Found by hand, now what...?

[southern maine diver]

Good morning everyone. I recently discovered an area that has produced a vast variety of old coins. I found them by hand, just by washing the sand and debris away by hand, underwater. They include the folowing:

22 Wheaties
9 silver quarters
1 walking liberty half
4 Indian heads
2 Two cent pieces
3 buffalo nickles
4 Mercury dimes

The oldest, 1787 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, large cent!

The coins are pretty chewed up from being underwater for so long, but interesting none the less. The problem I have is that these coins were mixed in with a lot of other underwater debris, including lead sinkers, some brass small calibre shell casings, steel, Iron, lead, (several musket balls) and other pieces of copper.

I know you guys have all been asked the same question before, but what detector would you suggest for such a mixture of metal? I believe this spot is an old wharf/or dock, which would account for the different range of coins.
I'll be hitting this spot when I get back into the water, hopefully before the boating season. There is so much boat traffic during the summer months, that I don't dive this area very often.

Thank you all for the help,

Wayne

 

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[spez401]

minelab excalibur 800 or 1000 would be my choice... along with the choice of quite a few others here.

steve

 

[southern maine diver]

Thanks Steve...

The Excaliber was the machine I was leaning towards, I didn't know if there was a newer machine that had come out recently that would work better in my application. I am in some real "trashy" areas under old docks, wharves and piers. The amount of garbage and crap under there is amazing. Thanks for your input.

Wayne

 

[Sandman]

Wayne, with all that junk under there you need a detector that has Iron Mask instead of just discriminate. The difference with an Excalibur is the Iron Mask just doesn't respond to the iron and will still sound off on gold and coins unlike other water machines that null out the iron and targets near it.

If the trash is very heavy, the smaller 800 coil machine will be fine and still be very deep.

Good Luck,
Sandman

 

[Marty-Graw]

it may be easier to use a scoop and a floating sifter

 

[southern maine diver]

Hey Sandman and Marty...

Thank you for the info and suggestions. I love this forum and you guys have been great with your input, comments and sharing of info. I look forward to warmer waterand spending more time searching.

Thanks for your help and insight,

Wayne

 

[TreasureTales]

it may be easier to use a scoop and a floating sifter

Heck yeah! If the area is relatively small, I'd definitely consider this method. You could miss some great stuff if you stick to a detector, even the Excaliber won't find the small or mistaken stuff. Nor will it find old marbles (some can be valuable if not too beat up), iron relics that are masked out, and seashells. A large area would take too long to use the scoop and screen method. Whatever you use, please post more pix as you find more stuff. It's all good.

 

[Charles]

I can't even think of another detector other than the excal for that area. You need something to handle saltwater and the tone ID would let you do some cherry picken if the trash got to bad. Sounds like your going to need help hauling up the coins there.

 

[coin_diver]

Save your money on the detector and buy a used coin dredge on ebay. This is exactly the type of u/w hunting I prefer and i simply pull everything up for sorting. Don't worry about the boats, fly a flag off the dredge.
Good luck!

 

[spez401]

coindiver...

doesn't the use of a dredge usually involve permits? I thought they did.

Also... what is the cost of the dredge, as opposed to the cost of the excal?

steve

 

[southern maine diver]

Hey Coin_diver...

Thanks for the suggestion on the dredge, but this spot is so close to onlookers that I dare not attempt it. I'd rather slip into the water unnoticed and paw around with a sifter or use the metal detector. I do have another spot in mind that I could use the dredge. It's an old man made salt water "pool" that was used by an old hotel. I guess in its' prime, there were nearly 400 guests a week, so I might be able to turn something up over there. I'll check out the bottom with the metal detector first.

I want to thank all of you for taking the time to view some of my posts and for sharing your thoughts. I must admit I've missed out on a lot of info from this forum over the years. I'm sure I missed many goodies while working as well. I used to be in a hurry, concentrate on the job, get things done and move on to the next one. Now, I take a bit more time, take a look around and bring up some interesting things. If I find a good spot, I come back to it and take my "lunchbreak" underwater!!!

Again, thanks for your input and advice.

I can't wait to get back into the water. I haven't dove for over two months. I had a shoulder replaced with titanium on Jan 31st, and I'm going through the rehab now. I hope to be back in the water in a few more weeks. I'll be sure to post my finds on the forum.

You all take care, stay warm and dive safe.

Wayne

 

[Jason in TN]

Excal with the 8in Coil. The 800 is the only way to go if there is a lot of trash. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[coin_diver]

Hi Spez, permits are a hit or miss thing, all depends on who you ask (and irritate) I have repeatedly had the state encon watching and talking w/ me w/o prob. Also, there was a portion of the mining law that read "under 1 cuyd moved" which excluded the need for permitting. As always, it's the uninformed in gov't that make assumptions. I have also had state park permits, water authority ok's, and others to use my "small underwater suction device". Dredge's can be had for $1000 and up.

Southern, sorry to hear about your shoulder. The good news is that your new bionic shoulder should be great for fanning! I know all too well what you mean by onlookers. I once worked directly under the bow of a Coast Guard cutter while they watched, they were only concerned about me getting drawn into their intake. This is also where the use of the underwater jet tube works great because noone sees any disturbance. But as you said, it's not truly stealth. Maybe you can get the go-ahead during the off season as I do. I'll tell you what, you get the permission and I'll bring the dredge. The spoils will be yours to keep! If you need help just bubble..

 

[southern maine diver]

Hi Coin_Diver and Swingingmydfx...

Thanks foe the get well thoughts. I have a lot of mobility back since the surgery, so I've been working a little bit and trying to get my boat back in the water. I'm working on getting a new engine and I'll make some needed improvements/modifications on it so I can get back into the boat easier than pulling myself up over the transom!

Coin, thanks for the offer on the dredge and your help. It is a relatively small area that I've been working and I've already moved a lot of the bigger rocks and heavy pieces of granite. It shouldn't take a long time to go through some of the sandy pockets for coins, musket balls, etc.

Actually, I find it kind of relaxing to be down there sifting through years of debris and finding some goodies. This is where I go to relax after a hard day or on an early Sat or Sun morning before people start milling about. I don't take a lot of time to look at the coins underwater, I just stick them all in the small mesh bag and then go through them up on the boat.

Anyway, I see the Doc on Friday so he may give me the "Go ahead" to start exercising with weights and let me get back into the water. I put a little longer umbilical together so I can just run off of some "hose gear" and that way I won't be lifting those 120's over my head. thanks for the kind thoughts. I'll post some of my finds here for sure.
(I'm now saving for an Excaliber to hit some other spots too)

Dive safe everyone,

Wayne

PS here's a picture of my diveboat a 22' Privateer named "DiverDown"

 

[Ocaliman]

Just my .02, but I have to agree with the Excal for a project like what you describe. I have had mine for about a year, and can't say a bad thing about it. Well worth the investment.

 

[au4me]

I"ll help and set you up with a machine to use, call me Scott at 1-978-580-5573

 

[coin_diver]

BTW South, great dive boat. Must suck to come ashore and go back to work. The wives just don't understand do they...

 

[southern maine diver]

Hi Coin...

Yea, I love this little boat of mine. Actually, I salvaged it for a guy about 8 years ago and then he sold it to me after the insurance company paid him off! I got a great deal and I've had the boat in the water for six years now. It's just big enough to be comfortable for me and a few dive buddies, it's fast at 35 kts and very sea worthy. I've gone out 2 miles beyond the Isles of Shoals with it in 10' to 12' seas to gut fishing nets out of a 60 foot fishing boat. That was a real eye opener...

This is a Privateer, made in North Carolina and it is laid up heavy with fiberglass. It really takes a pounding.
And I do take the wife and my two boys out on it to go deep sea fishing when the dive work slows down in August... we have a ball. I'll be bringing it down to the Conn River this summer for a week of diving (or at least 4 or 5 days of it... four tanks a day at 25 feet and all the bottles you can stuff into your dive bag

Have a great day,

Wayne

 

[coin_diver]

Great hit in the salvage, I usually try and secure rights before it sees light though! Funny how they change their tune. We have plenty of good salvage ops here in the St. Lawrence every year, last year it was a 28' Scarab lost during a race in 125fsw, coasties weren't too happy.
Anyway, good to see another commercial guy here, I paid my dues in the gulf and NY harbor. Have a great year and keep us posted!