reason everyone got into metal detecing

when i was a kid 7 or 8. i happened to be playing in the creek and found a 1881 penny and a 1887 dime.

I've been fascinated by coins since I was a kid, especially old ones, and I started into this hobby for that reason. It's become more than that since then, of course, but my focus will always be particularly on old coins...

Steve

My Dad ordered a detector out of the Classifieds in Frontier Times magazine when I was 12. It was a D Tex BFO with all the coils. I still have it. He was going to dig up bootlegger's treasure. We only dug up an old cane syrup mill. That and a life long love of history.

Chris

JCR -- LOL!

I guess I should have mentioned that the "segue" from a love of coins, to a detector, was me finding an old blue-box White's Goldmaster in my deceased grandfather's belongings, when I was about that same age you mentioned -- 12 years old, or so. No manual, no idea what I was doing, but I used it for a little while, and was just AMAZED at being able to find stuff in the ground...until all of those D-cell batteries (if I recall correctly) went dead, and I didn't have the cash to replace them. But that was the little spark, that eventually grew into this...LOL!

My only regret is that I didn't stick with it, back then. I was too busy with sports and such, but should have followed that passion at that point, as that was when I was living back home in PA and there was still a TON of stuff in the ground back then (early 1980s), even in the public parks. Now, all I know from that era of detecting is hearing the stories of "pockets full of old silver" that have been handed down from some of the old-timers...

Steve

I was a beach bum during my school years (ok, I still am now :-) ) and would watch these guys with these big blue boxes swinging and digging target after target with shovels on the beach. I was fascinated enough to be one of those guys that went over and asked “what are you doing?” There were only a few working the beach back then, but they showed me handfuls of rings, necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry in one pocket of their nail pouch and huge amounts of coins in the other pouch. They found that much every day. I was hooked. I bought a White’s big blue box detector, a cheaper model of what they were using from a coin shop in the ears. Couldn’t afford one as good as theirs, but I could tweak my ‘junior model’ just well enough to get it to work in the wet salt sand. Boy it was fun to detect the beach back then!

goes side by side with my love of history

I was in grade school in the early 1970s. At a school built in the early 1940s. One of the kids in my class lived right across the street from the school we attended, and had seen an old man metal detecting in the school yard grass. He (like every pesky kid then and now) had gone over and watched the old man. When he saw the old man dig up a coin or two, he immediately went home and begged his dad for a metal detector for his upcoming birthday.

So that school chum of mine ended up with a Heathkit all-metal detector. No discrimination. But it could find a coin up to a few inches deep, if I recall. I would follow the friend of mine around the school yard and watch him dig foil, etc.... I was hooked, and immediately begged and pleaded for my dad to buy me a metal detector for the upcoming Christmas. This would have been perhaps 1973 or '74-ish. And my dad, being the frugal sort (bless his heart) bought a toy-store $19 cheapie for me. It would only find hubcab sized targets. So I immediately lost interest.

Flash forward to 7th or 8th grade (1975-ish), and another school chum friend of mine had a Compass 77b (or 94b auto ?). I followed him around a local school yard and watched him dig some coins (even some wheaties !) I immediately realized that the toy-store variety that I'd had, a year or two earlier, was a piece of junk ! And so I took all my summer job money earnings ($100) and bought a used Whites 66TR. That was a circa early 1970s all-metal TR machine.

By that time (1975/76 -ish) there was discriminators out. But we didn't know any better. Then by the latter end of high school (late 1970s) progressed to a Garrett Groundhog.

I started in the early 70's and this is how it expanded.... I bought my first detector to look for old bottle dumps in the woods and farm fields. While doing that I started searching in my own back yard as well as the neighbors and found some older IH's, wheaties and silver coins. Then I started to access the schools, playgrounds, parks and churches (all within a bicycle ride from my home). When I was finally old enough to have my own car, late 70's the hunt for both types of detecting were really on. The coins and jewelry sure rolled in back then! In the mid 80's I started hunting for nuggets in Arizona. And to this day all 3 types of hunting are still going on with emphasis on beach hunting.

For my 10th Birthday..... in 1972..... my parents bought me a 100-in-1 Heath Kit. Immediately....... I built a Morse Code sender. Then I built a AM radio. Then...... I built a metal detector. The AM radio antenna doubled as a 'coil'. It would detect a Quarter to a range of about 2.7". (((All these experiments in the course of about 2 hours))). Immediately...... I grabbed the Heath Kit..... swung it up-side-down.........and ran outside. I was sweeping the up-side-down box (with all its dangling wires, springs, sprags, levers) as close to the grass/dirt as I could. (((Neighbors immediately started calling my parents....... asking what their 'drunk kid' was doing))). I found 4 beer cans (individually)........ a Crescent wrench (that I got blamed for losing)......... and a coin spill. Seven pennies. Five were modern 1940's & 1950's Wheats..... and a pair of 1959's. Then...... several more Heath Kit excursions in the dirt/mud/grass.

The 'fire' was LIT!

I started cutting more lawns, raking more leaves, delivering more newspapers ....... because I knew Radio Shack had three types of 'real' metal detectors. A $19...... a $29.......and a $39 (top-of-the-line) unit. Remember........ I was only 10-years old........and had NO idea there were other detectors/manufacturers out there. I saved for quite a while....with FULL intent of buying the World's TOP-OF-THE-LINE $39 detector!!! I made the mistake (one time) ...... of bringing all my money (all $33 of it) to Radio Shack on one of my multiple visits (twice per week visits)......... and had zero self-discipline. I ended up buying the $29 detector. I think it was a REALISTIC or a TANDY...... (probably made by Bounty Hunter...for Radio Shack). All of this took place in Fairfax, Virginia.
Within a few days of ownership....... I found a worn-flat Standing Liberty Quarter. The next day...... I found a 1856 Flying Eagle Cent PATTERN COIN. Several Months later...... in 1973....... I sold the 1856 Fatty for $700. For a kid to have 7 Ben Franklin's...... was a big deal! (And......at the time....... this was fair-market-value for the coin). Today...... I REGRET having sold that coin.........as...........I would LOVE to have it as 'proof-pudding' in my collection; yet, with the $700 cash........ this is exactly 'where' I learned: Money Management. (It took me 2 years to spend the $700).

The 'fire' was a permanent sealed-deal!

This July will be my 50th year.

Great hearing your start into metal detecting. My first detector I built also. I don't remember the brand. In 1972 I was 16 and was able try a Compass detector my uncle had. I was hooked then. I saved my money and bought a Compass 77b Pro. with an 8" & 10" coils.

I didn't find all the good stuff like you did but it was enough to get me hooked.

Hey Tom... That was a great story that brought back many fond memories for me. I too had a paper route as a kid as well as raking leaves, mowing lawns and knocking on doors for 5 cent returnable bottles. That always gave me some spending money. I can't remember which machine I used first.... The Radio Shack or the Relco but I think it was the Relco. Pretty sure it was a BFO and wet grass and bumping it could be a problem.
What got me into the "high dollar" machines back then was this...
There was an old "lost" park that was opened in the 1880's and closed its doors in the mid 19 teens. I had accidentally stumbled onto it. It had completely grown up into a forest. The newer version / offspring of the old park was several hundred feet away. This was the park that all the other people hunted. At the time I belonged to a metal detecting club and we had an outing at this location. All I was finding was bottle caps and junk. I had gotten bored and ventured into the nearby woods just for fun. These woods turned out to be the location of the original park. It was loaded with Barbers, IHs, V nickels, etc. It seemed that no one had ever hunted it before. One day while secretively hunting this park I came across an older gentleman hunting as well. I was shocked to see someone else there and eventually we met. He asked me how I was doing and I showed him my half pocket full of change. He then proceeded to show me his carpenters' apron with two big pockets just about full of coins, watch fobs, match holders, old jewelry, lead toys, etc. I was speechless!! He was using a Compass 77B. I got home and convinced my father to let me buy a machine (with my own money) just like his. We became friends and most importantly he had a car!! lol
We hunted for many years together and dug up countless goodies.

Who wouldn't like metal detecting as a kid? The reveal of finding coins or jewelry lost in the earth for decades is alluring to anyone with even a smidgen of natural curiosity. The monetary benefit of recovering valuables holds little impetus; it is secondary. To this day, it is marvelous to bring back to life, like Lazarus, targets otherwise destined to be lost forever to mankind. It's akin to going back in time when that old coin returns to the living; it brings with it a piece of the past. It has always sparked excitement to imagine how that coin came to be there. One must become a bit Sherlock Holmes, the detective with a detector. Detecting provides the challenge; can deductive logic and reason determine the target's history? Perhaps so; most targets have something to say if you are observant. The opportunity to ponder and interact with that secret world that lies unseen under the ground, ignored by the living, makes detecting the most intriguing of hobbies.

Johnny, I am of the same thought. It is a special hobby/quest.

Chris

A friend of mine said "we should get metal detectors and look for coins". I said "Those things some guys use on the beach"? He said "Yep". We both got detectors and I got hooked he didn't. Every couple years he buys the latest and greatest and never uses them. I guess that was about 15 years ago. My best silver day was 8 Barber's, some quarters and a few dimes. My oldest coin is a 1696 silver English shilling. I have dug a 1885 gold half eagle from a cornfield, 6" deep. I don't get out as much as I use to but I do get out.

Never had any money going up in a large family(12 kids). When I was small used to scratch around in the gravel finding coins. One day eyeballed a 1917s wheatie by some railroad tracks, this in 1964. Fast forward to Jan 1978, just out of the marines and noticed some treasure hunting magazines at the news stand. Thought this might be a nice hobby to persue. Some months later got my first of many many detectors, a Whites 2DB, with an intensity meter, I believe. I was hooked. In the late 90’s a couple friends help me start Mike’s Cz Page. It’s still going today but in need of updating. I’ve slowed down somewhat but still enjoy once or twice a week outing.

I had a friend at work who thought he would get rich metal detecting. He had been hunting his yard (haha) and found nothing but trash.

I picked up a harbor freight 9 function detector just for fun and headed to the local park.

He had a bounty hunter which cost about 10x what my cheap 9 function harbor freight detector cost me.

I called him on video chat because he wanted to see if it would find anything with my "crappy" detector.

Well, the first hole I dug was DEEP. Real deep, deeper than my elbow! Down under the old sod, into the black dirt. Then right before his eyes I pulled out this 1969 department of the treasury coin.



He was in shock, and accused me of planting it!

I feel in love with detecting at that moment.

From there I purchased better machines, and discovered the joy beach and water hunting.

I am not into collecting coins, but I am into FINDING coins and jewelry, anything of value no matter how little.

My friends ask why I do it, and I say it's like having access to a slot machine you can pull all day for free.

The friend who got me into it has since given up and does not detect anymore. I run into a lot of people who start detecting and quit when they realize it's not easy money.

It's not about what you find. The process of finding it is where the joy is.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2022 04:57PM by flgliderpilot.