Walkin' with Ben (long read with pics)

April has been a really awesome month for me so far. I have taken a shine to coin hunting instead of Civil War relics. Although I haven't found anything "old" yet, the fun of finding silver coins is addicting!! I have been bouncing back and forth between a few different sites. The one I have hunted the most is a small area beside a local school that was built in 1958. I actually haven't hunted the school itself due to school still being in session and plus they have it chain link fenced in too. Over from the school are a couple vacant fields that locals play soccer and football in. Beside this, are a stand of trees. While driving down the road I noticed there was more to this place than what meets the eye. There are big old trees lined up in a perfect line. Trees don't grow like that naturally; someone planted them like that long ago. In slowing to observe this, I noticed the remains of old water fountains. Perhaps 3 of them in this stand of trees. This is city property and they allow detecting so as long as you don't go overboard in digging with a shovel, etc.

Anyway here are a couple pics of the primary site:

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This area around the trees and fountains has been hunted before. In fact, there have been two people stop and talk to me that told me a guy detects it about every other weekend. I've not ran into him yet but I can say he is pretty good about filling his holes, etc but he either doesn't have a good machine or is running disc too high. This place is LOADED with trash. It has saw a lot of use over the years. I first started cherry picking it, and just decided to start digging everything from nickel signal on up. This of course, has loaded my bag with trash each outing...BUT a few surprises thrown in the mix too. The masking of the trash is pulling the IDs down of the coins and such. So if you are only digging text book coin signals, you aren't digging much here.

BTW...thought I would throw in that detectors used were the Minelab CTX, Minelab eTrac, and Fisher CZ-70 Pro. With all the talk here lately about Fisher and others being left behind, etc...well here ya go.

The place has been covered up in wheat cents. I knew if there were wheats there, that maybe there was a silver dime or two. The first silver I found there was actually a pin or ear ring or something with a clasp on the back. It looks like the sun. Stamped 925. The next trip there, I found more wheats and a silver rosie dime followed by a merc. Up to this point I had been using the CTX and had just gotten the CZ70. I took the CZ70 there and noticed I was digging a lot more trash with it, that IDed as nickel or coins. But I was also digging more coins too....lots of clad, a few wheats, and bottle caps. The CZ70 loves those screwon bottlecaps. It was the next trip here that I got a foil/relic tone bounce on the CZ70. Since I was digging everything, it was a no brainer dig me signal. To my surprise, out pops a gold ring. Looks like a lawnmower got it first. It's a 14k mans wedding band; 6 grams. By this point I had worked my way to the field where they play soccer/football. I have now cleared one half of the field of ALL signals that I detected. Lord have mercy at the trash. But I got coins in the mix and a few pieces of junk jewelry so far. I'm hoping my work pays off with at least one piece of good jewelry out of there. Using the eTrac with large Ultimate coil there for ground coverage.

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Intermission time. Let me talk about detectors for a bit. The CTX is of course the Minelab flagship detector. To be honest with you...I have quit using it in favor of the eTrac. I happened upon a very good eTrac that simply out does the CTX. I have tested them side by side with their respective 11 inch stock coils and the eTrac I have is deeper than the CTX I have. Throw in the mix the whole arsenal of coils available for the eTrac and it becomes a clear winner in my book. If it weren't for my beach trips, I would drop the CTX in a heart beat and never look back. I have been using the eTrac with the 8x6 SEF and Ultimate coils. As of this post, I just received the Sunray 8 inch coil for it, and I will be testing it against the SEF. The CZ comes into play here too. Between the eTrac and CZ, I dug more trash that IDs into the coin range with the CZ and I do get fooled with the iron falsing with it. I took advantage of the lower pricing of the F75 and bought one of those last week. While reading up on using it as a coin detector (my previous engagements with the F75 were relic hunting only) I found a writeup by NASA Tom in which he says the F75 in 4 tone, is similar to the CZ70/CZ3D spec. The F75 is much more balanced than the CZ and the particular one I have, gets the same depth as the CZ70. Not sure which I will use...I tried the 75 for about 30 minutes the other day and put it back in the truck in favor of the eTrac.

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Okay now for the good stuff. My buddy calls me up Tuesday and wants to go digging. We hit one of his spots and didn't do any good. Decided to go to another spot of his but some group was having an early easter egg hunt with kids there so we were going to go to my coin site. Well it too had people all over it. We decided to hit a nearby spot we have dug some Civil War relics on in the past. He was wanting to try his GPX there anyway. I felt outgunned for relics but decided to try my luck with the eTrac and Ultimate coil.

After hunting around for a bit without a single signal, I get a really nice high tone. Understand something...this place has been hammered by every hunter in my town. It is a vacant field behind a Civil War period house that was used as HQ for the officers during the war. Not a ton of things have came out of the field but there have been some nice finds, including three seated coins...two half dimes and a dime. Back to that high tone. I cut a plug and check the hole...target still in the hole. I'm thinking at this point, it is a can because the signal is too strong. It didn't pinpoint tight enough to be a coin. So I got a little careless in digging and boom...standing upright I see the big reeded edge of a big silver coin. In my head I am thinking SEATED COIN....I grab it and turn it over to see a liberty bell. My first half dollar....1952 Franklin. I holler for my buddy who comes over and he handles it a bit and starts to walk back to where he was hunting. He got a signal about 5 feet from me and said "here is probably another one...big signal, high conductive". I told him to dig 'er up. Well there was my can. There ended up being 4 deep cans within 10 feet of that coin. Had I came in from any other way, I would have dug the cans and just assumed the coin was another can. Probably why it was still there. That's all we found in that field besides a few junk pieces. I did scratch it with my digger though but I will take it.

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I had today off work so I went to a homesite I had been working too. Didn't find anything there but a copper memorial cent this time. Decided to hit my little picnic grove spot. Got a couple wheats and was looking like it was going to be one of those days...just junk, clad, and wheats. In the midst of a cache of pepsi and mtn dew screw caps, I get a very similar signal to the caps but with a higher pitch. Running multi tones on the eTrac.

Could not believe what I saw. There is this thing in relic hunting where certain relics will elude you for years...and then one of two things eventually happen. 1. You end up telling yourself that you will never find one, so you end up buying one, and then the next hunt or two, you find one. 2. Out of the blue one day you finally break through and find one, and then a hunt or two later, you find another. Civil War buckles did me that way. Took me forever to finally find a US oval plate and now I've dug 2. Same with breast plates...took me years to find just one, and now have 4. Well half dollars were that way til Tuesday. I never figured I would find a big silver here. Then ole Ben showed up Tuesday. I worked Wednesday. Went hunting Thursday and lady liberty comes walking up

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That is a shot of all the goodies so far this month. The nickel is a war nickel. The other thing is some kind of token. Has President Grant on it and Shell gas stations on the back. No quarters have came up other than clad ones. There is still a lot of area to cover though in that little grove with the old fountains. In one spot of it, those old rusted crown caps are just laying everywhere on top of the ground. I don't know if other diggers had discarded them there or if they are just laying there as thrown down by the users long ago.

This other picture shows some of the junk I am dealing with and removing. This place is only about 2 miles from my house so I am working it extra hard. I figure if I remove a little at a time, then I will eventually get it all. Doesn't seem to be date back that old though...perhaps the 40s-50s is the earliest from the coins I have found. Lots of clad from the 70s and 80s. My pouch has just about as much in it now from Thursday's hunt as what is pictured in the box.

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Excellent pix. Great play-by-play.

Nice digs Daniel! Great write up too.
No doubt silver coin hunting can be addicting.

After a year and a half using the CTX I sold it in favor of an Etrac.
In my opinion the Etrac is a better PARK detector. At least it is for me.
It's deeper than my CTX and I much prefer the coil selection for the Etrac.
The Etrac Audio and ability to switch between auto and manual sensitivity with one click
helps me glide through the parks much more efficiently.
I am also able to distinguish nail falsing much easier with the Etrac because of the audio.
After taking my Etrac to an old house, I was able to see where the CTX with it's combined mode
would have handled the site better, although in an extreme nail site like that, there are better detectors then either
of the Minlabs that should be used.
Let me know how you like the 8x6 SEF compared to the 8" Sunray.
I have been having good luck with the Sunray curb strip hunting and have thought about trying the small SEF as well as the Nel Hunter too.
Most of my park hunting has been done with the Gen 5 Tornado which I am extremely happy with.
It matched my CTX 17x13 in depth but is much nicer to swing and separates better.
The WOT on Etrac is where the Etrac will out punch my CTX big coil combo.

Congratulations on your BIG Silver!

Bryan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2017 05:57AM by Cabin Fever.

Great post, love the pictures.

Nice finds!

You're right, about the cans.
You happened to get your coil right over the coin.
Good one.

That's some excellent hunting! Congratulations on silver and wheats. Doesn't get any better than that being on a roll.

Nice scores on the silver Daniel. As they say nothing is ever really hunted out.

Tom

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In a democracy, it is difficult to win fellow citizens over to your own side, or to build public support to remedy injustices that remain all too real when you fundamentally misunderstand how they see the world.

Nice haul Daniel. Feels good diggin those BIG silvers don't it!?

Congrats

Yes, coin hunting can be just as addictive and fun as CW, especially when the nice coins and colors start showing up. Congrats on the halves!

Wayne

Pleasant Garden, NC
AT Max, Nokta Impact, MX Sport, Nokta FORS Relic, GPX 4800, Infinium, Racer, Deus, F75SE, Nautilus DMC II (order of acquisition, last to first)

Does an archeologist argue with a plow? A bureaucrat with a bulldozer?

Great write up! Thank you for the detector comparisons and thoughts. Well done.

Dean

Ole' Daniel is turning into a Coin Hunter!
I also prefer Etrac over CTX 3030. And that Sunray X-8 Coil is My fave on it. Great separation and almost as deep as stock. Also a Full 8" unlike Minelabs that is 7.5" and heavier. Also the CZ is No slouch as You are finding out. As will always keep My CZ-3D. My 2 Main Rigs. But as I posted Picked up a Golden UMax New Tone model that is turning into a Good Little Coin Hunter and light weight. Glad You mention No Shovels as when I do People seem to get Mad, Guess they Will have to learn the hard way. Anyways, Good Luck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2017 05:25PM by Harold,ILL..

Thanks guys. Getting ready to go back out here in a few mins. It seems we have went straight from winter to summer again with these temps...it's in the mid 80s right now but too nice to be cooped up inside the house.

The area of town this little grove is in, is in the more upscale part of town. Everybody there drives Lexus, Audi's, BMWs, etc. A few years ago the city expanded its walking trail/sidewalk network and it gets well used by these folks that come run or jog what I call the loop...basically one full lap is a mile. They all come right by the grove of trees. Some are nice. But some are nosey codgers that want to be in your business like they own the place. I have taken to trying to blend in as much as possible but I'm getting ready to try a whole new tactic. I am going to get one of those bright safety vests like the workers use and wear that thing while I detect. I figure when they see me out there with that on, they will just assume I am looking for a buried pipe or doing litter pickup

Nice write up and clear Pics Daniel..


Like the Big Silver too!!

I too have been amazed at the amount of Big targets = non ferrous that are in hunted hard sites..

With some nails around a big piece of silver or brass ..9 times out of 10 it will sound like bigger fasling iron!

Keep on digging those coins!!

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Enjoyed the journey. Nice write up and a good looking spot. Might be a Morgan hunkered down there, too. HH jim tn

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Danial Tn
The area of town this little grove is in, is in the more upscale part of town. Everybody there drives Lexus, Audi's, BMWs, etc. A few years ago the city expanded its walking trail/sidewalk network and it gets well used by these folks that come run or jog what I call the loop...basically one full lap is a mile. They all come right by the grove of trees. Some are nice. But some are nosey codgers that want to be in your business like they own the place. I have taken to trying to blend in as much as possible but I'm getting ready to try a whole new tactic. I am going to get one of those bright safety vests like the workers use and wear that thing while I detect. I figure when they see me out there with that on, they will just assume I am looking for a buried pipe or doing litter pickup.

I am in California, so imagine to the entitled buttinsky people here.
I did away with that by detecting only late at night into the wee hours of the morning.
But, because of cops at some parks,....I went to thrift stores and bought an orange vest and a hardhat.
I have a little cart, I put an empty trash can on it with a couple of rakes sticking out of it.
Of course I went to all that trouble and no cops ever drove by.

LOL

At least I didn't rent the white pick up truck and set up work lights on a stands.

Thanks for taking the time for this write up and sharing. Great read...

I have an update.

I hunted today right after I made my last post until nearly dark. My arm is killing me. But I'm glad I went because now I know the missing piece to the "grove". If you look in my first picture in the post way up top, you will see a blue building. That building is the edge of a little baseball field that the young kids play on now. I never paid it any attention because it's just little kids that play on it. I was hunting today and a fella stopped and talked to me. He was an older fella that does the mowing and such for the place. I asked him if he knew what might have been there where the grove is, with the water fountains and all. He said that the place is where the local high school used to have their baseball field. The ball field that is there now, is just a small part of the big field. He said he graduated in he late 60s from there and back in the day, the place was a hopping little place. He pointed out an area where the concession stands used to sit. What we refer to as the "new" high school is the one I graduated from...it's in an entirely differently location now. I think my dad's class of 72 was one of the last classes to graduate from the "old" school. He said there were 3 water fountains there and picnic tables too; people would come watch the games there instead of sitting on the bleachers.

I didn't do much good today. I finished the soccer field up and only got some clad and some more can slaw and junk. Then hopped up to the grove in hopes of some more silver. Didn't happen today. I wanted to hunt with the F75 some and gave it a good go. That thing loves those rusty crown caps and no matter what I did, I just couldn't pass up the signal they gave...even tried running the BC mode and that didn't help. They read as a solid dime/quarter signal from all angles. I put it back in the truck and got the eTrac out again. Dug some more clad, one lonesome wheat, and what I think is a 1935 buffalo nickel. It's a buffalo nickel with a date which is odd for here. I loved the F75 for relic hunting but am not liking it at all for coins. This one is probably going up for sale soon.

Great write up Daniel keep it up. I have thought about getting a workers vest--already have a hardhat--that will keep the busy bodies at bay--They don't want to bother with a common worker. LOL

Daniel, give the 75 a little time. It really is a very good coin shooter and deep. HH jim tn

jim tn Wrote:
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> Daniel, give the 75 a little time. It really is a
> very good coin shooter and deep. HH jim tn


I will give ya that it's deep. But this place is littered with those rusty crown caps. They don't ring up as a coin on the eTrac or CTX. I am still digging every signal from nickel on up...not exactly cherry picking any more. The F75 just adds another problem to the mix...those rusty crown caps. Each detector has its quirks though. On the eTrac, I am finding a bunch of those aluminum pieces from cans. Not the pop tops but the little round thing that the pop tops push down when you open the can...those ring up just like a nickel on the eTrac. The other guy that hunts the place, has an AT Pro and T2. I don't know how the AT Pro is with crown caps but I'm pretty sure the T2 will have the same problem as the F75 on IDing them as a coin. I'm betting that's why there's still so much stuff there.

Yeah that's what I hated about F-75 is its Love for "Steel" Bottle caps. It seems Minelab is only company that can make a DD Coil Detector that doesn't love them.
As far as a Concentric Coil Detector CZs are good at handling them also. But the Coinstrike sure did love them from what I remember.

Harold ole friend, you just reminded me of a park I need to go hunt. I hunted it way back when I had a CoinStrike. It's in a different town and a MUCH older park. The first time I hunted it, I eyeballed an 1883 indian head cent laying on top of the ground. It is loaded with the steel bottle caps and I remember I left with only a few coins. I have never had a Minelab there. Hunted it once with the V3i and small coils but didn't pull anything out of it.

Take the Etrac there and You be a pullin' Silver!

The broken beaver tails, square tabs that get cut in half and round pieces like you said will ring up
like a perfect nickel signal quite often.
Depending on my mood, site or how easy the digging is usually determins on how many of these I dig.
When I get burnt one to many times I start using depth as a discriminator and only dig the ones I know to be
deeper then the aluminum layer for that site.
My primary goal is old coins so I don't mind passing up clad nickels even knowing I could be passing a gold ring too.
Most old nickels are in such bad shape out of the ground they don't have much value or eye appeal anyway.
I know a lot of people won't agree with me on that but that's how I feel about it.
Old silver and copper is what gets me excited.
Bryan

I'm a sucker for Buffalo nickels; one of my favorite coins. If I'm in a place where they might turn up, I'm gonna go for signals that might be them. Especially in an area that has been cherry picked of most (not all) high conductive coins and the bulk of the rest are showing up when digging not so perfect tones or signals. Thus the need to dig nickel and up signals...they're still in the ground for a reason and it sure ain't a lack of detectorists hunting.

Yeah the Etrac is also good on Deep Nickles. Its rite up there with CZs once Your learn the way the read as deeper they tend read lower in My ground anyways and always seems to be some as most cherry pick in Silver.
You never know as knew a Guy who found a 1918/17 D
Buffalo Nickel. I would take that over most Silver Coins. Lol.

Yeah the Etrac is also good on Deep Nickles. Its rite up there with CZs once Your learn the way they read. And always seems to be some as most cherry pick Silver.
You never know as I knew a Guy who found a 1918/17 D
Buffalo Nickel. It was Dark but still had a full readable date. I would take that over most Silver Coins. Lol.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2017 02:57PM by Harold,ILL..

My eyes have gotten bad for seeing stuff up close. I am gonna have to get a loupe; right now I am getting by with using my camera and zooming in on the date. That buffalo I thought was 1935 was actually a 1923 after cleaning. Would really like to be out hunting today but with it easter weekend, I figure the parks will be full of hunters of a different kind...chasing prized eggs. So I will go next week.

Daniel, what kind of depth are you hitting in your soil? Nice finds.

Big silver is hard to find...congrats

Daniel go to a Dollar Tree,my favorite store,and buy you a hand full of 1.00 glasses. You can pick the power you need. My opthamologist was amazed that I could select the appropriate power for driving,watching tv and reading.He said you aren't right on,but close enough.