How to Find Those Elusive Nickels

ToddB64

ToddB64

Sr. Member
Jan 7, 2007
418
73
Georgetown, Ohio, USA
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Gamma 6000,
Tesoro Bandido II µMax and
Compadre, White's Classic II,
Garrett Ace 250
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hi All ! :hello:

This is about the article titled How to Find Those Elusive Nickels, by Mike Sedlak, starting on page 50 of the January 2015 Western & Eastern Treasures magazine.

I would like to see more of this kind of article, as it provides good instructions for finding more Nickels and fewer pull tabs and the same method described can also be used to calibrate your detector for other targets that have consistent size, shape and alloy composition.

The well written article is easy to understand, with photos, and is available as a Back Issue at "Blow Out Pricing" for $2.00 when you buy (4) additional back issues @$2.00 each, for a $10.00 minimum order. Just use the Back Issues order form that appears in most W&E monthly magazine issues. Or you can pick up a single copy of W&E off your local magazine rack, if they have it, for $5.50 US and Canada. I think the $10.00 minimum order is a much better deal, as this gives you (5) back issues to read !

Kudos to Mike Sedlak and W&E Treasures for providing this high-quality article !

ToddB64
 

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Upvote 0
I read the article and agree with you (to a point). However, of all the potential targets, with the exception of V nickels or the occasional buffalo nickel I don't consider nickels a particularly valuable or desirable target. I do set my detectors to accept nickels due to gold jewelry often coming in in the same range, but retrieving nickels isn't very high on my list.
luvsdux
 

Couldn't find the article on the web... Haven't looked in a periodicals section in the Library for a few years. Might try there next I hit it.

I'm not sure if your post was a request for commentary or a sales pitch, though! :)

That being said, I love finding nickles, but like luvsdux, I also keep them in target range because all 3 gold rings I've found showed up as nickels. As for finding elusive ones, i find plenty! Not as many as dimes, but close to the count of quarters I find.
 

I hit a nickel spill last year. Over 168 nickels in a 10 yard area. My F5 has a special tone for nickel range targets.
 

I detected for many years with bountyhunter machines and I would hardly ever find nickels, I figured they were just lost less somehow, as if there is just less of them in peoples pockets. but then I got a Garrett AT Gold and I find nickels all the time now, it just locks in on those nickels. I find a lot more of everything in general but it clearly finds nickels at a higher ratio to other coins than an of my old detectors would.
 

mikeraydj said:
I hit a nickel spill last year. Over 168 nickels in a 10 yard area. My F5 has a special tone for nickel range targets.
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Interesting. It's surprises like this that keep me searching. Have to wonder how or why that many nickels were lost in that area.
luvsdux
 

here4themoney said:
I detected for many years with bountyhunter machines and I would hardly ever find nickels, I figured they were just lost less somehow, as if there is just less of them in peoples pockets. but then I got a Garrett AT Gold and I find nickels all the time now, it just locks in on those nickels. I find a lot more of everything in general but it clearly finds nickels at a higher ratio to other coins than an of my old detectors would.
Click to expand...

That's no surprise, given it's locking in on Gold targets. Every Gold Ring I've found has rung up a solid nickel on my Garrett ACE350.

I find almost the same number of nickels as quarters with the 350. I wonder if it has to do with the slightly higher frequency (supposedly better gold detection).

I LOVE hearing the solid tone on the Ace350 nickel. When it doesn't bounce, I'm either finding a nickel or a hunk of gold (with the occasional "on the surface" pop tab.. which reads solidly... underground bounces better).

-Skippy
 

luvsdux said:
Interesting. It's surprises like this that keep me searching. Have to wonder how or why that many nickels were lost in that area.
luvsdux
Click to expand...

I strongly suspect it was a nickel toss. I've done that a few times with kids at various parties/communities and gatherings. I'll buy half-a-dozen rolls and spread the nickels over the ground. I'll throw out 4 quarters that are marked somehow (either dated, or with a marker) and have prizes for the four quarters. Then line up the kids and tell them to GO! They LOVE picking up the coins. Every kid walks away a winner regardless if they find the quarters. For $16, it's an inexpensive party game that can last 20 minutes or more, and kids go home with hands filled with money.

Unsurprising that 168 were remaining in a 10-yard area. Most kids will give up looking deep in the grass once the quarters were found.

In fact, now that I'm remembering this, I'm pretty sure some lucky metal detectorist thought they'd struck the gold-mine (or got sick of picking up nickels)! It makes me feel good knowing that I made someone's day with a fun story. :)

In the future, when I do that, I'll go back over the nickel toss and find them myself!
 

Hello,

I love getting nickel signals, increase my chances for Gold and coin finds. My percentage found is about 95% nickels and junk vs. 5% gold and other goodies! Not bad at all, just have to dig a lot.

Regards,
 

I hate nickels. The V-nicks are cool, but they are like Indian Heads, unless you hit that absolute rarest date in an ultra-rare condition for being dug, it's a just an old disc of metal. If it wasn't for the fact that one of the gold coins reads in the nickle zone, I wouldn't bother to dig them in my old sites.

Of course hunting for jewelry on the beach, all bets are off. Dig it all but iron.
 

I think you,re right Skippy! the higher freq does help on the nichels. Last fall I got a HF coil-18.75 kHz- coil from devilpookie and it works great on them! Havent found gold yet with it but I'm sure I will in time. I run a 505 minelab and like it a lot. JR
 

A lot of my nickel signals have turned out to be gold rings. When clad hunting I will notch out the zincs, ignore the pennies & dimes and dig only quarters and nickels.
 

This subject kind of interests me only because my dad always complains about not being able to find a nickel and I never really gave it much thought as to why. I find just as many nickels as I do anything else (other than zinc that I don't dig). Do you guys think it's the machine itself or just the disc setting used? He uses VLF machines and probably runs his disc up, I'm not sure. I run very little to none and go mostly by tones, all I have are BBS machines right now. On the Sovereigns, if it's gold under the coil you know it, the tone is different than a nickel yet in the same range on the meter although a lot tighter.
 

I like all early coins. As far as nickels go, I like shield nickels the best. Out of the half dozen I have, two have rays only made in 1866 and 1867. I did'nt start finding them until I stopped passing over iffy signals.
 

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Skippy SH13 said:
I strongly suspect it was a nickel toss. I've done that a few times with kids at various parties/communities and gatherings. I'll buy half-a-dozen rolls and spread the nickels over the ground. I'll throw out 4 quarters that are marked somehow (either dated, or with a marker) and have prizes for the four quarters. Then line up the kids and tell them to GO! They LOVE picking up the coins. Every kid walks away a winner regardless if they find the quarters. For $16, it's an inexpensive party game that can last 20 minutes or more, and kids go home with hands filled with money.

Unsurprising that 168 were remaining in a 10-yard area. Most kids will give up looking deep in the grass once the quarters were found.

In fact, now that I'm remembering this, I'm pretty sure some lucky metal detectorist thought they'd struck the gold-mine (or got sick of picking up nickels)! It makes me feel good knowing that I made someone's day with a fun story. :)

In the future, when I do that, I'll go back over the nickel toss and find them myself!
Click to expand...
I've never heard of this, but I like it. Probably the way all those nickels got there and I can see in my mind a bunch of young kids having a ball collecting them. I generally find a goodly number of nickels as I usually hunt with low discrimination so I'm always a bit surprised when I see a thread where someone mentions seldom or never finding nickels.
luvsdux
 

My nickel spill was at a fairgrounds. I am thinking that there was some sort of a game played there. The earliest was from the late 60's and the latest from 1998. They were all about 3 inches deep. It took 2 days to get them all.
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I hardly found anything else. These were the 3 times I emptied my pouch. Needless to say, I know what a nickel signal sounds like on my F5. I stopped counting at 168. I don't think it was a banner, but I think deserved honorable mention.
 

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Yeah, nickels come up really crazy. They always tone real low for me, like pop bottle caps. I musta missed hundreds thinking they were trash,,,,,but now and then I get a good signal and it's a nick. Go figure.
 

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