Finally found the oldest pull tabs - Zip tabs

TCosbyJr

Jr. Member
Jun 3, 2012
95
24
Bedford, IN
Detector(s) used
Current: Tesoro Outlaw, BH Tracker IV, HF MD6008
Ex: White's Coinmaster Pro, BH Discovery 3300, Tesoro Cibola
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
As my dad and me are still looking to find our first silver coins we took a road trip to a old park on Saturday. The park was one that my aunt always found silver coins (back in the 90's) but it appears to have been thoroughly searched since then.

The oldest coin was found by my dad, a 1912 S wheat penny, so we went back again Sunday to make sure we didn't miss anything.

finds-7-14-12.jpg


My interesting finds were a Charm It! cellphone charm, a .22 cal short bullet shell (found a bullet shell/casing at nearly every park now, very strange), phone ringer/bell? (by the thumbtack), and the shiny item in the middle is a button cell battery. My counts were 4 quarters, 4 dimes, 1 nickle, 10 pennies, and 7 pull tabs (whole and pieces).

The majority of my clad came from one large pocket spill beside a volleyball net (the rest was from the totlot, including the charm). I assume the pocket spill was from someone that missed the volleyball and hit the ground hard - as change was in a about a one foot area and some at deeper depths.

finds-7-15-12.jpg


The 2nd day of detecting turned out much less coinage for me (but the opposite for my dad), but I did find some old pull tabs the zip tabs. I found a total of 4 zip tabs, in two different styles. While they are not worth anything I think they were my best finds of the trip.

As I got all the coins I could in the typical areas the first day, I decided to working at finding silver coins missed by other MDers. This included hard to get to spots, areas littered with trash, beside the road/edge of the park, and similar places.

I dug a lot of trash to make sure there wasn't any silver hidden below, and I dug questionable signals/finds to ensure I wasn't missing any on edge. For my trouble I got a heaping mound of canslaw, 5 screw caps, 2 bottle caps, a pile of metal from a old pipe or flower bed edging, 2 bolts, 9 pull tabs, 4 zip tabs, and 4 pennies.

There were lots of friendly people at the park, all of which asked if we were finding anything good. Seems MDers are a common sight which explained everything. In the end we had a great trip over to the old town park twice, found some interesting finds, but we are still looking for our first silver so the quest continues.
 

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T, I thought I was the only one that saved VINTAGE pulltabs!:laughing7: God Bless Chris

Yeah, nothing wrong in saving them (I do too), seems to be a great way to keep interested in the hobby. I have found though if I find very little to no tabs in a park/school chances are I will not find any coins either.

So far I have been putting all my tabs in a large Nestea glass jar and have it a little less than 1/2 full. When I find some time to use electrolysis to clean the different tabs, I'll mount them in a glass frame - nothing says detectorist like the infamous tabs. :laughing7:

GL and HH
 

Im fairly new at this detecting thing and so far I can't distinguish different metals. I get a ton of pull tabs. The other day found 4 or 5 tabs and almost didn't dig the next target. 10k gold ring, very small butterfly ring. 1.5 g. Probably a child's. So I guess I'll keep digging everything.
 

Im fairly new at this detecting thing and so far I can't distinguish different metals. I get a ton of pull tabs. The other day found 4 or 5 tabs and almost didn't dig the next target. 10k gold ring, very small butterfly ring. 1.5 g. Probably a child's. So I guess I'll keep digging everything.

Great find, pull tabs are a infamous part of the hobby. :D

To learn to distinguish the different tone id's the best bet for your MD is to take different coins to the beach and practice with them. That will help speed up the learning process for you, and you can try tuning your Variable Discrimination to tune out pull tabs if you want.

The problem is though many rings, and other jewelry, will often sound just like a pull tab. A antique silver ring I found sounded like a pull tab too. So if you disc out the pull tabs your miss out on rings/watches/bracelets/necklaces/and other jewelry which is often more common and more valuable than any old coins you'll find. Though gaining experience from using your detector you will be able to hear some audio clues that let you know if it is a pull tab or something more.

Until then start a collection, or simply bag them up and sell them for aluminum scrap. :thumbsup:

GL & HH
 

Hey, thanks for the link on the zip tabs. Turns out that I found a 1962 in the surf the other day, I knew it was old, but you pinned it down for me.

THANKS!
 

Hey, thanks for the link on the zip tabs. Turns out that I found a 1962 in the surf the other day, I knew it was old, but you pinned it down for me.

THANKS!

Your welcome, glad it was of use for you. Congrats on the find - GL & HH

Keep hunting! The good stuff is out there waiting for you. - Good luck!!

I will and thanks. :D I'm still trying to find some less hunted areas, getting permission/research can be really hit and miss. GL & HH
 

If it's in old there's a very good chance they're still silver in the ground. I hunted this 1 park for months before 4 months before I found my first piece of silverin it was a 1935 silver quarter the next day I found a silver pendant the same size as a quarter but thicker a couple a weeks before that a guy started talking to me he said his father and his buddies hunted the park clean. make sure you check spots that you have been over before just in case you have missed something I hunted this 1 spot 4 or 5 * before I found those pieces of silver. and I also keep my pull tabs lol
 

If it's in old there's a very good chance they're still silver in the ground. I hunted this 1 park for months before 4 months before I found my first piece of silverin it was a 1935 silver quarter the next day I found a silver pendant the same size as a quarter but thicker a couple a weeks before that a guy started talking to me he said his father and his buddies hunted the park clean. make sure you check spots that you have been over before just in case you have missed something I hunted this 1 spot 4 or 5 * before I found those pieces of silver. and I also keep my pull tabs lol

The town itself is very old, and they have always had the yearly town fairs/festivals/concerts/and everything else at the large city park. It's also busy with locals and people having cookouts, family reunions, and such - we seen about 400 people total over the weekend there, and it was just a weekend. :D

I agree with you, when I have returned to parks I've searched before I've found coins that I missed before; however, in the case of this particular park a removed uncle (divorced from my aunt) has lived there for 30+ years and is a *hardcore* MD'er. That man has found things I'll never dream of finding, and had his house bursting at the seams with his finds. I'm not saying he couldn't have left something behind, but I bet a excavator and a deep scanning radar 2 piece detector would be needed to get it. :laughing7:

Beyond knowing at least some of the MD'ers that have gone before, the biggest problem is the distance. Although I know we will be back at least once more - my aunt (she was married to my removed uncle) still dreams of the park. She says silver was so great there she left with a handful anytime she detected the park. I figure third time visiting might be the charm as they say for me and my dad. :D

Glad to hear you save the pull tabs too, hard not to when at times it is the best find of a trip :thumbsup:
 

TCosby you serve up a paper plate of trash that makes me blush with envy. I been diggin it all lately, anything 3+ inches deep, its coming out.
 

TCosby you serve up a paper plate of trash that makes me blush with envy. I been diggin it all lately, anything 3+ inches deep, its coming out.

Never thought of that way, quite a interesting way of putting it and I imagine the only hobby/job that you can get away with it. :laughing9: I just use paper plates as they are plentiful, reusable, and keep the dirt off my desk. I appreciate the kind words, just not sure what there has been to be envious about in my finds.:icon_scratch:

That's a good strategy for digging finds to be sure. I myself really dig it all like mad when it isn't triple digit temperatures, or I have plenty of time.

I've found some of your find posts and you seem to be finding some really interesting relics, and silver. Looks like your plan is working and will pay off more so as time goes on. GL & HH :thumbsup:
 

Cosby, I am trying to learn a new machine (atpro), and I dont mind digging trash and stuff so I pull a lot of crap, my car trunk is full of the exact things you show. I gotta clean that up someday. Nowadays, in the old parks and such, the only way to find good stuff is to clean off the upper layer of trash, or go into the woods, but that is getting tougher too. The good old deep stuff is there, waiting, under all the can slaw and crap. So the more trash you dig, the more goodies you get. I say you are right on track for a good hit soon.
 

TCosbyJr said:
As my dad and me are still looking to find our first silver coins we took a road trip to a old park on Saturday. The park was one that my aunt always found silver coins (back in the 90's) but it appears to have been thoroughly searched since then.

The oldest coin was found by my dad, a 1912 S wheat penny, so we went back again Sunday to make sure we didn't miss anything.

My interesting finds were a Charm It! cellphone charm, a .22 cal short bullet shell (found a bullet shell/casing at nearly every park now, very strange), phone ringer/bell? (by the thumbtack), and the shiny item in the middle is a button cell battery. My counts were 4 quarters, 4 dimes, 1 nickle, 10 pennies, and 7 pull tabs (whole and pieces).

The majority of my clad came from one large pocket spill beside a volleyball net (the rest was from the totlot, including the charm). I assume the pocket spill was from someone that missed the volleyball and hit the ground hard - as change was in a about a one foot area and some at deeper depths.

The 2nd day of detecting turned out much less coinage for me (but the opposite for my dad), but I did find some old pull tabs the zip tabs. I found a total of 4 zip tabs, in two different styles. While they are not worth anything I think they were my best finds of the trip.

As I got all the coins I could in the typical areas the first day, I decided to working at finding silver coins missed by other MDers. This included hard to get to spots, areas littered with trash, beside the road/edge of the park, and similar places.

I dug a lot of trash to make sure there wasn't any silver hidden below, and I dug questionable signals/finds to ensure I wasn't missing any on edge. For my trouble I got a heaping mound of canslaw, 5 screw caps, 2 bottle caps, a pile of metal from a old pipe or flower bed edging, 2 bolts, 9 pull tabs, 4 zip tabs, and 4 pennies.

There were lots of friendly people at the park, all of which asked if we were finding anything good. Seems MDers are a common sight which explained everything. In the end we had a great trip over to the old town park twice, found some interesting finds, but we are still looking for our first silver so the quest continues.


Nice pile of crap you have there.
 

Cosby, I am trying to learn a new machine (atpro), and I dont mind digging trash and stuff so I pull a lot of crap, my car trunk is full of the exact things you show. I gotta clean that up someday. Nowadays, in the old parks and such, the only way to find good stuff is to clean off the upper layer of trash, or go into the woods, but that is getting tougher too. The good old deep stuff is there, waiting, under all the can slaw and crap. So the more trash you dig, the more goodies you get. I say you are right on track for a good hit soon.

Perhaps it is time for a snapshot of the trunk then :D Indeed I have been busy lately with removing trash to search below, not much woods around here - but there is a small wooded area may have to try that too. It would be great to find something good, but it has been fun at least so far. :thumbsup:

Thanks :occasion14:

Nice pile of crap you have there.

Ha, yeah been busy finding things just not much to show - although I was rather excited to find the zip tabs. :D
 

Neat Story.
With enthusiasm like yours, great items will turn up before long :icon_thumleft:
My best pull tabs are two I've dug stamped 'Aluminum'
Good stuff, keep it coming. Herbie :hello:
 

Who ever thought there would be folks posting pull tabs on T-net. Wait till you see my screw cap finds.
 

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