brianc053
Hero Member
- Jan 27, 2015
- 987
- 3,443
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
- 3
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Equinox 800
XP Deus 2
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Hi everyone, and Happy New Year!
Even though it was hovering around freezing here in New Jersey yesterday I decided to try knocking on the door of a house in a town nearby that was on my "target" list, based on old map research. The elderly owner turned out to be a wonderful woman, and she was perfectly fine with me detecting her property - but she made sure to tell me "fill in your divots". (Jumping ahead in the story, I was sure to do exactly that, and it was a good thing - she told me later she was watching me out the window!).
A bit about the property: as mentioned in the title, the original house was built in 1799 but has been added on to and modified many times throughout the years. I included a picture below. The owner has owned the home since the 1960's and told me that it had not been metal detected (except for some neighbors who got a detector for Christmas and 'found nothing' in their one attempt). So the property has a lot of potential (more on this toward the end).
Yesterday after she gave me permission I tested the property out for about an hour (it was late afternoon), and did manage to find one Indian Head Cent (the 1900 one) along with wheat pennies and some clad, but I didn't find anything older during one lap of the house. I left with a plan - and permission from the owner - to come back in the morning, and I was really happy with the IHC.
I invited @SlateBeltDigger (SBD) to join me this morning, and we met up about 8AM to start digging. Even though it was cold and windy we detected in earnest for what ended up being 4 hours, which was a real surprise since I though it had been more like 2 or 3 at most.
SBD and I honestly hoped we'd find some large coppers or other pre-Civil war items, but...we didn't. As we took a break to grab a coffee at our favorite local shop we discussed why we thought we only finding post-Civil War items.
We ultimately decided that:
I share this story because not every promising site ends up delivering epic, rare finds - and that's totally OK (in my opinion anyway).
SBD and I had a great time hanging out together today, and I appreciate that my finds are really nice - and in some areas of the country would be "epic".
As for the finds, some quick comments on select items:
- Brian
PS - about the detectors I used: yesterday I started with the Deus 2 in General, but it struggled. I used it for like 30 min and then tried the Equinox with the 11" stock coil. That also struggled.
So, this morning when I returned I put the smaller 9x5 coil on the Equinox and tried that, but it could not handle the iron. I abandoned it after 30 min and went back to the Deus 2, but this time I tried adjusting some settings. My typical program is a variation on General where I use Full Tones and the X-Y screen, with Reactivity at 2 and Silencer at maybe 1 or 2. This morning I decided to increase Reactivity to 3 and increase Silencer to 4. This made an amazing difference, and the coins started "jumping" out from the iron field using this setting. I absolutely love the ability to fine-tune the Deus 2 to a specific site. Maybe (?) I could have done something to improve the Equinox's performance, but I've always found the Nox to struggle in heavy iron. It's why I bought into the Deus line. Please share your thoughts if this interests you.
Even though it was hovering around freezing here in New Jersey yesterday I decided to try knocking on the door of a house in a town nearby that was on my "target" list, based on old map research. The elderly owner turned out to be a wonderful woman, and she was perfectly fine with me detecting her property - but she made sure to tell me "fill in your divots". (Jumping ahead in the story, I was sure to do exactly that, and it was a good thing - she told me later she was watching me out the window!).
A bit about the property: as mentioned in the title, the original house was built in 1799 but has been added on to and modified many times throughout the years. I included a picture below. The owner has owned the home since the 1960's and told me that it had not been metal detected (except for some neighbors who got a detector for Christmas and 'found nothing' in their one attempt). So the property has a lot of potential (more on this toward the end).
Yesterday after she gave me permission I tested the property out for about an hour (it was late afternoon), and did manage to find one Indian Head Cent (the 1900 one) along with wheat pennies and some clad, but I didn't find anything older during one lap of the house. I left with a plan - and permission from the owner - to come back in the morning, and I was really happy with the IHC.
I invited @SlateBeltDigger (SBD) to join me this morning, and we met up about 8AM to start digging. Even though it was cold and windy we detected in earnest for what ended up being 4 hours, which was a real surprise since I though it had been more like 2 or 3 at most.
SBD and I honestly hoped we'd find some large coppers or other pre-Civil war items, but...we didn't. As we took a break to grab a coffee at our favorite local shop we discussed why we thought we only finding post-Civil War items.
We ultimately decided that:
- at some point (probably early 1900s) we believe the property was landscaped. Evidence included fill dirt in some areas, Lincoln pennies at 6"+, and scraps of aluminum and copper flashing scattered throughout the yards.
- the property was absolutely riddled with iron signals. Almost EVERYWHERE one would swing the detector would produce 10-20 grunts per swing. I've detected in some heavily iron-infested sites; this ranks among the very worst.
- one side of the yard had the septic field (I hate those things)
- a new garage had replaced a milking barn on the side opposite the septic field, and the owner mentioned them filling in a swale when they put in the garage.
- In the back a new barn and a new pond (1950s) replaced the original 1800's barn. These were significant changes to the property, and probably caused some old items to be lost.
I share this story because not every promising site ends up delivering epic, rare finds - and that's totally OK (in my opinion anyway).
SBD and I had a great time hanging out together today, and I appreciate that my finds are really nice - and in some areas of the country would be "epic".
As for the finds, some quick comments on select items:
- 1919-D Mercury dime, which was found by the Deus 2 right next to a piece of foil. Deus 2 clearly told me there were 2 different targets. (More on my detector choices in the "PS" below)
- Three IHC's: 1897, 1900, 1906
- Various other coins (I dug A LOT of holes in about 5 total hours. If there had been more silver/older coins, I think i would have found them)
- buckles: SBD found a bunch more. The owner said that the prior owner "collected horses and their tack". The small one at the top of the picture is unique to me.
- the "Top Flighter" pin (left side) is apparently from Eastern Airlines circa 1950's. There's a family connection to the owner, but she didn't want the pin.
- the Winthrop bottle cap is circa 1920s and from some chemical bottle
- This is the second Pompeian Bloom compact I've found. Must have been a popular makeup.
- The car is a Tootsietoy Model B (circa 1950 +/-)
- Brian
PS - about the detectors I used: yesterday I started with the Deus 2 in General, but it struggled. I used it for like 30 min and then tried the Equinox with the 11" stock coil. That also struggled.
So, this morning when I returned I put the smaller 9x5 coil on the Equinox and tried that, but it could not handle the iron. I abandoned it after 30 min and went back to the Deus 2, but this time I tried adjusting some settings. My typical program is a variation on General where I use Full Tones and the X-Y screen, with Reactivity at 2 and Silencer at maybe 1 or 2. This morning I decided to increase Reactivity to 3 and increase Silencer to 4. This made an amazing difference, and the coins started "jumping" out from the iron field using this setting. I absolutely love the ability to fine-tune the Deus 2 to a specific site. Maybe (?) I could have done something to improve the Equinox's performance, but I've always found the Nox to struggle in heavy iron. It's why I bought into the Deus line. Please share your thoughts if this interests you.
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