Question About Detecting Back in the 60s, 70s, 80s

[BryanM362]

Question About Detecting Back in the 60's, 70's, 80's

I've heard that back when metal detectors first became availalbe to the hobbyists, that old coins, silver, gold, and jewelry was easy picking.

Can some of the folks that hunted back then share some of their experiences? Was it really that easy? Were the parks loaded?

Thanks!

 

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[MickeyMaguire]

If you think you find a lot of pull-tabs now...


Yes, there was a lot of virgin-ground, but, there was even more junk in it.

 

[el padron]

Well, from what I've read, they were literally using mine detectors, so it couldn't have been that great.
Also, nobody gave a crap if you found silver coinage . Silver cobs were available for purchase for a few dollars a piece. Most of he relics that today make T net banner were mild curiosities and were considered valuable only as dinner conversation. Today the best detecting opportunities are more rewarding due to the relative costs of rprecious metals and jewelry.

Of course the best and most frequent finds go to perhaps just a few hundred tried and true Detectorists nationwide that put in lots and lots of time
Though I've learned its very unpopular to mention on T net, it is truly amazing how little there is out there for the average hobbyist. Really.....

 

[Terry Soloman]

Yes, it was MUCH easier to pull silver in the mid-1970s through the early 80's in public parks. Gold and silver rings were plentiful on baseball and football fields.

 

[gusser]

Back in my day ----the new coins were still made of silver.

 

[lookindown]

Well, from what I've read, they were literally using mine detectors, so it couldn't have been that great.
Also, nobody gave a crap if you found silver coinage . Silver cobs were available for purchase for a few dollars a piece. Most of he relics that today make T net banner were mild curiosities and were considered valuable only as dinner conversation. Today the best detecting opportunities are more rewarding due to the relative costs of rprecious metals and jewelry.

Of course the best and most frequent finds go to perhaps just a few hundred tried and true Detectorists nationwide that put in lots and lots of time
Though I've learned its very unpopular to mention on T net, it is truly amazing how little there is out there for the average hobbyist. Really.....

I like the way you think...in a way it is better now...thanks for posting that.

 

[shufflr]

I hunted in 82 with an old Garrett of unknown model number. I hunted in all metal mode, flipped one switch which discriminated junk (and nickels), another notch meant good stuff (sometimes......lol) but me and the guy I hunted with found dozens of silver coins. We were hunting on NAS Memphis, but just about everywhere we hunted we found silver. I'm willing to bet Military bases are still the bomb as they have such limited access.

 

[cudamark]

When and where I started, there was less junk, lots of silver and wheats, and it was a little easier finding jewelry. More bottle caps, but less pull tabs and screw tops. About half your finds were silver and wheats. Jewelry was easier in the dry sand but harder in the wet as the machines weren't as good for salt water hunting. This was in 1970.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

I've heard that back when metal detectors first became availalbe to the hobbyists, that old coins, silver, gold, and jewelry was easy picking.

Can some of the folks that hunted back then share some of their experiences? Was it really that easy? Were the parks loaded?

Thanks!

Bryan, your question is much too broad. You've just cited 3 decades (30 yrs.) in your question. And you have to remember that in each 5 yr. span within those decades, was seemingly light-years of advancements, each adding depth, disc, ability in minerals, etc...

and el padron, no one was using mine detectors for coins. At least not WWII mine detectors. They were lucky to find something jar or can sized, and larger. Could not find coin-sized targets.

In the 1960s before discrimination, micky-maguire is right: there was the constant bane of foil and tabs, with which you had no way to discriminate out. I started in about '75 or '76, at the dawn of when discriminators were just starting to be seen in-the-field. I started with an all-metal 66TR. And hunted with a guy using a 77b. So although that wasn't the '60s, yet it was a taste of the tail-end of that earlier generation. We distinctly AVOIDED junky parks (as virgin as they were ), and stuck with cleaner upscale elementary school yards. And to be honest with you, if we got 3 or 4 silvers in a day, we were happy. Because go figure: you'd have to dig foil, and your depth was a whopping 4" if you pushed it. We never thought of hitting exotic stage stops and ghost towns, though now looking back, I kick myself for that. But the reality was, we'd probably have not understood the "relic" mindset, and were more into silver, buffalos, the occasional ring, etc... And although no one had disc. prior to about 1975-ish (so no "gaming of the system", odds, etc...) yet gold rings were NOT that common. The school yards were NOT "brimming" with them. I don't ever recall finding a gold ring with that 66tr. Although my buddy got a few from the schools we hit though.

But to me, the "hey-day" was when motion disc. came out in the very late '70s and into the early '80s. THEN it seemed that silver was easy, and you could effortlessly pass tabs, and still go deep, in junky parks.

I think the "glamour and glory" stories you might read of, where places where someone was the absolute first to hunt under an upside down rollercoast tilt-whirl rides. Or the first person to ever hunt at the base of concession stands, and so forth . Beyond that, I think that the evolution of machines just sort of kept "all things equal".

Example: There was the story of a fellow who was the absolute first person to ever hit a ghost town in Utah. The RR town had had a peak population of a few thousand, but by the '20s, had been abandoned d/t the RR spur bypassed it, or the mines played out, or something. The fellow started detecting it in about 1965 with a transistor-like toy detector. But it could reach coins at up to an inch deep! Woohoo! And his average take for a day's hunt was 2 or 3 coins, in with all the ghost-townsy junk. Fast forward to the later '60s, and he gets a better deeper machine, and goes back through the same areas. On account of more depth, he AGAIN is still averaging "2 to 3 coins per hunt". Fast forward to the early '70s and now he's got more depth. Still though "2 to 3 coins per hunt". Fast forward to the mid and late '70s: now he's got disc, and even MORE depth. Still "2 to 3 coins per hunt". Fast forward to the mid 80's and he's got machines that seen through iron while discriminating AND have depth. Yup. 2 to 3 coins per day.

So you see from that example, that the technology advancements merely kept up with the competition, so-to-speak.

So you'd need to hone down you question to a particular set of years, and a particular type sites. Obviously some parts of the USA didn't see hobbyist detectors till later, and so forth.

 

[MackDog]

When I started in the early seventies in Chicago I would find all kinds of relics and old coins. I was the only one in my area with a metal detector. It was a Jetco Mustang BFO worked like a geiger counter. Remember it detected down to about 1" for coins. Now I use an At Pro and have been digging down as far as 9" routinely. As far as the parks being loaded yes they were and believe it or not they still are. Most people don't try to do every inch of a park and even if they do they still miss some. No place is ever really searched out. Plus they are always reseeded by people using them. I work a park for weeks trying to get every inch and can still make some awesome finds. Put in your time and you will score some great finds
Good hunting MackDog

 

[gusser]

I had a Heathkit detector in the 60's. Can't remember it's name, and I had to put it together. Found coins regularly. Bottle caps were a problem but pull tabs weren't seen in my area yet. Finds were shallow but I was the only one hunting. Virgin turf for sure.

 

[texasred777]

In 1980 I bought the cheapest detector I could find from Radio Shack; $29.95 if my memory serves me correctly. It had no discrimination. I only used it in my yard. We lived in an older house in Waco, TX. I decided that I had found enough to pay for the detector in about 3 months. I used it a couple of times a week during that time. I went to Montgomery Wards and bought a Bounty Hunter 840 for $209.99, including tax. I still have the receipt (just wish the lifetime warranty was in effect)! I hunted more in the yard, then started in some of the parks and schools. I continued using the BH until about mid 1982. I was using it at least 15 to 20 hours a week, most weeks. I have about 500 to 600 coins that I saved during those hunts. I saved the silver, pre-1950 nickels, and wheat cents. I believe the 1909 quarters (2) and the 1906 V nickel are the oldest coins that I found. Most of the coins are wheat cents, about 20+ nickels, and maybe 20 to 30 dimes. I haven't hunted much since then, so I can't say how much it has changed. Also, I now live in Idaho instead of Texas. Fixin' to start again when the weather clears up a bit!! I've bought a Tracker II 2D/707, a Lone Star, and a Tracker IV. I still have an 840 that I'll probably use more than the newer ones. I'm still wondering if I should have spent the money for the newer ones. My old 840 went screwy and I couldn't find the problem; but found another one on Ebay after I bought the Lone Star and the Tracker IV. I bought the Tracker II in about 2000 when I found that the 840 wasn't working properly. I'm still in love with the motionless detectors! I had the 840 in the back yard about a week ago and found little dog's paw print hat pin about 5 inches deep. With a good set of headphones (and I don't mean an expensive set) I believe I can find ALMOST as much as the guys with the higher priced detectors and high priced headphones. If not, well, I'm happy with what I have. lol Hey, I'm not knocking anybody's detector; just occasionally need to 'pick on' somebody. (I get picked on too!)

 

[Pointman]

I was really young in the 70s, but I remember finding silver on the ground and it was a big deal to me. I sold my dad a silver mercury dime that I have found for like .75 cents and it was listed to be worth .50. I don't remember us having too much success at metal detecting back then, but we did find wheat pennies and all of it was neat to me.

 

[jeweler21]

I've heard that back when metal detectors first became availalbe to the hobbyists, that old coins, silver, gold, and jewelry was easy picking.

Can some of the folks that hunted back then share some of their experiences? Was it really that easy? Were the parks loaded?

Thanks!

The answer to your questions is yes and yes.
I looked in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. In the sixties, I had a White's BFO and found very few coins. In the seventies, I had A.H. Electronic's Pros and Super Pros and White's ADS III. I paid $250 to $450 for each detector. I hunted school grounds and parks, most of which were virgin territory. I was also a coin collector and experienced enough to know the items and the value of the items I found. My first good discriminator, I paid for in the first two hours of use. All of my early detectors were paid for in less than a month.
We weren't cave men waving sticks at the ground. The older detectors were very good equipment and still are very comparable to the new detectors.
There is still items to found in the same places. My newest detector, an AT Pro, I have had for one year, it paid for itself in about 6 months. Of course this is relative to the locations a person can find to hunt through research and being at the right place at the right time.
I still find most of my relevant finds in the same places I hunted in the early years. No place is ever completely void of good finds, including silver and gold. Most of these places I have hunted hundreds of times. The secret to good finds is patience and persistence.
Good luck & HH

 

[BryanM362]

Thanks everyone for the responses!

Very interesting.

My parents had an old Whites detector back in the mid 70's. The only thing I remember anyone finding with it was two old metal rims that went around the wooden frame on wagon wheels. I vaguely remember using it in our yard, but not finding much. Of course no Internet back then to tap into and learn how and where to use it.

 

[worldtalker]

I had the privilege of hitting two old fairgrounds,three old parks,couldn't move the coil without getting Silver,quite a few Gold too! Early 70's.


GOD Bless

Chris

 

[OBN]

Got 30 minutes.....70's maybe.. water detecting





and the hunting is still good at some of these old hunted out locations, my last two outing

 

[el padron]

I like the way you think...in a way it is better now...thanks for posting that.

Todays technology makes it very enjoyable to recover lost valuables from good locations.

You know, I think the other huge difference between now and the not to distant past is that treasure hunters could expect to be able to legally keep the fruits of their labor.
How screwed would you potentially be if you found a silver bar at a busy florida Beach while taking your morning swim. These are things that we consider today. In the past, not so much......

If you found a Rolex President in front of a beach concession you could be inclined to look for its prior owner (the person that owned it before you) and return it out of the goodness of your heart. If the prior owner knew that you found his watch he might ask you if you would consider returning it to him for a reward.
Today that person would approach you and threaten to press charges or file a civil suit if you didn't immediately return the property that you found in 4 inches of sand after searching for three days in the sun.
Final disposition is subject to to both whims and demands of countless third parties who vilify the act of treasure hunting
Times have changed and the ultimate dreams of the treasure hunter are subject to chapter upon chapter of implications and procedure, even long after any potential recovery has ever been made.....

 

[Tom_in_CA]

El padron, the lost & found laws which you allude to, have not changed. They are the same back then (60s, 70s, & 80s) as they are now. In the 1960s, or '70s, if someone got wind that you found their "rolex watch", no, it was not "finders keepers" then. Nor is it now. There's always been an obligation to seek out the right-ful owner, and turn things in to the police depts. These laws were born out of wandering cattle laws of the 1800s. So nothing's changed.

 

[mrwilburino]

I had to open up a time capsule to shed some light on this subject. I got my first detector, an all-metal (no disc) BFO Jetco Huntmaster, in the spring of 1974. It was followed in 1975 by the Garrett Discriminator; another BFO, which had a fixed disc point somewhere between foil and nickels. I used the Garrett for most of the rest of the decade before getting out of the hobby for a while. Those old machines got very little depth on coins, maybe 2-3” at the most. When I first began hunting I put all my coin finds into a jar. By the time it was full, the novelty had kind of worn off and I just began spending my clad finds. The original jar remained untouched however, and I decided to open it up today to see exactly what my totals were. Here’s the result:

Wheat Pennies- 146
Memorials - 414

Silver Dimes – 27
Clad Dimes - 76

Silver Quarters – 8
Clad quarters - 39

Nickles – 71

Even though clad coins had only been in circulation for nine years they still made up the majority of quarter and dime finds. Memorials vs wheats show a pretty similar ratio. I’m sure this is due to a good amount of the silver being out of reach of most of the machines back then. The majority of these coins were found in a small park down the street from where I lived. No doubt, the guys who hunted it in the late 1970’s and early 80’s with adjustable disc, manually ground balanced, VLF machines saw a much better ratio of silver to clad, especially with a good deal of clad having previously been removed from that spot. From posts that I've read, it does seem like those who hunted back in that late 70's early 80's time period seem to remember finding the most silver.