Claddest Day Ever!

Colorado2

Hero Member
Dec 26, 2004
597
6
Berthoud CO
Detector(s) used
White's DFX, White's MXT, Fisher Gold Bug II
Hi all. I know that looking at clad should be reserved for winter when we all have nothing better to do, but I had to share this. I went back to the High School today and worked a piece of grass 20'X100' near the entrance doors. I couldn't believe it when I got home and washed it all up. This is a record for my short MD'ing career. Just wish I could have pulled more Quarters....Oh well. I spent just under 5 hours at it and pulled a total of 277 coins. Wish every day could be like this! Good luck everybody~CO2
 

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Last Sunday I pulled 296 clad coins from the dirt in less than an hour! The total was (4) quarters, (44) dimes, (10) nickels, 238 pennies, and one ring. Pretty fast, huh? Well, actually the "dirt" in this case was the throwaway accumulation from one vacuum unit at a local car wash. Whoosh...those industrial vacuums suck up everything in sight from car interiors!
 

Talos, here's a tip. Garrett gold pan classifier. No coins lost and very little jewelry-except for small earrings and gold backs.
 

Thanks for the tip, Stoney. The coins, etc., can certainly slip through, hidden in clumps of what I would call gunk, for lack of a better word. Actually, I was at a disadvantage last Sunday, as a car wash employee had placed the dirt at the top of the Dumpster (some of it was sliding down), so I basically had to pull the coins out from there rather than hauling it home. They're supposed to save it for me, but sometimes, as Strother Martin said in Cool Hand Luke, "What we have here is failure to communicate." Anyway, everything is cleaned and the clads are in wrappers, ready to take to the bank. I love clads. They have what they call in financial circles "real liquidity."
 

Whoa Talos! That's some serious coin recovery. I went back to this site yesterday for about an hour (60 mph winds yesterday) to see what would happen if I went back over the same area in a perpendicular sense. Came up with another $2.40! I've been working with a 5.3 coil and moving it a lot faster than I should, so there's probably a lot more there to be had! I was wondering about the logistics of what you do. Do you take the vacuum refuse home, spread it out and use an MD? Or do you just roll up your sleeves and start squeezin' "Clumps of Gunk"? Dr. Seuss could right a story about your methodology....."Dumps, Humps, Pumps and Clumps of Gunk"!!! HH~CO2 ;D
 

CO2, ya can't use a MD in that mess-I promise that the metal content will drive the coil crazy. You just have to sift preferably with some kind of screen that allows the broken glass and fine dirt to go through. Also it is best to use either a screwdriver or pen/pencil to poke through the material or the material may poke through you. HH
 

In reply to Colorado2, I've had to do it both ways. Once, during a raging snowstorm, I stood there and plucked the coins out of the top of the Dumpster. I had to take off my warm gloves in order to grip the coins. It was very cold that day. I've taken the refuse home too, either in a box or a garbage bag. Actually, the stuff is generally dry, with maybe some small pockets wet with gunk. Yeah, I just sift through it by hand and pluck out the valuables. It's kind of fun really. It's a good idea to wear rubber gloves, as you may encounter broken glass, pins, nails and the like. You can try to run a metal detector over sectioned pieces of dirt after you're through with your visual search, just to make sure you didn't miss anything. You'll know vacuum waste when you see it -- or more accurately smell it. It has a unique electrical odor to it. Oh, yeah, people also toss out other valuables at car washes, like winning scratch-off lottery tickets. So far, I've found 26 winners ($1, $2, $4, $5 winners along with free tickets). One $5 winner wasn't scratched off at all -- guess the person thought it was a loser even before they looked. Apparently, some people don't understand the game tickets they purchase. There are automatic win symbols which they often overlook, along with multiple ways to win.
 

Wow...Thanks for the education guys! Learn something new every day ;)~CO2
 

Postscript: Coins from vacuum waste generally clean up very nicely just using soap and water. You will encounter some pennies which will have a ?hardened crud on them from the oxidation of their zinc content.

"Vacuum waste, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of vacuum waste in the morning...The smell, you know that electrical smell...It smells like -- victory." (With apologies to Robert Duvall as Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore in Apocalypse Now.)
 

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