2 silver dimes this morning

[Wyatt Earp]

I went to the park this morning to test my "fresh batteries find more silver" theory.....was there an hour and found a 34 merc and a 57 rosie. The previous 2 outings (6 hours) on batteries that were "less than fresh"...produced 2 silver dimes total, and I struggled to find those two coins.

I'm going to do more "research" when I'm off work and the heat recedes a bit, but I think I'm onto something. Basically, my advice at this point would be..."If you're going to have one shot and one shot only at a place that should hold silver....make sure you have fresh batteries".

Wyatt

[Keith / Kirkpa / Steelers1985]

Wow, Wyatt, you always do nicely out in the field! How did the silver dimes read on your meter? Were they perfect readings? How deep were they? HH!

[Wyatt Earp]

I think I'm just beginning to get the hang of this 6000 I got from Greg. It's got a 9 1/2 inch coil on it, and while identical to my old 6000 in terms of controls, it does seem to reach a little deeper than the old one. The old one excelled at finding silver dimes. This one has enabled me to recover lots more silver quarters that the old machine left behind. I worked this same park over pretty well 13 years ago before I put the machine in the closet. I took 19 silver coins from this park back then....17 dimes and 2 quarters.

This year, since starting to detect there again, I've found 26 silver coins, 17 dimes and 9 quarters. There's more there....but I think the thing for me to do is use the first 4 hours of the charge hunting for silver and deeper pennies, then use the next 4-5 hours cleaning up shallower signals. There are so many pennies and dimes there that are shallow, that I'm sure they are masking some deeper targets.

It'd be cool if you could come and spend a day with me. With the price of gas......you'd have to find a lot of silver.

I can't wait until fall and cooler temps....this sauna business is for the birds.

Wyatt

[Wyatt Earp]

Hi Keith.....

The silver dimes were both at about 5-6 inches and read as quarters on my meter (somewhere around 78-80). These deeper targets do NOT make an audible beep in discriminate mode....they just cause the needle to deflect. When I pull the detector's trigger to drop it into all metal mode for pinpointing, it will produce a beep...but sometimes you have to tune and detune (squeeze and release the trigger) to get the tone to come up stronger. If I can conjure up a quarter reading by checking the target from different angles, and it is repeatable....I'll dig it. More times than not those types of signals turn out to be silver dimes. Occassionally, it really is a silver quarter. Both of the standing liberties I found down there also showed 5 inches depth on the meter....but both were actually at 7 inches. The halo effect on those ones was pretty large I suspect. I also found both of those right after pretty good soaking rainfalls.

It's all about knowing your machine and being in a place that has good targets. Having used a 6000DI Pro since 1987...I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Someday.....I'll go on a pulltab hunt. Maybe I'll score a gold ring or 2....who knows....maybe even a gold coin. Eventually I'll have to dig the lower readings.

Wyatt

[JoAnne]

Wyatt - I have a question for you. Is this park just a regular park? Does it have a history of having a carnival or some other event there? I mean if I went to a local park would I find as much silver as you? Is there something that makes this particular park special? I went to a local park and found nothing. Just curious WHY you were able to find so much.

[Wyatt Earp]

Hi Joanne....

I am not originally from this area so I don't have an intimate knowledge of the park's history, but this little park was built in 1954, and they added a pool in 1969. There are 2 ball diamonds, which means concession stands, which means dropped coins. Monkey bars are a great place for kids to empty their pockets too as they hang upside down. The 2 dimes I found this morning were near the monkey bars.

Any park that's seen enough traffic over the years and is old enough to have seen heavy use in the 50s and early 60s should hold silver.

Wyatt

[Wyatt Earp]

Joanne......

I don't know how you define a "regular" park....and I was a bit rushed when I posted my previous answer, which is lacking some in detail.

This park has a playground with swingsets, slides...the usual playground equipment from the 50s. They took out the human propelled merry-go-round in the 80s because of insurance concerns and lots of the equipment has been updated recently. I found 6 dollars worth of clad quarters (in 20 minutes) in the area of sand right at the base of the spiral slide that's only been there for about 5 years. There are numerous dime/penny readings there too...and one day I'll clean them up, but I really prefer finding the older, deeper targets.

Hope that goes a little farther toward establishing what kind of park this is. It's ina very small town too....maybe 4500 people, but folks from neighboring communities use it for family reunions and the like all the time as well.

Oh yeah......next door to the park is a roller skating rink from the 50s...which is closed now, but which was operating as little as 3 years ago.

Wyatt

[JoAnne]

Wyatt - thanks for the information. I will have to get out there and check some of the local parks around here. I did do a school but only came up with a bottle cap and the eraser end of a pencil. However I must tell you that I am really new to MD. As a matter of fact that was my first venture off my own property. I may have to play some more with my MD to get the setting correct. I was just curious as to wether or not you were MDing a park that was for public use or one where a carnival etc had been set up allowing for greater chance to find coins. Once again - thanks

[Wyatt Earp]

Hi Joanne......

Nobody has ever mentioned any carnivals or festivals held at this park, but there are anywhere from 50 to 75 cars in the lot seemingly every day during the summer months. Several times in the past 10 days I've found "fresh drops", quarters and dimes that I just eyeballed....so people lose money there on a daily basis to the present day. I just turn the clad into silver halves, and the occassional silver dollar if I can find the right deal. I've been buying halves for below melt value, even after postage. There are deals if you shop.

There's no substitute for experience. The more you use the detector, the more you'll become accustomed to the way it reacts to targets. My gut feeling is that if you didn't come away from a park with some coins...you need to read your instruction manual again and re-check the settings on your machine. That's why I love my white's.....it has preset notches and if you set everything to preset...you can immediately start finding coins. I don't deviate much from the preset either. I do run the discrimination at about 4 on the scale...a little below the preset, which is 5. I have to dig some deep foil sometimes, but if you're digging deep pieces of foil, you're going to find deeper silver coins.

Wyatt