Not sure if everyone is talking about identifying a lead vs silver item BEFORE digging but:
Not sure of the specific piece size (1 x 3 x ?) but in terms of VDI numbers there is no way to tell the difference between silver and lead targets of different sizes with any detector.
I had published previously the correlation between gold ring weight and VDI number for the CTX (CO number) and Equinox 800; as target weight increases so does VDI number – the higher the weight the higher the VDI number for a specific class of items. Here I extend those results to lead and silver.
I took 10 lead items (fishing weights) and 10 silver rings (925) and air tested them with the CTX 3030. For lead, weight ranged from 3.14g to 8oz (224g). VDI CO number ranged from 12:13 to 9:41 (see photo 1). In general, VDI number increased as weight increased. For silver rings, weight ranged from 1.1g to 7.4g and VDI number ranged from 12:22 to 13:47 (photo 2). Again, as weight increased so did VDI number. Due to the large overlap in VDI numbers for lead and silver, it would not be possible, a priori, to differentiate lead from silver (or gold) alone.
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Besides VDI number, MDers can use VDI number stability and sound to differentiate targets. For both lead and silver, VDI numbers are very stable (as opposed to some junk) and so it is unlikely that VDI number stability alone adds much value in differentiating lead from silver targets. This leaves sound and the only remaining source of information for differentiating lead from silver. Due to severe hearing loss, I cannot comment as to another MDer’s ability to use sound to differentiate lead from silver – all I can say is I sure cannot differentiate lead from silver by sound alone.
2020
Gold – 16
Silver – 24
Lead – No idea