff. Or just keep it all