Finding old coins

[YARDBYRD]

I have md'd some in the past but am basically a newcomer to the hobby. I just want to say something that might help anyone new to the hobby not give up on it.

If anyone is anything like me when you start, you will get excited over every 3ft piece of angle iron (making fun of myself) you find that is 1 1/2" under the ground. Then you will want more. You'll find some Loncoln pennys and you will be thrilled that you could do it. Then after some dimes and some Quarters the bug will hit you then you'll be thinking....I HAVE to find some old coins. You just have to remember all the factors in success at MD'ing and there are ALOT of factors. You can operate your detector as well as anyone and still not find a thing. You can be new at it and find something great.

Once you have figured the detector out (if that is totally possible) The next two big things you need is location and luck. I figure if I can find the locations and devote the time the luck will come.

If anyone is wondering why I didn't mention Nickels in my rambings it's because i'm convinced that noboby around here EVER lost a nickel or I just can't findem. :o( :!: but there is always tomorrow

 

[bearbqd]

I have a theory on the nickels. Out of the hundred or so coins I have found, only 2 of them have been nickels. I wonder if the thickness of the coin actually helps them to stay in pockets better than other coins. Does this sound far fetched to anyone or are we the only ones not finding nickels?

 

[poptop]

I find them rite regular. They ID as nickel. Course the PrizmII is a nickel finding machine. But all machines are if you dig every hit, and to be sure you have to do it. So......................
pop

 

[trobaughokc]

I checked my records; of the 980 coins I?ve found this year, only 25 have been nickels. Because they sound so much like pull tabs, I?ll usually ignore the signal unless I?m hunting a relatively trash free area. (I know, gold sounds in the same range and I should be paying more attention, but I not beaching it and I do pay attention to really solid signals in that range, hence the nickels found.) By the way, 680 of the 980 are memmies.

 

[bearbqd]

I have a nickel section on my cz and the 2 I have found have id'd there. I dig all of my pulltabs because of the gold ring I found. The only ones I don't dig on a regular basis are iron. So, this still doesn't explain my lack of nickels.

 

[Cherry Picker]

I find nickles pretty much in line with the other coins just not as deep. Nickles are larger than pennies and dimes so you will find less of them. Also people tend to carry less nickles. Reach in your pocket and check your change. I'll bet you'll see pretty close to what you find.

Deep/old nickles are hard to find because the nickle alloy reacts differently to surrounding minerals then other metals.

 

[YARDBYRD]

Detector, I think you have a point. I think when you throw in the fact that if someone did drop a handfull of change, Quarters are the easiest to spot and the ones that most people will spend the most time looking for. then dimes and nickels just because of the shine. Beings that the nickel is bigger probably accounts for those being found by the one that dropped them. So here is the theory...... tell me what you think

Quarters- easiest to spot so they are found more when someone drops them

Dimes- People over he years have just had less success finding them when they dropped them because of the size.

Nickels- where just plain bigger then a dime thus making them easier to find.

So it seems like as far as clad goes anyway it would be
Pennies........Dimes.....Quarters.......Nickels check your coins and see.

I actually have an even amount of Quarters as I do dimes but i haven't been at this long and I'm sure that will change. Plus i've got lucky on the quarters and found alot doubled up either in the same hole or very close.

Pennies- I would imagine most folks that ever lost them would scan the ground for any of them and what they didn't find they didn't worry about too much.

 

[OkieDigger]

The MXT is a nickel finding machine, no doubt about it. I find a lot of them. Like others have said as well though, you got to dig the pulltabs for gold rings and you'll find nickels as well. It's been my experience that older nickels give signals a lot like thin gold rings or small packed wads of aluminum foil. Dig it all!

 

[hoser]

I agree OD. My DFX is a nickel shooter as well. I knew going into it that the nickels would probably read out as a pull tab most of the time. I seem to have real good luck with the nickels here. On a one day hunt I found 49 of the raskels. We won't even go into the pulltab count for that day.

 

[Cherry Picker]

Sounds logical too me YARDBYRD

 

[DeepBeeps]

I checked my records for the year and 10% of the coins I found where nickles. I use a MXT and have learned when it is a nickle and when it is a pull tab. I use the VDI number to determine the difference. The nickles are definately out there to be found. HH

 

[YARDBYRD]

Everyone that I have talked to says that a nickel will register between 20 and 22 on the MXT. Every solid hit i've had between 20 and 26 has been pull tabs... about half and half between old pull tabs and the newer ones ....I have also dug some pulltabs at 18 sometimes 18 yields other things.
I have buried nickels and they do register at 22 usually so i'm thinking that there just are not any nickels where i have been.

 

[DeepBeeps]

I did VDI's of 20 for nickles and 18-20 if at a old site. I will have to try digging some 22's in case I'm missing them. HH